De Rosa 1986 ish, Daily Ride 9 speed Conversion.

Dan91

Retro Newbie
Here’s my De Rosa 1986-1990 all finished and being ridden.
It’s now my daily ride to work and I couldn’t be happier.
I’m still trying to get some more information on the frame dates and such. So if anyone has any info it’s much appreciated.

For those that are interested I’ve built it up with:
NOS Campagnolo record hubs 36 hole 9 speed.
Campagnolo Chorus group set in very good condition
A modern Campagnolo veloce cassette which I played around with to
make a 12-28
NOS Marvic monthlery rims
And a few other bits and bobs

A massive thank you to my local friendly bike shop, The Bike Warehouse
In Gillingham. And to all the forum members that helped me on here with recommendations and advice. delongtrevor, Foreigner, Rapparee87,
WimVDD, drechsler57, non-fixie, jm, Old Ned, jim haseltine, Five Alpha.

It’s actually the first road bike I’ve ever owned and ridden properly. It’s almost night and day when you’ve grown up ridding car boot rescue/ mountain bikes. Love it!
 

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Re:

That's just beautiful! I always thought a blue De Rosa one of the prettiest frames around, a work of art really. With the chrome it's just to die for. Wishing you the best of luck with it, it will turn all heads for sure. :D
 
Re:

Cheers guys.

I’m thinking of getting the chrome done on it. It’s starting to pit and rust at points. I was going to wait until it gets bad. Maybe 4-5 years.

Would it be better to get it done sooner than later? And also is it possible to get things like the chain stays re chromed without touching the original paintwork? I like it being original and the chromed areas are the only parts looking a bit weathered.
 
Re:

Rechroming will destroy the paint. The acids and polishing etc will remove most of the paint, and I’m afraid there’s no way round that. And chroming is expensive - probably £150-200 to get the frame done
 
Re:

Lovely bike though, and maybe google the tin foil method of cleaning up the chrome parts
 
I had to retape my bars a few months back and found that sometime over the last 20 years or so I'd lost the skill.....
Good looking bike - only bug I've got with it is the angle of the saddle but then setting them like a ski jump seems to be the current fashion. At one time I had a De Rosa built Moser frame, fully chromed then finished with a clear blue lacquer - it was like a blue tinted mirror, looked great in bright sunshine but chipped very easily. For the life of me, I can't remember what happened to it.
 
Re:

It’s been straightened up since. My fat mate sat on the bike and was almost tipped off the back of it :D I’ve levelled it off and tightened up the bolt now.

Also thanks for the tin foil tip. Works a treat. I’ll just have to keep on top of it as I really don’t want to lose the original paintwork.
 
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