MY ROSSIN

 *** Very sadly, have sold my Rossin***
I've had to raise funds for a bike with electronic shifting (after a hand injury made left hand shifting difficult) so sold my Rossin and my carbon road bike.
I'll eventually be on the lookout for an all original Rossin for London rides however.


Going back a few months I took the Rossin Record (or 'Team'?) out for its first proper ride on a cold, crisp day; 34 miles (home to Richmond Park, three laps and back home).

The ride was super smooth, the Campag Veloce gears shifted perfectly, braking was spot on and the new Rolls saddle that I've finally settled on was very comfortable and looks just right.

If you look at earlier postings on this blog you'll see how the bike was built up from a restored frame to create the current build. There's even a video on the home page..

My Rossin was built at The London Cycle Workshop.





Click on photos to enlarge







FRAME SPEC

Seat tube(c to top) – 58cm
Top tube(c to c) – 56cm
Rear spacing – 126mm
Seatpost dia. – 27.2mm
Brake calliper fixing – allen key type
Bottom bracket threading – 36x24T (Italian)
Front derailleur – braze-on tab
GROUPSET: CAMPAGNOLO VELOCE
Veloce Ultra-torque chainset 170mm 53/39
Veloce rear mech medium cage
Veloce front mech braze-one
Veloce skeleton brake calipers
Veloce 10 speed shifters
Veloce 10 speed chain

Cassette: 12-25
Headset & Bottom Bracket: Campagnolo
Wheels: Campagnolo Khamsin

Tyres: Schwalbe Lugano
Saddle: white Rolls (not as in photo)
Bars: Deda 215 Shallow (Silver)
Seatpost: Suntour Superbe

Seatpin: Campagnolo
Stem: Nitto Pearl 10

Bar Tape: Fizzik

Pedals: (SPD one sided)
Frame resprayed, new decals, nearly new groupset (front mech new, chainrings new), new wheels and tyres, new Rolls saddle, bars & stem new, new bartape, new cables.
Ridden about 100 miles since built.

 

THE BUILD

Nick Von-Vader at The London Cycle Workshop took just three hours from start to finish to put the build together. I can't believe how great it looks, way beyond my expectations. Thanks are also due to TLCW owner Simon England whose advice and guiding hand were crucial.
[Click pix to enlarge]

Bars:

Deda 215


Stem:

Nitto Pearl 10 

Wheels Campag Khamsin, tyres Schwalbe Lugano

Figure of 8 bar-taping!

The frame and bits

Nick checking the gears

Original Campag headset



Veloce chainset



Nitto Pearl 10 Quill Stem

All decals exactly as original frame

Bottom Bracket facing

Fitting Headset

On go the Shifters

Adding Bars & Stem

And what a joy to ride - all the benefits of a modern groupset but with a fully  restored classic Italian steel frame that absorbs the bumps in the roads.

Just swapped the original Turbo saddle for a Brooks Professional. Both look nice.

RESPRAYED & DECALS APPLICATION

Armourtex did a great job with the powdercoating.The paint has a sort of lustre.
I was surprised how easy it was to source the decals. And also surprised by their quality.







The whole process of decal attachment was scary but turned out to be a bit easier than I thought it would be. And the results have exceeded my expectations by quite a long way. Do I need a topcoat to protect the decals, that's the question I'm faced with now.
[Update: After research I've realised I do need a topcoat to protect the decals, in particular the Campagnolo and Columbus steel ones. Having this done on return from holiday in France.]

What is most pleasing (and oddly surprising) is that the frame, with decals attached, now looks like a brand new Rossin frame might have looked in 1982. Very satisfying!

The Rossin decals were large and therefore tricky to apply. They wrapped around the tubes, so I decided to stick the central part on first and press down from the centre working outwards. It was quite a relief when they were finally attached.

My favourite decal!

[Below] Decal application. These Rossin decals were bought from

Cyclomondo on eBay, and they're very good.

[Above] Rossin decal half way through application.

CLEARCOATING

With the frame and forks resprayed and boasting new decals the last stage is to add a clearcoat for protection. Without one, the decals would peel off eventually.

I found Mario Vaz by looking in the small ads in Cycling Weekly. He used to work for FW Holdsworth and offers a stove enamelling service as well as clearcoating/laquering.

He's also a something of a bike guru.

Classic frames awaiting collection. 

Mario Vaz will sandblast and spray your frame as well as source and apply decals. The browny coloured Hetchins has the curly seat stays which make it one of the most collectable frames. Stays are just out of shot unfortunately.

He'll also add paint detailing on request. And his prices are very fair.

[Latest: On collection Mario said "if you'd asked me before I'd clearcoated it I would have painted in your Rossin detailing." Doh!!]

The Vaz workshop

GROUPSET, WHEELS & BARS

Campag Veloce it is then. Acquired this nice 'silver' hardly used groupset on LFGSS and am heading off to Green Lanes to pick it up tomorrow.

Very happy to have skeleton brakes which have a bit of a retro vibe. And stop the bike well too of course. Always helps.







I already have these Deda 215 shallow bars.










The wheeels will be a pair of Campagnolo Khamsins which will do nicely at this time! And I have a spare Campag cassette in the basement as you do. Retro look tyres a must though.

It's Powdercoating Time

Simon at The London Cycle Workshop kindly stripped the bike of all the bits that needed to be removed before powdercoating could take place: bottom bracket, headset, bottle cage mounts, seatpost clamp and the mysterious screw things from the dropouts.





At Armourtex, after a chat with Steve, I decided to go with their standard gloss white.
He also told me that as some of the chrome was in poor condition it would be best to paint over more of it, so the forks will be two thirds powdercoat, one third chrome, rather than the other way round. The same will apply with the chromed stays.
Some of their colours were very tempting, in particular the metallic dark red. Maybe next time!