Here are the pics of the Rambouillet I recently built.

Some notable specs are the dura-ace triple octalink crank & BB, DA Derailleurs, Phil 32 hole cassette hubs w/ DA 12-25 cassette, DA 9 speed bar cons mounted at the Cane Creek levers with Kelly Take-Off mounts, Tectro long reach calipers, Nitto Technomic Deluxe 90mm stem w/ Nitto 46cm Noodle bar, Shellacked Cork bar tape w/ a cotton wrap and hemp twin finish at the ends, Thomson post with a B-17 saddle, Esge fenders carefully installed with an even margin at the tire circumference, Nitto bottle cages, Continental 25mm hard skinnies (too skinny to look right under the fenders though the fenders look really good when I have the 32mm speedblends installed. whew....

The bike rides like a good dream....even with the 25mm continentals. I put them on to run an experiment comparing the 32mm to the 25's. The bike rides so well, the only difference I could detect was in weight. The big gears work well for the rides I do in Birmingham, AL. Most of my time is spent in the middle of the rear cluster and shifting between the big and middle ring.

My only regrets are the black rims and the black fenders. Silver rims may have a better braking surface and the fenders just seem to look better in silver. The bike is a 2005 56cm. I was a little reluctant to get such a big frame because I am only 5'6 with an 80cm PB height. I run the Brooks B-17 a little forward on the rails and I may swap the 90mm stem for a 80mm to shorten the cockpit a little more.

I do think, however, for a stock sized bike, this fits me well and is very comfortable. I think if I opted for the 54cm frame to get the shorter top tube, the seatpost and stem would have to run so high, it would look out of proportion. At 36, how things looks is less important to me than how they function. At the same time, however, I feel bikes are a functional expression of art that one can either ride to the store or across the country.

Sorry for the size of the pics....I could not figure out how to resize them once the shots were snapped...

Thanks in advance,

Nick Marinelli

nick@boohakergc.com