My latest acquisition - an as-yet unknown 52cm (20.5")model - Benotto.

[YahudaMoon]

Oh, its DCLane whos aiming for L'eroica ^^^^^^ up thread

Its good though that your able to ride a bike after your op

 

[Mrs M]

A huuuuuuggge hello to you all. Well the Benotto is all but needing a few tweaks to finish it albeit I have not been out on it yet.
Spinning the rear wheel and operating the friction shifters with the bike suspended has flagged up a few issues that were partly expected but will be/are being addressed.
I have realised that a 26 tooth rear sprocket is very definitely the largest that will work with the short cage Campagnolo Nuovo Gran Sport rear dérailleur.
It is also looking like a 26 tooth inner of 3 rings is the smallest that will function without chain slap. I just might stick with the current 24T until my new 7spd 13-25 screw-on arrives.
Since taking the early images, I have added a Chrome Effect vinyl chain-stay protector.
I sourced a Campagnolo metal self adhesive one - it has Campagnolo on in blue. It is quite something - but at £18.99 + £7.00 postage !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! View attachment 61812 View attachment 61813 View attachment 61814 View attachment 61815 View attachment 61816 View attachment 61818


To get the full effect of the change to this once sadly neglected steed - refer back to my post of 15th September.

Lovely job, well done

 

[TheCyclingRooster]

I think it looks great. What an excellent job.

Hi Steve. Thank you. It is the result of a few years of searching for a Benotto after I saw the one that Malcolm Summers has on the Classic Lightweights site albeit his is a Benotto 3000. Being a short-arse 4'10" small Benotto frames are a bit of a rarity and especially one that was not built in Mexico.

 

[DCLane]

Oh, its DCLane whos aiming for L'eroica ^^^^^^ up thread

Mine's OK for the UK version - they only want pre '87 and downtube shifters.

Getting onto the Italian one will be harder as mine's far from original. I might as well use my tatty but original '86 Raleigh Team for that and bring down the tone

@TheCyclingRooster - my decals are sorted except for the Paris-Roubaix one. You didn't order two by mistake did you?

 

[Easytigers]

Wow! The bike looks superb now that it's finished. Amazing job.

 

[TheCyclingRooster]

Oh, its DCLane whos aiming for L'eroica ^^^^^^ up thread

Its good though that your able to ride a bike after your op

Hi YahadaMoon. At first I tried with the 170mm cranks but my rather short stature/short inside leg measurement (23") made it rather painful just before the top of the pedal stroke.
I then looked at it from a mathematical perspective and got to work on the drawing board and scaled it all out and very quickly realised that a reduction of 30mm crank length would solve the issue.
The reduction by 30mm is equivalent to a 2T increase in chain-ring size but with the help of www.jbarrm.com I have been able to optimise my gearing.

 

[TheCyclingRooster]

Mine's OK for the UK version - they only want pre '87 and downtube shifters.

Getting onto the Italian one will be harder as mine's far from original. I might as well use my tatty but original '86 Raleigh Team for that and bring down the tone

@TheCyclingRooster - my decals are sorted except for the Paris-Roubaix one. You didn't order two by mistake did you?

Hi DCL. The Paris-Roubaix decal is not generally available and seemingly would cost an arm & a leg to have copied.
I looked at all of the sites that advertise them and none of them show the decal.
I particularly like the way Gerry at C&G Finishes has used the small badge like decal as a head badge instead of the word Benotto reading from top to bottom - as was on the frame when I first got it.

 

[TheCyclingRooster]

Hi again to you all that are following this thread.
Well - The Benotto has been out on a 6mile fine tuning run and whilst it is a totally different experience to my other previous modern dropped bar bikes and especially my current little Italian - the Bianchi Via Nirone 7 Alu Carbon (shortly to be on Flat-bars with Campagnolo Veloce Shifters (courtesy of Chain Reaction Cycles) the bike rides light and frisky BUT the triple 52:38:24 needs changing to a 52:40:28 . The 7spd 13:15:17:19:21:23:25 screw-on is managed well by the Campagnolo Nuovo Gran Sport rear dérailleur,there was a 6spd screw-on fitted when I first got the rather sadly neglected Little Italian.
My initial observations were : - 1) Aha - so that was what campy friction shifters were about - some 47yrs ago and that is probably why I changed to bar-end changers.
2) Was I really that wobbly before going onto 9spd Xenon indexed lever shifting with my first Bianchi Gold Race 600 ?
3) Will I resist the temptation to find some decent 7spd + a triple Campagnolo kit?

Having survived the 6mile out & back through the lanes of Scarisbrick with no issues other than lower the saddle a tad and swivel the bars back a touch - I am now eager to get the Steve Goff frame back from C&G Finishes,Liverpool and built it up and into an up-to-date 10spd + triple on Campagnolo.
Steel frames really are in a class of their own.

 

[TheCyclingRooster]

Hi to you all again. Well what a disappointment after realising that there was something amiss with the bars and stem that I had sourced and fitted to the Benotto.
I got the stem ( Cinelli pattern) off of a chap on E'bay and the bars thrown in - grooved but did not use the grooves.
After totally stripping the bar-tape etc. - it turned out that the stem was twisted slightly in an clockwise (from the bike riding position) very disconcerting.
I have since carried out a refit with a pair of 42cm Deda Speciale 26 ( courtesy of High on Bikes) and an unbranded 115mm Silver Aluminium stem on a Quill converter.
The now finished job is really quite appealing and actually does not look out of place at-all.