There are many debates in cycling as to which product is better. If you took a poll I bet one of the most common is what group is best, Campy, Shimano, or Sram. I don’t care about which is best outside of what I like. I have tried Sram, Shimano, and Campy 10 speed and all work.

However, I prefer Campy and am not into debating why other then it is what I like. Plus mine goes to 11 and yours doesn’t!

I figure it is time to rebuild the Rapha bike as it has hung long enough and if you are part of my family you know that patience to me is a bad word. I have Mike for that. So with that said I found a great deal from a excellent guy named Dom. He is the owner of Eurobikeparts and this is the 4th group I have purchased from him in about a decade. He always has good stuff and has been great to deal with. Due to my proximity to him I get stuff in about a day and having already mentioned the patience problem I have that is awesome! You cannot go wrong with Dom or his company. You can find him on ebay as well as through he link I posted.

Before we get started I do not have everything I need for a complete build. I am waiting for a few parts in the mail and I still need to sort out a set of brakes, so a shakedown ride is not on the immediate horizon.

Ok here we go, first the bike we are working on. This is number 20 of 20 Independent Fabrication cross bikes with the Rapha theme. This bike is special to me period!

So we begin with the token shot of beautiful Campy presents. To you Campy fans, I know this warms your heart. Feel free to blow it up and make a poster or screen saver.

I also wanted to through a bit of a nostalgia trip for you Fat City fans. Independent Fabrication is the child of Fat City employees and I found this stuff a couple of years ago. Now it is what I use to build all IF bikes that come into my shop.

Yep the Red stuff!

So we grease the bottom bracket area so the bottom bracket goes in smoothly and stays snug.

I use a cut spoke to apply stuff as I don’t get too much on the area and want to save this tube as long as I can.

The next simple step is to screw in the bottom bracket. I use this park tool as it does not score the metal like the cheap wrenches, and it goes faster.

Next is one of those fun little things that is more of a pain, but you need to do it. Campy has a safety clip that fits in the bottom bracket when you install the drive side crank arm. It helps keep the crank in even if it loosens, which can happen.

Install some great pedals and without planning the springs match the orange in the frame. I swear I did not plan this!

See mine goes to 11 bay-bee!

Once the crankset is in I put the front derailure on. When I saw the picture I took, I noticed it was set a little high and when I checked it I had 5mm in space when 3mm is spot on…it’s fixed.

Put on the rear derailure and a little bit of grease on the threads.

The last thing I could do today was to put on the shifters. I need the wheels, which are coming, to finish the cassette, chain, and then I can wire it all up. Now, how do I say this nicely. Dear Campy, your retention bolt for the clamp and where it is located is a bit tricky to get to. A Torx bolt? Really? Well once I figured this out and being a bit excited that I had one (tool) to utilize I was able to sort it out, but what a pain the the keister! But man is this stuff sexy!

Well as Porky said after a hard days work and before he hit the bars with Daffy…”Tha Tha Tha That’s all folks!”