Dancelli!

[carpenter]

Whoohoo! just back from pub (so apologies for enthusiasm) won my boule match and just had an exhilarating ride back on my Dancelli.

Only just finished the refurbishment this morning, so first time out. It just feels right, fast and responsive - rather like my Raleigh Competition, only more so.

Will post photo's soon.

 

[raleighnut]

Photos

 

[roadrash]

did someone say photos

 

[carpenter]

Here they are - apologies, taken with I-phone 4

Original plan had been to get a beat up, but good, frame to put accumlated spare parts on. Then the devil in me took over.

Frame masked and powder coated by Maldon shot blasting and powder coating (illusion cherry) - I saw a red Dancelli in an internet search and liked the look of it (original was so far gone I thought there was no need to go entirely true to the original finish!).
Forks polished and plated by Hockley enterprises, Southend on sea.
Decals from gts753 (Australian on eBay - very nice chap to deal with).

Relating to what has been said on other threads regarding doing up bikes; it has worked out more expensive than I had hoped - total cost around £300 (not including value of old bits that I had lying around), but it has been fun getting it sorted, I feel proud of the final "product" and it is a lovely ride!

Not sure about the charge saddle - I like them and have a few, but now wondering whether to buy myself a San Marco Rolls in white for Christmas and perhaps a different bar tape (red leather?).
I have promised myself that this will be my last major purchase, will now just clean up/maintain my "stable" of bikes.

 

[DCBassman]

I have promised myself that this will be my last major purchase, will now just clean up/maintain my "stable" of bikes.

Yeah, right!

 

[booze and cake]

Lovely job. Looks nicer than the original version, and compared to the price of a modern bike its a total bargain, unique and with bags of character. Loads of smiles per miles guaranteed for the rider, and plenty of thumbs up in admiration from fellow cyclists.

I think black or white bar tape, white nicely matches the decals, but its going to make the hoods look off-white in comparison, so black wins for me, lets the eye focus on the lovely frame.

 

[carpenter]

Thanks booze - very kind comments, I hadn't thought about black tape (you are right about hoods looking off white if white tape were used, the Shimano hoods seem to be almost a cream colour, not sure if that is a result of ageing )

 

[Kempstonian]

If red leather is nearer to the frame colour I would go with that. If not, its black all the way for me. White looks nice but discolours too easily.

 

[raleighnut]

Nice.

 

[midlife]

Wow

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Wow

My reaction entirely. That deep red colour is really gorgeous and it looks a hundred times nicer than it would have done if left in it's multi-colour scheme. Looking at the result, I reckon it was worth the £300 it cost you without any doubt.
Thinking about why classic steel bikes tend to look better in plain colours, I reckon it's because a strong vivid single colour tends to draw the eye to the aesthetically pleasing frames they often have. The multi-colour schemes that were all the rage in the late 80's and early 90's, break up the the shape of the frame to the eye, so you don't appreciate the thing as a whole.

 

[Houthakker]

Love that chrome!

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Love that chrome!

I'm not generally a lover of much bling on vehicles (motorised or not), but the overall look of this resto is very pretty indeed and it manages to stay on the right side of tasteful and not cross the line into garish. The only things I would have done different would be to have a darker colour bar tape, and fit either more vintage-looking tanwall tyres or maybe reflex-striped Schwalbes for practicality & puncture resistance.. The all-black tyres possibly detract slightly from the overall look, but still very nice indeed. The frame colour change was definitely the right decision to make.

 

[carpenter]

Thanks all,
I like Skipdiver's comments - think you are right about black bar tape to draw eye to frame. I intend to go black tape and saddle (may make you feel better about the Continental Sports ). Will post, better, photo's when it is done.
I went with plain tyres as I have a mental image of 700c wheels (and Italian bikes) not having gum walls - may not be the case, just how I think, also the Sports were a reasonable price!

Now trying to decide on saddle.
I find:
Charge Spoon comfortable (and they make a black version with red lettering) 138/40mm wide
Brookes B17 standard 175mm wide
Big difference between width, will try both on the Dancelli.
Any comments on Spa Aire saddle? some old posts are quite positive.

Also any views on Fizik Performance tape (with/without gel pads)?

 

[raleighnut]

Thanks all,
I like Skipdiver's comments - think you are right about black bar tape to draw eye to frame. I intend to go black tape and saddle (may make you feel better about the Continental Sports ). Will post, better, photo's when it is done.
I went with plain tyres as I have a mental image of 700c wheels (and Italian bikes) not having gum walls - may not be the case, just how I think, also the Sports were a reasonable price!

Now trying to decide on saddle.
I find:
Charge Spoon comfortable (and they make a black version with red lettering) 138/40mm wide
Brookes B17 standard 175mm wide
Big difference between width, will try both on the Dancelli.
Any comments on Spa Aire saddle? some old posts are quite positive.

Also any views on Fizik Performance tape (with/without gel pads)?

Why not try the B17n (narrow) it's a bit more expensive than the B17 but not drastically so.