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Just I've got no drill and the bars weren't drilled at the other ends for cable entry, and i wanted to keep the neon plug so no down the ends routing. And wanted to get it up and running before tomorrow.

Thanks, the colour matching didn't go quite as well with the kit.

Look at this shit show, don't think my OCD will permit me to wear this mismatched garb unless heavily sedated.

50 shades of yellow, like a collection of pro peloton urine samples.

Fashionably late to the lo pro party, I just finished this ex team steel Pinarello Mercatone uno from about 93/94/95.

Regular practical Shamal clinchers for everyday use, and the Ghibli tub disc for pretending to be Lauren Fignon or Cippolini....ps I think this is from the same era as the famous pic of Cippolini smoking during/before/after a race.

And for full speedy days I've got a Ghibli tub for popping out to get some artisanal overpriced coffee at supersonic speeds :)

And the positive off all that pissing about by customs was it allowed me time to source the bits I didn't have.

I had a stack of 10 speed bits so that was the obvious route. To me shiny is always better than black so predominantly silver build, but I had the carbon cranks so fancied them on this over a more traditional silver crank.

I did get some aero bars, but in London that is not very practical. My ideal solution is some 10 speed campag ergos on bullhorns, but I've yet to see a satisfactory cabling option without big loopy cables out front. I don't know anything about fishing or sailing but figure there's got to me a widgety thingamee thing that can stealthily and tidily route the cables and still have good shifting. But until I figure that I'm just going to blat about with bullhorns for a bit and see how that pans out.

And so after an extended delay and much waffle, this afternoon I finally finished putting it together.....

....I was aware that 650c tyre options were limited, the modern 28c fatter options were never available, and I couldn't even find any gumwalls at all in 25c or 23c, so had to made do with some black Conti gp400's.

But now what, I dont even own a lo-pro, so like mashton and his build a bike around a saddle, now I had to build a bike around these wheels. Months roll by as super sick rad lo pro's in large size are few and far between.

One has been winking at me Italy, but post Brexit import fees and charges put me off, but it's on my watch list and keeps nudging me every time I wander into ebay on wet weekday evenings. A few drinks deep again and impulse offer is made, and the next day to my surprise is accepted.

Roll by another 6 weeks of customs fuckwittery and general ineptitude, handling fees and then finally a large package with Italian papers arrives, my favourite kind.

And so a few decades late to the lo pro party, I'm a member of da club. It's a steel Pinarello team Mercatone Uno team bike from I think 1993/4/5. It has no tubing decals but seems a mix, the 3 main triangle tubes are like oversized gilco tubes, with a distinct tear drop shape with quite a sharp edge on the teardrop tail. The pointy bit of the teardrop on the top tube and down tube point towards the inside of the frame, while the seattube has the pointy side pointing towards the rear of the bike. I've never understood Pinarello tubing, they seem to have all sorts of ones I've never see anyone else use like dolmen and kens, so don't know what assortment this is. The fork looks a bit like Columbus Air to me, but no idea really. The bottom bracket has some mini webbing gussets and frame has R.Petito on it and was told it was Roberto Petito's. Bit before my time so I'd not heard of him but wiki says he has been top 5 in Flanders and Roubaix and did win Tirreno Adriatico once.

Anyway yadda yadda here's some pics.....

The original shiny Shamals that aren't thrashed and destroyed or hilariously ambitiously priced are kryponite to me.

And lo it came to pass one wet windy Tuesday evening a few drinks deep I made an impulse buy on eBay, and within a week these arrived...

Thanks mate. Despite being under the radar as the greyest bike in the world it's very much in the goldilocks zone for me, Max fork, 30c tyres, 30 gears, 30 inch waist...30 years ago..;)

Yeah groan 6 months of rain here we go.

The season for tanwall Vittoria's is over, dark poo brown gp5000's season is upon us. Or simply leave your Vittoria's on, for they soon will be pooh brown all over.

Managed to squeeze 30c tyres into mine, which is pretty fortunate for a frame from 1996.

Haha. I know, I shouldn't be in here either.

Don't resist, go for it :)

Nice, always liked the design of them, can't be many left now.

And in the not many left Fiat theme. Saw this Fiat Chroma CHT which how many left says has only 3 left registered, the rest just good for straining pasta now.

Also spotted as clean a Panda 4x4 Sisley as you'll ever see, a Jenson convertible and a 60 year old Ford Corsair.

I'd go with bdhu, white Flite, white pedals, silver brake calipers, silver cages and silver Shamals for full zing, or some silver chorus/record hubs laced to silver rims and tanwall tyres if the Shamals are unobtanium/too spendy.

