[CR]New Bruce Gordon KOF Bike

(Example: Framebuilding:Tubing:Falck)

Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2007 06:00:08 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Thomas Adams" <thomasthomasa@yahoo.com>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: [CR]New Bruce Gordon KOF Bike

Dear List:

Below is the link to some pics of my new Bruce Gordon bike. Thanks to everyone who contributed with advice or parts, and thanks to Bruce especially for such a special machine. Also thanks to Ed Litton for the finish work. I've only gotten 2 short rides in on her, but she's a champ. Good Lord willing, I'll be bringing her to Greensboro for the Cirque. As with all Yahoo photos, click on the download button from each individual page to see a big version picture.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/thomasthomasa/album?.dir=/a70bre2

A few notes on the build: the rear brake bridge adjuster is wrong: Bruce included a special fitting in the box with the racks, but I didn't find it until after I had the bike built, when I went to install the racks. Sorry, Bruce, I'll get it switched out soon.

She has what may be the last TA Alize triple crank we'll ever see. When Peter White Cycles (my usual TA supplier) said they couldn't get any more Alize cranks, I scoured the internet and found this one from a French mail order company. My French ami had to query TA to fill my backorder (they still had the Alize triple listed on their website, but didn't have one in stock). Fortunately TA was able to find one last set of arms, but this would be the very last set, I was told. I got this set over a year ago (one of the first things I went after when I ordered the frame was a set of Alize cranks), so the Alize well is probably bone dry by now. Too bad, I'd have to vote for the Alize as the best looking cranks ever. Heresy, I know, but they are sweet.

Vintage bits are limited to the matching painted Silca pump and the Campy NR brake levers, pulling Campy Olympus Cantilevers. I'm sure modern levers are mechanically better and more aero, but the curve of a brake cable arcing over the stem is a perfect ideal form for me. Of course the Berthoud bags (from Peter White ) are timeless, as are the Pasela tires and Nitto bar and stem, even if not exactly vintage. I was going for all the good looks of a vintage machine with an indexed drivetrain. Drivetrain is 9 speed Shimano, XT rear and Ultegra triple front mechs with DA DT levers, and with a Harris Cycles customized 13-32 cluster. BTW, if you order a 28.6 Ultegra front derailleur today you get a 31mm clamp and a shim now. Yeah, I could have gone totally retro/friction shifted, but 9 cogs are very useful with a 32 tooth touring cluster, and my shaky old hands and deaf ear can no longer trim a 9 cog drivetrain satisfactorily, so indexed it is. I haven't decided on what fenders to mount yet.

Finally a special thank you to Steve Willis at the Bike Stand for helping put it together, and for finding the misc small parts I'm always missing. Hope you like the pics.

Tom Adams, Shrewsbury NJ

---------------------------------
Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell?
Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos.