et al....thanks for the kind words.....
the replies will be in a lump due to time constraints.....
as to the drivetrain......i don't like shimano shifter body shapes at all. they also look weird when mounted as suggested.....and when mounted in such a way as to point forward rather than upward, they are very uncomfortable for me.
i wanted a set of kings for two reasons......one is explained here....
http://www.chrisking.com/pucks/index.html
and because, as a mechanic, i have seen hubs on other people's bikes come and go....even with proper service.
i've now had a pair of king hubs on my mountain frame for 11 years. proper service intervals with the complete king hub tool and i've yet to replace a single part on them. no problems yet.
since i wanted kings, i knew that there would be no option for a campagnolo cassette.
wheels manufacturing has been making conversion kits (spacer kits basically) for years now.....BUT.....they are really only cost effective with 8 speed.
if you want a higher end 9 speed cassette to work with campagnolo....you need to buy a shimano cassette that wheels has machined for about $120 USD that's a bit much for an ultegra cassette. and, i'm not much for nine speed drivetrains.
so, the rear cassette is ultegra with wheels spacers.
the rear derailleur is the stuff made right after c-record that has the more normal looking trailing knucle.
the front der. is c-recrod along with the crankset.
the chain is a SRAM 8 speed PC-91 from the late 90s (to be replaced with an 890 when the 91 wears out)
the shifters are some of the last stock of metal levered ergos in stock here in the US. my other goal for this bike was to have no carbon nastiness.
the shifters were hard to find and soon went out of stock after purchasing them. swapping out the 9 speed index gear to 8 speed was easy as i service about 2 or 3 ergo shifters a week at the shop.
as for the shifting performance, it's dead on perfect. i'm a tremendous perfectionist and i think that a methodical approach to install and adjustment makes for more than expensive parts.
i will say that it's nice to have the heavy, almost medieval, clunk from the shifters......feels like i'm moving some large metal hunks around.
the only fabricator at vanilla is sacha white. scott helps with things like answering phones and so on. so sacha and his painter deserve the full credit.
as for my contribution....all i did was place the order, collect the parts and install them, and pay. sacha chose all the detail work as well as the color.
the track ends with a hanger have been offered by vanilla in the past. it's a wonderfully practical option that will allow for a conversion to single speed/fixed with some ease. they are dead true and square to the frame.
the tubing i've yet to ask about. but will ask soon as i need to know what was used where. he seems to stick to mostly deda, true temper, and columbus....
one-eyed_jim.......monoplaners would not have reached. the current tire on there is 32mm wide.
the idea for this bike was an urban machine. as such, and with streets being what there are here in san antonio texas, it's hard to go with anything narrower than a 28mm or 30mm
i'm not a roadie so this will never see club rides or races.....this bike is all about the enjoyment of riding and wandering about. no particular destination or purpose....my rides are just for fun.
so with a 32mm tire i needed what used to be referred to as standard reach. about 57mm reach max.
this was the only option as this nuovo record set was the only set available in standard reach.
but trust me.....i'd have loved to have a set of skeleton brakes on there if they were made in the longer reach.
as for the spokes....this is a mix of new and old. silver rims, silver hubs, and silver spokes would have made it look too much like a period piece.
the bike is also meant to be practical and modern while only _looking_ classic. as i'm not a roadie and do not intend to use this for such riding.....and since it wasn't built to be used for such riding.....mountain pedals and more importantly....mountain shoes...with soles i can run in.....make more sense than any road type option.
as for the stays.....i like how he left the seatstays straight for the lean to the classic look.....but shaped the stays to give more practical clearance.
and yes....soft faces for extra bite......
lelobysfoot.....i think a polished stem would have been too much. check out the vanilla website. you'll see his bikes are not at all about "shock and awe".
his bikes are subtle and balanced and well thought out in their looks and color palettes. i love this most about them.
i think it looks right....the stem is a same sheen as the bar and post.....balance.
these torelli rims are actually Ambrosio elite 19s. made in italy/france. their tubular versions were and are still being used for paris-roubaix. it's perfect, box section, silver, socket-ed, and 19mm wide and in the 400g range.
hamster.....maybe it's the stock we get in the US from mavic but i've had nothing but bad luck with open pros. eyelets constantly pull through under any rider over 190 lbs. and this is with the proper spoke tension for the given rim.
my modern option after my stock of these ambrosios runs out will be the most excellent DT Swiss RR1.1