Be seated..

Beyond reach..

Of all the parts I had to search for, the saddle and seatpost proved to be the most difficult to find. Although I had never sat on one, the craftmanship of Selle Italia or San Marco seemed the right choice. So those were the only brands I focused on, preferring to find new old stock in the same generation of the bike itself. I was very excited to soon spot a new San Marco saddle on Marketplace in almost exactly the same blue as the frame: The Mapei color scheme. A rich mixture of blue with supportive sub-colours. It would be the perfect fit. But it was going to cost so it turned out right away. High offers were already made and needed to be surpassed. I made one attempt, as I was keen to get this magnificent piece, but failed. The seller was patient and obviously aware of the value and exclusivity of this rarely seen item and expected to be paid dearly. 

As much as I wanted it; my budget also had its boundary. 

Can you believe it..?

I had meanwhile decided that the seat post needed to be black, and the seat blue, or a mixture of black and blue. Which was not easy as I was to find out. It took over 2 months of searching before I finally succeeded. In a way that was both totally unexpected and unbelievable. At a certain point in my search I somehow ran into a picture of a blue Selle seat for sale in a bike shop in the centre of Naples Italy. It was an outlet offer costing..…..EUR.19,90 (!) And online purchasing turned out to be possible, be it in the old-fashioned way by sending e-mails vice-versa. Shipping charges were small using the cheapest postal option which after all took just 7 days which is still quite fast. The saddle was an XO-Gel, brand new, in a rather similar color setting, fitting the bike perfectly. A true treasure. Amazing.. The still original box in which it was packed and shipped was already worn, probably from having it pulled from and placed back on the shelve over and over again for many years. 

But no seat without a post of course. And there things were not getting easier. Because I wanted a carbon seatpost, preferably Campagnolo, and preferably new old stock. But with a steel bike frame from the nineties, this means a 27,2mm diameter which is simply not available. At least not as new old stock; used only... N.o.s, Campagnolo and 27,2mm? Yes, but in alu only. Carbon, Campagnolo and new; Yes.. but in 32,4mm only.  So going for used after all then? The annoying thing is that almost all used seatposts have wear that is immediately visible. Mostly from adjusting, and / or too tight fastening. All parts were new so I could not make an exception, especially not for the eye-catching seat post. Ok.. so no Campa then? Alright.. I simply started searching for a carbon Colnago seatpost. And found one immediately, brand new, in Hungary.

But it was Holiday time and I decided to just drop the whole bike part affair for 2 weeks and see how things would stand after I had returned. Which turned out to be favorable. As Ebay now showed a new advertisement for a brand new Campa Chorus Carbon seatpost n.o.s., available in Denmark. At a cost, but I had searched so long and the seat had been so cheap that I decided to take it. As well as the one from Hungary. I had 2 bikes after all.. And Hungary had more to offer so it turned-out, as I had one more challenge left after the saddle business would be handeled. The fully black Colnago seatpost had a better match with the black mounting brackets of the new seat on the current Tecnos, so the Chorus ended on Tecnos 1, replacing the 36 cm (!) long Aluminium FSA seatpost with a carbon look, which was of course a real fine improvement.

Give me a brake..

Jewellery almost..

Although the modern dual pivoted calipers are more advanced and superior in the output of brake power, to my personal opinion the Campagnolo Monoplanar is the perfect example of enginerical style and beauty. The ratio and mutual dimensions of the levers and pinch arms, the angle under which they are placed, as well as the size and shape in which the material is forged, are a true form of art.

Better design versus better engineering..

The pointed bolts on both the central axle and inner cable fixture on the lower arm, in combination with the robust mounting area of the brake pads seem to create both dynamics and harmony. They were present on Tecnos one, and for sure would be on Tecnos two as well. But here I was unlucky, but with a happy ending after all. I had spotted a new old stock Chorus set, still in the original box, on the German E-bay. The price was high and my initial counteroffer was turned down. Further extended search led to no satisfying alternatives and upon returning to the advertisement to close the deal, it was gone.

I was heavily disappointed and severely regretted my natural Dutch bargaining habit. 

No Monoplanars in the desired condition were to be found for quite some time, until luck knocked on my door again. Rather close to home on Marketplace. A set of Athenas. Used, but in seemingly nice condition and for a reasonable price. Upon receipt, they turned out to be close to new and I was a happy man again. All mechanical parts were available now. Seat and seatpost plus stem and handlebar were the last challenges.

Wheels....

Shamal..!

In racing bike Technics, the frame and wheels are the paramount factors. Now that the fame was there, wheels would be the next challenge. My newly purchased full carbon Wilier Izoard from 2014 was equipped with FFWD 40 mm carbon wheels which had been a completely new experience for me. Being familiar with these fantastic wheels meanwhile made it clear that the phenomenon of carbon whiz is the ultimate wheel experience. In fact, the previous Tecnos restoration had originated from these wheels. Ever since the moment I owned them, I imagined the black red-white colored rims would also perfectly fit with my similarly colored old Tecnos one day, which in the end proved to be the case. I had meanwhile found a similar set in 60 mm with Shimano 11 speed hub, in great condition, to easily replace them on the Wilier. So carbon for sure ? Not yet. Upon starting my wheel quest I soon came across a very neat set of the famous Campagnolo Shamal wheels which' seller I immediately visited to see the fit. In terms of style, there surely was a match, but I finally waived the idea as plain black carbon would be more soothing to the already richly colored frame and the old 8 speed hub would surely have made things complicated as well.

8 speed only..

 So yes.. plain and sober black Carbon from now on. New Old Stock had my preference, but that proved not easy, and neither was plain and sober black itself. A great deal of the wheels available had white or colored decals which I had to avoid. Then I found a set of fairly new Reynolds wheels in my own area which confirmed my idea about the soothing effect of single black against the rich color outset of the frame. But I noted clearly visible traces of removed decals, so that was a no-go. Although not too abundantly available still, I did have the advantage of rim braked wheels being on their return, which made pricing attractive. The real interesting wheel-sets, next to new and without brake wear, were still far from cheap however, so it would again be a matter of time. And there was far more to look after meanwhile. But then suddenly the wheels came around. On Marketplace.

The backbone...

A set of new old stock Forza's in plain black.  Forza wheels were unknown to me and turned out to be exclusively manufactured for Ridley bikes. They looked great in the advertisement. A unique feature was the hub, as it was compatible with both Shimano & Campa 10 and 11 speed. The price was very interesting as well, so I decided to have a look. It was a 160km drive eastward to the town of Almelo where upon arrival I turned out to enter the home of cyclist Ms Janny Kleinjan. Well known for her 3 World Championships Time-rial for Masters and many other titles and victories. I was welcomed in the bike workshop overloaded with trophy cabinets and top-of-the-bill racing and time trial bikes. The wheels were 100% new, competition racing wheels, ultra-light with carbon brake rims, and a great combination with the frame as expected. We closed the deal and on my way back I knew I was well on my way now...

The Stripping..

The bare frame was there..

With the proper tooling in place now, the stripping could start. I really had been looking forward to it and could not wait to see just the bare frame and fork. The majority of the parts of course just need a few hex keys to remove them from the frame which is done easily and a very nice exercise. What struck me was that some parts were in fact still close to brand new. Especially the brake calipers, seat post, stem and handlebar. Also the derailleurs were very neat, the rear in particular. 

The crank had some wear and scratches, as is to be expected, but came off very easily using the crank puller. The bottom bracket was a different story however. The locknut ring was stuck so tremendously tight that, despite the use of the proper Shimano TL-FC31 wrench set, I could not get it off unharmed. What did not help is that the nut is manufactured out or rather soft aluminum and the cutouts were damaged immediately when the wrench shot loose upon the first attempt. After the locknut was finally freed, the internal bottom bracket was easily removed. Before removing the crank I had already felt some slight play and its condition turned out to be rather poor indeed, with a worn protection sleeve and a considerable amount of dirt inside the bearing house. The frame inside tube ends in the bottom-bracket section however were totally free of corrosion fortunately. What was left was the headset. The drive-out tool did a fine job removing the bearing holders out of the head tube, which needed a few firm taps only. The crown race could remain as intended. I had my bare frame now..

.

Other parts and tooling..

Tools for life..

Besides new Italian threaded bottom bracket cups, which were easy enough to come by, my other concern would be a newhead set, also not included in the parts group, which just like the crank is a real core component that would need to be selected carefully. Although I naturally would have preferred one, Gerard had already told me that Campagnolo stopped producing headsets in the middle eighties. They can still be found new on the web though, but I was under the impression these were meant for old-fashioned threaded forks where the 1-inch diameter stem is placed inside the fork tube.  Although a nice 1" Pantos stem would surely be worth considering if it comes to a nice appearance, I was sure I wanted a modern black ultralight compact handlebar which has a 31,8 mm diameter, which don't fit the 26mm of the 1"stems. I meanwhile know the Campa headset would have fit as well and at the same time it did not refrain me from ordering the Campa headset anyway. It somehow seemed like a good investment for possible future retro projects. And I just love these parts. So no Campa headset at this stage, but the alternative was easy and logical.

Straight from Japan..

