Fondriest Steel Track

So, I just bought this this.

Late 90s Fondriest steel track frame with Dedacciai Optima tubing. Total weight for frame and forks is 2625g.

I gotta say, I'm not quite sure where to go with this. The frame is so colourful that I'm not really sure what components would look good on there.

I'm pretty sure I'd like to get some Nitto B105AA drops for it. Should I stick with just black saddle and bar tape? I wonder if any kind of colour would just look ridiculous.

Also I have a bit of a soft spot for the h+son tb14s, which I'm thinking of having built up with some high flange hubs and gumwall tyres. Again I'm not quite sure if they'd fit, or maybe some archetype rims would be better instead?

Ah, questions...

Lovely frame, but it's really hard to match a coloured saddle and bartape nicely with the colour of the frame.
Your idea actually sounds quite nice. Nitto drops with black bartape, a classic saddle (concor or rolls orso) and the wheels sound really nice.

With dark components the frame colour will shout out, which is nice.

I was thinking more all silver components with white saddle and tape to accent the the white fades on the seat tube..

Altough saying that, you can't go wrong with black.

Get Wharry to knock up some yellow-on-yellow harlequin for you. :) (And a black saddle.)

I guess the frame is too modern for cloth tape.

Black seatpost

Black stem

Silver bars

Black tape (or cinelli Cinelli Caleido, or orange cloth tape)

Silver cranks and rings

Black/grey ano rims, silver hubs, silver spokes

I think the depth of the archetype’s would be good. Especially if you go with a sensible spoke count and lacing pattern (no silly front +32h radials). The yellow tape is too obvious (blue also), but cloth tape is fine.

Thanks for all your comments! It's becoming pretty clear that there are lots of directions I could take with the build.

Although I like the idea of white saddle/bartape, the lack of practicality would be a problem, I guess this would apply to yellow as well.

That yellow harlequin looks nice (the bike as well, link?), although I kind of agree with nutjesmoar that it looks like it would belong on something a bit more vintage.

Trying to match the saddle/bartape colour with the frame would probably be difficult and it might end up looking really strange if it's off.

Although I like what rat-racer did with his saddle here:

I also worry that having any kind of bright colour on the saddle/bartape would just put it over the top when combined with the colours of the frame.

I really like the idea of the Cinelli Caleido bartape, that would be a nice and subtle detail.

Also, not quite sure what to do about cranks. I was thinking of getting the BLB Super Pista, but wondering if they look too oldschool.

On the other hand I can get new Omniums for £130, which is really tempting, but they might look too modern.

I'm slightly confused about the late 90s look and what parts would be appropriate for the frame.

I'd first decide if you're going to commit to being period correct. If you're not then don't worry too much and just get what's function and doesn't look out of place.

I think silver Omniums would look fine. DA and S75's pretty much always look good, but are ridiculously pricey.

At the end of the day its a lugged steal frame, so it will look good either way.

Hmm, yes. I don't think I'll go period correct, then I'd probably have to get italian components as well and it'd just end up being ridiculously expensive.

My main concern would be not putting parts on that look out of place.

I guess I'll go with the Omniums, as there isn't really anything which comes close with regards to price/performance, as far as I can tell.

I also came across the Cinelli Giro d'Italia bars, which look very similar in shape to the Nitto B105. I'm thinking that together with the A1 stem and the Caleido bar tape that could make for a nice cockpit? With the added benefit of being italian and cheaper than Nitto.

It's all a bit tongue in cheek, but there is usually more than a little sense at the heart of the Velominati rules.

Pardon my interrupting, but where can you get Omniums for 130?

Pardon my interrupting, but where can you get Omniums for 130?

I found them cheapest from here: http://www.cycle-aix.de/SRAM-Kurbelgarnitur-Omnium-Track-MirrorBlack-165-48-GXP-mit-BB, which I then got http://www.bike-mailorder.de to price match, since they're near where I live. Not sure if cycle-aix ship internationally, but I'm pretty sure bike-mailorder do.

It's all a bit tongue in cheek, but there is usually more than a little sense at the heart of the Velominati rules.

Certainly a lot of truth in that! In this case (I know it isn't supposed to be taken literally, but fun to speculate) it would mean blue saddle/tape, which I'm not convinced about. Pretty sure I'm going either yellow or black.

