1994 Serotta Colorado ATi - and a Lot of DIY Anodizing

[MuchAlohaNui]

This morning I had a little bit of time to clean the derailleurs and bottom bracket. I have had this blue and gold anodized jockey wheel following me around for years so I installed it into the rear derailleur to see how it looks and once the chain is installed, how well the functionality and clearance is. The bearing is a 2RS-type and provided the chain clears fine, longevity of the bearing will have to be periodically checked before I am sold on quality. I have similar in my Paramount/Dura Ace setup for a long time, but from a different company and slightly smaller diameter than this blue one. While cleaning the original pulleys, there was no slop in the Shimano parts. Impressive.

 

[MuchAlohaNui]

Couple photos, mounted and with different flash lighting.

 

[MuchAlohaNui]

Unfortunately, I assumed the bottom bracket shell was 73 mm. Nope- 68 mm . So after doing a thorough cleaning and lubrication regiment of the bottom bracket I quickly realized the width is off when installing into the frame. Also the bottom bracket housing was full of dust which needed to be cleaned out as well. Though with the fitment width not all is lost! I threw on the drive-crank arm and chain rings to set the front derailleur gap. Another photo shows some slight marring of the seat tube where other derailleurs of the past were mounted. At one time another m900 looks like it was mounted and a bit too high.

 

[MuchAlohaNui]

Front derailleur height and mock up. There was at one time a m900 FD on this frame, but was mounted about 2-3 mm too high per Shimano installation guidelines.

 

[MuchAlohaNui]

Full titanium cassette preview. 8-spd. I posted pictures in the Unidentified Parts thread some time ago, but there was no certainty in what this was. I have had it for years and was given to me by an old cyclist who never used it and couldn't remember who made it. Anyhow, 150 g
here as opposed to the:

m900 w/titanium bits: 210 grams
m900 w/o titanium bits: 327 grams

Though, using this cassette may result in "leg burner" day every time I use it as it is not quite as wide as the m900. Oh well!

Edit: In the Mystery & Unidentified thread @FluffyChicken thinks the cassette may be a Goldtech or ActionTec? Anyone have any additional ideas?

 

[br0qn]

You're moving too fast for anyone to even comment!

Beautiful frame and that fork looks amazing. I was looking for a little while for one of those Ultimate Machine Co crowns but near impossible to find. Not sure about your MD brace but there is a photo of one in this thread along with a bunch of other mag21 weight weeny-ing

 

[MuchAlohaNui]

Thanks for the link and I went through that thread. Not too much on the brake booster but plenty of back and fourth over grams. I think the one user in there had a Mag 21 (non SL) with the same Ultimate crown and a similar brake booster which weighed total out the door 1444g IIRC. When I have time I’ll pull the fork off the Serotta and weigh for curiosity sake. Though, the star nut in the steerer tube is installed and I am not pulling the lower race off!

 

[Dr Dremel]

Man that frame is really something else. The workmanship is very nice and the weight insane!

Question: If the frame was out of alignment, could you you just brute-force it in shape like an steel one?

Re brake booster: Looks like a Brodie, but AFAIK they all had logos engraved. Functionwise I remember a magazine test where they found out they all had nothing on the stock booster in terms of stiffness.

Edit: Booster is a "Dengler" (German brand), see here one for a Judy with the same logo:
https://www.mtb-news.de/forum/t/e-v...brodie-race-face-onza-xtr-twp-dengler.416237/

 

[MuchAlohaNui]

Mhm, pretty light and quite nice overall in person. Regarding misalignment, anything is possible I think . Tensile strengths are different, with titanium being much higher so you need 'that much more' brute-force to get what you want. There are plenty of DIY videos out there where people use 2x4's to make the frame straighten out. Though to do it right you need a good table that will not move and a laser level that will throw a X and Y axis lasers and you measure often. My Schwinn Homegrown is boarderline needing lasers to get it right as the rear stays during shipping long ago were slightly crushed inward so instead of 135 mm dropout spacing the real measurement is more like 120.

Thanks for the info regarding the brake booster as well.

 

[MuchAlohaNui]

Weighed the front fork with the MD brake booster, Chris King lower race and the star nut. Let's be a little OCD...

1322 g total weight
-10 g star nut
-17 g King bearing race

Grand total:
1295 g

...but there is room for improvement? I was trying to pull off the brake booster and noticed the allen holes were rounded. I was able to extract one, but the other...well, I will need to use my reverse out. These two bolts are somewhat stripped at the allen holes, so why not replace with two titanium units? I mean...they need to be replaced, come on. Second, the canti brake posts, these things are steel! The material needs to match that of the two allen bolts that are stripped, so those need to be titanium as well. But what of those little three-hole bosses? Before looking I doubt I can find those in titanium. Prove me wrong that spending upwards of 35 to 50 euros on a four titanium specialty bolts isn't a sound financial decision.