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@gertrudestein
Or as a certain Singer-Songwriter has put it:"Thunder and lightning between his thighs"Well, almost.
So, I've picked up this Pearl white cherry yesterday. Found it in an vaguely titled ad, which went something along the lines of "older race bike to fiddle with". Well, it had the description to match and one (nondriveside, as you may have guessed) picture to boot. I recognized the zeus crown, made out what the panto'd stem said, and being the eager fiddler that I am, two days later feasted my eyes upon a delightful kit of Poor man's Campagnolo:
So, what we have on our hands is a late 70s Zeus 2000, with full factory drillium'd 2000 Grouppo. Well, ok, the calipers are 2001, of which I'm 95% sure they're stock. Besides the quite obvious drillium efforts it also sports some quite nifty bits as titanium pedal cages and spindles, bb, rear derailleur hardware. It's supposed to have Ti skewers/hub axles and magnesium hub shells as well, but haven't taken a magnet to the former yet, and have no idea how to determine the latter.
Most likely won't opt for a full Resto since the frame has been resprayed and the hardware is quite tarnished. Couldn't be arsed to replate that, so I figure an uniform honest patina is better than a halfassed restoration.
So instead my plan is to give it a stripdown and some thorough TLC;
Change the tubulars to 25c-28c tanwalls for kerb jumping and other urban debauchery
(any suggestions? I've had an eye for Challenge Paris Roubaix 27c, but at 60GBP a pop I might as well go for cheap 25c Vittoria Rallies);
Decals, which I will hopefully won't have to get from overseas.
These ones to be specific.
And finally, some final touches as Binda straps, leather bar tape (black selle italia smootape classica, most likely), lug window filling in some sort of deep aquamarine or gold (what'd ya think?) and a posh NOS Drillium-themed chain, which I've actually already ordered.
This might get out of hand and I may or may not decide to go Pope bars and stick a minoura gamoh rack on it, but time will tell. Stick around, I would really benefit from some common sense and sensibility. Might be a fun read, too.