The Velominatus’ machine is their own manifestation of personal taste and demonstration of adherence to The Rules. We each, in our own way, meticulously maintain our bicycles and adorn them with the essential, yet minimal, accoutrement. Yes, we must Obey the Rules pertaining to bar tape, tyre selection, saddle choice, stem height, color matching and so on. But within those parameters there lies flexibility and choice.
Furthermore, this site is a refuge we turn to for brotherhood, community, and belonging. However, cyberspace is a vacuum in that we apply and practice our craft apart from one another, spread to all corners of the globe. With this in mind, I offer an experiment, Il Gruppo Progetto, inspired by Brett’s Il Progetto: Bosomworth. The intent, dare I say charge, of Il Gruppo Progetto, is for our community of Velominati to come together in designing my new build project, a Serotta Colorado AL.
I picked up the Serotta frame and fork recently to further my adherence, em, obsession over Rule #12. Although not a top shelf Serotta (think of it as Maker’s Mark as opposed to The Glenlivet), it is a platform worthy of respect, care, and craftsmanship. As fall arrived I found my foul weather steed in need of replacement and the Serotta was the perfect combination of material, style, and economics. My mind was flooded with ideas of how I might build her up. Then I thought of all of you, your experience, ideas, and of course, passion.
So as fellow Velominati, I humbly ask of your counsel for this build. The basic platform is as follows:
As you can see from the list above this worthy steed is in need of much more. Bars, stem, bar tape, saddle, seat post, possibly a fork, tires, chain, headset, and cables. Please keep in mind the following:
So there you have it. My proposition is for us to come together in a modicum of further connection than what cyberspace allows. My hope is that the finished build will be a tangible symbol of our collective wisdom and a reminder to me of what we, the Velominati represent, as I ride this bike.
Thanks in advance for playing.
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View Comments
@Marko
"Svenjolly"? Is that a Swedish guru?
@Brett
Seinfeld reference
Not a fan of Shimano shifters, especially older Ultegra and lower (ugly cable routing, plus the cable likes to fray inside the shifter housing). I'd look for some cheap SRAM Rivals. The frame is pimpin', tho, and the saddle/ bar tape combo above would look sweet!
@Marko
I don't understand any of what you're saying. Nearest I can figure is your leg is shorter than your arm.
Any clue what year that frame is? In 91 or so, maybe it was a bit before that, Columbus built a steel tubeset for Merckx called the Columbux Max which he used to build his MX Leader frameset. It had not only tapered tubesets, but was reversed both directions; flaring wide at the BB and then going tall and skinny at the HT to make it more awesome.
I know Columbus sold that tubeset elsewhere, and I'm not clear if that was because an agreement between Merckx and Columbus ran out or if it was always available, but I thought it was made for Merckx either way.
That was a big innovation at the time. A few years before my dad bought the MX Leader (pictures will come next time I'm home), he had bought a Somec with TSX tubing. We were riding alu 'whales at the time which rode like a chimney on jackhammers. I remember I got on that Somec and my eyes opened. Writing this now, that might have been the moment I really, truly fell in love with bikes. The way that thing danced under me...it revolutionized what a bike could feel like.
The Somec was all round tubes, everwhere, but TSX is columbus's stiffest tubeset. Brett tells me it's for "fat guys", but there's no pleasing Brett, so don't bother trying.
Then came the MX Leader, and much later I picked up the steel Bianchi TSX, which has round tubes most everywhere except at the BB. That's a '96 as far as I can figure, and by that time Cannondale had tapered the crap out of their tubes and had bikes you could actually ride without needing to replace your chamois creme with Preparation H.
I guess this is a long way of saying that if it's 96+ you probably don't have an innovation on your hands, but at least you have something that will ride well. Much earlier than that - bearing in mind it's alu - and it's a crapshoot.
@Marko
@Cyclops
That saddle is fucking ASKING for some embroidery lovin'. Not to mention how good she'll look with the bike. And let me remind you it's quite silver. Brett.
@frank
Frank,
re this:
@George
Destroyed a set of shimano pads in one particularly wet day.
There's your mistake; you're not supposed to use your brakes.
I agree with your sentiment, but sometimes that is clearly moronic. On this day, I passed someone who had been following your advice. He had crashed head first into a cliff on a descent and was lying face down in the stream of water running down the road with his feet twitching alarmingly. I honestly thought the guy was dying.
I make no apology.
Marko,
I think you're fucking up.
You're in danger of building a bike that will be too beautiful to use in the rain.
@frank
It's a '97 (25th anniversary edition) so if your theory holds true maybe it'll ride as nice as it'll look. I know what you mean about the early 90's 'whales. Whilst a young college lad in 92 or so I traded a dude a bag of weed for a 'whale mountain bike. They were THE hot frames then weren't they? I remember the first time I saw one with those MASSIVE tubes. So cool I thought. If a frame could be made of glass without breaking, that's how I imagine the ride feel, zero flex/dampening.
I can picture you following Volvos and Saabs around North Oaks riding your cutting edge cannonwhale in your Dale of Norway sweater circa early-mid nineties. Classic.
I do think the FDJ antares is the way to go. For the record though, it's white and blue, not silver and blue. So now I'm introducing white into the palette.
@George
Damn, I fucked up? Thanks, man.
@all
So if I go with the blue/white antares and bar tape do I dare go with yellow KoolStop pads or is that going too far? Perhaps black pads are safe, afterall, this bike will be ridden after Labor Day.
Maybe I go more traditional?
@Marko
Blue/white - 1 vote.