Karma is rolling!

[Tobias Rodriguez]

I gave Matthew F’s fantastic Gianni Motta karma a little time this morning. After a quick wipe over I fitted a new chain, 2 used tyres along with 2 new inner tubes, some Atom 600 pedals I had laying around and a Dawes saddle which was not being used. The seat post was a bit stubborn but I got it out, cleaned the inside of the tubing and dropped it back in to a lower position. I couldn’t get it leveled properly, that is for another day.

The aim for today was just to get it rolling and see what’s what. Yes the chrome is shot but this baby is super lightweight and rides really well for a shed find with next to no tool time. The rear mech needs tuning but all gears change up and down very nicely.

Matthew F showed me a worn decal on the cross bar, he thought it was something to do with the previous owner, maybe a name. It looks like it says “stafje” which can translate into staff in a few European languages. Any thoughts on that gents?

The bike is in my dad’s garage at the mo, whilst tidying up and putting the work stand back I noticed a water bottle amongst an untidy pile of parts. That came home with me with permission it’s a T.A. Coca Cola Tour De France jobbie, probably late 80’s I reckon. Tatty but cool.

 

[georges1]

Very nice bike you can always get the chrome parts rechromed later for avoiding corrosion. Tubing must be columbus SL,I bet but not sure

 

[Tobias Rodriguez]

Ultimately the stays and forks need and deserve a rechrome but my pockets are not that deep. Sadly only a portion of the tubing sticker remains, it is Columbus and yeah, most likely SL.

 

[ChromeChainstay]

Ultimately the stays and forks need and deserve a rechrome but my pockets are not that deep. Sadly only a portion of the tubing sticker remains, it is Columbus and yeah, most likely SL.

sweet, i'd add new rings, cassette and a campy housing brake der. set and pads. regrease bb and headset. i am ocd

 

[Tobias Rodriguez]

I was the thinking of swapping out anything that wasn’t period for something that is, sod that though, madness as it has some very nice later upgrades.

 

[ChromeChainstay]

let it roll, buy backup record/chorus nos

 

[Tobias Rodriguez]

I took the Motta out for a short ride today, only about 6 miles. I need the room so it’s being stored over the autumn/winter but I wanted to see how it felt after a few changes. It had 44cm bars on it, too wide for me, so I found some cheap 40 cm 3ttt TdF Grand Prix bars. These are mounted on a rather lovely 3ttt Gianni Motto stem bought cheap on eBay, shipped from Italy. I was chuffed about being the only bidder on this little gem. The last change was the seat post, the carbon fibre jobby was super lightweight but thought I’d try out a more traditional post. A cheap scarred but clean 3ttt fluted post was found. The Deda bar tape was sitting around so I used that. I took the opportunity to reroute the cables more to my liking. I ran the cables to the rear of the bars under and out next to the cables at the front, it looks neater and feels better under the hands.The cables probably should have been shortened a little after the narrower bars and shorter stem were fitted but I couldn’t be bothered with the hassle right now. That can be seen to in the spring.

The bike rides really well and I could tell the difference in quality to my two other roadworthy bikes. I could probably drop the stem by another half inch but it felt good as it is. A nice position for starters.