Gios Super Record

In an attempt to get this build going, I thought I would post in this thread.

Over lunch at last year's L'eroica, I was expounding to Mrs Jingle Jangle about the bikes every man should one day own. In my opinion, these include a Raleigh Team Professional, a Colnago Master, a Benotto 3000 and a Gios Super Record.

An hour or so later, we were wandering around the market in Gaolie when we came across the Gios stand, manned by the very lovely Marco Gios and his father Alfredo. Proudly displayed on their stand was a beautiful Gios Super Record frame and fork. This was one of a limited edition of replica frames made by Alfredo - a faithful replica of the frame ridden by Roger de Vlaeminck when he won Paris-Roubaix in 1977.

In fact, at the beginning of A Sunday in Hell there are some shots of a much younger Alfredo Gios preparing de Vlaemink's bike for the race.

Anyway, it turned out that back in Turin Marco had a replica frame in my size, one of only two or three left. It may have been the sun, it was probably the Chianti, but Mrs JJ agreed to let me buy one - in fact, at the time she said she would pay for it - we really must have had a drink.

There was however on slight problem - Gios would not ship the frame. As such an important piece of Italian cycling history, the rule was that the frame had to be bought, paid for and collected on Italian soil.

And so, a few months later I found myself on board a cheap flight from Gatwick to Turin. Much to my surprise, Turin was a beautiful city, I will definitely go back again soon. The Gios shop is a way out of town, on the edge of a dual carriageway just off the main ringroad. There was Marco, his mum and his dad, along with a neat little cardboard box waiting for me to collect.

Here's what was inside the box:

This has been in my shed now since January, teasing me.

My plan is to build it up with more-or-less period correct components of very good quality. When I started on this, I had no idea how ruinously expensive a plan that was, but you live and learn. I'm not going to be all anal about this, just as correct as is reasonably practical.

I could not believe how much people were asking for old Record Headsets, and I have spent months getting sniped in E-bay auctions, until eventually, this lovely yellow box arrived:

And inside, now glinting in the sunshine, this is what it contained:

Now over the years, I have spent a fair amount of money getting bike shops to remove and / or fit headsets for me, so I decided it was time to invest i the proper tools. Headset presses can be fairly expensive, but I found an affordable one at Rose Cycles in Germany (yep, Germany) - their service was very good, so I am now the proud owner of this:

Which I used VERY carefully, to achieve this:

My overwhelming sense of pride and achievement at having successfully mounted the headset to the frame was only slightly tempered by my growing realisation that the steerer tube would have to be cut! Please excuse the crap 'photo:

For a few moments, I seriously considered taking a hacksaw to the tube. I have been working on my mechanical skills lately - and they have much improved, but in the end wiser council prevailed.

This was, however something of a disaster, as this was yesterday afternoon, the first day of a four day public holiday - a public holiday during which I had promised myself I would break the back of the Gios build. And here I was, stranded. I call three or four local bike shops all to no avail - 'too busy' or 'no mechanic on duty', sadly, it looked like things had ended almost as soon as they had begun.

And then I remembered that our Eastern European cousins have retained, if not built upon the work ethic the Western European protestant community appears to have abandoned in droves, and so this morning I found myself in Honour Oak, at the premises of Vaidas Cycles, who are working today, and are happy to do the work (other bike shops of South East London take note).

So I shall be back in Honour Oak after lunch to collect the Gios, and I will then be back in the game.

Great story which is not yet finished.

It will be a wonderful bike.

A couple of hours and a tenner later, and look what's sitting on my garden table:

Superb work from Vaidas Cycles, now officially the greatest bike shop on London FACT.

More importantly, we are now back on with the build.

OK, and on to wheels.

I went all continental, and bought a set of Record Hubs off e-bay.fr. This is what I got:

Lovely lovely shiny hubs. But they didn't sit around on my carpet for long. Straight after I had photographed them, they were popped in a box, the box was wrapped in brown paper, and the package was addressed, like this:

Initially, my thoughts were to get the great man to lace the hubs to a pair of Mavic Paris-Roubaix SSC Rims. They were, after all, designed to stand up to the rigours of what is the greatest of all the Spring Classic, the very race in which RdV made himself and the Gios which he road world-famous. They also look pretty good, and I reckon would garner more than one appreciating nod when chained up to the railings outside Shoreditch Grind.

Harry on the other hand had other ideas. To quote the eponymous builder of wheels verbatim, "I wouldn't, they're shit". So there you have it from the horses mouth, or at least from the best wheel builder in the country, and who am I to argue?

We decided instead to go for a pair of black Ambrosio Excellence Rims - or at least Harry decided - I suspect because he had them lying around - and told me that's what I wanted.

So off went the hubs, and a surprisingly small cheque, and all I had to do was wait around.

At this point I should say that dealing with Harry Rowland was an honour and a privilege. Should any of you find yourselves needing to get some wheels built up I urge you to seek him out.

Anyway, a week or so after sending off my parcel, I found myself at a couriers on a dodgy estate in South Bermondsey. This is the package Mr Rowland had sent back:

And this is what it contained:

Should any of you whilst reading this suddenly feel the need to touch yourselves inappropriately, I fully understand and I have, as a courtesy included a 'money shot':

Right, I'm off for a quick cup of tea and then it's tyres and wheels on bike time.

Enjoyed reading that very much, lovely frame too. Looking forward to more...

Yeah sorry, rain stopped play.

Hope to be able to crack on tomorrow, in between parental duties.

Kids might get to spend some time in front of the TV tomorrow!

so utterly jealous. This will be amazing.

OK, the family are off to Bluewater shopping, so I might get a bit more done on this build today.

