Fleet of Grief

Thanks for everyones support and condolences.

This De Rosa Aerodynamica Pista arrived the other day, I'd been watching it on eBay for a month or so, and as mad as it sounds I felt a bit sorry for it, was built up with fair-enough parts but it looked fucking hideous,

Anyways, as soon as it arrived I put some more track biased parts on it to give it a little dignity back,
It's become my favourite bike, quite enjoying searching for worn-in parts to match it's knackered paint,
I could restore it but it always seems a shame, I like a survivor...

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And this Nagasawa arrived yesterday,
It's not finished as I don't like the White seat/grips, so I'm thinking about ordering a Black Kashimax Aero Suede and some Soyo Black grips,
Build is all NJS as far as my limited knowledge knows, everything has the NJS stamp anyways,
Some parts were from the white Samson, dunno whether to keep the Samson or not,
Pedals were NOS boxed, from UK Ebay!! they weren't even listed as NJS but the stamp is there,

Sparkly paint is very sparkly.

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Woah! Those two are both stunning.

Lovely builds - don’t know much about track bikes but they look the biz.
Are there any velodromes in steel city that you could give them a blast on?

Cheers!

I've never ridden any of them, I tried to ride a fixed gear bike years ago and hated it,theres have an electric mtb that I ride every now and again, would love to visit a velodrome though,

These things are just aesthetic objects to me, I like the bare simplicity of them, I find them elegant I guess, they'll find other homes eventually, I'm just a custodian for a while, the Colnago will be the last to go,

thanks again for peoples kind words,

You should make the trip to Manchester or derby with one of those. Manchester has the indoor bmx and a pump track in the park next door so you could give the whole fleet a good time!

As an aside- Have you heard of ‘ride for charlie’? Nick Craig set it up after his son died suddenly. Great charity helping support young bike riders. I’m sure nick would correspond if you felt it might help, or put you in touch with someone more local.

Great looking Bikes, the De Rosa Aerodynamica Pista is a stunner and I agree that it looks way better with some Patina, definitely don't repaint it :) Not sure if period correct is your goal or not but I thought I'd share some info on two of your campagnolo seatpost. The Seatpost on the De Rosa is a late 80s Chorus Seatpost, a fluted Super Record with 1 Bolt would be the period correct option.

While the seatpost on the Colnago looks very similar to the one above, just without the fluting, it actually is a later Campagnolo Record model which was part of the 8 speed Record groupset in the mid 90s.

The period correct option would be the same 1-bolt fluted super record seatpost as the one above. Unfortuantely these are quite hard to find in 27.2 these days...

Fresh built Gangsta,

Back on the build again.

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God I remember reading your opening post 3 years back and it was like a punch to the guts. I hope you are doing ok.

Also, that is a well nice gangsta.

Nice cranks. Are they 170? Hard to find

Thank you as always, I keep going, it is what it is,

Bikes and riding everyday is all I do now, keeps me alive to be fair,

I ride this the most, day and night, earbuds in, solace,

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Still have the Super Pista, I doubt I'll ever sell it, most beautiful bike I ever had.

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And this Yeti SB140 I built in the lockdowns,

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Finished the De Rosa a while back too,

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175mm,

I'd intended either Profile BMX cranks or Sugino 75's but these were on eBay and were cheap at like £50, and there happened to be a NOS ring on there in the correct BCD for £20 so they ticked the pretty and cheap boxes,

And this lovely Bob Read,

Was on Ebay for pennies so I bid and won it, drove to Donny to collect and it turned out that the old guy that raced it for years had passed away and his nephew just wanted rid of it and was clearing the old lads house out,
He gave me a pile of NOS parts and wheels and stuff, sold most of it, so the bike needed up being free,
Was klarted with oil , dust and cobwebs,
Complete strip down, thorough clean and rebuild, new tape for the bars and a era correct-is saddle from the bay, t-cut the paint and waxed with high end carnuba,
Tyres still held air,
Had a little custom name sticker made with the owners name on,
Reg Nichols R.I.P

Welcome to the fleet of grief,

I might hang myself next week so who knows,

It is what it is.

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It was a flood that wrecked this heart.

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Your taste in two wheels is “chefs kiss”. Just supreme.

Last one,

This was for sale cheap on FB marketplace, was in a right state,
Stripped it down, binned most of the finishing kit, rattled canned it, some eBay stickers,
Wiggle sale for the other bits it needed, what can I say, the black dog was in, I needed a little project to keep me from the razors, fuck knows what I'll do with it,

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This is the bike @Dammit should have built. Absolutely amazing.

You’re building some ace bikes, the Brooklyn especially, it’s like a big version of the bmxs on page one.

Hope to see another update in 3 years time, eagerly awaiting.

Thank you, it's just what comes along to be completely honest, I'm a bike magpie,

Everyone needs a hobby eh? keeps me from tying up my GF's,

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Did you ever build the look from the first page?

Frame - 2022 Levo S-works size 4
Forks - Factory 38's with Burgtec axle, Fox mudguard,
Wheels - Roval Traverse Carbon 27.5 - Michelin Wild AM 2.4 tyres, Muc-off valves
Brakes - Hope V4 - Titanium mount bolts, Titanium pad carriers
Rotors - Hope Floating 200mm - Titanium bolts
Levers - Hope Tech 3 - Titanium bolts - Titanium reservoir bolts
Rear derailleur - Sram XX1 AXS - Sram XX1 Shifter - Titanium Mount bolt - Sram XX1 chain - Sram XX1 Cassette
Pedals - Burgtec Penthouse Flats
Seat - Specialized Power with Mirror
Post - Fox Factory 200mm - Wolf tooth Lever
Grips - Chromag Clutch 150mm
Clamp - Specialized - Titanium bolt
Stem - Burgtec Enduro - Titanium bolts
Bars - Burgtec DH Carbon
Cage - S-Works Carbon - Titanium bolts
Rear axle - Burgtec

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