Project "Not Quite Eroica..."
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"new pneu"
New Pneu' by The Big Yin, on Flickr
they complement the bike fairly well, despite the "compromise" deeper section wheels it's currently got on...
Looks the part... by The Big Yin, on Flickr 0 -
and if they're a 25c section then monkeys may fly out of my arsehole...
they're taller and narrower than the Conti GP4000 that was on the front beforehand - itself not necessarily noted for being particularly "correct" in it's quoted to actual width...
They actually look pretty damned nice on there though - they were also fairly fiendishly tough to get onto the Fulcrum hoops - but then in fairness, on these mk1 Racing 5's pretty much EVERYTHING was ridiculously tough to fit initially -and removing was awful - I actually had to resort to steel motorbike tyre irons to remove a Conti Gatorskin from them once...0 -
Gotta say I love what you've done, I'm not sure I have the mechanical know how to do the same myself, not just that but getting the parts required to fix mine up that's sitting in the shed.
I may just plump for getting a retro bike, what's your thoughts on the official Eroica bike, personally I think it's beautiful and it's pretty faithful to 'old' bike designs:
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it's beautiful - saw it a while ago, but I reckon it's overpriced if I'm being honest - there's quite a lot of "generic "Bianchi" OEM equipment on there (bear in mind, they were actually very much the Italian "Raleigh" and sold masses of really rather ordinary bikes, so their OEM kit they've found down the back of the warehouse isn't likely to be exactly Campag/Cinelli with a Bianchi Pantograph and some Celeste spilled on it...) - plus, I wouldn't really fancy trying to handle 10 speed gearing with friction shift front levers...
ETA: saw the wheels and thought, "Yep, that's what I want" - website says "Ambrosio Montreal Tubular Rims, Vittoria Rallye Clinchers" That'll be interesting then...
The rebuild I've done is frankly, more "degreaser, toothbrush, metal polish and elbow grease" than anything sophisticated engineering wise. Yes, there's a bit of specialist knowledge (or remembered "how the hell did these work again") and a few special tools (Just like now really!) for the BB and crankset, but the rest of it really is very basic engineering with the exception of what I tried to do with the wheels (converting from 6 speed to 7-10 speed capable)
Plus - you've got a bike that's already in once piece, with all the bits present and (hopefully) correct (if probably a little worn/rusty)... It's a simple matter of taking one bit at a time off, cleaning it, polishing it, and bagging it up ready to put back on the frame eventually... All the time, taking photographs to remember what order things went back together in...
and failing that, you can always give me a shout and i'll let you know - or - worst case scenario, i'm only a hours drive away
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I'll assess the old bike first, a project for next year I think.0
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Well that was a very quick year lol, decided to pull the old bike out the shed and start investigating, amazingly everything is in really good condition under the knackered bar 'foam' wtf, the multiple levels of muck and grime, cleaned up nice, frame obviously looks old n worn but no harmful signs of rust, I think another evening of work and I have it rideable.1
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Jakess1971 wrote: »Well that was a very quick year lol, decided to pull the old bike out the shed and start investigating, amazingly everything is in really good condition under the knackered bar 'foam' wtf, the multiple levels of muck and grime, cleaned up nice, frame obviously looks old n worn but no harmful signs of rust, I think another evening of work and I have it rideable.
excellent - feel free to either add photo's of the "resurrection" in here if you want
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My little project looked like it was almost beyond repair, had the look of something that had been left at the bottom of the sea for a hundred years:
But it cleaned up quite nice:
Before:
After:
Having given it a little test ride last night it rode quite well, not sure I'd want to do an epic century on it but still it's a fun ride back to yesteryear, I was expecting my first bash with tension style gears to be a mare but I was surprised on how well it worked, altogether a successful project and all it took was a bit of elbow grease & degreaser, a couple of new tyres, some bar tape and a couple of evenings.
1985 v 2015
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Anyone remember the UK "Yellow Pages" advert...
"I were right about that saddle though..."
