"Wow, these old steel bikes sure had skinny tubes." Sort of what I thought when I had my first look at the frame. But it sure looked good as new coming out of all the factory wrapping; a few too many Serotta decals for my taste, but I didn't have my hopes very high to begin with, so all was good.
I didn't have a "plan" for this bike yet, so I left it alone for a few months. During that time, I acquired some new Ultegra 9-speed components, a set of nice wheels, a newish Serotta ti quill stem, new Chris King 1" threaded headset. Nice stuff, but not especially bling or even with any particular direction in mind. Just thought it might be decent stuff for a test ride on my new toy.
At the time, I wasn't all that confident building up my own bikes, so I had the good people at Bike Gallery in Portland do it. I took in the frameset and my pile o parts; when I got in, resident stud racer and good guy Shannon sees the frame and is interested. Tells me he used to work at Serotta, actually. Points out that I have these special lugs, lugs that Kelly Bedford, Serotta's master builder, carved up especially for Tour de France bikes, or something like that. Already I was feeling pretty proud, so when I went back a few days later and saw the build, I was especially pleased with how it all had come together. Incredible job, but the mechanic in charge said that on the test ride he noticed the rear wheel slipped a little in the horizontal dropouts when you really jumped on it. Suggested I really clamp it down like a mofo and keep an eye on it...
(Early build pics... Serotta forum comments, etc... to come.)
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