Being nice and smoothly profiled in shiny alu, the current Dura Ace set was already a great fit and a real quality choice. I initially just wanted to replace the so conveniently closed bearings, but these are not registered by type or part number and nowhere to be found. So I looked out for a completely new set. Which I found rather quickly in its country of origin Japan on E-bay. Not exactly a bargain with shipping & customs added, but I wanted everything new & I had been lucky enough with the other parts so far. Then there was the special tooling to look after. Although already in possession of some basic items like a torque wrench, pedal wrench, chain punch and Shimano cassette removal set, which is not suitable for Campa, I would need a great deal more. The Shimano crank and bottom bracket removal required both a crank puller and special wrench for the threaded lock washer. Placing the Campa Ultra-Torque bracket required a special hex key and fitting wrench for the cups. The removal of the headset needed a drive-out tool for the frame bearing cups and another one for the crown-race on the fork. Re-fitting the new headset required a headset press and crown race placing tool. All in all a considerable but fair investment so it would prove, and these are also tools for life of course. Good tools really make a difference and are a great pleasure to use. There was however one specific tool I decided would be just too much of it. The Shimano crown race removal tool TL HP20 which is not easy to come by. I could find only 2 available offers on E-Bay, 1 for a fair $ 55,00 which could not be shipped outside the USA unfortunately, & 1 for $ 175,- excluding shipping & customs, which was just a bit too much. Considering that this part is basically only a bearing holder, not subject to wear, made me decide it would need no replacement. Upon the search for tools and small parts I always finally ended up at: https://www.bike-components.de. A great webshop. My next mission was to find the remaining outfit to choose: Brake calipers, handlebar, stem, seat and seat post, but above all: Wheels...

The group set

When it comes to parts for racing bikes there's always the Campagnolo versus Shimano question. In which I have a standpoint for years:  Although I tend to believe that overall Shimano would be the slightly better choice in terms of engineering and quality, I'm a Campagnolo fan by nature. Purely for its great design and appearance. So, especially the famous Italian retro bikes should have the Campa outfit in my opinion. Which made my choice for the newly acquired Tecnos clear. But not easy. The Tecnos is a bike from the middle nineties when things were changing. Carbon did Its entry and also new mechanical techniques saw the light. Until that period in time, in terms of mechanics, things had been clear and stable for decades. Currently living in the disc brake and electronic shifting era, which does not (yet) seem to appeal to me, I realize that my favorite bike outfit is something of its own. A combination of steel frame tubing and the advantage of carbon wheels with the old-fashioned mechanical rim brakes with cables sheltered beneath handlebar tape. A personal taste when it comes to appearance and available techniques. Anyhow, my new to-acquire Tecnos would have a Campa outfit. And there I turned-out to be lucky again.. Very lucky in fact..

At the time of starting the project, I already had a clear idea about the bike's gear: All parts should be new and the frame in the best possible condition.  Upon starting my search for parts and wheels months before, I had soon noticed an advertisement at Marketplace. Offered was a complete Campagnolo Veloce bike parts set in New Old Stock from the mid-nineties. New and still in its original boxes. A rarely offered item which, in light of my current project, I knew would perfectly fit my needs. The set included crank and bottom bracket, front & rear derailleurs, chain, shifters, brake calipers, and complete cabling. So I expressed my interest to the seller and agreed to have a look at the parts on the short term. It was a lucky opportunity as the advertisement showed to be there for months already and interest was low apparently. Which made sense of course. Retro bike parts are not exactly hot. A slowly emerging market for sure, but still low valued in this period in time as I was to find out myself soon.  I however still realized that this was an opportunity not coming by too easily and which I should grab immediately. The seller, Gerard, had meanwhile reacted & agreed we should meet soon & awaited my proposed date and time. Which actually turned out to be the date of buying my Tecnos from Sophie. As geographically, Gerald's residence was perfectly situated on my way back home Just north of Gorinchem, in the village of Hoogblokland. So upon leaving Sophie I sent an app to Gerald which luckily was answered soon & we agreed to meet in 1,5 hours.  Gerald turned out to be a very sympathetic person and bike lover & we could close the deal fairly: The skeleton brakes were not to my taste, the front derailleur had an old-fashioned mounting clamp, while my frame had a cam, & the bracket cups were not Italian threaded, so Gerald was willing to keep these parts and we fixed an in-between price. Gerard turned out to be well-skilled bike-technically and enthusiastic about my fresh Tecnos purchase and gave me some good advice about fitting the crank and new to-buy bottom bracket. He also showed me his own magnificent full carbon Colnago C-50 with Campa Record outfit: A lightweight Masterpiece in bike technique.  All in all, it was a great day for a bike lover. My drive back home was a happy one.

Searching..

