What's in the Workstand ? ?

[Epicus07]

It’s actually a Hightower. I’m the second owner so warranty would be unlikely anyway but because it’s designed in the same way as the original link with a few minor tweaks you could probably swap them back if there was ever a warranty issue and they wouldn’t know the difference (because there shouldn’t be one).

It looks like it bumps up the rear travel from 140 to 150mm if I’m reading it right.

Some people report a little more pedal bob with climbing but if it’s as transformational as people claim, I’m willing to use the lockout if I need to.


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[yarg]

Just finished building this up and tweaking after initial spin. Frame from forumite Blastinbob, wheels camp bora wto 33s, ultegra 8000, zipp sl speed cockpit. What a bike! Could have also put this in the thread "Why so much love for serotta", with this as one of the answers.

[hoj]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

Building up a platypus - aero, rim, direct-mount, level-TT, hand-made, non-integrated..

A Basso Diamante SV.


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As an owner of a Basso Diamante SV myself, I am really interested to see what your impressions are of the frame. I absolutely love mine, but I know you've ridden your fair share of bikes and would be curious to know how it ranks with the others you've owned previously.

[MXLeader]

Time Capsule MX Leader.jpg

This bike started life with me as a NOS purchase in 1998 in 1994/5 Team Telekom colors. I rode the bike every once in a while but since I was racing with a local team back then I did almost all my rides on the various team sponsor bikes.

In late 2005, when I was desparate to find my cycling mojo again, I sent the frame across the country to be painted in Molteni orange. I built it up in the spring of 2006 with Chorus 10-speed and Torelli Master wheels built up by Vecchio's (as the rim stickers reminded me!) Well, the mojo didn't come back even with this beauty and I packed the bike up and stored it until a few days ago.

The initial look-over and cleaning shows that it's in excellent shape after 16 years wrapped in bubble wrap and in a bike box. Besides a single 3.5mm chip in the top tube that happened when I dropped my ratchet while tightening the front brake cable in 2006 (it still turns my stomach that I did this!), the frame appears to be flawless.

After 16 years, what needs to be done? Here are my thoughts...
- Clean and wax the frame and fork.
- I'll put on new 28mm tires and tubes, for sure.
- Of course, rewrap the bar tape. I already unwrapped the bar tape and the anodizing on the bars still looks great- no corrosion there.
- The shift and brake cables have no wear and work smoothly. I just need to replace the rear brake inner wire since it was originally cut a bit too short.
- Re-lube the shifters.
- The gorgeous-grey Centaur hubs spin smoothly. Pretty sure these were still cup and cone in 2005/6, yes? If so, I'll repack them.
- The Phil Wood bottom bracket spins smoothly. They're cartridge bearings so no maintenance required, right?
- The Chris King headset still swings smoothly. Were these 1 inch headsets cartridge bearings or bearings in retainers back then?
- Clean and re-lube the chain.
- I repurposed the original cassette on a bike I gifted to my son-in-law. I ordered a new Miche since they are higher quality than the galvanized Veloce ones that are available.
- Double check torque on all bolts.
- I had used JP Weigle inside the frame before building it up. running my finger inside the seat tube (Yes, I did remove the seat post before packing it away), there's still the nice waxy coating in there. Same for inside the bottom bracket area, still waxy in there.

What have I missed?

So then the big question is do I keep it or sell it? It's a strong/stiff bike but the tire size is limited to 28mm, perhaps 30mm. The roads here in Maine are total crap and I've been riding my Carver Titanium All Road bike with 44mm tires and loving it. At my 230 lbs of heft, I'd have to search out only the smoothest of roads on 28's.

[donevwil]

My 2 cents,

Originally Posted by MXLeader

What have I missed?

That seatpost appears to be over max extension? No?

Originally Posted by MXLeader

So then the big question is do I keep it or sell it? It's a strong/stiff bike but the tire size is limited to 28mm, perhaps 30mm.

As an also heavy owner of a MAX bike (not Merckx, but I have two Merckx's), ride it and make your own decision. Max or MXL play so well for those in our demographic and the handling geo is second to none. Just don't get caught up on weight.

[MXLeader]

Originally Posted by donevwil

That seatpost appears to be over max extension? No?

Good pick up on the seat post. You are correct in that it's about an inch over maximum extension. At this point I inserted the seat post only to clamp it in the work stand.

I plan to ride the bike a bit but feel that 28's on these roads at my weight will give me too much of a jarring ride with potential rim dings and wheel truing in my future. Also, my low gear on this bike will be a 39/29. That's just too much gearing for my weight, my fitness and the terrain in this area. Most any ride I do on the backroads here is about 1000 feet of climbing in 10 miles with plenty of short steepish climbs topping out in the 8 to 15 percent range. My knees won't be thanking me for torquing up these grades at 50 rpms.

But the ride and handling on this bike are the best I've experienced, even 16 years later. I'm looking forward to taking it on a few of my Sunday favorite routes that are on flatter, smoother roads. I'll likely give it a while to see if the ride is enough to keep me coming back for more.

