Watch as I assemble my 2003 Gios Super Record 78 bicycle - or "How I spent my entire Saturday".
I ordered my frame from Excel Sports Boulder back in 2004. I made a special request to see if Gios could make a 64cm frame. At the time, they were only making 60cm or so. Gios agreed to make 2 frames for me. There were only supposed to be 100 of these special edition frames made, but mine are serial numbers 101 and 102. About 1 year after receiving the frames, I sold one. Below you will find photos of the assembly process.
Here it is in it's embryonic sac. I am surprised it arrived with no damage, since the only packaging was the bubble wrap.
Birth! This is the last time I would see this frame in NOS condition. Once the seat post goes in, it is no longer NOS.
I feel like a kid on Christmas day. In the box is a complete Campagnolo Record group. Let the fun begin!
1st I built up the wheels. Since I am 6'5" tall and weigh in at 250, I build by rear wheels with 4x 14 ga spokes on the drive side. Opposite the drive side I use 2x 14/15 ga spokes. The front wheel gets 15/16 ga 3x spokes. With this set up, I can run 32 spoke wheels with no problems.
The seat post goes in to give me something to clamp onto. Even though there is no frame material decal, I do not want to clamp the frame. The next component is the headset. Cutting and filing the steering tube takes much patience in order to have the tube butt up inside the locknut when the headset is finally adjusted. The headset is not completly adjusted at this time. After the bars go in and the stem is tightened, only then do I adjust the headset.
The bottom bracket and crank go on next.......
Now comes the stem/bars/shifters/Ergobrain computer. I assembled the bar/stem/shifters/computer as a sub assembly first. It was easier to set at my dining room table for this part. It was a royal pain in the behind to install the computer. That step alone took about 1 hour.
The entire drive train is next. The rear wheel, both deraileurs, chain and shifter cables. I think there is a bicycle starting to appear under there somewhere.
Both brakes, brake cables and seat are installed next. All that is left is final adjments, taping the bars and installing tires and tubes. You can probably tell by the position of the sun shining on the frame, that it is starting to get late. I have about 8 hours into this build right now. I tend to take my sweet time, stopping often to enjoy building my own bikes.
Here it is. All ready for the road. Completly NOS, new, never used. The only other bicycle I ever had that was brand new was back in the 60's when my parents bought me a Schwinn Stingray for Christmas. Click here for more detailed pictures of the completed bike. Click here for detailed pictures of my original 1978 Gios Torino Super Record bike.