Tag Archives: Dura Ace

Nagasawa Special NJS Track with Dura Ace 7500

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The Nagasawa marque sits at the apex of Japanese Kierin bicycles, recognized worldwide for impeccably designed and executed frames, each hand made by master builder Yoshiaki Nagasawa. This particular Nagasawa, built in May of 1985, came to me as a frameset by way of Yahoo JP auctions. It has a 53cm seat tube (center-to-top) and a 54cm top tube (center-to-center). It has a beautiful, but hard to photograph deep green / blue paint scheme with rainbow sparkles and yellow highlights. I built it up with a period-appropriate Shimano Dura Ace track group set. Read on to learn more about this bike and the back-story of Nagasawa bicycles.

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59cm IRO Mark V

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Another IRO Mark V rebuild / repaint project.  I love building up and selling these bikes, as they are one of the most solid, no-nonsense urban single-speed / fixed gear bikes out there.  They have the perfect geometry for city streets, and use high-quality steel in the frame construction.  For a fixed-gear under $500, it beats all challengers.

I got this frame as part of a trade, and I overhauled and refinished it.  Dismantled, cleaned out, and re-packed the headset and bottom bracket, added some shiny new silver deep-V’s, a Fuji Feather saddle, and a new cockpit with front & rear brakes with nifty pink housing.  Crankset is a Sugino RD 170mm with a 48-tooth Rocket chain ring, 16 tooth Dura Ace cog, KMC K710 chain, and MKS Stream track pedals.

More pics after the jump…

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Eddy Merckx 7-11 Corsa Restoration

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photo by Alan R. Tansey - alan.r.tansey@gmail.com

After several months, I have finally finished my restoration of the Eddy Merckx Corsa in Team 7-11 colors that I first acquired last year.  I started by stripping off the worn and non-period-correct Ultegra group that was on it, and sent the frame to Allan Wanta for a complete re-paint.

Allan is the real hero of this project.  His work is impeccable – from the paint to the decals, he did a truly perfect job on the bike.  It took about seven weeks from when I shipped the frame to him to when I got it back.  He was great about communication, updating me on the progress of the restoration and even sending me pictures.  The price for this work was very affordable as well – about 50% less than all the other quotes I got!  He gets my top recommendation and I will certainly send more work his way in the future.  Check out the pictures after the jump to see lots of up-close, hi-res shots.

To properly complete this restoration, I slowly collected up a complete Dura-Ace 7400 group on eBay.  Most of the group was New Old Stock, with little to no marks on it at all.  Being a fan of brifters over downtube-mounted shifters, I did drift just a little out of period by including the Dura Ace STI shifters from 1990.  The photos I’ve seen of the 7-11 team’s bikes don’t include these shifters but I’ve seen a number of other 7-11 Merckx’s using them, and more importantly I’m gonna ride this baby a lot so I wanted to go with what I like.  And it doesn’t disappoint – it’s fast and aggressive ride, with the trademark stiffness of Columbus TSX steel.  I feel like this restoration has really brought out the racing spirit of this bike.

The rest of the parts used were:

  • Modolo EVEN ergo bars
  • Selle Italia Flite saddle
  • Time ATAC pedals (Eddy Merckx Podio pedals and shoes coming soon)
  • Cinelli stem with Eddy Merckx pantograph
  • NOS Casiraghi brake cable
  • Matric ISO rims
  • Fizik Microtex bar tape

Alan Tansey was kind enough to volunteer his awesome photo skills to take a great set of pictures of this beast.  Check out the full photo gallery and specs after the jump…

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53cm Blue IRO track bike

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RS_iro_DS

Here’s a new build I just threw together from some spare parts I had and a very nice frame.  It’s a blue IRO Mk.V track bike, sized 51cm.  Originally from the BikeForums group buy two years ago, it’s got a custom color scheme and is in fantastic shape.  It’s rolling on Suzue hubs I recently overhauled, laced to Araya rims – a very smooth and classy wheelset, completed with a Dura Ace cog and lockring.  Truvative Touro cranks, Wellgo track pedals, a Cane Creek front brake & cross lever set, Selle Italia Laser saddle, and some sweet risers finish off this build in style.

More pics after the jump…

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New Fuji Track Pro pictures

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photo by CyclingWMD

photo by CyclingWMD

Last Sunday we had some warm weather and I rode with a couple buddies from the NYC Fixed.gr forum out to Floyd Bennett field and Jacob Riis beach.  There was a spectacular sunset at the beach and I asked CyclingWMD to take some “bike porn” pictures of my Fuji Track Pro.  It’s evolved a bit since I last posted about it: I’ve switched to Syntace bullhorn bars, clipless Shimano pedals, and a black Dura-Ace 47T chainring.  And I added a carbon HED3 Tri-spoke front wheel.  This bike is so fast and comfortable now, having evolved into exactly the right fit for me and a joy to ride.

photo by CyclingWMD

photo by CyclingWMD

Fuji Track Pro – major upgrades!

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new FTP

I originally built this custom Fuji Track Pro frame up with cheap Bontrager parts from a Trek Soho S, but over the last few months I have been upgrading it to a serious beast.  The crankset is a Dura Ace 7710 “hollow tech” crankset & matching octalink bottom bracket, which feature hollow-forged duraluminum arms for the stiffest and lightest non-carbon cranks available.  It’s matched to Dura Ace 7600 high-flange track hubs laced to a Velocity deep-v wheelset on Continental Gatorskin tires.  The front chainring is a Sugino 75 46T while the cog is a 16T Dura Ace.  I also added a Dura Ace AX seatpost and a rare gray-colored Brooks B17 Pro saddle.  The pedals are MKS Custom Nuevo with MKS Alpha leather double-straps & Christophe clips.  Finally, I swapped the 130mm Cinelli Groove stem for a 120mm, and I might drop it down to 100mm soon.

I’ve been riding this bike as a fixed-gear since December, although I have retained the front and rear brakes for safety, and also so I can switch back to freewheel easily if I wanted.  However, it is a joy to ride fixed and I’m loving every minute on this bike.  Total value is around $1800, so it’s not your average coffee-getter, but I do ride it daily in NYC despite the grit and grime (which you can see in the pics after the jump.)

Lots more pics after the jump!

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White Industries ENO Trials freewheel

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eno freewheel

New bling for the whip – a White Industries “ENO UNO Trials” 18-tooth freewheel.  White makes the strongest, most durable freewheels anywhere, elevating an often-overlooked yet crucial part of all single-speed bikes to an art form.  The 1.370″ x 24 tpi threads fit standard freewheel hubs.  It is fully serviceable and re-buildable.  The Trials is their top model, made of nickle-plated case hardened 8620 steel and featuring a ratcheting mechanism with 72 teeth in which six pawls engage.   Most freewheels have just one or two pawls… the ratchet noise this thing makes is sickkkk!

I bought this one for my Fuji Track Pro to compliment its new Dura Ace 7600 / Velocity Deep-V wheelset.  This is the only freewheel built with the kind of quality equal to its all-Dura Ace drivetrain.  I got this one for $50 gently used on Ebay, but they are for sale at Ben’s Cycle for $110 new.