Naturally, the tyres had to be Gumwalls. Found some Veloflex Masters from Ribble. Fitted them to the wheels last night:

Remember that I got the Hubs from E-bay France? Well that meant I was going to need a French-Threaded block. Now I know that my granddad didn't jump into Arnhem in 1944 so I could ponce around London riding French gears, but any port in a storm and all that.

Step forward please, the venerable Hilary Stone who, for 30-odd quid sent me this box:

And inside the box, in all of its Golden NOS loveliness was this:

A liberal application of purple grease later, and it was screwed in place:

Then what else is there to do, but to bring wheels and frame together?

To be honest, I am not loving the Excellence decals on the Ambrosio rims - they're just a bit too shout-y, a bit too boy-racer. Much as I despise the de-stickering movement, I think these are going to have to go. Does anyone have a fool-proof method for doing this?

I'm off for a cup of tea, and then it's bars and stem time.

Off with the Excellence decals I say.

Loving the report!

I for one cannot wait to see more.

Sadly, I have been press-ganged into taking the family to the street food festival at the South Bank.

Hopefully be able to get more done this afternoon.

I'd also remove the Excellence-decals, doesnt seem very suitable for that build.

OK. Had a few issues earlier with bars and stems. Effectively, I assumed finding a suitable bar / stem combo i my parts bin would be easy, but I was wrong. Also mashed up the middle of a brand new set of Cinelli bars by trying to force a badly fitting stem to fit. Grr.

Had to make do with a temporary solution 'till the shops open again on Wednesday:

I know it's not pretty, but it's the best I could do in the circumstances, and I wanted to keep the momentum going.

Next, the seatpost. I mentioned earlier that collecting good condition Super Record parts can be expensive, and I was finding it impossible to get hold of an affordable seatpost of sufficient quality until a couple of weeks ago when Unicanitor of this very forum came up with this:

Which when bolted to the frame, looks like this:

Which, with a saddle attached, looks like this:

Step back a little, and this is what you see:

Or, if you like that sort of thing:

So at this point in the build, I am very happy. What started out as a frame and fork, now very definitely looks like a bicycle. More importantly, it looks like a bicycle that will fit me - I was worried it would be too small, but now I am confident it will be OK.
I know I need to find a more suitable Bar / Stem combo, and it will almost definitely have the name Cinelli embossed in it.

Not sure about saddle choice. The brown looks OK, and matching brown bar tape will look very smart. Alternatively, a Black Saddle / Bar Tape combo would be more practical, and would match with the rims. And then of course, White Saddle / Tape is always a win.

Decisions, Decisions.

Anyway, cranks and gears next I reckon.

Looking beautiful

Stunning project and awesome to read!

Right then. Now we're into the interesting stuff, cranks and gears - the heart of the build, the mechanicals.

First up, let's have a look at a work of art - the bottom bracket shell, with the famous Gios cut out, tapped and faced by the great Alfredo Gios before my very eyes:

Beautiful though that is, it's going to have a bottom bracket fitted, so it needs a generous slather of grease:

And now, it's all ready to receive the bottom bracket - Boom:

I know, it's all modern, and carbon and sealed bearing and all that stuff, and not at all the sort of thing that Alfredo Gios or Roger de Vlaerminck would approve of, but it's a bottom bracket for God's sake. NOS Super Record Bottom Brackets cost a fortune, and I had this hanging 'round in my shed, and besides, no one will be able to see it once I've fitted the cranks.

Oh, and what cranks they are!

Like most of the things connected with this build, the cranks took an age to track down, and cost a lot more than I had planned. A couple of months ago, a package arrive from the United States, and inside that package were these:

Fluted and engraved Super Record Cranks, not NOS, but close enough as makes no difference (actually made a couple of hundred quid difference).

I couldn't wait to hang these babies on the frame.

Here we go, non-drive side first:

But wait, there a problem........

Once fitted, the crank is hitting the Chainstay. Hadn't anticipated that one. The bottom bracket axle must be too short.

Took it out and measured it, 100mm. If it's too short it's too short, not a lot I can do about that late i the day on a Bank Holiday.

I was just clearing up when I remembered I had another Italian Threaded Campagnolo Bottom Bracket somewhere in the shed. Dug it out, measured it and do you know what, the axle was 110mm - we're back on.

Not only are we back on, but this one's a bit more period correct than the previous version, and it slipped in beautifully.

Check it out:

Non-drive side crank slipped on, and cleared the chainstay with room to spare. This is childsplay:

Right then, Drive side crank - let's get motoring:

Fuck.

I'm sorry, but fuck. That's a dissapointment.

Now I'm definitely done for the day. I'm off to RTFM with a glass of Red Wine.

Sheldon, paging Sheldon, where are you?

one word

Shimano

Originally Super Record / Nuovo Record strada chainsets came with a 114mm axle

I know I need to find a more suitable Bar / Stem combo

FWIW this current setup looks excellent. What are you changing about it?

Originally Super Record / Nuovo Record strada chainsets came with a 114mm axle

Thanks for that, saved me some research, now down to some drinking.

FWIW this current setup looks excellent. What are you changing about it?

I am pretty sure I will be going for a Cinelli 1a Stem in silver. In fact I have just ordered one from Wiggle, where they are on sale.

The black XA Stem does look pretty good, but it really needs to be matchd wih black seatpost, and the silver SR seatpost is superb. Besides, the black XA has been earmarked for another build.

That'll look very nice.

I'd go for a black stem (silver post) personally. That's what the hottest bikes in the 80s Gios catalogues had.

You'll eventually want/need some panto.

I reckon I will be able to resist the urge for Panto.

However, the search for the correct bottom bracket has led me to discover that Nigel at Campy Oldy has NOS bars wrapped in either white or black Almanarc leather.

Now that is going to be difficult to resist.

Oh wee. Dis' gonna be good. Lusted for a blue Gios since the day i popped out.