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It's alive! I just finished building my 1984 Super Corsa 
PostPosted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 1:49 am Reply with quote
verktyg
Joined: 14 Jan 2007
Posts: 2814
Location: SF Bay Area
It's alive! Another frankenbike from the laboratory of Mad Dr. Chas. Pictures at 11:00.

I just finished building my 1984 Super Corsa. I've been gradually working on it for several months. I set it up to look a lot like this 1985 Super Corsa pictured in the Models section of the site:

http://www.gitaneusa.com/images/models/supercorsa/1985supercorsa.jpg

I'll take it out for a spin later today if it ever stops raining.

I'll post pictures as soon as I take them.

Chas.
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 12:54 pm Reply with quote
lofter
Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 1162
Shocked nice job i like it .
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 12:05 am Reply with quote
verktyg
Joined: 14 Jan 2007
Posts: 2814
Location: SF Bay Area
lofter wrote:
Shocked nice job i like it .


Lofter, that's not mine. It's a bike pictured in this web site under Models. I fashioned mine after this one.

This is what my frame looked like when I got it. It had pale yellow Gitane logos on clear wrap around plastic.



Here's a view of the laboratory as I was finishing the bike.















The paint looked muddy blue in the original photos and under artificial light but it's beautiful slightly metallic blue in sunlight. I replaced the original decals with ones I got from Cyclomondo on eBay. They went on easy and look 1000% better than the originals.

The sun was shinning today so I took it out for it's maiden ride. It's a very light bike. I didn't weigh it but I figure about 22 Lbs. with clinchers.

The ride and handling are very.... "sprightly" to say the least. This is nothing like the classic road racing geometry found on early 1970s Gitanes.

The 75° seat and head tube angles coupled with short wheel base and high bottom bracket make for a great criterium bike but I wouldn't want to ride over 30 miles on this frame. Don't even think about hands off riding.

I have several Italian bikes with similar geometries and light, thin wall tubing. I figured that the light weight SuperVitus 983 tubing would smooth out the ride a little, like in my other bikes. I was surprised at how stiff this frame is. It feels great climbing but has a harsh ride like a late 1970s Gios.

This started off as a low budget project that I put together with a lot of components that I already had.

The frame came with a cheap Shimano headset. I replaced it with a Tange Levin headset. I used a Campy Mirage 53/39T crankset and sealed bearing BB. Simplex SLJ derailleurs are getting to be too pricey so I picked up some next tier lower ones that work just the same.

Simplex retrofriction downtube levers are my favorites but I'm going to have to change them out. They don't have enough wrap to handle the 7 speed Shimano Uniglide cassette properly with the Simplex SX610 RD.

The brakes are Mavic - same as Dia-Compe, maybe made by them and the levers are Dia-Compe Gran Royals. Cinelli 1a stem with Ritchie bars, Campy NR 2 bolt seatpost and WBT saddle.

I'm trying to find a 50T or smaller chainring to replace the 53T one that came with the crankset. It should help the shifting a little. I've used a 49T x 13T high gear combo for years. The last time I ran a 53T chainring was when I broke 1 hour in a 25 mile time trial back in 1976.

Chas.
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PostPosted: Sun May 13, 2007 1:58 pm Reply with quote
verktyg
Joined: 14 Jan 2007
Posts: 2814
Location: SF Bay Area
Follow-up...

My 1984 Super Corsa is fast becoming my favorite riding bike. It only weighs 22 Lbs. with clinchers.

It's not a hands off riding frame. It has the same wheelbase, fork rake and frame geometry (75° x 75°) as the mid 1970s Gios Torino bikes but the extra light gage Super Vitus 983 tubing smoothes out the ride a lot.

Even with the light tubing, the rear triangle and bottom bracket are very stiff which makes for great climbing.

I changed to Suntour 8 speed Indexable/Friction down tube levers and a Shimano 12-28T Hyperglide cassette. The Simplex rear derailleur handles the spread great and even index shifts the middle gears on the cassette.

I also replaced the Campy 53T changrings with a 47T TA pinned model. The improvement in shifting is phenomenal and 47 x 12 gives me 105.75" gearing.

I also switched the front wheel to a matching Campy Omega rim with 14x15x14 gage 4x spokes which smoothed the out the ride in the front a little.

A friend wants to forsake his recent model LeMond and buy this from me...

Chas.
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It's alive! I just finished building my 1984 Super Corsa 
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