The Guerciotti Project: The Reveal

May 3, 2014 · by · in The Guerciotti Project, Uncategorized

Guerciotti-1

At long last I can share with you the finished product. The whole affair took longer than the gestation period of a human baby (exactly a year, in fact), and like most babies, it was a hell of a lot of fun to make, then almost broke my back, and, in spite of a multitude of imperfections, I love it to pieces.

For those of you who followed the build, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. For those that didn’t, and as a reminder to the rest, here is where we started.IMG_4945IMG_4947 copyIMG_4949

In spite of ‘great bones’ – not so pretty, but we all knew that with some lipstick and a little loving, she had real potential. This was my first ‘bike makeover’ (the guys hate it when I call it that). I detailed all of the steps of the build here in the blog, and even added a specific category here.  So if you want to know the whole story and have some time on your hands (like if you’re in jail or something) go ahead and give it a read.

With the eternal winter finally over, I send my newest minion Mark out yesterday to take pictures of the finished bike, which I brought to HQ in my car, wrapped in sixteen layers of bubble wrap.

So without further ado, here she is in all her splendid purpleness.

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Here are the bike geek particulars:

Stem and Handlebars – Ambrosio (Natural Cycle)
Brake hoods and levers – TRP Tektro (new)
Decals – Cyclomondo, Australia
Front wheel – Ambrosio  (donated by Coach Rick)
Tyres – Panaracer Paselas (new)
Crank & 53 Chainring – Gipiemme (came with frame)
Brakes – Campagnolo (donated by Brad Enns)
Back Wheel – Mavic (donated by Coach Rick)
Freewheel Hub – Campagnolo (new)
Seatpost – Campagnolo  (donated by Coach Rick)
Saddle – Selle San Marco Royale (donated by Andrew at Natural Cycle)
DT Shifters – Campagnolo (Recycle a Bicycle, New York)

There is nothing terribly fancy or expensive about this bike. But every single piece of it has a story, and roughly a million people helped make this build possible. First, Johnny S. and Cheryl who wanted this frame to get some TLC.. Brad helped get the stem unstuck and donated brakes. D.O.D and Lyle provided valuable welding services. Brother Al ordered the fancy decals, and wisely stayed away when I installed them. Adrian from Olympia and Andrew from Natural Cycle provided hours (yes hours) of advice, help and encouragement. Paul at Villian Ride Co. lovingly sanded, filled, and powder-coated the frame, all while dealing with my neurotic panic attacks about the colour. Coach Rick raided his basement to help me find the perfect parts I needed, and some I didn’t. Cousin Adam, Ian, Dan, David, Mark, and Louie from Twitter all provided parts that almost but didn’t work. Some I’ll give back, but hopefully the rest will be put to use in the next build! And of course Mark took these sexy shots.

I would be remiss if I didn’t thank the hubby for giving up countless hours of hockey watching to listen to me babble on about this project, and most of his tools, which have either been misplaced or broken.

And finally, thanks to Tomek, who at the start said this bike was an “ugly old Italian man”, which made me that much more determined to make it Cipollini sexy.