Greg Curnoe Bike Build, Day 1

I picked Greg Curnoe Bike up from Noah yesterday. He looks spectacular in person—the colours are really luminous, but less "neon" than they appear in photos. Of course it's been very rainy and dull in Toronto for the last few days, so that may account for GC's more subdued look. The paint job is really excellent—the only hitch is that, with all the layers of paint, it is a bit on the thick side, and some of the crispness of the lug edges is lost. Since the lugs are all masked, though, this is sort of a non-issue: it's pretty clear where they begin and end. As you can see below, I did decide to ask Noah to put on those Columbus decals on the fork blades.

I spent the day in the shop today getting paint out of places I didn't want it to be, which meant facing and reaming the head tube and crown race, filing out the binder slot, and sanding the Mafac bosses. After doing that I installed the gorgeous Nuovo Record headset and shortened the steerer to the proper length. Once I got home I glued the Dugast tubulars (which I sincerely hope I did correctly) and finished things off by using a bit of left-over tubular cement to glue an aluminum chainstay protector (it's wrapped in yellow electrical tape to hold it in place while the glue dries). Tomorrow I'll install the fenders (which are orange and incredible) and attach all the other parts. Then I'll take Thursday to cut housing, set up the brakes, etc. So the build should be complete by Friday, which, weather permitting, will be a photo day.

The weather has been awful, and I wasn't about to take photos of this bike in the rain, so I took these shots inside and with a flash, for which I apologize.

Update: By steadying my camera against the wall, I was able to get this excellent (though grainy) shot, from an interesting angle...