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@Matisse @e54 @Dexter Thank you!

I am, as ever, waiting for parts to arrive. Some things have started to come in, including the Athena shifters and the Stronglight outer chain ring. To my relief, I don't have to grind any of it down because it's close enough in thickness to the original (and Centaur Carbon cranks don't have the weird design that first-gen Athena Carbon did) that the mounting face for the hidden bolt is not a problem. What is a problem, though, is that the Centaur Carbon chain ring bolts (FC-RE303) don't fit because the bolt holes on the chain ring are 8 mm in diameter rather than 10. I'm not a hundred percent sure yet because the small ring is still in Germany, but I suspect that it has threaded bolt holes and consequently I need the FC-SR200 bolts, which are a painful $35.

On a different topic, this is the one bike that I actually ride. It is a complete, fully functional bicycle with no parts missing or in transit. I am planning to make a few changes, so I wanted to document it in its current state.

Frame: 1982 Colnago Super 52 cm
Fork: Time Club
Groupset: Campagnolo Athena 11 (53-39, Chorus 12-29, Record chain)
Wheels: Velocity A23 20/24, BikeHubStore SLF71W/SL211, Sapim CX-Ray
Tires: Hutchinson Sector 28 mm
Saddle: Bontrager Aeolus Elite 145 mm
Seat post: PMP SB.14 Titanium
Handlebars: Ritchey Classic NeoClassic 40 cm
Stem: Thomson X2 100 mm
Headset: Campagnolo Record Threadless
Pedals: MKS Urban Step-In A
Miscellaneous: Arundel Stainless bottle cage, Knog Oi Titanium bell

It weighs 19.5 pounds as pictured, including practical pedals, bell, sealant and Hexlox.

'This is for Americans' is the only thing that Rival eTap makes me feel.

Imagine how cool Pirelli tires would be if they used the correct logo.

I think the big problem with this is the wheels. They're chrome, they have a ton of spokes and they have enormous skinwall tires, all of which together makes them look like they're from a beach cruiser.

Also, Arundel bottle cages are the best and I use them, but there's definitely something regrettably NAHBSy about them.

Edit: I just noticed the white band on the seat stay not lining up with the other three. What a disaster.

These arrived yesterday (16 days to Canada, not bad) and so far they seem pretty good. The finish of the polished part is nice and is the same as that of the silver Uno stem, if you've ever had one of those. It does dip a little towards the hoods but it's still well within the realm of modern compact drops. The indicated dimensions are 120 mm drop and 75 mm reach.

It's marked HB-CR21. Here's a comparison with an HB-CR22, which has a flatter transition to the hoods and 5 mm less reach.

This looks like something I would build.

I think they're exactly the same. As far as I can tell they have identical dimensions. The Centaur weighs 10 grams more, but it's also painted, and the jockey wheels are probably a little thicker. The spring tensions also seem to be the same (the Athena is maybe a touch stronger, but it also has never been used).

Therefore, the new plan is to obtain a set of 11-speed Athena levers I found in Ontario that I'd been weighing up buying anyway for spares, and then change the lever blade out for the carbon one from the Centaur shifter. I will also see about also potentially swapping the paddle, but I've got to be honest, it looks difficult.

https://youtu.be/i5mzR8-rh8M

I hope it all works.

I did some reading yesterday and apparently mixing Potenza with Chorus and up is a no-go due to differences in derailleur spring tension. The claim is that it works initially but drifts out of adjustment, which is something that I can believe if springs are involved. Obviously, then, this necessitates a matching set. There are still 11-speed Chorus and Potenza shifters and derailleurs out there for sale, but even looking at the used market and some-assembly-required shifter options, I don't think I can get either setup to cost less than two times what I paid for the whole Centaur groupset, which kind of feels like a lot for a quality of life upgrade.

Another thing I encountered during my research is people from the early 11-speed days wanting to upgrade their existing 10-speed setups to 11-speed, like I am trying to do. This post indicates that it's possible if you do a little mod to the derailleur, but the attached images are long dead. So I went down to the basement to grab my 10-speed derailleur to follow along with the instructions, and when I was trying to figure out how grinding down the threads on the cable clamping bolt would help with this situation, it occurred to me that the method outlined is intended for pre-2009 10-speed.

I went back downstairs to get my NOS backup Athena 11 derailleur, and:

Thanks all for the kind words. I don't want any trouble! I only wish to build my silly bicycles very slowly and in peace.

