Trying to sidestep the hijack in the immortal force thread.

http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/bottecchia/bzeuro_pre.htm

Info there.

Shows a gold bike, but might be grey/matte, or perhaps got the rep on here confused a bit with the thread hijack.

I mentioned it in the original thread but thought I would repeat it here. If any one gets a 56 or maybe even a 58 I will offer them $25 ($225) more than BD for the same deal on the frame/fork/headset/wheels etc.

Sales@ says it's as shown (mattebronze). I still think I can get more than $225 of worth out of that stuff so I'll keep it around. Might be a good rig to hook a trailer to someday for touring w/ the fam.

I really have no idea why my web guy call these Bottecchia 'bronze'

And I can not find my picture of the picture

but the factory paint color ID is exactly the same as on this Moto ATB

http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/motobecane/images/fcp_07_1200.jpg


I think it's great looking bike; but my taste may not be the same as yours
however, I do know
1 - these bikes are an insane deal
2 - we start shipping Feb 6th
3 - prices goes up after the prebooks are shipped

I do not think anyone will be less than flipped out when they see not only the Record; but also the quality of the frame and wheels -- everyone that buys will be shocked

That's a pretty nice color. One that I can see myself on. MatteBronze, not so much.

In any case I'll post a pic when i put it together in the next few weeks.

I'm not gonna ship it back for the $200 so I'll at least ride it as shipped for awhile. Worst case I put a 1000 miles on it and then ebay some of it.

I'll be really happy if I can get a season out of this bike then swap it to a CF rig of some consequence.

Seems like a lot of people consider the Champagnolo Record stuff to be the "holy grail" of road bike components. I understand they are Italian made and carry a higher price tag, and I also understand there is some subjectivity involved here, but just how much better are these components than (for example) Shimano Dura Ace? I guess I'm not so much concerned about "is it really worth the extra $" as I am a little hesitant to believe there is a night and day difference, it's a hands down, no brainer deal, etc., without gathering some more information.

As I am currently shopping for a decent road bike, I'd hate to pass up on the "deal of a lifetime" but I also don't want to get sucked into the hype and buy something exotic (for lack of a better term) that may be hard to find or expensive repair/replace later on down the road. Most things in life have their pros and cons.

Bradley

P.S. Is there a better forum for this topic?

Dura-ace is extremely good as well as Record. It is a matter of preference and/or desire. I wouldn't consider them exotic but they are higher end components. Unless you crash and damage them, either one should last a very long time. There are threads that talk about the comparisons. Chorus and Ultegra are also very good.

I had sent mike at bd a pm about the following, but may as well make it public:
are the specs for geometry correct on the BD site?, because the apparently same frame on ebay bikes with shimano builds are different (especially seat tube angles in 52 and 54)
2. I've gotten 2 different quotes about the crank lengths in the 52 and 54 size. could these be confirmed, along with the geometry? might sound like a tiny detail, but I'm right in between sizes.

yeah I'm between 54 and 56 and would like this fimed up as well.

Has anyone ridden on of these or the Motorbecane frames? I was wondering if they were lively and responsive or like an early 'Dale I rode that felt like a telephone pole-not 'dissing any modern 'Dale.

too late to find out the frame geometry as it shipped today. Will arrive tomorrow. Pics to come when I can.

Dura-ace is extremely good as well as Record. It is a matter of preference and/or desire. I wouldn't consider them exotic but they are higher end components. Unless you crash and damage them, either one should last a very long time. There are threads that talk about the comparisons. Chorus and Ultegra are also very good.

Indeed, all of the research I've done so far confirms what you've said. Unfortunately I missed the introductory offer and the price went up some time during the day yesterday. $1500 was arleady at the upper limit of my budget, so I really don't think I am going order one now. I wrote to BD hoping Mike would extend the introductory price but Anne wrote back and said the sale is over, it's still a good deal at $1695, they will sell out soon, etc. Disappointing but maybe it's a blessing in disguise? I suppose a Dura Ace or Ultegra equipped bike will do me just fine.

Bradley

Bike came in. Lots of the specs were off a bit. Notably the 54 came with a 152.5 crank and the TT length is what bottachchia_usa is showing. I'm assuming the mechanical spec sheet was like this thing "preliminary". The spacer police may have to be after me if I'm not gonna send this back for the 56.

sigh

There's comedy, there's high comedy, and there's a shimano rider trying to figure out how to shift a campy rear deraileur for the first time.

Oh, and the color is bronzey. But that's at least like what the BD site showed...

Was the crank supposed to be 170mm and it came in at 172.5mm? Also, can you elaborate on the other specs that were off? From Bike Forum, someone posted pictures and the specs look the same as what was described in the ad.

