All bikes are special, but when you have no clue what a bike's frame will look like before it lands, there's an element of anticipation that infuses the whole process with extra excitement. And a whole lot of nerves. Case in point, this week's featured build, a Pegoretti Responsorium, which the customer chose with the brand's Ciavete 'surprise me' artwork option. Typically, a customer will give some direction to the 'Bottega'; they might prefer a particular color or whatnot. However, with this Responsorium, our client gave carte blanche for the artists at Pegoretti to go with their hearts and paint whatever they wanted.
In many ways, this is the true essence of Ciavete - classic Dario Pegoretti, who didn't take direction and dictated what you got. The fact that the brand still delights in surprising its clients in this conformist age of efficiency (we might say sterility) is one of the many reasons we love Pegoretti and the work of its incredibly talented team.
When the frame arrived and we opened the box, we were blown away. Even though we had no idea what it would look like, invariably, your mind starts filling in the blanks, so when it comes, and the image you created is rendered obsolete, you have to take a beat to really see what's in front of you. The artwork is all dark, deep reds and black, with pops of silver and sketches of symbols that may well be words. The more you look, the more you see, especially so given the medium is a round-tubed bike frame, not a static two-dimensional work of art. We loved it, and so did the client. Phew.
The Responsorium is one of the finest stainless steel road bikes in existence. It comes in rim or disc versions, with a soul of speed, precision and undeniable comfort that makes every ride a joyful experience. Pegoretti frames do ride like nothing else. Let's not forget that this brand once made over fifty frame iterations for the late great Marco Pantani during a single season, each one faster than the last. The skills and experience of that era are uniquely alive at Pegoretti, passed down from Master to Apprentice in an unbroken line. And that means an awful lot. When something is taught, as American economist W. Edwards Deming knew, it has to be taught by a Master. If not, if the teacher is good but not great, experienced but not an expert, the pupil is even less, and the next even worse. So when you find a bike company making frames in an unbroken line, grab onto it. Or better yet, ride one. And that holds true for anything in life.
The Build
We dressed the bike with the analog perfection of Campagnolo Super Record mechanical and augmented it with Cane Creek's Steampunk eeBrakes. These rim brakes don't just look good; eeBrakes demonstrate superb control in all conditions. In our view, they rival disc brakes for feel and consistency.
Some riders make the mistake of assuming that since disc brakes are now the pro's choice on the road, rim brakes are of the past. They're not. Rim brakes perform incredibly well. They're light, efficient and easy to maintain. We see them as an option, not an obsolete category. And despite what the big brands might say or want to sell, rim brakes will be around for a long time.
Our client lives in a remote area and expressed an interest in a light, resilient wheelset that could deal with rougher roads and bounce back easily if a spoke broke along the way. So we whipped up a Zipp 202 rim / White Industry ceramic hub confection that will see him sail straight and true despite the less-than-ideal terrain he told us he often has to ride over.
An Extralite stem holds a Bjorn handlebar in place at the hoods, complemented by a Darimo seatpost and Bjorn Setka 3D-printed saddle. Various Ceramicspeed parts complete the build.
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