Bringing It All Together

Progress has been somewhat disappointing over the past week or so, thanks largely to the wrong diameter stem. However, it’s served as a useful template for cutting the steerer. Some advocate ruthlessness but I didn’t want to be committed to an uncompromisingly low position, choosing in favour of some additional length and employing spacers to close the gap. Interestingly, I have learned the original, threaded fork was paired with a Campagnolo mirage headset-useful to know but I’ve also discovered the shallow steerer placed additional strain upon the headset cups, resulting in their untimely ruin.

I now have a choice of Nitto Bull horns, or longer pursuit style bars. One is reliant on me finding the illusive silver anodised, lazer etched Nitto stem or going the pursuit bar route and buying a new stem-deviating from the use what-you-got script a little but needs must when the devil rides. Either configuration will shave a further few grams, continues the minimalist theme while still providing the ideal platform for Tri Bars or Spinacchi extensions should the lure of ten mile TTs come calling. Sticking with the broad WTB drops would be the beginnings of a slippery slope likely to result in a build mimicking my Ilpompino.

Once this cockpit dilemma’s sorted, it’s a question of rounding up the remaining components and acquiring a suitable short reach dual pivot calliper. I don’t want to be laying out a bundle here so the smart money’s on a Tektro. Not being a nostalgia stalwart, a Specialized Toupe’ gel with titanium rails provides a superbly comfortable perch and is considerably lighter than the Brooks B17 I’d initially earmarked. From there it’s just a question of bolting the Stronglight cranks onto their tapers, threading in some shop brand SPDs, wiring up the front brake, slipping on some bar tape and waiting for the wheels to arrive. I am the sort of rider that goes for years without a puncture and then plagued by a succession on one single outing. A jaunt to the seaside aboad the Univega last Saturday being a prime example. The first I put down to fluke and a shard of glass penetrating the tyre’s Kevlar belt but unfortunately a further round of deflation instigated more intimate examination.

To my horror, I discovered the otherwise healthy looking Araya rim was splitting at the join. Knowing I had a perfectly good wheel, complete with dynohub languishing in storage and faced with two burst tubes, I rode a very choppy fifteen miles home on the flat tyre. Still, 12000 miles is pretty good going from an inexpensive rim and it soldiered on when I needed it most. This also presents the ideal opportunity for me to utilise the Basta lamp that landed in my lap a few weeks back…