Current Projects chat and miscellany

Fantastic bike and good fun bar tape! Is it one roll of tape or a creative invention of yourself?

Thanks, its one roll but it was still a hassle! Its Supacaz Belgium tape.

They don't make it any more but for a few years they did a series of multicolored ones in the colors of countries flags. My Simoncini one has the Supacaz Jamaica version.

I had my polyvalent nicked before Xmas. I was surprised that my insurance company had a 'like for like' policy, which meant all my trawling auction sites for second hand parts would be replaced with new! No local distributors for Velo Orange, but soma grand rando was looking attractive.
This was built by my lbs, which accounts for the very tidy tape job, well indexed gears distinct lack of bdhu.
Only had a few rides so far but the brakes are superlative. The weird dropouts mean the b screw is further out than ideal. So good to have mudguards and dyno lights again

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I think the picture doesn't show it off enough.

very very nice!
out of interest, who is your insurance with?

Phwoaah!
A silver chainset and accents on the RD would complete it.. but I understand how difficult that might be to source.

Yeah for sure about the silver, but I wanted campag. Maybe a Sugino crank might look OK but it's lipstick on a very expensive pig at this point.
I live in NZ/Aotearoa so insurance tips might not be that helpful, but MAS.
I don't do insta but maybe better photos here
https://www.instagram.com/abikeshopnz/

Front wheel looks oval...

Any 80/90's racing buffs like to chip in to try and solve a mystery?

I got back from work today and this had arrived in the post from Italy


Reportedly a team ADR Bottechia so around 89. I used to have a smaller one of these, not a team one but another from 89 so know a few of the identifiers. Cinelli spoiler bottom bracket, it has the handmade Carnielli sticker and the 80th anniversary sticker 1909-1989 so all seems to point to a 1989. It has some other period correct looking stickers on it too, Mavic, Regina Extra and Wolber, and Bottecchia decals on the fork and rear stays that my previous one did not have. I've seen elsewhere that the team ones had external rear brake cable routing like this one. In 89 ADR rode a Mavic groupset and the bottom bracket has the giveaway angled facing as used by Mavic BB's so that's another clue maybe. The old school Elite bottle cage looks from the period too.


And on the bottom bracket is the name stamp of the rider I was told it belonged to, Lietti, as in Marco Lietti who had a 10 year pro career with Italian teams.

It appears as a bigger unit (frame size 60.5 x 58cm - frame is Columbus SPX) he was more of a classics specialist, but did appear to have domestique duties in some of the Grand Tours, and he had a moment of glory outsprinting Lemond to win a stage of the 1991 TDF while riding for Ariostea.

The mystery is from my googling it doesn't look like Lietti ever rode for ADR. He did race for Malvor Bottecchia Sidi for 1988, and in 1989 that became Malvor Sidi Colnago, so seems the Malvor Bottechia's were 88 only, and this frame has a 89 sticker so 88 doesn't seem likely. And I can see no mention of Lietti ever actually riding with ADR.

Was Malvor more of a 2nd tier team? I wondered if maybe Lietti was scheduled to ride for ADR in 89 and they built a frame for him, but for whatever reason the ADR thing never worked out and he went to Malvor instead, and the frame never got used. The frame is in great condition, it was in the hands of a collector for many years so not ridden much, and I suspect its never been raced as it doesn't bear any scars of battle that I can see.

I don't know if the 88 Malvor team rode this classic red and white colors, but if they did they surely would not have done so with a rival teams ADR sticker on the top tube! And in 89 Malvor were riding Colnago's. Of course I'm aware decals could be added at any time, but they look legit and old to my untrained eye. Did Malvor have any links with ADR other than they both used Bottecchia's for a bit?

Only downer is in transit one of drop out screws has been bent, the threads are still fine, so I just need to dremmel the end off and unscrew it and replace that, but otherwise thing looks great.

Any thoughts on if my guess above is the likely explanation, or any other ideas?

My plan is silver 10 speed Campag, but I do have a Mavic BB and Mavic starfish crank, so plan to get some 10 speed rings for that and have that as a nod to 89. And I managed to find a matching old school red Elite bottle cage, so that's on the way :)

Damn, that's amazing.

My plan is silver 10 speed Campag, but I do have a Mavic BB and Mavic starfish crank, so plan to get some 10 speed rings for that and have that as a nod to 89.

Exactly what I was hoping for when I saw the frame :)

The mystery is from my googling it doesn't look like Lietti ever rode for ADR. He did race for Malvor Bottecchia Sidi for 1988

This is just a hypothesis, but could it be a 1988 bike allocated but maybe never issued to Lietti as a Malvor rider and then returned from the service course to the factory and refinished to be issued to ADR for the 1989 season?

Thanks, yeah I guess that's a possibility too.

I think the Bottecchia factory burnt down in recent years, so I doubt there's any actual remaining records there, and from my experience of Italian frames their records were not great even when the factory wasn't incinerated :)

I'm not on Facebook or Twitter or anything but would be great if I can find a contact for Marco and ask him.

I’ve been enjoying getting the miles in on my Chas Roberts. I reckon it’s a wheel set and bar tape away from being done. Probably some tan walls aswell.

I’d like to attempt some audax rides on it, but the fork isn’t drilled for a brake. Are the clamp on brakes any good or should I be looking out for a different fork?

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should I be looking out for a different fork?

Either that or a drill 🙂

Finished this pretty anti Inbred build, it's so comfy though, perfect for cruising around

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Nah, that’s nowhere near anti!

Fork are way too long though. It'll steer like a boat.

Forks are about 1cm too long so it's not too bad. They were only 50€:)

Summer's getting closer...
Needs another saddle, a front brake and some silly pedals. And the grips need a clean.

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Fucking hell. That's ridiculous, I love it.

No hate. The BB looks very high though, but I am finicky when it comes to a-c, as witnessed by several threads of mine on here

Aero beach cruising

Btw, if you wanna get rid of those too long forks, give us a whisper. I like those extra mounting points my older P2 29ers don't have any

I've been giggling constantly while building it. It's so stupid.