My primary road bike has 2012 Athena 11-speed, so I was thinking it would be nice if the Look could also be 11-speed so that the two could share wheels, cassettes and chains, of which I already have a bunch. I'm kind of anal about drivetrain wear and the idea of drivetrain components bedding in together from fresh simultaneously, so along with the non-two-tone chain rings I was already also going to buy a new cassette and chain. But with Centaur 10 cassettes and Record 10 chains not being materially less expensive than their 11-speed equivalents, it seems a bit of a waste to buy into 10-speed, especially when I already have 11-speed inventory.

Instead, I have been thinking about this: if I were to get a Potenza 11 rear derailleur, a post-2015 Record/Chorus 11 right lever body, the matching hood and some 11-speed chain rings, could I make this work? The illustrations for the Record 11 and Centaur 10 lever bodies make it look like the lever blades are cross-compatible, so if possible I'd also want to use a matching Centaur Carbon blade to make things look slightly less weird. Basically:

1. Is a Potenza 11 rear derailleur compatible with a post-2015 Record 11 lever?
   
2. Are post-2009 Campagnolo lever blades interchangeable?
   
3. Will the combination of 10-speed front derailleur, 10-speed crankset and 11-speed chain rings yield at least passable front shifting?
   
4. Is this something I need to ask in the Campagnolo thread, or is that thread more focused on the concept of Campagnolo than the execution?
   
5. Would it even be worth the money to do this?
   

Wow, yeah. I'm stealing that idea.

I bought a Stone chain ring because literally nobody else makes 144 BCD with narrow-wide teeth, and so far I'm pretty happy with it. The quality of the machining is excellent. The only thing is that the typography leaves a bit to be desired.

@PhilDAS @Matisse Thanks! That is the aim.

Unfortunately I have failed already to complete this bicycle on time because it just started snowing.

I'm building this up as a road bike. The geometry of this frameset is pretty interesting in that it is exactly the same as that of a sick fixie from peak sick fixie: 74.5 degree head and seat tube angles, 380 mm chain stays, 50 mm bottom bracket drop. This geometry is actually identical to that of the 496 Track, which I guess is an artifact of a time when people hadn't yet realized that TT bikes need their own geometry. What I'm hoping for is that this will turn out to be a lively, fun and incredibly sick road bike.

Like the frameset, the wheels have also made an appearance in this thread, in the photo with the Spinergy Cannondale in the back of the car from my winter road trip to Edmonton. They're a 'generic' trispoke but my AliExpress research has led me to believe that they were probably made by Go-Proe, which I've been pleased/relieved to see positive mention of recently in the Orient Express thread. I got them for a really low price from a guy who said that they handle being ridden off of curbs very well (what a thing to say), and despite that ownership history, they are true and not cracked. That said, they have some major issues with flaking and peeling in the clear coat. Soon after I acquired them I started trying to remove the clear coat using a combination of Olfa SAC-1 graphics knife, tweezers and fingers, and while most of what I managed to remove came off in large swathes, enough small parts stayed stubbornly stuck on that it wasn't a pleasant or easy process overall. I'd estimate that I'm about 20 percent done removing the clear coat, and I'm not sure how long it will take for me to get the rest off. If I eventually get there, the plan is to lightly sand off the glue residue that remains on the surface of the bare carbon, and then clear coat it again and hope it lasts. What will likely happen instead is that I find it impossible to remove all of the clear coat, and I find a specialist and take the wheels to them and pay them probably at least as much as I did for the wheels initially.

The saddle is my preferred Bontrager Aeolus Elite, of which I fortunately had an extra black-railed one around due to Trek irritatingly silently switching the rail colour between model years. The handlebars are these Kalloy HB-CR22s, which I got store-branded from my local Mountain Equipment Co-Op, which is like REI but Canadian (sadly I do not know what the UK equivalent is). They have a 26.0 mm clamp diameter to fit the Ergostem, and they look pretty decent - they're 38 cm wide with 70 mm reach and 120 mm drop, the logos are stealth, and there are cable routing channels and markings for lever alignment.

Hopefully I can have this up and running before it snows again. It all really will depend on how long it takes me to refinish the wheels.

Despite triathletes, I have always thought that TT bikes are pretty cool, and as everybody knows, Look is easily the coolest bicycle brand. For these reasons, I have always wanted one of these, and for this reason, when one came up on Kijiji in my size, I couldn't not buy it. I mentioned this frameset earlier in the thread in the context of the Dura-Ace 7800 groupset - they were initially built together but I felt that the bike didn't suit the silver, and so I bought the frameset only before returning to buy the groupset for Softride. Although 7800 is contemporaneous with this 496 - by decal scheme it's a 2006 according to this catalogue, which apparently was a DVD, and which evidently is extremely a product of its time - I think it really needs a black groupset. And, well, I didn't have one, so I put it into an enormous garbage bag in a bike box in the basement with vague plans to build it up with something suitably carbony in the indeterminate future.

