Gazzetta Rat Slave

After a brief discussion about the new Gazzetta's boring looking fork, LukeyP offered to sell me his for good money and a couple of days ago this arrived:

I was pleasantly surprised with the finish as Luke has sent me a message concerning how, having packed the frame, the damage to the paint was worse than he initially thought. Gazzetta paint is piss poor and it's actually not that bad with the non drive side being pretty much fine. Came fitted with a Cane Creek branded Tange LAV-82 headset.

As this is to be a pretty student-y, poverty spec build, I took a lot of parts from my universally loathed Pre Cursa. The RD2s went in with a 48t Gebhardt ring and I also planned to use the 103mm Sugino BB. Three years of daily abuse and neglect in all weather had left the unit(still spinning buttery smooth) in shite basically and was well stuck.

Gross.

A few taps from the gentle persuader saw it come away finally and revealed a whole lot of pitting:

Still structurally and functionally fine, I gave it a once over and in it jolly well went.

Turbo for 20 beans in the Kinoko sale, knew i needed something more fitting and less racer-ish than the tatty BeOne I had been using.

Wheelset for now is DP18s to formulas which have served me very well so far. The Gazzetta fork ends have the little nubs for keeping your wheel in but the track nuts are too big in diameter and reach over the nubs, making cranking the axle down evenly basically impossible. Anyone ran into this issue before? Smaller nuts would cure it but seems a bit strange/ silly. You can kind of see what i mean in this supplementary image:

Almost STS on first fitting, sweet. Small spacer for now. Check the near knackered bolts on the Thomson the div I bought it off never told me about. Anyone know a good place to get a ti replacement kit? Onwards and upwards.

Test fit with BeOne saddle, alright but not quite right.

Better:

To come: Thomson Inline, risers with an ID that can actually fit bar ends. Either Nitto RB010s or the other two similar ones from Nitto, want to have a relaxed drop bullhorn to interchange. Have FSA Veros and 70mm Deda Zero in the post for another project, might try them on this first though.

Down the road: Ellipses would be nice, coming from the Pre Cursa I'll have to see how I get on with the extra pudge of steel.

That's well good. Sure you need the inline? Not a very big reach for the size of the bike.

I've got that track nut/ dropout tab issue on one of my bikes. I'm planning to file down the tabs but haven't gotten around to it yet (it's a summer bike really, so I've not been riding it of late).

I think track nuts with smaller diameter captive washers are available, since I randomly have one in my parts box, but I've no idea where it's from! A bit of googling suggested that campagnolo 'nuts might be a solution but I've not seen any proper evidence to back that up.

What's the Geoff these TT looks tiny?

That's well good. Sure you need the inline? Not a very big reach for the size of the bike.

Thank you. You're probably right, as a fixi skidder puff bag I like the sit up and beg.

I've got that track nut/ dropout tab issue on one of my bikes. I'm planning to file down the tabs but haven't gotten around to it yet (it's a summer bike really, so I've not been riding it of late).

I think track nuts with smaller diameter captive washers are available, since I randomly have one in my parts box, but I've no idea where it's from! A bit of googling suggested that campagnolo 'nuts might be a solution but I've not seen any proper evidence to back that up.

Ah right I'll just file them then. Needed to hear someone else's take on it to know I'm not being an idiot.

afaik
ST 58CTT
TT 55CTC

If it's just little tabs (lawyer tabs, I think they're unofficially called) then I can't see any issue with grinding them down. Other than the obvious, they won't stop a QR skewer dropping out if not properly tightened. Not that that would be relevant for your build.

If the raised 'ridge' goes all the way around the dropout then it might be a different issue though. Doesn't look like it, but I can't quite tell from the photo.

They're just at the edge and aren't prominent at all so it'll be fine I reckon. Truly a curious addition for the frame's purpose.

Compact drop setup arrived today with sum chainz. Gonna try and hungover-ly wrap these bars tonight or give up and do it tomorrow.

this is really really bloody nice.
good effort.
I love good budget builds

Nice build.
Gazetta is one of the most comfortable frames I've ever rode.
Good balance with track and street geometry.
How does it feel?

front/center is real short. your pedals look like they are almost clipping the front wheel. I thought the 52cm was only like that, didn't realise the bigger frames also have the same tight geo.

this is really really bloody nice.
good effort.
I love good budget builds

Cheers mate! Yeah it's all about that thrifty student buzz but making things work out nice in the end. Or something.

Nice build.
Gazetta is one of the most comfortable frames I've ever rode.
Good balance with track and street geometry.
How does it feel?

Feels good man. Pottered down to the bank and can definitely notice a difference in comfort between this and the Pre Cursa. Whilst I was very much taken with the stiffness and sharpness of the Dolan the bit of spring that the Cinelli has to it is lovely. Had planned to take it out on a roughly 40-50k spin to christen it properly but alas, it pissed. Stayed in and worked on an essay instead.

front/center is real short. your pedals look like they are almost clipping the front wheel. I thought the 52cm was only like that, didn't realise the bigger frames also have the same tight geo.

I'm not new to overlap nor does it particularly bother me but this is definitely the tightest ride I've had so far yeah. Heh.

I also fitted the Zero1 and the compacts and taped them up. Had never taped a drop bar before so I didn't want to fuck it up cos the Fizik tape isn't cheap enough to not get it right first time. I was pretty happy with how it came out though it's not totally consistent in terms of the size of the folds but it's smooth and 99% bump free.

Even from the short spin today I can tell it's not set up perfect yet. Discomfort built quite quickly in my upper back/ shoulders when in the drops. Maybe this is because I'm totally unused to riding in a drop position, I'm not sure.

Went for a short night spin a couple of nights ago after a couple minor adjustments and the bike felt great.

Got a package off CNC yest with some SPD pedals and padded shorts so truly was a week of firsts. Lashed the new cleats on and headed out to try them out, will probably make some adjustments in the coming days but they seemed okay and left the pedal tension as it was out of the box. The Turbo worked better with the padding, starting to think it might be a padded shorts type saddle for me but will give it the benefit of the doubt a little while longer.

Great bike, great kitchen.

2 years on and still enjoying the hell out of this bike. Few changes made like a slimmer saddle and longer stem but apart from that more or less exactly the same, bars are a couple of degrees out of whack. Got a few bits in the post that will tart it up a bit but in two minds as to stick them on this or build up a 54 Seta I bought a few months ago as a Sunday best. The Cinelli has served me well as a daily as well as for weekend blasts so might sell the Seta if there's interest.

Messaged you buddy

Some better pictures:

such a shame they stopped usin them forks.

Definitely, will prob make it a bit easier to shot it when the time comes.

Picked up some Ellipses from @George_Sportif (cheers mate!) and some Omniums. Dropped from 48/19 to 48/17 again, loving it on the move but gonna throw the 19 back on as scrubbing speed is too poxy a process every time and my RLJing days are in the past now.

Braking surface needs another coat or two of permanent marker.

What happened?!

I guess he stripped the paint and is running it bare. me likey. although ild threat it with oil or a clearcoat though..