Dan responded:
Charles Andrews wrote:
> Now I spend 300 or 400 bucks for all the correct parts,
clean and used.
You could actually find the parts at those prices? Tell me where, because from what I've seen, it would be at least double that.
Dan "cynic" Christopherson Lopez Island WA ******
Actually, those prices are right. One just has to have a bit of patience.
Of course, the best way to go is to buy a donor-bike. There are thousands upon thousands of perfectly nice Nuovo Record-equipped bikes out there. Most sell for less than 500 bucks on the open market. And the price for anonymous NR bikes seems to be dropping daily. They sell for a lot less if they're a bit beat. If your donor bike has Universal 61 or 68 brakes, so much the better, it'll be cheaper, and an early 70s Super Corsa could have plausibly had Universal brakes on it.
Most of these bikes are effectively anonymous, so parting them out is no crime.
So, the donor-bike method is best. But if you can't find a donor bike, here's a rough breakdown for parts for your Super Corsa. This is what I'd pay. If you pay more, that's your business..<g>
All parts are used, but clean, functional, and, if given a bit of TLC, could look nearly new:
Vintage Nuovo Record wheels, w/ QR: $100 or less.
Cinelli bars and stem: $40
Record seatpost 26.2: $30
Used unicanitor saddle: $30
Universal brakes and levers: $50
Regina corsa chain: $20
Regina freewheel, used: $20
Campagnolo cranks: $50
Campagnolo steel pedals: $40
Campagnolo NR rear derailleur: $45
Campagnolo record front: $30-40
Campagnolo shifters: $20
$475 not including bb bearing. I may have added wrong, if I did, sorry. Price increases by maybe another 100 bucks for Campagnolo brakes.
for a project like this, I'd definitely use the donor-bike method. Buy two, if you have to... I see somewhat beat NR bikes on ebay that you could probably get for around 300 bucks on a regular basis. If they're a bad size (very large, very small), that's even better. The demand, and price, will be less. I've bought a few myself. If you can clean things up well, no-one will be able to tell the stuff came from a beater. The other great thing about using a donor bike is that you have all the little bits, clamps, cables, ferrules, other hardware, to finish the job, for no extra money.
I bought an old Windsor recently for 200 bucks (which was about 150 too much, imho, I would have bargained harder had I realized how beat the bike was), which is a donor for a Rickert I have... The Windsor frame will be showing up here soon. I'll need to go to the larder for a couple of things, but it should work out well. I bought a very nice Mondia Special, 48cm c-t, for under 400 bucks recently. Had everything I needed to complete two different projects. Except for that swiss bb, which has to stay with the frame..they're so hard to find now. But had I been restoring a Mondia, I would have removed that too. Buying the odd part for something makes sense to me, but for a complete build, the donor-bike method is the only reasonable way to go, imho.
This is how I do it, anyway. I know many of us do this regularly..
I buy from friends, from some bike-shops, virtual and actual. From ebay. From this list.
Sorry if this is old hat to most here...
Charles Andrews
SoCal