New build - Girardengo
06-25-24, 05:59 PM
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
New build - Girardengo
I got this frame a long time ago and it sat neglected in a corner of the shop (as they do).
It was kind of a metallic green where it wasn't rusty.
Now it's built and I quite like it.
It weighs 22 lbs 12 oz as pictured, has 32mm sew-ups.
I think the crank is 49-46.
The fork had a flaw - it was built with one blade a bit shorter than the other.
I made an crescent-shaped insert for the short one's axle slot, secured with a #2-56 countersink screw.
Bits are Gipiemme hubs, Arraya/Super Champion rims, Balilla brakes, Magistroni crank, TTT stem, Cinelli bars, Lyotard Berthet pedals with some wire MKS cages; post is Simplex, saddle is some nasty plastic thing, front mech is a Campag Gran Sport, rear is a marriage (see below).
The brakes were from somewhere else, and neither the short (too short) nor the long (too long) one would put the pad slots where the rear rim was.
The solution was a brake-bolt riser block.
The bottom-bracket is a cartridge-bearing cottered axle swapped into italian cups.
The rear mech is a marriage of a Sport top knuckle and set of arms, with a Gran Sport lower knuckle and cage etc.
The Sport has (unusually for Campag) a sprung upper knuckle.
A set of rivets had to be made (of course) and also the upper knuckle also lacked the spring cover - the replacement is the brass bit in the picture.
The frame was old enough to have the boss and hole to anchor the upper knuckle spring; this mech now shifts really nicely.
Still have to polish and repaint the headbadge and seattube badges...
It was kind of a metallic green where it wasn't rusty.
Now it's built and I quite like it.
It weighs 22 lbs 12 oz as pictured, has 32mm sew-ups.
I think the crank is 49-46.
The fork had a flaw - it was built with one blade a bit shorter than the other.
I made an crescent-shaped insert for the short one's axle slot, secured with a #2-56 countersink screw.
Bits are Gipiemme hubs, Arraya/Super Champion rims, Balilla brakes, Magistroni crank, TTT stem, Cinelli bars, Lyotard Berthet pedals with some wire MKS cages; post is Simplex, saddle is some nasty plastic thing, front mech is a Campag Gran Sport, rear is a marriage (see below).
The brakes were from somewhere else, and neither the short (too short) nor the long (too long) one would put the pad slots where the rear rim was.
The solution was a brake-bolt riser block.
The bottom-bracket is a cartridge-bearing cottered axle swapped into italian cups.
The rear mech is a marriage of a Sport top knuckle and set of arms, with a Gran Sport lower knuckle and cage etc.
The Sport has (unusually for Campag) a sprung upper knuckle.
A set of rivets had to be made (of course) and also the upper knuckle also lacked the spring cover - the replacement is the brass bit in the picture.
The frame was old enough to have the boss and hole to anchor the upper knuckle spring; this mech now shifts really nicely.
Still have to polish and repaint the headbadge and seattube badges...
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06-25-24, 08:08 PM
#2
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Great job on the restoration.
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06-25-24, 09:33 PM
#3
Senior Member
-----
very fine job with it!
a most handsome Costante
frame constructed with Agrati "AM" pattern lugset ART. 000.8040/E/U
upper head lug N. 000.8044
lower head lug N. 000.8043
seat lug N. 005.8049
fork crown N. 005.8048
bottom bracket shell Agrat "AM" pattern
at first glance assumed headset to be Way-Assauto but upon closer inspection more closely resembles the Agrati Art. 209.3071
LOVE solution to too long brake caliper; cannot recall a prior thread where this problem cropped up
a certain air-cooled gentleman shall be along shortly to share his observations...
he may be able to enlighten us as to actual manufacturer
some Girardengo examples reportedly produced in prisons
---
for any readers who have not already visited there is the barn -
https://utahrandonneur.wordpress.com...rardengo-barn/
-----
very fine job with it!
a most handsome Costante
frame constructed with Agrati "AM" pattern lugset ART. 000.8040/E/U
upper head lug N. 000.8044
lower head lug N. 000.8043
seat lug N. 005.8049
fork crown N. 005.8048
bottom bracket shell Agrat "AM" pattern
at first glance assumed headset to be Way-Assauto but upon closer inspection more closely resembles the Agrati Art. 209.3071
LOVE solution to too long brake caliper; cannot recall a prior thread where this problem cropped up
a certain air-cooled gentleman shall be along shortly to share his observations...
he may be able to enlighten us as to actual manufacturer
some Girardengo examples reportedly produced in prisons
---
for any readers who have not already visited there is the barn -
https://utahrandonneur.wordpress.com...rardengo-barn/
-----
06-26-24, 02:53 AM
#4
Strong Walker
Brake risers were used - found a couple of them on bikes of similar vintage - but also brake sets with different lengths were around.
The "built in jail" is a nice story but, according to my research, doesn't hold water for the racing models. Girardengo as a famous racer started as they all did, probably hiring his team mechanic to braze frames to be marketed with his famous name. The company evolved and was at times a very large manufacturer competing with Bianchi, Legnano or Bianchi, meaning they produced all types of bikes, and the racing line only contributed a small number. For what i could find out, the prison labour was used at a late stage in the company's history,maybe in the late 60ies, when production of racers had all but ceased. So what was built in the prison were very likely inexpensive mass-produced utilitarian bikes.
Last edited by martl; 06-26-24 at 03:04 AM.
06-26-24, 04:37 AM
#5
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Very impressive job of restoring that bike and cobbling together the parts to get it to work.
06-26-24, 05:08 AM
#6
Senior Member
Thread Starter
It was chromed, fork bottoms and rear stays.
The U.R. site says two badges were only used from 1962-64.
His pictures of the bikes dated then do not show pump pegs - at all, or not on the top-tube; nor do they show rear dropouts with the boss and hole for the upper rear-mech spring.
(I'd also like people here to learn to snip.)
06-26-24, 10:34 AM
#7
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Bikes: 1981 Bianchi Specialissima, 1971 Bob Jackson. 2012 Kestrel 4000. 2012 Willier. 2016 Fuji Cross 1.1, 1950 Hetchins, 194X James Fothergill, 1971 Paramount P15, 1973 Paramount P12, 1963 Legnano
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Great looking build. Nicely done.
06-27-24, 04:05 AM
#8
Senior Member
Thread Starter
More pics
That show the little crescent in the fork slot.
This started out as a bit of brass bar stock, with a groove the width of the dropout turned to the diameter of the slot, leaving two thin flanges on either side.
This H shaped bit was then cut in half to make a flanged D.
The D was glued with cyanoacrylate into position in the slot and a hole drilled through it into the top of the slot in the dropout.
The flat side of the D was then filed to approximate the correct correction (leaving a bit for final adjustment), the hole threaded and countersunk, and a stainless screw fitted.
At that point the remaining bits of the outer flanges were filed flush.
More slot filing to get it just right, it now looks like this:
This started out as a bit of brass bar stock, with a groove the width of the dropout turned to the diameter of the slot, leaving two thin flanges on either side.
This H shaped bit was then cut in half to make a flanged D.
The D was glued with cyanoacrylate into position in the slot and a hole drilled through it into the top of the slot in the dropout.
The flat side of the D was then filed to approximate the correct correction (leaving a bit for final adjustment), the hole threaded and countersunk, and a stainless screw fitted.
At that point the remaining bits of the outer flanges were filed flush.
More slot filing to get it just right, it now looks like this:
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