Clemente Track (found the bike history)

The Lore... Got this frame at the start of the summer from Max Rawls, who is pretty big in the local Norfolk crit scene. He picked it up from a friend in the racing world but couldn't get the fit right. I ended up trading him $400 and a set of Panaracers for it.I actually shot an email to the builder, Carlos Cruz (Clemente Cycles), and he told me he custom-built this exact frame back in 2005 for Mike Lifshotz—a multi-time state and national track champion—to race at the Brian Piccolo Velodrome down in Florida. Since Carlos stopped making frames recently, it’s pretty wild knowing this is a rare piece of custom steel history. The Build... The only things left from the original setup are the headset and the Campy Strada cranks/BB, which give the bike a ton of soul. Since I work at a bike shop, I spent the summer using my employee discount to turn it into a hardened daily street weapon.Because Carlos built this thing custom for a track sprinter, the geometry is crazy tight. A normal seatpost wouldn't slide down into the frame at all, so I had to take a hacksaw to a parts-bin Fuji post and cut it down to literally one inch of insertion just to get my saddle height right. Everyone at the shop thought it was hilarious, but it works.Slapped a massive 53t FSA chainring on the front with an 18t cog just to fill out the frame triangle, and it feels amazing for crits and cruising flat roads. Threw on some Cinelli BOSS bars with fresh cork tape, heavy alloy wheels, Conti GP5k and ultra sport, and a Silca Mattone bag to keep it clean.It’s an absolute blast to ride every single day.