That time has come. My compulsive Kijiji monitoring has scored me a bargain 10-speed Centaur Carbon group, which, okay, isn't really the fanciest, but it's black and it's carbon and at the price I paid for it I'd have been losing money by not buying it. I also tell myself that it's a justifiable choice because it's the most premium version of the more premium of the last two 10-speed groupsets that Campagnolo made. The condition is really good. I will however be changing the chain rings for TA or Stronglight because I really do not prefer two-tone chain rings, and in place of the silver Centaur brake calipers I will use another pair of questionable (Ciamillo Zero Gravity) brakes that I have around, the front of which is currently mounted mostly for decoration on my belt-drive fixed gear bike.

Softride is performing nicely on the trainer. I still haven't received the final two components so I can't yet take it for an actual ride outside, but when I do I will be certain to take some nice photos. The ergonomics have been a bit of a challenge: the saddle has had to come up and forward quite a bit for the aero position, which is fine, but actually being in the aero bars has been pretty tough on my neck. I've always considered myself flexible and the position looks more or less fine and not too extreme in the mirror, so I'm not sure if I just need practice, or the aero bars are too low, or my television that I try to play Tetris Effect on while doing Zwift is too high - probably all three. Also, my right thumb is surprisingly sore, so the position of the shifter clearly needs adjustment. I've been loving how instant Di2 feels though, and I've also been pleasantly surprised at how good the ATAC side of the Time Link pedals is - way better than MKS Urban Step-In As, and honestly not too far off actual ATACs.

However: although I have not yet officially finished Softride, and because I am incapable of stopping myself from constantly monitoring Kijiji and building outdated triathlon bikes in a manner that falls outside of their intended scope, I bring you a new project.

This is going to be great. You definitely need to find some yellow decals for the wheels.

Nice work - this is extremely cool. I've been thinking about something like this, since I want to put 165 mm cranks on my road bike with 11-speed Athena and the Middleburns are one of the more attractive external BB options available. I'd like to continue to use the stock chain rings but they don't make a 135 BCD spider so some custom work would be required.

I'm curious as to why the generated model turned out to be so irregular. What were the input forces specified?

If you haven't done it yet, I'd try a thin lubricant like Tri-Flow instead of the silicone spray. I'd be concerned that the silicone spray would leave a coating that would gunk up over time.

Thanks for the tip. I now have two pairs on the way and will report back when they come in.

They seem to come up on eBay semi-regularly. This nice set (serial in the 300000s, Super Stiff, good condition) sold at a pretty reasonable price a few days ago.

@PhilDAS @russmeyer @Matisse Thanks! I'm still waiting for brake cables and Di2 wire stickers to arrive, so I'll be putting it on trainer duty in the meantime. Also, it just snowed again, so I probably won't be riding it outside for a while.

This is quite nice. Shipping to Canada kills it for me, but I think it would make a good MGOOF/HHSRB, especially with a straight carbon fork.

@hippy @grams This is going to sound really stupid, but...

I was just double-checking the connections when I noticed that the shifter had some rotational play on the bar. Turns out that I hadn't tightened the clamp enough and that pressing on the buttons many times had led the shifter to rotate towards the brake lever, both of which I have set quite low on the bar. The shifter had rotated just enough that pushing the button caused the mechanical click in the lever mechanism to actuate without actually triggering the electronic switch, which is apparently at the end of the lever throw, because the brake lever was in the way.

Thank you for your suggestions though. I'm very relieved it was actually nothing.

My 1x XT Di2 setup has stopped shifting and I'm wondering if anybody might have any insight as to why. I disconnected the wires into the display to change the stem and now the rear derailleur no longer responds to input. My setup is an SC-MT800 connected to a BT-DN110, an SW-M8050 and an RD-M8050, with no other junctions.

• Pressing the button on the display causes the screen to light up and report the correct derailleur position.
  
• Pressing and holding the button on the display until it shows 'P' does indeed cause the derailleur to shift into the largest cog.
  
• Both the Windows and the Android E-Tube apps detect the presence of all four components.
  
• Replacing the wire to the shifter with a different one does not solve the problem.
  
• Swapping the positions of the wires to the shifter and the battery at the display end does not solve the problem.
  
• Unplugging the battery for 30 seconds does not solve the problem.
  
• The battery is fully charged.
  
  

What am I missing? By process of elimination, it seems like the shifter is faulty. But how fragile are these things, and how would I have broken it by disconnecting wires and replacing a stem?