[witcombusa]

Putting the final touches on my '89 Serotta Nova Special X. Last parts coming from Poland and the UK.

You think its easy finding NOS 7sd Uniglide cassettes (in the gearing you want)?!

Should be out for a ride this coming holiday weekend

[Mike V]

I think you’ll have a pleasant surprise with it. They tend to soak up the rough stuff. With 32 spoke and 28’s it will be a nicer ride than you think.

Originally Posted by MXLeader

Good pick up on the seat post. You are correct in that it's about an inch over maximum extension. At this point I inserted the seat post only to clamp it in the work stand.

I plan to ride the bike a bit but feel that 28's on these roads at my weight will give me too much of a jarring ride with potential rim dings and wheel truing in my future. Also, my low gear on this bike will be a 39/29. That's just too much gearing for my weight, my fitness and the terrain in this area. Most any ride I do on the backroads here is about 1000 feet of climbing in 10 miles with plenty of short steepish climbs topping out in the 8 to 15 percent range. My knees won't be thanking me for torquing up these grades at 50 rpms.

But the ride and handling on this bike are the best I've experienced, even 16 years later. I'm looking forward to taking it on a few of my Sunday favorite routes that are on flatter, smoother roads. I'll likely give it a while to see if the ride is enough to keep me coming back for more.

[MXLeader]

Originally Posted by witcombusa

Putting the final touches on my '89 Serotta Nova Special X. Last parts coming from Poland and the UK.

You think its easy finding NOS 7sd Uniglide cassettes (in the gearing you want)?!

Should be out for a ride this coming holiday weekend

Here's hoping you found that cassette at a reasonable price. I see they're going for well over $100 on eBay. Didn't they originally cost like $15?

The new 10-spd Chorus cassettes I was just looking at were $150 to $200.

That's quite a collection of bike pictures in your Flickr link. They're not all in your current collection are they? Or are you a subscriber to the N + infinity rule? Beautiful bikes either way. Looking forward to seeing pics of the Nova Special X!

[donevwil]

Originally Posted by MXLeader

...I plan to ride the bike a bit but feel that 28's on these roads at my weight will give me too much of a jarring ride with potential rim dings and wheel truing in my future. Also, my low gear on this bike will be a 39/29. That's just too much gearing for my weight, my fitness and the terrain in this area. Most any ride I do on the backroads here is about 1000 feet of climbing in 10 miles with plenty of short steepish climbs topping out in the 8 to 15 percent range. My knees won't be thanking me for torquing up these grades at 50 rpms.

But the ride and handling on this bike are the best I've experienced, even 16 years later. I'm looking forward to taking it on a few of my Sunday favorite routes that are on flatter, smoother roads. I'll likely give it a while to see if the ride is enough to keep me coming back for more.

I have a similar issue in my neck of the woods, terrible roads and I always opt for the bike with 32s or larger. The fact you can fit 28s if not 30s on a Merckx is a real bonus, they often have very low brake bridges in the rear maxing tires at 26-27. Special handling bikes though, maybe a compact crank and/or 12-30 cassette would help you out?

[mhespenheide]

Maybe a Moots seatpost (polished?) could help? They're supposed to flex more than other metal seatposts.

[fmradio516]

Originally Posted by donevwil

I have a similar issue in my neck of the woods, terrible roads and I always opt for the bike with 32s or larger. The fact you can fit 28s if not 30s on a Merckx is a real bonus, they often have very low brake bridges in the rear maxing tires at 26-27. Special handling bikes though, maybe a compact crank and/or 12-30 cassette would help you out?

+1 on my 60cm MXL, the largest I could fit was 25s. 28s would technicially fit, but if the rim was out of true...

[cnighbor1]

Caylor Frame

[MXLeader]

Originally Posted by fmradio516

+1 on my 60cm MXL, the largest I could fit was 25s. 28s would technicially fit, but if the rim was out of true...

"The fact you can fit 28s if not 30s on a Merckx is a real bonus, they often have very low brake bridges in the rear maxing tires at 26-27"

Y'all got me wondering and I just went and measured tire clearances on my 56mm frame.

The rear has an older 28mm Continental Gatorskin mounted and it measures 26.4mm wide. Looks like plenty of clearance for a true 28mm tire side to side but, as was correctly pointed out, a true 28mm tire would be too close to the bridge. As is, with the undersized Gatorskin there's only 2.4mm of clearance. That's as tight as I should probably go.

I do have a Racing Triple crankset in the parts bin, but then I'd need to change the bottom bracket to 111mm and track down a Racing Triple rear derailleur. Pretty sure the 10-speed Chorus front shifter handles the triple in this vintage. But even so, I feel the pedigree of this bike would be compromised too much by riding it with, gasp, a triple. And I'd still be riding on tires narrower than I should.

So this may help me make my decision. Between the tire size limitations and the current gearing setup, I'm thinking I may just need to move on from this bike. I'm going to have to think about this for a bit .

[rccardr]

If you’re large enough to appreciate the value of a MAX frameset, then you’re OK riding on modern 25mm tires at about 80 pounds.
Don’t overthink this.