If it's not intended to be a complete "period" restoration (which would be hellish tough, as all the groupset has been swapped out with the exception of the front mech (and possibly the shifters) - and Suntour 7 kit is not easy to get hold of at all... it was lovely stuff BTW, I'd Suntour Cyclone on one my bikes BITD and it knocked the spots off the Shimano 600 of the same era - lighter, better looking, smoother changing...) - then I think to "keep it period looking" without necessarily blowing a fortune, then have a look at the Own-Brand leather saddles from Spa Cycles...
http://www.spacycles.co.uk/m2b0s204p0/Parts-and-Accessories/Saddles-Leather
The "Nidd" looks very much like the old Brooks B17N Tourists Favourite and the "Aire" appears to be rather similar to the Brooks "Swift" - I'm actually quite tempted by one of those myself, but they're just a little "early" for the Raleigh's period look.
but, if the existing seatpin DOES move in the frame, that's one bit I'd definitely recommend you swap out ASAP - the separate clamp and straight pin monstrosities were notorious for simply shearing off the top of the seatpin when you either sat down on the front of the saddle, or if you grabbed the rear of the saddle when it was laden with luggage... both of which happened to me - and yes - both times I was around 70 miles from home and a good 20 miles or more from the nearest workshop... Both times resulted in a lot of riding standing up until i'd found the right sized branch to jam into the seatpin to hold the two parts together - back then carrying a swiss army knife in the saddlebag wasn't likely to get you arrested
The Brown handlebar tape works well - would work even better with a matching leather saddle
for the benefit of any of the other readers - I found the original catalogue from 1985...
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Love the research and very cool to see the old reference material for the Majestic, my aim was to have an old style bike for that summer fun ride which as it stands fits the bill nicely, I think the only parts I'd look at changing are the saddle to match the old style tape even though the original was white and black, I think brown fits nicely on the 80s touring bikes, and the pedals which are pretty knackered, they are secure enough on the bike with no danger of coming off but have way too much give in them side to side, I may grab those pedals or something similar you pointed me to on ebay for a tenna.
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yeah - definitely some proper alloy "quill" pedals for a bike of that style - it's not quite "full on touring" to go for complete platform pedals, not "nutcase racer" enough to be looking at aero style things like on my Raleigh...
something like these - maybe with toeclips and straps like these...
(get the right size of toeclips, they're dependent on shoe size as you'd expect...)1 -
Well - I took the oldie for a spin earlier today... Just a short Shakedown Spin Really.
And, well, it wasn't as bad as I'd feared, but sadly, neither was it quite as nice as I'd remembered.
Wasn't helped that the seat and handlebars were slightly non-aligned (problems of building a bike in a workstand and only viewing it from one side rather than from both, and from above...
Quickly remembered how the toe-clips worked - aided by the really well balanced Campag pedals - but really, the main issue wasn't the "plan ahead" gearchanges or the really skinny feeling brake levers, bars and hoods, it was quite simply that the stem was too short - the current stem was on the bike in time-trial form (so shorter to the 'bullhorn bars', and then a pair of tri-bars out front to stretch into) - it's only 8.5cm centre to centre.
I currently ride with an 11cm stem, on a frame with an effective top tube of 58.5cm, same as the Raleigh - but the new bikes seatpin has about 1cm longer "layback" than the old one, so I'm looking at a stem around 12cm long to get my current position dialed in. I used to ride with a 11cm stem BITD for road-racing, so I've not changed much in terms of flexibility etc. since my early 20's - good to know.
Just decided on a little retail therapy, and found myself a set of the Cinelli "reproductions" of the classic 1A stem and model 64 "Giro d'Italia" bars... They look pretty much identical, made using the same forging tools and so forth - but with slightly more modern alloys (an especially "good thing" for the 'bars, as the old ones now don't pass current regulations for safety...) I must admit, the aspect of buying "old handlebars" - especially ones that are 30 year old and had probably been sent down the road god only knows how many times wasn't something I was happy with - indeed the amount of flex in the steering and in the current 'bars themselves was something that left me slightly uneasy... Frankly, a 1" steerer, quill stem , and 25.6mm handlebars aren't exactly confidence inspiring compared to modern "cockpit technology" anyway - though they're actually perfectly fine IF they're in good condition...
