Romet Track

This build was a nightmare from the very beginning.
I found this Romet Specjal from 1987 on allegro.pl [polish auction website].
After getting in touch with the seller, the frame was on my way from Poland.
Romet Specjal was another model Romet Workshops was producing from early 70's till middle 90's after Romet Super, tubing was not Columbus SL or SLX, I believed mine to be Reynolds or some inferior Columbus.
Been browsing couple of polish bike-dedicated online boards, to get hold of original stickers and logos - wanted to get it quite similar to the original period correct build, or at least the look.
The frame had some sort of ugly-navy matt powder coating on it, and the forks were black for some reason... So I knew I will need to take that baby to armourtex at some point.
From the beginning I loved the lugwork on that, reminded me of a kvant I saw on ebay the other day - similar to Long Shen, but a little bit more rounded - surely somebody on here knows the brand/type name?

Either way, the frame came with a headset I have never seen before. Took a removal tool, but the cups were too thin to be caught from inside by the tool. "Oh well" I thought, and simply gave it to my lbs.
Then, armourtex. I wanted the color to be as close to the original as possible, so I went for a RAL 5015. But to keep it a little bit personal too, I also decided to go for amethyst flakes on top of that.
This is how it turned out:

pretty nice, but the purple shine is visible only when its bright and nice outside - which I realized afterwards.

Anyway, I knew I will get something like that eventually long time before that, so I started to collect bits couple of months before that.
First of all, Campagnolo Pista crankset. Thats one of the older models, however the condition is pretty nice anyway.

By looking at it, some of you may already see the first problem I was not aware of at that time. Will explain later.

So, then it was time for a seat post. Frame came with a seat post, but it looked like it was raped by Megatron, all zigzagged and tatty. I didn't have any info on the seat post size, so had to go with trial-and-error method. I had 27.2 at home, so tried that one out. Didn't work. But as the difference was very small, I thought well, maybe 27.0 then?
Bought a Dura Ace seat post from Hilly Ben full of hopes [at that time this and wheels was everything that kept me away from building it up].
27 didnt fit either... I passed it to second dibser in line from original thread, so at least I had my money back. I was quite bedazzled, as from then the seat posts come in every .2 of a mm - 26.8, 26.6, 26.4, etc. I decided to give it to my lbs again, to have it measured. They gave me a range or 26.8 - 26.2, so as well nothing too specific..
decided to go for 26.8 as I could always file it down to the right size of something. Well thats what I thought, anyway. God I was wrong...
Found one aero campag for a decent price on german ebay [hint - "sattelstutze" attracts less attention than "seat post", and when you start a listing with no reserve attention is what you need], so that was on the way.
I managed to spot a nice 50t chainring in here:

so went to meet Andy.
after that, I realized that my cranks, as being from late 70's, have a 151bcd instead of 144...
this is how it looked like:

at that time I already started to see that face, looking at me from behind the whole project...

Got hold of Campag Pista BB, and then I remembered there was one chap from Norths who offered his help with any kind of heavy-tool related work, including drilling and such.
I got in touch with him, and he milled the chainring holes so they could accommodate both sized chainrings. I really was already fed up with swapping and chasing the right parts, mind all this was going for already 2 months...
Found a headset too. Headset that actually was used by polish teams back in 80s, in a NOS condition. Looks a little bit like Campag Athena/Chorus, so seemed to be ideal.

You think it fitted? Of course not. But to make things even more complicated, it was not the JIS/ISO conflict. the crown race was 26.4, it was even stamped on it - it was just loose on the steerer. So the steerer would need an even smaller race in diameter. But lets leave that for now.

Seatpost arrived. Wrong size. I didn't want to get into debate about whats wrong with it, so I simply gave it to Chris again, together with the original seat post as a reference.
Chris got back to me the same day, saying there is a problem. The problem was, the original seat post was oval, not round anymore - due to the distorted seat tube. Blimey... So Chris filed down campag on two sides, so that it was similar to the shape of the tube. I tried to put it in, didn't quite work. It fitted in the seat tube, but wayyy above the minimum insertion line.
but I had all the bits, so it was time to at least try to build it up..
Apolloxl came by yesterday morning, along with some tools I didn't have and sugar in a plastic bag [flatmate on holiday, so there was only half of a pizza in the fridge and leftover coffee with no sugar!].
The shit was on.