I have a pair of black Planet-x clincher wheels and a black Turbo saddle I can use for a quick buildup. I'll have to try those, which should give a fairly good idea of where to go from there.

So, currently the biggest issue is bars and stem.

I found them cheapest from here: http://www.cycle-aix.de/SRAM-Kurbelgarnitur-Omnium-Track-MirrorBlack-165-48-GXP-mit-BB, which I then got http://www.bike-mailorder.de to price match, since they're near where I live. Not sure if cycle-aix ship internationally, but I'm pretty sure bike-mailorder do.

Thank you sir! I am in the process of moving abroad and will be building a new bike when I arrive. Been putting together some trustworthy mail order places. Thanks for the tips.

Nice frame.
I'd like to suggest dp18's, pink benotto and garish green rolls, please.

Nice frame.
I'd like to suggest dp18's, pink benotto and garish green rolls, please.

Haha, I'm not quite sure I'd be able to handle the 90'stasticness.

Where abouts do you live? I rode up to the Bike-Mailorder warehouse yesterday, they seem to be good people to deal with as well.

I would put a vote in for yellow bar tape, I had the Bontrager cork tape on an old bike and got on well with that.

Also seeing as it's steel and lugged, high flange and gumwalls (Paselas, or Challenge Criterium) would look great.

I'm in Berlin, Kreuzberg, so it's something like a 12k ride to bike-mailorder, are you in Berlin as well?

The frame is currently in customs, so I should hopefully recieve it early next week.

I'm pretty hooked on getting the grey anodized h+son tb14s to be honest. No doubt high-flange (thought about h+son archetypes) would look good. I'm just thinking that the tb14s would be more versatile if I sometime in the future decide to use them for another build. It seems you can stick them (goes for any dark box section rim I guess) on almost anything from classic steel to alu frames and they look good. I also think the braking surface doesn't look as strange when it gets worn on a box rim, because there's no unworn material right next to it, so it isn't as obvious.

Gumwalls definitely sound nice, seems like the Paselas are pretty highly rated. Does anyone have any experience with the puncture protection on those? Currently running Re-fuses which I'm very happy with, haven't had a puncture yet.

Frame just arrived, very pleased, it's in better condition than I expected. A few scratches here and there, but most of the frame looks pretty much new.

So, I did a quick mockup with parts I had lying around:

Planet-x wheels:

Ratty front-wheel, just to see what it looks like with box rims and gumwalls:

Quick potato chop of the Planet-x wheels:

So, not really sure where to go from here. Any thoughts about using the Planet-x wheels are definitely gone, because they look terrible on there. So it's pretty clear I need new wheels.

The photoshop doesn't look bad, but is hardly realistic, as I need a front brake, so it wouldn't be long before the front wheel wouldn't look anything like that anymore.

I think a decent compromise is a box-ish section with a braking surface, a la Ambrosio Excellence, or perhaps Excellight being slightly less boxy, but very nice with the gum walls.

I'm up in Friedrichshain/Lichtenberg, so even closer to the Bike-Mailorder place.

Personally I'd try and source some nice box rims with high flange hubs, something like these:

https://www.lfgss.com/thread89961.html

Did you go for Omniums in the end?

These wheels are nice too, I think that in general the charcoal-coloured Mavic rims work really well with gumwalls:

https://www.lfgss.com/thread89982.html#post3021608

Yes, I ordered the Omniums 6 days ago. They weren't in stock, so I'll have to be patient :)

To help decide on wheels, I've decided to do Photoshop mockups of (almost) every possible wheel/tyre combination I could think of. They're not terribly accurate, but should give an idea of what would look good.

1. Black deep section rim with braking surface and black tyres. Pretty much the Planet-x wheels I already have.
   
   

1. Black deep section rim (black archetypes) with black tyre.
   
   

1. Anodized deep section rim (anodized archetypes) with gumwalls.
   
   

1. Black deep section rim (black archetypes) with gumwalls.
   
   

1. Black rim with braking surface and gumwalls (kind of like the excellight Philpub posted, although I guess these are a bit deeper).
   
   

1. Anodized box rims (anodized tb14, open pro cd) with gumwalls.
   
   

1. Silver box rims with gumwalls.
   
   

So what do you guys think?

If the frames not drilled for brakes, and the wheels are just for this, then I wouldn't bother getting machined surfaces... And I have a thing for gumwalls so I may be a little biased