Help with building up a lovely old Pinarello...

Hi guys, got a few questions about building my bike that I thought I'd ask the brain trust here. It's a beautiful pinarello vuento frame, treviso made, Columbus steel, very lovely indeed. I've always loved bikes and ride every chance I get, but this is my first attempt at building a bike from scratch and I'm still learning a lot of the mechanics.

So, questions:

What is the difference between BB sizes, is it to do with the fit on the frame or the fit of the cranks? Is there a size difference between english and Italian fit, or is it just the threading?

How the hell do I fit this lovely cinelli 1R stem I have to the cinelli crit bars I bought? Do I really have to just push the bars through inch by inch?

I'm setting the bike up for fixed/free, I undersand that ratio is very personal but what sort of ball park am I looking at for teeth count? Is there any structural issue with just taking a two cog crankset and removing one of the rings to use it as a singlespeed cog?

Lastly, any good books you can recommend for building a nice singlespeed up? Preferably one that would cover old Italian bikes. So far the sheldon brown page has been well thumbed by me, but I'm sure there's a great book out there missing out on.

My field of knowledge is guitars and amps, feel free to request an answer trade if you need help choosing valves for your old Marshall super lead, or if you need to be told why ibanez are the devil's guitar.

a lot of the answers to your questions are floating around the site, so make sure that you have a look through.

to answer your question:

the difference between Italian and British BB is the threading. the spindle length of the BB will also affect the chainline of your bike, so the cranks should match up to the spindle on the BB.

to fit the bars onto the cinelli stem, you basically have to slide the bars in. i tend to use a flat headed screwdriver to "wedge" the stem open a bit more so you can slide the bars in a bit easier. take your time and don't force it.

the ratio depends on where you live and your preference. in london, i know people that have everything from 68-78 gear inches. there won't be any problems running a road crank as singlespeed. again just make sure that you have the right BB.

as for books: http://icelord.net/bike/ might get you in the right direction. again, not sure how detailed you want to get with regards to your books. you can get everything from a book of bikes to lust over to something that is essentially a technical manual. but most of the technical answers are on the forum because you've got a lot of very skilled people on the site.

good luck.