Showing the color of the bike. More "matted" than bronze, but still bronze. Again this was as advertised. Note a few paint defects that were common on the top tube.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v731/culdeus/IMG_1412.jpg

:)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v731/culdeus/IMG_1418.jpg

Frustrating design flaw with the skewer. I cannot find a way to make it seat properly on the fork. Still an outside shot at user error, but I doubt it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v731/culdeus/IMG_1415.jpg

I had sent mike at bd a pm about the following, but may as well make it public:
are the specs for geometry correct on the BD site?, because the apparently same frame on ebay bikes with shimano builds are different (especially seat tube angles in 52 and 54)
2. I've gotten 2 different quotes about the crank lengths in the 52 and 54 size. could these be confirmed, along with the geometry? might sound like a tiny detail, but I'm right in between sizes.

I do think now that the geometry does match the bd page and not the ones you see on ebay I'm fairly sure I wasn't measuring the TT length right.

The 54 was supposed to be a 170 crank though and that's not what happened, however.

Do you think the fork could be misaligned that is the reason why it isn't sitting on the fork properly. How about the rear wheel. Does it sit correctly? If it does and you think it may be a skewer issue, maybe try switching skewers to see if it could be a defective skewer? Overall, what are your impressions.]

Thanks.

Was able to swap skewer "nipple" and it sat right. It was off like a nanometer from sitting right. Likely a defective fork IMO. I bet I could take a file to it and it would sit fine with the nipple it shipped with.

Took it on a short ride and had a real good experience. Mind you this bike is a full 4.5 POUNDS lighter than my rig I put 15kmiles on over the last two years or so. I've shortened the reach by a full inch and the handlebar drop is a full inch lower from what I've been riding so there's gonna be a bit of an adjustment period with the fit.

I really dug the record components. Really smooth. I test rode alot of $1500-2000 bikes with everything from ultegera to da and never really was that impressed over my mainly 105 level bike. All the shimano still had that ker-klunk shifting. This stuff you can't hear.

I was able to get the rear der. tuned ok, but the front needs some work.

Climbing I about fell over the first time I got out of the saddle. Since the bike is so much lighter I just about threw myself away from the frame....From there I was too tenative to really lay into the hills till I got used to it.

Took it over the worst roads I could find and it performed great for all AL I thought. Got more vibration up front than in the back which may be a function of not having my weight at 60/40 just yet.

Will add more notes as I get more miles on it good stuff so far.

My intention is to take this thing through my MS150 and then the hotter than hell and shop for or get a custom frame made up. My leg/arm ratio is pretty wild and I've never been totally happy in any frame I tried out.

Thanks for the thorough delivery and ride report!

I've continued to ride the bike as shipped and have had a good time doing so. Right now I think I'll probably stick with the bike as shipped and take it thru the year and see where I'm at. Big fan of the record components.

About the only things I've got issues with is the rear brake is pretty sloppy and I'm not a fan of the drop shape. I can't really find a comfortable spot yet that I can live with for more than a few minutes without my wrists hurting. I feel like I have to sort of contort them to accomidate the shape and to probably have a comfortable fit i might have to turn the bars down a bit which would compromise the hood feel (which is spot on).

If I make one change it might be to a CF seatpost. But really the ride is much superior to my fuji 7005 AL bike already so not in a hurry there.

Ok here is my Sprint Euro Team. I picked this frame and fork up off a guy on BF that had purchased it to strip the parts off of it for the Pedal Force RS group buy. Paid $200 for the frame, fork and HS brand new. I built the bike up with 2006 Centaur parts other than a 2007 UT Centaur crank. I find the bike to be very nice. Solid and stiff in the rear end...clearly a bike rougher than the Steel and CF I have been riding but not bone jaring like my Specailized Langster. The build quality apears to be top notch. IMO this isn't a Record bike and BD if they put it together more like I have and sold it for less than a grand, they would have a good seller on their hands. Not too many people are going to buy this bike other than to part out and with the newly raised price I don't think it will sell nearly as well. It either needs better wheels/bars/stem/post or they need to lower the price back to the promo cost. JMO

Here is the bike:

http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeej440/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/bottecchia.jpg

Yeah, I've come to the conclusion that the wheels are pretty much garbage.

The most suprising thing is the ride quality of this bike is pretty good compared to other AL bikes I've ridden.

Will be moving parts to a different frame when I can come up with the $$$ though if only for resale value.

Will probably get some Xero XR1 wheels asap.

Still riding this bike stock. Some things are starting to look shoddy. The bolts used to hold the handlebar to the stem are rusting also the bolt on the seatpost is rusting as is the threaded part. Rusting, you heard me. Looks like the bike's been used for 10 years with that there. I don't think the bottom bracket was installed properly and If I don't find a new frame soon I'm gonna have it taken out and re-seated. It's making a bad creaky-pop under high tension.

I still hate the wheels, but budget and time have kept me attached to them for now.

I really wonder who is buying this bike now as they are selling complete record groups on their website solo for pretty low prices.

I'm missing where BD is selling just the Record group on the web site. Can you point me where I need to look?
mike

www.bikeisland.com

I just had mine out on Monday and it really is a good ride...but MAN is it twitchy...not a long distance bike for sure...but probably a kicken crit bike.