Out of water carriers..

All of the three Colnago builds

ended up in apparently similar results: Art Decor Frames with Carbon wheels and Campagnolo outfits. Still, all three are slightly different and each bike has its own characteristics. But there are two things the three have in common: The handle bars, which need no further introduction, and.... the bottle holders: The perfectly shaped Supacaz fly bottle cage. Superbly designed in carbon and hand painted with a flawless finish; a true masterpiece and almost impossible to find nowadays. I was lucky with Tecnos 2 to even get them in an outlet sale in The Netherlands, and with the Master it took quite some time before I finally found a set in black and white in Italy. On the current quest however, these were the most difficult parts to find. I wanted black and red but did not succeed despite endless search efforts. Then I decided to look out for black and white again, as white was already predominant on the 2000.  But with no result. In the end, the last available set was spotted in Spain, but in straight plain matt carbon only. So I decided to take them to exchange the set with the black & white from the Master, where the matt carbon would fit with the wheels anyway.. And so, the last building exercise was concluded..

Gear...

Compact wheel-frame setup..

Having no concerns like with Tecnos 2, or the need for cassette adjustment as on the Master,  this time the gear mounting never had been easier. The different cassette composition on the Master had resulted in quite some efforts to finally get rid of a slight rattle, which upon fine tuning continuously returned in either higher or lower gear sections. The positioning of a 0,5 mm steel spacer ring behind the most inner largest gearwheen finally did the trick. Which, considering the alterations made on the cassette, still makes no sense to me, but it somehow worked. But this time with the 2000, it was a piece of cake by just following the manual and some slight finetuning only. 

A kind of plug and play in fact..

La silla roja...

On the two previous quests for saddles, 

I had already been very lucky with the NOS Selle from Italy on Tecnos 2 as well as the almost new Hoskar from the US on the Master, but the current third catch really takes the cake. Although not NOS or new, this flawless specimen from Spain via Ebay is such a perfect match, that it's almost unbelievable. The red color is 100% identical to the frame,  

as are the colors of the embroideries: Yellow and blue naturally.  The three primary colors, all prominently present on the frame. Not a real coincidence most likely, as San Marco is no doubt well familiar with the coloring schemes of 

Colnago. But still an unexpected rare trophy.

Virginal white...

The previous bike builds learned that a new old stock 27.2 carbon seatpost is a rarity. Let alone Colnago branded. And yet, suddenly it was there. Slightly aerodynamically shaped even... On Ebay in Belgium. Not in the original box, but brand new with manual and still covered with the protective adhesive foil. And to top it all off:  In White.. White ? Yes of course. Perfectly matching with red and black. But a white seatpost asked for a white stem. So: https://velossimo.hu/. where I found the stem for Tecnos 2. Fortunately, they still had two 12cm pieces available in white. I did the same trick as with the Master using the Deda Spada adapter.  And a white stem meant white bar tape.  Which worked out quite well. With the Selle Italia black marked bar tape as a bonus. Which by the way has great quality end covering adhesive straps, a bit elastic and sticking perfectly tight. So, all on the white tour suddenly. Thanks to the seatpost.. 

All I had to look for now was a saddle...

No braking news..

Two generations..

The choice of brakes was easy.  Design is a noble art and the Campagnolo Monoplanar is a true example.  A kind of phenomenon that rarely appears. Simple and effective mechanics shaped in modest and timeless beauty.  A lever with leverage. But of course,  design and Italy are synonyms.. Not easy to find in NOS these days, but I was so lucky to finally come across a new pair on the web in Northern Ireland. A Chorus set in the original box. I had to replace the brake pads for modern Carbon pad holders and could use the originals on Tecnos 1 with the alu rimmed carbon FFWD's.  A great exchange and use for these solid pads with the characteristic positioning wings. The new holders suitable to contain the carbon compatible FFWD SwissStop pads were not that easy to find, but I finally succeeded with a set of the 55 mm Trivio 453C, although the brake pads are about 2mm longer and protruding a bit. Mario's second last set of NOS 10 speed Ergopower levers are in Chorus as well, be it in Carbon and from a later generation, but at least a fit in group classification, just as with the Master..

NOS... !!

Positioning wings..

Centaur..

Although not in Chorus or Record as most ot

her
parts, and just like with the Master, I was already very happy to find a 2 x 10 speed NOS Campa full carbon crank in the first place. And this time the last one available at Mario's.  But Centaur is made with the same construction techniques as its pricier flagship cousins and simply performs equally. So a multi-directional carbon fiber core with uni-directional weave, bonded to a Power-Torque chromoly axle, oversized with a splined interface on the non-drive side which is very easy to mount. Splendid engineering with great looks. 

Rounding up easily..

As with Tecnos 2 and the Master, I had a clear idea about the wheels: Carbon and new..  But as Shimano & SRAM are dominant over Campagnolo these days and the availability of rim braked wheels is obviously in decline, this basically leaves only one real choice: The Magnificent FFWD Tyro. The subdued matt black would make a great fit with the white and red. So again the best choice in my opinion, but with a 20% Black Friday discount this time, surely a nice coincidence.. And I had great experiences with the Tyro's on the Master meanwhile.  Due to its 29 mm width, a robust and still very smooth wheel greatly performing, clearly noticeable when rounding curves and bends and on bumpy roads.   And just 5 bar pressure is already enough to have a great balance between comfort, grip and rolling resistance;  inside the 28mm austere all black Continental Grand Prix 5000 that is. A hardly surprising choice either, but I simply see no reason to switch to anything else considering the great quality and having had no flat tyre for over more than 4 years now. So nothing new here..