Bici d' Epoca - not so cheap!

 THIS little project for Heather to ride, was the reverse of the Bianchi when it came to cost, but she's pretty happy with the results. This is of course the TOMI purchased a few years back from Serafino Tomi himself.

 Probably the only true pre-1987 items here are the pedals, shift levers and brake levers, the latter scored from the TOMI shop. Yes, those are new, old-stock Campagnolo Super Record levers!

 Simplex retrofriction shift levers ensure the thing will stay in that low gear once selected. There's something essentially satisfying about the tactile sensations of smoothly moving the chain from cog to cog or from one chainring to another - something lost with modern, indexed systems.

 Of course, back then shifting smoothly was a bit of a skill, but once you learn it, you don't forget...which is something one might not be able to say about flipping the pedals up and inserting your foot into the toe clips! THAT's going to take a bit of practice.

 Despite so much of this bike being post-1987, it certainly looks the part with the generous chroming and polished aluminum. The rims are some cheap Mavic clinchers with the stickers removed, making them look fairly retro.

 The fattest tires we could fit are these Grand Bois "Cerf" at 26 mm. It's REALLY nice to ride on a tire with a larger air volume like these. They have a nylon carcass so they're not super supple, but with 80 psi they ride pretty smooth and pinch-flats are not an issue.

 We're not entirely sure, but believe anatomic bars were available back then, probably from Modolo if nobody else, while the bottle cages may be a bit too modern.

 But with these brake and shift levers....

 And all this gorgeous chrome and polished aluminum, including the Campagnolo Athena hubs which are more than 20 years old...

We doubt any of the officials at an Italian bici d'epoca event will have issues with Heather riding this bike, especially when she's in a CycleItalia retro-wool jersey, Vittoria 1976 shoes, cotton cycling cap and crochet-back gloves. Now all we need to do is pack 'em up and bring 'em back "home".