SPEAKING OF THAT ROSSIN BUILD...

As a kid, this ad and the cover of the July 1987 Cyclist magazine had me drooling over the Rossin Ghibli... the kind of name that seemed to translate into "best bike ever" in my pre-fluent Italian mind. A bike model that meant something, like the Tommasini Velocista, the Cinelli Laser, or a Somec Promax. OK, well at least these names meant something to me as a teen... a beautiful bike I'd never be able to afford.

Funny thing about adulthood - you can finally afford the things you dreamt about as a kid, but the means to that end is that you ran out of time to enjoy those things!

eBay is what eBay is. Namely, a rabbit hole of bike geek stuff begging me to spend my money on yet another money pit bike. Ghibli's don't pop up too often and when they do, they look like this...

Meet my next money pit. Yep, I overspent for this and will continue to overspend so I can turn THAT... into this...

The most iconic, beautiful, unobtainable Italian bike of my youth. BUT, it won't be just a Rossin Ghibli. I intend to build this up with the most ridiculous mix of parts from Campy's lost years: Croce d'Aune derailleur with Syncro shifters, Delta brakes, SGR pedals, Elekta saddle and biodynamic bottles. Quite possibly the heaviest and least functional assembly of parts to come out of the cathedral of Vicenza, but also quite possibly the most beautiful bike parts ever made. This thing may weight close to twenty five pounds, but it'll be the sweetest twenty-five pound bike ever made!