As a brand, Pinarello has won at least 35 monumental 1st place victories in the last 65 years of its company history, ranging from Olympic Gold to the Maillot Jaune. With names like Indurain, Zabel, and Ullrich, part of their past harkens to a bygone era and more “traditional” (read: hush-hush doping) style of cycling. Currently, the Team Skybots are pedaling them to many victories as well. With a history so royal, it’s no wonder so many companies are vying for the throne.
This carbon fiber Prince came into the shop for a bottom bracket repair after the old Italian threaded BB rocked loose and eventually broke free from the frame. Heavy wears the crown.
Here at Ruckus, we don’t just repair your frame, we try to improve on the damaged area so it never fails there again. So, for this busted Prince, we persuaded the customer to replace the Italian thread with a more traditional (effective) good ‘ol English threaded BB. We first machine a new threaded shell and then wrap it with twill carbon to prevent any future galvanic corrosion, since alloys and carbon do not react well long-term, especially at the BB where water, salt or other road grime can slowly work its way into your frame.
Our next step is to machine out any damaged carbon from the frame, and in this case, the frame just needed very light sanding to prep the area for adhering the new BB into the bike. This part requires patience, precision and a steady hand to make sure the BB is intalled and properly alligned.
From there, we put the frame through a curing cycle and measured the alignment on both sides of the BB. It did line up perfectly, so we pushed the frame on to the finishing stages prep. Meaning, lots and lots of wet sanding to ensure a perfectly smooth finish.
Finally, we sent the prince on to our painter Nick who painstakingly matched the red of the frame (every red is different, and you need to apply several coats to ensure perfect blending) and expertly matched it with the pre-existing color. After we cured the paint in the oven we sent it on to have a final coat of clear sprayed on for that elusive shine. Then came a final inspection and final buffing. All said and done, not only does this Pinarello truly look like a Prince, it will now rule the roads for years to come.
Have a broken Pinarello that needs to be fixed? Send it to us, for it’s no longer “goodnight, sweet prince”.