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Third example of the ultra-drilled Nuovo Record derailleur. This was the first Drillium piece to go up on Ebay. It was won by a Swiss gentleman by the name of Stefan Schaefter - winning bid: $188.50. I'd hear more from Stefan...

This is the first-ever attempt at doing my own Drillium - a 1978 Campagnolo Nuovo Record rear derailleur. I still have this derailleur, and, although I did a few rides on it - and Carl rode his similar derailleur for over a year - the small webbing remaining as the parallelogram arms will not hold up to the bending pressure over the long run. How do I know this? Because I was making a fourth one when it broke on me under spring load while putting the cage back together! Oops... Now retired, this has pride of place in my parts museum.

Newest work just completed - in Meymaneh, Afghanistan at that! I went bonkers on this set - SHOW ONLY! I personally wouldn't mount these on a bike, take off down the road and then hit the brakes... But don't these look bitchin'? These will list on Ebay around the 14th of November. I sent them home to Jacqui and have the Ebay auction all set up; when she tells me she's received them, I'll hit the 'Start Auction' button and see if I can break my own Drillium Ebay winning bid record...

First-ever set of framebuilder-themed brake levers. Colnago Nuovo Record blades. This was also only the second set of levers I routed out the triangular shape on the sides of the levers. I had hesitated before, since the routing comes so close to the cable anchor barrels - but again, I found a SECRET and from now on will always route out this area. Besides, people paying the big bucks on Ebay expect to see this area modified...

Second set of Drillium brake levers - note the Italian flag colors chosen for the enameling. These went for an astonishing $275 when the Ebay auction closed. Brent Barrow won these and the following Campagnolo crankarms - my last items listed on Ebay prior to departing for my tour in Afghanistan. I finished these and the crank up in my last weekend before Combat Advisor Training concluded in Fort Riley, Kansas. This was probably the best polishing job I'd done - you could use these to shave with.

1974 Campagnolo Nuovo Record crankarm set that went for $203 at auction close - Brent Barrow won these in addition to the brake levers. This set has the distinction of being in the pipeline the longest: I originally began work on these back in 2007 and didn't complete them until July 2008! Spider arm fluting was drilled completely through, then routed and filed. I applied some judicious drilling, too - this set was definately designed with show-bike and not go-bike in mind. This also represents - so far - the only time I have done a part and not kept the first example; it's the only crankset I have done. But not the last - I want one for my Alpina!

Campagnolo front derailleur clamp with Colnago cutout

Remember Stefan, and how I told him I'd make it up to him? He sent me this derailleur clamp and, over a period of about two weeks I turned it into this piece of kinetic art. I then posted it back to him in Switzerland. He gave it to his wife as a gift - had her open the package at dinner the day it arrived. According to Stefan, she was amazed and loved it. It was added to her '78 DeRosa. I charged nothing - as I've done for Carl on a number of parts. They provided the raw materials, I did my work for free to make up for the paint flub in Stefan's case, and just for the hell of it in Carl's case. Actually, I feel I owe Carl as he's the one who, since the beginning, has encouraged me to try new things with my Drillium and also suggested selling some of my work on Ebay, too. Equitable exchanges in both cases, in my opinion. Plus, I got more valuable Dremel time - practice makes perfect, after all!

Beautiful Campagnolo front derailleur clamps with unique cutout

Another shot of the Colnago front derailleur. The five drillings in the back of the clamp are decorated in the World Championship colors. Again, I was really proud of how this piece came out. It should've gone for more!! Yeah, I said it again...

My second framebuilder-themed piece: Colnago pantographed Nuovo Record front derailleur. I suppose I was happy enough with the winning Ebay bid: $156. However, I thought - and still do think - that this was one of the cleanest, well thought out pieces I'd ever done up to that time, and well... It should've gone for more!! There, I said it! Ha ha... This now resides on an 80s vintage Colnago Mexico in Tokyo.

When Drillium goes wrong. This was the unfortunate fourth example of the super-drillium Nuovo Record rear derailleur. While putting it back together, it simply snapped from the force of the cage return spring snapping into place. This now resides in a Ziploc bag labeled 'Failure' and serves to remind me that sometimes one can remove too much material...