I’ve been riding this 1980’s Guerciotti for several years now. When I first purchased it, as a frame and fork, I converted it to 650c, and turned it in to a city commuter, as shown in the photo below:
When my Nitto city bars were recalled, and the promised replacement bar never arrived, I decided to convert it back to a regular road bike, emphasizing its slightly garish 1980’s color scheme:
I really enjoy riding this bike – it is fast and a great hill climber. My theory about its superior performance is that its small diameter seat stays and the short wheelbase make it fly up hills. I won’t say whether the bike “planes” as I am not convinced of this theory, although I do find it interesting. Whatever the case, I can ride this bike over hill and dale and not tire out the way I do on my other bikes. Converting it to 650c made the handling a little more responsive, with more stability a lower speeds due to the lower trail. It also lowered the bottom bracket which theoretically stabilizes it on descents. One problem, though was that the bike was built for racing and so it lacks fender and rack mounts. I was using clip-on fenders, but those really aren’t adequate for riding through Portland’s winter rains. So, I decided to try installing full coverage fenders, and to take advantage of its relatively low trail by mounting a front rack so that I could use a rando bag.
In order to mount fenders to a frame with no eyelets, p-clamps normally work pretty well. The fork was fairly slender at the base but I shimmed the clamps and got them to hold. The rear mounts were more difficult. The seat stays on this bike are very small diameter, and even with a shim, the p-clamp could not grip the stay. Instead, I used 3 zip ties and mounted them to the hole in the Gipiemme dropouts, with one of the ties serving as a block to the open loop of the stays.
I like these Planet Bike Cascadia fenders. They have dual stays front and rear which makes for 4 mounting points at the rear and 3 in the front. Plus, they have nice long mud-flaps which really help keep your feet, drive train, and other riders drafting behind you dry. Because this bike uses recessed brake nuts, I needed to find a way to mount the fenders to the brake bridge and fork crown. On the front, I simply mounted the fender in front of the fork crown, but for the rear I needed Sheldon Brown’s “fender nuts“. I didn’t want to wait around for a shipment, so I made my own by tapping 6 x 1 mm threads into the 5 mm nut head. I didn’t tap too far down, and used a short bolt, so that I wouldn’t compromise the allen head at the base of the inside of the nut.
Then I needed a pretty big spacer at the chain stays to make the fender line right (the fenders were designed for 700c wheels) and also to allow enough room for the front derailleur to move freely. This set-up is a bit “spring loaded” with pressure from the rear fender going toward the seat tube. If it starts to rattle, I’ll try something else. The chain stay bridge was not drilled so I fashioned a hook to insert from underneath the frame.
Mounting the Nitto front rack was a breeze. It is fully adjustable and should fit just about any kind of front end. Good job, Nitto.
For the rest of the build, I re-taped the bars with more conservative black tape, using the traditional method of starting at the stem and working toward the bar-ends. In this way, there’s no ugly electrician’s tape, but you need solid bar end plugs to make it work well. I have these nifty bar end lights, and although they don’t put out a ton of light, they definitely help others see me while riding at night. Of course I use a head and tail light as well.
I swapped out the white Tektro long reach brakes (Model R556) for some silver ones, but kept the rest of the build the same, including the Campagnolo Record head-set, bottom bracket, and Centaur crankset. I am using Shimano shifters and derailleurs in friction mode and this bike shifts quicker and more silently than any other bike I own.
I am pleased with the bike’s new look and new utility. Being able to use a front bag (Velo-Orange model shown above) will be really nice. And commuting through the winter on this bike will be much more enjoyable with the full coverage fenders.
