I arrived back from work today to find the first part for my Neo Primato build waiting for me on the doorstep. Thank you Velo-Orange and Mr. Fedex Man.
It’s a beautiful Sugino Alpina 48/34 110BCD compact crank. The rings are almost as shinny as those made by TA. The 48t big ring might be an issue as the Neo Primato has a braze on front derailleur and is speced for a 53t or 52t big ring. So I may have to put the derailleur all the way down and even then it might be a couple of mm too high. Still we’ll give it a go and if it doesn’t work I’ll just use a bigger TA ring. This build is going to be pretty old school and I’m going to be an iconoclast my using mostly Dura-Ace 7800 series parts. Some people will be outraged that I’m not installing full Campy Record, but frankly I don’t like the way it looks, and 11 speeds, come on who needs it. To prove I’m a heretic I also use clipless pedals on my Rivendells, …….born to be wild………….
Filed under: De Rosa Neo Primato Build | Tagged: Neo Primato
The Alpina is a great looking crankset, especially with polished rings.
Will you be using STI on this build? I’ve wondered about the performance of the Alpinas and XDs with STI but haven’t noticed that combo on a bike before. If you are using STI, have you had prior experience with this setup?
No STI on this build. I’m using 9 speed Dura Ace bar end shifters. They’ll work well with the Alpina and the IRD front derailleur and the Dura Ace 7800GS rear derailleur. I’ve used an XD triple (48-36-26) with STI and it worked ok.