So considering the plain technical facts, in terms of quality the Tecnos is superior, but it's the great reputation that still makes the Master most admired. And most widely spread so it would appear. The Tecnos is simply rarely seen, especially in good condition. In general, the bikes and frames I came across on the web were either in a too poor shape or single-colored while I preferred the superbly designed Art-Decor paintwork equal to my own bike. Upon looking out for one, an intensive two months search proved four bikes would have been worthwhile.  The most interesting specimen was spotted on E-bay located in the USA:  An almost new bike in a nice yellow-white colour scheme for a fairly small price, which the owner however unfortunately did not want to sell outside the US. A highly prized brand new white-blue colored version, with a Shimano 105 outfit, was available in southeast Germany and was kept on my favorite list for some time until I decided it was too expensive after all. Then there was a white-blue-gray version available in the central part of The Netherlands, but this one turned-out to miss the Columbus decal. The last possible choice was also located in The Netherlands, in excellent condition, but in black and white only, which had too much resemblance with my Tecnos #1 in black-white-red scheme. The bike available I had most liked besides the four mentioned had a wonderful white-blue-green colour outfit but was a 54 size so too small. Measuring had shown that I would need something of a 57 to 59 size. So I had to wait until the right specimen would show up someday, which I realized could take time. I limited my search efforts for some time but then, all of a sudden, it happened.

There she was..

Although I had searched the Belgian version of the Dutch Market Place (Marktplaats) regularly, I probably somehow had missed the advertisement which turned-out to have been there since May 2022 though: A Tecnos for sale in Hasselt Belgium. In a marvelous paint scheme I had not seen before: Multi-colored with Gold, blue and purple aside from other mixtures. Completely fit with Shimano Dura Ace. My interest was immediately ignited as the advertisement promised the bike to be in very good condition and documented. I sensed this was something special I would need to look at anyhow.  Bidding had been relatively on the low side so the site revealed, but once in contact with the seller, it was clear that the bike had its fixed minimum price to be paid. A price I felt would be reasonable if the bike would turn out to be to my taste and in the shape promised. The size was claimed to be a 60 about which I had my doubts looking at the head tube on the pictures. I estimated it to be a 57 which would fit me perfectly. So I agreed to buy it for the price asked for, if upon visiting and measuring the bike it would meet my expectations. Which it fortunately did. By far. The visit to Sophie's house was an event I will always remember. The 180 km drive commenced early morning that Saturday as Sophie had to attend a fancy fair event starting at 10:00 AM that day. I arrived around 08:30h immediately being invited to coffee. She showed me the bike at once which instantly surpassed my expectations as it was in extraordinary well shape. As promised, it had only one paint chip on the top tube. A further closer look only revealed some minor surface scratches and some light lacquer wear here and there.. The color scheme was truly magnificent, and I was really exited to have found such a treasure..

The 60 cm, indeed mentioned in the booklet, turned-out to be measured from the bracket center to the top of the seat tube, instead of the center of the top tube, which was 56 only. Was this indeed a 56 instead of a 60 as I had sensed upon seeing the advertisement? Then I noted an interesting feature. The head tube, including the chromed lug, had an extension of 1 cm above the intersection with the top tube. The seat tube on its turn even had a 2 cm extra length above the joining area. The top tube itself turned out to have a length of 58 which indicated that, measured according to old-fashioned  bike frame geometry,  this was actually a 58. A perfect fit ! The original invoice and guarantee certificate were included. The bike came from dealer Math Salden, a famous Bike shop in Limburg Holland, where I also bought my New Carbon Wilier Izoard in 2014. According to the booklet, the frame was a Model 1994, sold to the dealer in 1998 & re-sold only in 1999, so by then already 5 years of age and kind of new old stock.

Besides the lengthened seat and head tubes, I indeed noticed another difference from my current Tecnos, which no doubt was a later version; the extended drop-outs which allow the wheel axle to be positioned back or forward by using the dropout adjusting screws, commonly available on racing bikes. My current Tecnos does not have these & has only one possible axle position. With a new price of almost six thousand good old Dutch Guilders, the bike was one of the most expensive available in those years according to Sophie. At the time of purchase the dealer had also confirmed that the bike was the lightest possible option in frame and parts choice.  Besides the Dura Ace parts the handlebar and stem were indeed also extremely light weighted as I was to find out soon. The bike turned out to have been her father's who sadly had passed away recently. At the moment before loading it in my car, I asked Sophie if it was OK to take a picture of her and the bike, but then she broke out in tears and told me how both her father and mother had died during the Covid period in which no visits to patients were allowed. I tried to comfort her as much as possible after which we had another coffee and could talk for a while. But we had to say goodbye soon & I was on my way back. To my next mission actually. Because it was my lucky day, which was far from over yet.