Crimson Ghost's polish bikes, looong term builds + KOBA

If you don't get the matching SR pista pedal, hit me up, I may have a single one in my parts bin somewhere.

Thanks a bunch man, I'll let you know!

Aight!

What's that nut looking thing above the fork crown?

Cool frame.

That's a locknut with stripped threads - I use it as a mock-up lower headset. It's still a bit too short, even to mimic campy SR pista, but oh well. Gives me the general idea of geometry and clearances.

Clever.

bummer.. hopefully you'll get your spare pedal (one way or another..)

i wasn't able to source a pair of nr pistas. hen's teeth and all (i mean, not overpriced ones)

Quite possibly the coolest Polish bicycle bit ever. WALJA C-Record knock-off. As far as I know, it stands for WALkiewicz JAn or sth (kinda like WAJA, ALAN, RIGI etc). The guy is dead now, but back in the day he bought out the inventory of Remo (they made campy record knock-offs: headsets, cranksets, bbs, hubs, and fauxnelli 1a stems), cranks and bbs to be precise, and started putting his own logos on them.

That was really simple cuz it required no work at all - stamp a part and move it. Later on however, he developed his own chainring shape (see 1st pic), which is a combination of C-Record shape with the BCD of a Super Record. Initially, these chainrings were used with the 'record/super record' crank knock-offs. Then he developed the faux C-Record cranks. I like how they were supposed to be practical above all, so the BCD is 144 and you could pretty much use any chainring you wanted.

WALJA POLAND looks pretty impressive...

...but this thing takes the cake.
There were several other components that could make up the 'Polish C-Record' groupset, but more on that in the near future.

This is great! Please tell us more about the other parts in the groupset!

The pedal has arrived 😂😂😂

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New, prettier Wicher to replace the old one. Same size, geometry, colour, and year, same drilled brake bridge, and even bought from the same club.

New wheels for the Rychtarski!

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Love the Rychtarski.

Got any photos of the Rychtarski with double disks?

Great collection!

Not yet, there's a couple of things I need to sort out before I put it together.

In other news - Cinelli Speciale Corsa now has a stem!

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Other projects on hold, big boy ride coming up. I can't remember the last time I was so stoked about a bike. The plan is full 105 5800, Kinlin + Bitex, skinwall Challenge tires and Deda, Pro and Kalloy Uno bits. And it has to be sub-8kg without pedals, which seems fine on a spreadsheet, but turns out to be pretty difficult in real life.

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Another Comete!

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2018-02-19_09-39-03 by Czarne Trampki, on Flickr

Groupset arrived, along with other parts. Looking at 7.9kg without pedals so looks like I made it. However:

• Need to replace the frameset as the hole in the dropout doesn't align with the one in the mech hanger - no biggie, the seller has a couple Principia frames, one of them being exactly like the one in the picture, albeit functional
  
• May need to replace the cockpit as the stem is a bit wobbly (UNO Superlite, 114g at 110mm) and the bars (Pro Vibe) are quite short in the drop part
  
  

I've also found another frame - Koba Pro LS. It's a tad more expensive, but is 150g lighter and comes in black. Still have to find out if it takes 25c tires. So, once replaced, Principia might be up for grabs.

The new Principia arrived - same problem with the hanger + it's 2cms larger. FML. Koba, get ready.

On a brighter note, I've just scored a near-complete Ofmega Mistral groupset. Everything is NOS apart from the brake calipers - these are mint, so I'm pretty happy about that. The shifters are missing and I'll need BSA BB cups if I want to put the group on a Romet. And possibly change the FD to a braze-on one.

I've never been a fan of Ofmega stuff, I'm still not sure about the plastic mechs, fugly pedals and the crank spider that looks like a propeller off a children's beanie. But hey, I've never bought an NOS groupset before, so that's a pretty cool start. I do like the hubs and the headset though, and If I'm not mistaken the AER brakes were used on Cinelli Lasers?

Those cranks look so nice!

Here's something even Polish collectors don't see every day. Plastic pedals made by Andrzej Buchczyk. To be honest, he's kind of a creep and talks all kinds of weird shit, deals with non-evidence based medicine and lives in solitude somewhere in the Bieszczady mountains, so I take whatever he says with a huuuuge grain of salt.

The body is made entirely out of plastic with the uncovered axle poking through the sides. I assume there are needle bearings inside, but I haven't had the chance to dismantle them yet. The toeclips were also fabricated by the inventor himself, and supposedly they spring back like crazy and don't break EVER - or so he claims. And check out how the straps are screwed in to the body, how disgustingly cool is that? The straps seem to be made of a cut up bag, kinda like the ones you'd find in Ikea, but thicker.

They look surprisingly similar to the ones made by Sannino. A crazy conspiracy theory? Definitely. Very cool nonetheless. Buchczyk claims his were top notch stuff, yet I know for certain that they were supplied with low-end Romet Sport bikes.

Principia is no more. Say hello to Koba.

It's the Pro LS model weighing at 1201g with the cable guide and barell adjusters.

Ooh, that's smart. Lovely neat welding.

Is this going to be a weight weenie build? ;)

It's going to weigh about 7.7kg w/o pedals, so no WW points there, I think. I wanted a bike that is lighter and more cost effective in comparison to what's on the market atm. For a little below 900gbp, I've got nice wheels, a light frameset and a neat finishing kit; all brand new except my trusty old Selle SLR. I think I did alright :)
Re: attachment - stem will be swapped for sth more sturdy and with a 10° angle.

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