F. Moser aero lightweight build

Hey guys,

I wanted to show you my latest (finished) project. It's a 1983 F. Moser Modello Profil size 57 c-c

I bought 4 years ago. This was the condition I found it:

There were rests of paint, soldering flux agent, some rust, ... All in all not a great condition, but managable.

First, I checked for all the threads, shifting tube guards and so on, all fine.
I then took the frame to an electroplater to get it decoated, mirror polished (exept for the extra thin main tubes) and chromed again. This all took a few weeks and much more money I was expecting, but I think it was worth it:

A friend and I then moved on painting that beauty. I chose a nice chocolate brown, a less dark brown for the lower tube sides and an awful lot of detailing. We had some work to do hiding the parts that were not supposed to see paint:

I continuously searched for lightweight parts of that era to go with the bike. You get to see those I am most proud of finding or working with:

You see an ALES crankset from south Italy with drilled chainwheels and aluminium chain bolts. Also a tuned Concor Superleggera that was old and rugged before, so no loss there. I had a friend tuning my 1st gen Huret Jubilee rear derailleur with aluminium bolts and Shimano pulleys. I meanwhile needed to use a cracked clamp-on Huret fd and a Campa SR braze-on part to create a braze on Huret FD. I also had a factory one that unfortunatly didn't work with the frame mount.

I also used a SR ESL stem which is shortened and had a clamp mechanism tuning to be more safe than before. Of course it houses a 3ttt Superleggero. I fitted a Regina SL chain, Maillard Dural freewheel, CLB Professional brakes and brake line tubing and an ALES seat tube. The wheelset is a set of Pelissier hubs on Araya TitaAce rims and Conti tubulars. The total weight came down to 7.27 kg.

I am absoultley happy with the finished bike but I still need to shorten the handlebar by 1-2 cm each side, shorten the seat post, get my hands on the FD again as it sits a little too far back and still needs a little more support in itself. Also I still have a set of American Hi-E hubs lying around I will create a lighter wheelset from. I hope to maybe cut the 7 kg mark with a still ridable 1983 steel frame bike. I will tell you when news happen here :)

Also, the Elger pedals used for the photos are just borrowed as my own still need new spindles to be lathed from titanium and new shoe plates to be drilled.

I am eager to see what you think and what other impulses you have on the bike. Maybe you have some nice old parts lying around you like to see on it? ;)

I am especially happy about all the people I met and worked with during the build I wouldn't have met hadn't I chosen to make this build.

What a beauty. My mate has a rusty moser i need to show him your transformation.

Thanks! I might be lucky to catch a well soldered frame from Trentino. I have heard some fellows having trouble with the building quality of those. Seems there has been an era towards the mid/end 80s the frames haven‘t been as good as mine is.

V. nice!

Wow! Awesome.

Cool, nice build.
@Lesente should like this

So good!

yes, very very nice, great colour choice.

I had one of those Huret Jubilee rear derailleurs, wish I never sold it, shifting was solid as well as design. Great colour and finish on this.

Thanks for all your replies! Yes she's definitely a beauty and I am happier every day I see it. Haven't had. a longer ride this year but with all the refining work done I am looking forward to a ride early spring next year when the first nice days come around.
@user80495 the Jubilee definitely were some of the best working parts in precision shifting in those days and certainly the lightest. We had to drill a third hole for the sproket cage spring to build enough tension but I am happy I found one and about the work on it.

lovely!

Love that saddle.

@Poetic thanks that especially took some time. In 1982 a German technician named Hans Christian Smolik created a bike from a Magni ICS steel frame that weighed in at only 5.9 kg. He used only available parts he tuned so they keep their function but become much lighter. I used his book for inspiration on the saddle. You can see some pics here . Its actually on sale if you have 20.000 € lying around ;)

I've seen that, think my non existent 20k would go on something else though. What did you do to the saddle?

ripping the old leather and pad off, file the thicker parts of the plastic base form and shorten it, renew with nappa leather. You won't believe how long it took to get a good shape and loose enough material. Besides the weight loss (250g to 179g) Smolik claims the ride comfort gets much better as the saddle flexes a bit more like a brooks leather saddle. We'll have to see.

Absolute beauty.

Holy!

amazing stuff really!
well done on the paint and detailings, are those stickers or painted over with masks?
nice little details around the BB area, were those two brazed on cable stoppers part of the original frame?

@anidel thanks! The cable stoppers were original parts of the frame, the same stopper holds the cable housing for the rear derailleur. I like that solution very much too!
Some of the more complex details (World Championship stripes i.e) are decals under clear coating, the rest of the details (Moser name and also the Italian flag stripes on the chain stays) are painted. We plotted masks for the Moser Name parts, the Italian flag stripes were painted by hand.

Amazing job!

Very well done!

I love that colour. Tight sir, very tight.

Very nice! the smolik magni is a stunning bike, love those retro weight weenie projects. Do you know if there's a pdf version of his book somewhere online?

@Sig_Arlecchino if you hand me your email address I could... ;)

That would be great! you have a pm :)