Fixed gear: “Bottecchia FDP Paperinik” fixie conversion

This vintage racing bike by Bottechia, believe it or not, arrived to us smelling awful…yes smelling. I didn’t believe that a bike could smell. Maybe it was the soggy seat, or maybe it was the cobwebs (can cobwebs smell?).

Her more beautiful parts included: Bottechia’s emblem original , Cinelli handlebars (mezzo-pista e guarnitura). The rest was just too rotted out.

Destined to become a single speed bike, it is mounted with Ciclocross brakes. White and black. Or black and white but none with fixed sprockets… “too uncomfortable!” hahahahah.

So what color did we choose? FDP and I were thrilled that we were able to get a first peek at the new Fuji white by Masarati…”Ah yes”, I thought, “I want this in my life! Its beautiful, come on!” But when we found out that the Pearlescent white of Maserati was an optional 11,000 Euros, we thought, “uhh that pearl white Vespa Piaggio will be just fine instead”…and then we figured perhaps… just the pearl white and nothing more.

On the first round of body work, Mr. T. was struck with enthusiasm and “artistically” painted the conjunctions black “as it was at one time”. Really, It actually seemed like the bike resembled the mask of Phantom Duck… Absolutely not, he had to redo the whole thing over in pearl white. Much better. And meanwhile the months passed.

During this time FDP was consumed by questions: What about the brakes…black or alu? What about the stem? What about the handlebars? What about the sheath brakes? The seat tube .. ? ?

Finally, one Sunday morning at 9:00 we concurred that we, indeed, had all the necessary answers: seat (white), brake levers (black), brakes (alu), brake liners, and bullhorn handlebars. Now we were all set for assembly.

You know what, “in the end, I don’t hate the fixed COG at all!”, brakes, sheath, Tektro brake levers, and all of our doubts about the color choices are now lying at the bottom of a box, together with that moldy bike seat and the stinky cobwebs all disassembled and put away.

I think the ancestor of FDP , the first owner of the bike, would be very proud of the end result… regular pearl white and all.