This renovation is turning out to be a slightly more expensive deal than I initially planned...
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My commuter is a 1986 Trek 560. I think about 75% is original. Not the wheels, saddle or cassette. Since I am only 5 ft. tall the frame has always been a bit too large for me. When I can replace it with a smaller frame I'm going to hang this one in the den as art.
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Looks like a well kept beaut, they were built to last.1
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PLEASE tell me that that steerer is one of those "nitto" High rise jobs, and that there's still a good 2-3" of the stem inside the steerer... it looks absolutely TERRIFYING to me - having seen stems fail when they've been AT the minimum insert line, having that kind of leverage on a quill steerer gave me nightmares last night...
The rest of the bike is beautiful - really small frames bikes are difficult to get right for so many reasons - especially lugged construction ones - it almost looks like the head lugs are a single unit on that frame - any chance of a picture showing the head-tube from the side - basically like picture 4, but a little further forward ??
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The stem is odd looking due to trying to make the bike a better fit for my aging(55 yr old) body and my small stature, 5 ft. (1.52 meters). It was done by one of our local 'fit' guys. so, I'm pretty sure it's safe. Your concern does give me pause though. Here's the pic0
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Odd stem is due to adapting the frame to my aging (55 yr old) body and small stature, 5 ft. (4.5 m.) It was done by one of our well respected local 'fit' guys. So, I'm fairly sure it's safe. Does this pic work?
Cheers,
Sarah
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that mark at the front of the stem, next to the headset looks very much like the "minimum insert mark" - however, in fairness, the really long stems tend to have slightly longer "insert" sections than the normal length ones - and frankly, i'd put money on the fact that the stem simply will not go down any further than it's in at the moment, because the bottom of the stem is touching the brake-bolt!
I do love the one-piece head-lug though - thought it'd likely have to be a custom lug to cope with such a tiny head-tube. You can see why modern frames tend to go "sloping top tube" and a longer headtube can't you...
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amazing, related but not quite "bike bit" latest Ebay find. Was searching for the maker of my old time-trialling cycling shoes "Jolly" and found someone who was selling an original set of the non-clipless pedal shoe-plates that came with the shoes... For those who don't quite understand, before clipless pedals, we had toe-clips and straps - and for the REALLY serious people, there were shoe-plates that generally were metal plates with a soft metal (either phosphor bronze or lead-alloy) "gully" attached - this went either side of the back plate of the pedal, to keep your foot aligned in the preferred position. This was why some clipless pedals originally were touted as being "good for your knees" because they allowed "float" side to side.
Anyhow - my old TT shoes were, very much like the project 1989 bike, a bit of a crossover between old-school (as in the "eroica" type bikes - 6 speed, non indexed, exposed brake cables, normal pedals clips and straps) and the new (7+ speed, indexed gears - including fledgling STI bar shifters on Dura-Ace of the era, and the first generation clipless Look pedals) - so - they had fibreglass soles, with steel reinforcement to remove any hint of flex - and were drilled for 3 bolt Look cleats. BUT, they also had their own custom plastic "shoeplate" for standard pedals. I remember having them on when I first bought the shoes, and thought they were brilliant, but eventually decided to try the new fangled "clipless" pedals - strangely enough - it was for winter riding I decided to go that way, as the lack of straps around the toes helped keep your feet warm!
Couldn't believe it when a BNIB set of the plates popped up in my search on ebay for the shoes... Wasn't even thinking of buying anything shoe-related TBH - I just wondered what had happened in the on-going development of the make's products, or - if they'd just disappeared without trace... Had to pop for the plates though, £4.99 worth of nostalgia if nothing else
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