1994 Serotta Colorado ATi - and a Lot of DIY Anodizing

[MuchAlohaNui]

Small update.

Shifter preview: Paul Thumbies and NOS Shimano Ultegra 2/3x8 bar end shifters. Maybe the cables and housings are a lighter alternative too? While I was photographing these parts I think my scale was loosing a bit too much power and the battery crossed the needed threshold to be accurate.

Also the bolts on the Thumbies are magnetic and thus, stainless steel. At first I thought they may be aluminum but after weighing and putting a magnet to them they are stainless. 16g worth of stainless. I am surprised these don't ship with aluminum. Aluminum + aluminum is lighter and there is no electrolysis where as aluminum with other metals over time will have a reaction (and become heavier as oxidation happens via electrolysis).

2x m4-20 mm to hold the shifters to the thumbies
2x m4-18 mm to clamp the thumbies to the handlebars
...however, 18 mm looks to be a conservative length for slightly larger diameter bars, so in my case 15 mm is long enough for 22.2 bars with plenty of thread to achieve 4 nm torque. So lets see if we can shed some weight here as well. I was expecting these to be sub 140 grams from what others have claimed.

 

[MuchAlohaNui]

Hmmm. A shifter challenger appears. Slightly lighter because the cables are installed. Grip shift or friction shift, both are neat in their own regard.

 

[br0qn]

I love this build.

Bearing in mind I've never used gripshift, I'd rather use the thumbies. Though, the gripshift may be right on with that bionic looking fork. Will they play nice with your chosen levers?

 

[MuchAlohaNui]

I love this build.

Bearing in mind I've never used gripshift, I'd rather use the thumbies. Though, the gripshift may be right on with that bionic looking fork. Will they play nice with your chosen levers?

Cool you're enjoying. There is going to be a lot going on. A few different tangents, but we'll pull it together in the end.

You pose a good question. This is something I will look into shortly and will post some pictures. I have several options to play with, but ultimately I think the brake levers in shape are pretty close. I have these old Tech Lite levers and recently procured some Kooka Racha's (which are in the mail). The weight between the Tech Lite and Kooka's is somewhat trivial, so I have some flexibility. Either or will work with the Paul/Shimano...Paulmano? setup. Not sure yet with the Grip Shift. A side note the original grips that go with the Grip Shift are fat asses; 65 grams. There are others out there from ATI and Pedros that are half the weight. Either way, I still need to figure out grips once I cross the bridge to shifter/brake lever setup.

...but I still haven't figured out the bars. I really want the Klein Stratum 90's, but I think those coming available is like winning the lotto: I never win but some random dude always wins. I have some old Iko carbon bars coming, but are 530 mm. I am also a ten minute bike ride from Schmolke and I went there today to introduce myself and talk to the owners and yap about weight. He has a whole box full of NOS carbon bars from the early 90's where he made me a pretty handsome offer on something 560 mm with a weight of 74 grams. He even verified with data that the bars would not snap in half. He has certifications for just about every load test out there. Was pretty insightful.

...and still waiting for my titanium stem to arrive to determine if the length is good

...but also waiting for Tune to get his frickin' titanium steerer tubes back in stock so I can press one in.

...and so it goes.

 

[br0qn]

I really want the Klein Stratum 90's

very long shot, you might check with this member. Also, what bike came standard with that bar? May be worth searching for a complete bike through facebook and such and, if you find what you're looking for, make an offer on just the bar.

I attempted a search for other parts they made to see what they were into, but the word 'Ultimate' has been used for just about anything and everything as a descriptor word . 'Here is my Ultimate Yeti', 'Is this the Ultimate crank?' stuff like that. If you have any links to old catalogs or something I would like to have a look.

No catalog but you can thumb through this thread if you've not yet.

 

[MuchAlohaNui]

I reached out to that member you linked. We'll see but in the mean time I have bars sorted (for now).

Also, that Ultimate Machine Co. thread was a 5/5 star post. Thank you so much.

 

[MuchAlohaNui]

Small update:

Bars are sorted out until Stratum 90's magically appear. The carbon manufacturer Schmolke is kind of close to my house. The other day I thought I would go there and introduce myself and inquire about NOS parts. The owner of the company was actually quite helpful and while he didn't have a lot on hand, and that is understandable, he had early-to-mid-90's carbon seat posts (100 grams with the clamp) and various carbon bars. Shown here are one of his carbon/kevlar bars at 560mm. These are 1 of 3 ever produced and were prototypes. He warned me they were not for downhill use and strictly for cross country. He also wanted to know my weight .

Depending on who's scale you use, these fluctuate between 74 and 75 grams . We'll just call them 75 grams.

I also did a quick mock-up of the Paul Thumbies and the Grip Shift + the Tech Lite brake levers. Both seem to fit so both are viable options. With the Thumbies, I get more direct access to the brake lever where as with the Grip Shift the levers are moved further in toward the stem.

 

[synchronicity]

Nice build so far, but sorry I would not trust riding those handlebars.
They're too light!

What happens on your xc ride when you come to a downwards hill?

 

[br0qn]

Thank you so much.

sure thing

re your bar set up - based on looks alone I'm way more into the thumbies here, but I have a feeling on the klein bars (maybe any black/"carbon" colored bars ) the gripshift could look great.

Have you thought about cables yet? I've got 4 bikes getting awfully close to being ready to build so they've been on my mind. The lightweight link cables (Jagwire Elite Link / Alligator i-Link etc) can save some grams but I can't imagine them looking good on ...well anything

 

[MuchAlohaNui]

Nice build so far, but sorry I would not trust riding those handlebars.
They're too light!

What happens on your xc ride when you come to a downwards hill?

Good question. Schmolke assured me that so as long as I was riding XC/single track that the bars can handle the stresses and vibration no problem. He brought up scenarios such as hauling ass down a long very steep incline and basically hitting a level ground area with a ton of inertia that maaaaaaybe I need to be careful. Let's find out (the hard way)!

sure thing

re your bar set up - based on looks alone I'm way more into the thumbies here, but I have a feeling on the klein bars (maybe any black/"carbon" colored bars ) the gripshift could look great.

Have you thought about cables yet? I've got 4 bikes getting awfully close to being ready to build so they've been on my mind. The lightweight link cables (Jagwire Elite Link / Alligator i-Link etc) can save some grams but I can't imagine them looking good on ...well anything

Same. A bit leaning more toward the thumbies too.

I have not thought about cables longer than "hmm, which cables will be light? Oh time to take the kids to school." So not much thinking about it. I guess, since the shifters and what not are here that I need to think of a solution.

Those Jagwire cable housings are absolutely abhorent, woah!

I have a bunch of old XTR/Dura Ace stuff but that's all m952/7700 series stuff so too new! I need to see what was available in 1994 to get some ideas.