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
It's a rain bike. My vote: Go black.
Go black, go Brookes
@Marko
No offence taken. Beautiful bars. I'm a big fan of polished bars - I will probably be doing a bit of de-anodising and polishing this winter.
next question: what about down tube shifters?
@Jaja
I like the Brooks idea, in fact I already have one. I'll see how it looks. Thing is, it's fine riding in jeans on a commuter bike but the rivets drive me nuts in my kit. Would look sweet though.
Negatory on the downtube shifters, i've already got the gruppo. But it would be sweet if I was doing that much of a build. Next build, steel, downtube shifters
Wow, so many cool suggestions, and a lot of wacky ones too (mostly from Marko, coincidentally!).
I don't know about getting too hung up on 'period' componentry for this bike, after all, it's not a frickin steel Colnago or Merckx, it's an ALUMINIUM Serotta, and intended as a bit of a beater, no? No Offence meant, but I think putting a Brooks saddle on it would then necessitate ditching those Bontrager wheels.
Now I'm almost finished my Bosomworth build, reading these comments makes me wonder a little if I should have gone traditional/period on the build. But what I'm going for is a nice riding steel frame with modern components that will be my primary bike, one that I want to ride and enjoy, and can be upgraded to a more modern steel frame in the future. I'm looking at older steel bikes now for a winter/commuter, and it will end up with older stuff on it. Marko, you need to remember the purpose of the bike, keep it simple (you know, Shimano and Bontrager ain't flash!)
Got my Ambrosios laced up, just waiting for my ITM bar and a nice post, then we're done!
@Brett
+1. Those wheels are ready for Roubaix!
Being an Aussie in NZ, do you have an opinion on EMC2 bikes. I loaded up on an ebay deal too good to be true and so far I am happy with it - Team issue, Record 10 speed and Fulcrum zeros (which clash I know).
@Brett
What wacky suggestions?
Yellow brake pads, blue tape, white saddles, anodized jockey wheels... should I go on?
@Marcus
EMC2's are pretty good bikes, I see a few around, mainly lower priced ones. The Team looks pretty nice. Eric MacKenzie was a famous racer here, and rode the Tour. I don't think he builds frames, just desingns them, but I guess he gets his carbon stuff farmed out from China.
@Brett
I loaded up on an Equipe Team full Record 10 speed and Fulcrum Zeros (a clash with Campy I know) for AUD $2850. The deal was just too good to ignore. The only problem was my lack of experience with ebay which saw the Vendor ring my home number. There he proceeded to deliver the VelomiVeryAngry the great news(so he thought) that I had bought "a $9,000 bike".
Needless to say, she hadn't been told anything about a new bike purchase nor did she hear anything past $9,000.
HELP NEEDED - I don't know if such a thing as a "broken arrow" exists for the Velominati, but I need the near-psychotic attention to detail that Frank, other keepers and fellow Velominati possess to help me out of a bind.
Last night, I went as a +1 to my wife's trendy work thingy, the Frieze Art Fair opening in London. She works in the art world... sorry. There were lots of beards, strangely, and many pairs of stripper heels on some inappropriately aged and dressed hot looking women.. but I digress.
Bored shitless, I wandered the stalls, until I came across this (Frank, I've emailed you the JPEG... pls insert here, ideally with a cool hyperlink on the 'this' so people think I'm down with the kids and wired), which is a Gursky (estimated sale value $100,000+, I shit you not)... entitled "Tour de France 2007". Given the price, I'm somewhat irritated. Bigshot photographer he may be, but he could at least tell us the fucking stage he was photographing (from a fucking helicopter, with a sodding expensive Hasselbladd - spelling may be off, sorry)...
Anyhow, the wife turns to me, and says "My husband seems to like this cycling lark, HE can tell us exactly which stage of the TdF this was, who was in the lead, etc." at which point I said I'd get back to them, and am now on this website, saying please help. Please, please help. i cannot face the smirks of this group of intellectual arty mother fuckers who will look at me with confirmation of my idiot nature that I can't even identify a single stage of a fucking bike race, whilst they can take a pile of bricks and some tarts soiled underwear and sell both for over $1m apiece.
What is the stage of the 2007 Tour de France is this? Which climb is it? What other trivia should I know? BROKEN ARROW! BROKEN ARROW!