Pinarello Asolo conversion

Hi everyone, despite lurking on here a few years now this is my first public thread so please don't bite my head off!

Lockdown blues have got me thinking about bike projects and I've decided to convert my old steel frame from fixed to a roadie. Frame is a Pinarello Asolo from the early 90's I found on here a whilee back and got from @diaolous (i think?)

Anyway it's been my almost daily ride ever since in a couple of guises and as you can see from the pictures the paintwork has taken a bit of a beating, but it fits perfectly and is just great to ride, hence me deciding to build it up as my go to road bike. Eventually the plan would be to get it repainted but for the moment I'm just going to focus on building it up.

I'm sorry as I know this might be a bit of an abomination to many, but I've decided to build it up with a modern groupset and wheelset - although I appreciate a full restoration would be awesome, I'm doing this because I want to be able to hammer away on this thing regularly, and while it would be cool to have it looking great, I'm more concerned with the ride because that's what I love about the frame.

This is the bike in its current state (sorry for the suboptimal photo) :

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so far I've found a full Ultegra group and bottom bracket in the Easter sales which I'm pretty excited about and initially the plan will be to build it with a cheap back wheel so I can ride it.

Eventually I'm thinking some mid-depth carbon rim with gumwalls could be pretty cool but I'll have to wait a while til I have the funds for that (any recommendations welcome though!)

Anyway, I'm not sure how often I'll update this thread but thought people might be interested if, like me, they're spending an embarassing amount of time in lockdown trawling through the projects threads!

Cheers

I love it, perfect rat bike 👌

cheers! its been the perfect rat/commuter especially with the antitheft paintwork - hopefully when I'm done it'll be somewhere between rat bike and race machine but we'll see how we go

This might be my old frame? I had an Asolo for a while with Cromor tubing. I sold it to someone who arrived in a car to the place I lived in at the time on Coldharbour Lane in Camberwell... when I sold it it had more paint than it does now and its original forks so could well be a different frame. Who knows.

Either way, great project, good luck with the build.

Very possibly, it came with a load of extra decals including a big campagnolo one down the back of the seattube? Can't remember where exactly it came from as it was posted. Either way, thank you!

So as expected I have been terrible at updating this thread, but now am in possession of wheelset and groupset and almost ready to build it all up

managed to find a decent deal on some Mavic Cosmic Pro Carbons which happily come without any of the massive decals, and I'm a sucker for some tanwalls so was convinced to get the vittorias by the guy in in the LBS, pic below

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Next things to do:

• Switch out the old miche crankset and bb for the new ultegra (might just go to LBS if theyre not too busy as I dont have any of the tools, then again might get the tools as theyll probably come in handy

• Seatpost is stuck - have been a bit wary of damaging it but might try coke down the seattube trick? Any suggestions? Otherwise could be a job for LBS

• Build up! Need to find some of the downtube cable stop converters (idk the correct name) to go on the downtube shifter studs and plastic cable router for under the bb

• I'm really keen to use the internal routing for the rear brake cable but in the past have struggled to find any step down ferrules for the outers that would fit properly - any suggestions?

Anyway hoping to have it built up next couple of weeks

stuck seatposts can be a nightmare.
I'd recommend getting that sorted before doing anything else.
coke won't do shit except make a sticky mess.

Checked SJS for the step down ferrules?

Also re: the seatpost, I’ve had good results before with the jam it (the seatpost) into a grid (yes, the ones that lead to the sewer) and turn the frame method, loads more leverage than you can probably get on the post it’s self, might be worth a try before doing anything messy/corrosive/burny.

Do you have a finishing kit in mind? I think silver would look great!

Thanks very much for the suggestions!!

Soooo been trying my best with the seatpost to no avail, went to the LBS eventually and unfortunately they had no luck either, but suggested a machine shop who could get it out so hopefully theyll be able to get it out this week.

Finishing kit: I'm planning on sticking with the Ritchey cockpit that's on it atm to save a bit of cash (and I like the setup), and was planning to match the wheels with a carbon weave seatpost (provided the old gets pulled out!) Saddle wise I've an arione on my other bike which i find pretty comfy so that will be the last bit to find but I've got an old boardman saddle I could whack on in the meantime

Ordered some stepped ferrules from SJS so coming together now so hopefully should be built up end of this week

Finally got it all built up and went for a first ride. Will probably replace saddle and seatpost but other than that I’m super happy with it!

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More pics:

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Bike looking great nice too see my downtube shifter boss being used🤗

Thanks very much for those!! Super helpful