Screams HHSRB potential, too small for me, sexy straight fork and rear monostay on this lovely Vernon Barker

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/266939854237?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=6yNQ0Ja6TbK&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=wfLFMo2-TcC&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Yes Thailand I think.

Wonder what the minimum order is to persuade one of them to do a run of gumwall 650c's....650c'ers assemble!

I did read there was a company in USA that decided to do a run of 28c 650c tyres a number of years ago, the Terry Tellus..got no idea if they were any good but shows it can/could be done.

Ah cool thanks that's another option, only in black and 23c tho from what I can see in 650c.

I managed to get some black conti gp4000's which in my experience of regular 700c ones inflated fatter than quoted, so think that's still my best bet to get close to 25c.

I feel your pain, as I have the same wheels, but with no tanwalls mine are destined to look shitter. How can we befriend and bribe some Vittoria staff to stay after hours and do us a sneaky run of 25c 650c's.?

Otherwise, are beige permanent markers a thing so we colour in our own? :)

Edit, yes of course they're a thing, chose your shade...

Haha bit of a spendy way to get tanwalls, plus added inconvenience, and with a 700 rear means carrying round 2 different size spare tubulars, sounds an epic ball ache.

And there was me thinking 650c clincher was making lo pro's borderline practical :)

Yeah there's none left anywhere so looks like i'll have to settle for black... determined to do better than gatorskins and rubino's tho.

9k for a boggo standard alu frame gash cockpit and tubs! .Jesus wept....tears of laughter in utter disbelief at how easily a fool and his money are parted.

OK it's not his own money and he has carte blanche of shimano catalogue, but still what a dogs dinner. Holy shit indeed at price of top tier groupsets these days, fuck off to them apples.

Definitely doing it wrong. Could have got a better frame and top condition 2nd hand groupset and wheels for a fraction of that outlay, and would look better, likely ride better and not have any tub puncture anxiety. And its orange, get in the sea that man.

Oof that Bertoni is pure porn.

Is there any tanwall 650c tyres anywhere on planet earth?

Preferably in 25c, but 23c if that's all there is. Won't go narrower.

My googling for UK based stuff doesn't find any, the only 650c tyres I can find are 23c and in black, Rubino's and Gatorskns, which is pretty shit, like fitting a race horse with clogs. And ebay not doing any better.

Anyone know any European stockists or any 650c owners have a stash of tanwalls I can bribe out of your clutches?

Round saddle rails are a hh thing?

Wait, what, there's saddle rails that aren't round? Mind blown gif

The full beans smashed it collective sounds like an EC1 collective rebrand.

BCB - British commuting brown

You absolute legend, thanks very much.

Spent over an hour battling parcel force and customs and got nowhere with no help, but the forum saves the day.

Genuinely thanks so much, much more of that and I'd have a seizure

Anyone familiar with UK customs code? I having a nightmare battling the effing useless HMRC site whose search function is shit and you can't get thro ever to an actual human who might have the correct info.

Code needed is for a used bicycle frame form the 90s made in Italy, frame/fork.and bottom bracket only, no other parts. The seller marked the item as clothing so it's been flagged.I've sent customs back paperwork and declaration saying it's defo not clothing it's a used 2nd hand bicycle frame, but they just said it needs a new code without giving g any clues as to what.

From what i can gather this comes under the category of unfinished vehicles, which i tbink comes.under section 8712. Guidance says it could be classed as finished if the bicycle consists of frame and fork and at least 2 of the following:
-set of wheels
-crank/gears
-bars and stem
-brakes

So as my parcel only contains frame and fork only with a bottom bracket it is clearly an unfinished vehicle, but then it doesn't tell me what the code for that is?

Anyone been thro this torture already and can help with codes? .id be super grateful, customs have already had frame for a month so it would be nice to finally get this frame and build it up before Xmas. Sigh

Thanks, will give it a go. I figure if it keeps a inflated tyre on it should be OK.

Obvs I got no numbers on what the psi is of my forearms, (more scrawny cyclist than Olympic canoer) but I guesstimate with my fat ass cantilevered above them that should be enough to keep them from budging :)
#science

Heh cool story, I can totally imagine Jalpa ownership being a money pit/ often broken down experience.

Here's another one for you, I thought Joe Pesci had come to dump some stiffs in my road or something. Did make me think what is the biggest boot/trunk on a saloon car, this has to be up there. Buick Electra . (tho I prefer the Dame Edna's glasses styling of the 1st generation one).