Masini's Breaking Away Blog: THE ROSSIN GHIBLI IS DONE!

It's finally done! My dream bike from my early days of pouring over Bicycling and Winning magazines back in the 80's. It took some vision, some time and a few bucks to turn this...

into this...

Paint expertly recreated by my friends at The Bicycle Stand in Long Beach. Original decals from the Joe Bell archive. Parts from all over the world via eBay. THIS was the dream bike, in THIS color, built just like THIS.

I already have a couple of metric centuries (possibly the only centuries I'm good for these days) and the ride is fantastic. The Campy Syncro II shifting leaves a little to be desired, as does the gearing. Other than that, I'm simply amazed at how well a somewhat heavy (22 lbs) but extremely well thought out and well built Italian steel bike rides. It just fits. You simply sit in and it feels like a proper bike should feel. You pour yourself into position because it puts you in the correct position.

A couple of points for the vintage crowd... Don't believe what most say about Delta brakes and SGR pedals. They both work very well if set up correctly. OK, they're heavy as it gets... but LOOK at them! Prettier components have never been designed for a bicycle.

Here is the build:

Saddle: Campagnolo Electa Pneumatic

Seatpost: Campagnolo (not sure the flavor)

Rims: Campagnolo Lambda Strada aero clincher

Hubs: Campagnolo Croce d'Aune

Water Bottle: Campagnolo Biodynamic

Shift Levers: Campagnolo Syncro II

Cables: Campagnolo

Pedals: Campagnolo SGR-1

Bottom Bracket: Campagnolo Croce d'Aune

Crank: Campagnolo Croce d'Aune

Chainrings: Campagnolo, 53 x 39

Front Der: Campagnolo Croce d'Aune

Rear Der: Campagnolo Croce d'Aune

Chain: Regina 50 SL hollow pins

Freewheel: Regina Extra 7v

Brake Levers: Campagnolo Croce d'Aune

Brakes: Campagnolo Croce d'Aune Delta

Headset: Campagnolo Chorus

Handlebars: Cinelli EXA, 44cm c-c

Stem: Cinelli 101

Spokes are DT Swiss and tires are Clement Strada LGG 25's. Still working on alphabet icons for those!

I had fun with the build. Filling in the pantographing was fun, and the raised "Rossin" logo on the seat stay caps was another lesson in detail painting and a steady hand. Seat tube needed to have the overspray sanded out.

The headset proved to be the biggest issue. Many Ghibli's were sent to US customers built with Shimano groups. This one certainly did, as the fork threads were cut rather short. With a 10mm difference in headset stack heights between vintage Campy and Shimano, I was left with not even half of a thread's engagement! I first ordered a Tange Passage in order to use lower-stack races with the Campy Headset. That seemed logical, and was a good tip from a friend; however, the Tange uses smaller bearings so, no dice. The solution was quickly found at my grinder wheel. The Campy lock nut has a 1mm lip that fits over the locking spacer. Grind it down, file it flat, lose the spacer and add Loctite. It's that simple!

The final issue may actually be the culprit for my less-than-optimal shifting. This Ghibli's rear derailleur housing stop is unique and mine even more so, as it seems a bit "D" shaped and doesn't hold my step-down ferrule tightly.

Here are some more beauty shots, taken near Angel's stadium on the bike path. My apologies to the under-the-bridge crowd for the disturbance to your neighborhood. Hope I brought a little color to the area.