Bottom Bracket. The powder layer was so thick, we actually had to file down a bit of paint from both sides of the bb shell, so the lockring had at least 2 or 3 thread lines to hold to. Probably it will need some facing as well, but at least the lockring is on now.
one of the lovely frame details:

Then, headset....
well as it was loose, a quick consultation with Julian from Micycles was necessary. He said he had the same problem, and he simply just used a shim for the race. We did it without, but we also decided to tighten the top nut as hard as possible, until there was no play. Worked a charm, but I will give it a little check from time to time anyway.

seatpost - we managed to fit the bugger in. all greased, with the Concor combo it came in just to the point when it was perfect for me, not too high and not too low. Coincidentally, it wouldn't move below that. Felt good ha!
We had to saw a bit of a seat pin off, because it was too long - but that felt like a minor problem after all what I have been through..

note the "made in italy" line - its just above the insertion line!

so that is how it stands right now. Wheels came off bridgestone, which will get some araya and 7600 treatment. The good thing is, should I ever want to make this build sensible, I can simply swap out the wheels and its pretty much spot on. *If * though, I am very happy with it so far, despite low mileage [that will change soon].

note how far away the wheel is in trackends, yet still a paper-thin clearance on the seat tube.. swapping the tyres out for 19s may be considered in the future.
So, I just need some original decals and thats it...

big thanks to apolloxl and chriscofferson, guys without your help that would be hell more difficult.. if possible at all.
both repped.

Really nice man! Slavee

done!

I really want a Romet tarck frame. :( If anyone sees one around the 53cm mark please hit a brutha up.

Bydgoszcz fo' life.

Great write up!

nice one man

Sick sick sick, great read, and dispite the issues it really looks like it was worth it. The wheels really suit it too. And that clearance is awesome. what size is the rear tyre?

oh yeah, and thanks for the free breakfast ;)

nice, great looking bike, all your issues remind me of my journey when building my romet super track!

there are always bad surprises but in the end it's worth it :-)

^ That looks about my size. You selling that any time soon? ;)

hehe, already sold 2 months ago, sorry don't want to hijack this thread!

ftfy - that picture was huge and gross indeed!

Sick sick sick, great read, and dispite the issues it really looks like it was worth it. The wheels really suit it too. And that clearance is awesome. what size is the rear tyre?

23c! it was definitely not build for 23s:)

nice, great looking bike, all your issues remind me of my journey when building my romet super track!

there are always bad surprises but in the end it's worth it :-)

Thanks!
I know, I feel both pleased and relieved its over now.
And shortly after you've sold yours I have seen somebody nipping on it on upper street, looked lovely in flesh!
Also, very similar build choice seatpost and cranks-wise. Great minds eh?

oh yeah, and thanks for the free breakfast ;)

yeah yeah. you still owe me 12 quid!
(:

Worth the effort I think, nice one.

Will look even better with decals tho

yeah yeah. you still owe me 12 quid!
(:

Fix your paypal or reply to my PM asking you for your bank details ;)

Looks lovely. Those clearances are incredible. Good to see the bike finished. Hopefully see you go flying past me on it sometime.

very beautiful bike & choice of paint+flakes, love the headset.
spoke pattern on the rear not so much though.

Impressive :)

How does it climb?

Just seen this, lovely build. Have you considered having the 'Romet' painted in on the seatstay tops?

Gareth here i bet would do a nice job
http://www.lfgss.com/thread86876.html

^defo!
just need to make my mind on the decal colours first though..

I'd go with Henry Ford on that

Oh, cheers Ben!
Yes, that should be very easy. (I'd use enamel for it, btw).

@Ben: second layer currently drying... looks really nice now : )
Will be in touch soon re. pick up