Retro road bikes?

jonny_trousers

Any reason not to buy one to use for the commute?

I quite fancied buying myself a steel framed road bike anyway and was looking at the Condor Acciaio, but then it occurred to me that there are some great looking older bikes available at absolutely bargainous prices. Not only would they be fast enough for my commute, and the odd tea time training ride around Regent's Park outer circle, but they would be far less attractive to thieves (I have no alternative but to lock my bike up to a railing at work). Plus there is the personal pride in owning a touch of old-school class.

I guess there is the obvious worry that an older bike will be worn out in places, but if it has been well looked after and maintained..?

About a year ago I bought an old, 90s, steel Ribble from Ebay that was kitted out with a Campag groupset in incredible condition. Sadly the frame turned out to be too long for me and so I sold it on again, but I sometimes wish I had hung onto it and simply looked for a shorter frame.

Anyway, your thoughts on the pros and cons of riding an older road bike would be appreciated.

UndercoverElephant

I love my Orbea, it's a pretty old-school classic. If you make sure you buy something with at least 7-speeds at the back, you can always update it when the need takes you. It will take you too, as getting hold of decent 7-speed replacement components is becoming an expensive chore.

I recently upgraded the Orbea to use Tiagra, it still looks as good, but I get all the benefits of the modern shifting. Oh, and it's still plenty fast enough.

jonny_trousers

Now that's what I'm talking about UE! Gorgeous bike!

walkingbootweather

I use a old school tourer (Raleigh Randonneur circa 1997) as my primary commuter. Tough as old boots, rides very well and doesn't attract unwanted attention. Has rack and full mud-guards, bar end shifters and narrow drop bars for filtering through traffic. For me at least this works really well.

As an aside I met an old retired chap who also had a Radonneur while stopped for 'refreshments' at a country pub last summer. His was about 20 years old and he claimed to have ridden a minimum of 50 miles nearly every day since having it. After over 350,000 miles he had changed pretty much every component more than once, but the old steel frame was still going strong.

Gussio

Sadly, a nice old steel frame is just as attractive to thieves as a more modern bike. Much sought after, as demonstrated by the prices on eBay.

Things to watch out for? That the frame isn't so eccentric that finding bits to build it up with becomes a nightmare. That it isn't so "retro" as to be rusted through. Think that I would avoid frames that take an Italian or obsolete French bottom bracket.

Wallace1492

I recently converted my 1985 Raleigh Elan to SS and am using that.
Pure retro classic!

UndercoverElephant

Wallace1492 wrote:

I recently converted my 1985 Raleigh Elan to SS and am using that.
Pure retro classic!

*Cough* Pics *Cough*

Gussio

A thought. You are based in SE London. Worth keeping an eye on the lfgss classified, where some excellent retro bikes can be found. Reckon that you will get a better deal there than on eBay and more of an opportunity to see before you buy.

jonny_trousers

Gussio wrote:

A thought. You are based in SE London. Worth keeping an eye on the lfgss classified, where some excellent retro bikes can be found. Reckon that you will get a better deal there than on eBay and more of an opportunity to see before you buy.

Will check it out. Thanks!

gtvlusso

Yup - 1982 Barron:



With Racing wheels on it....handlebars and Stem are Velo Orange, retro, as the old bars were very uncomfortable.

Wallace1492

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Wallace1492 wrote:

I recently converted my 1985 Raleigh Elan to SS and am using that.
Pure retro classic!

*Cough* Pics *Cough*

I do have some, but on FB, and you cannot stick them on here from FB.
Still to get the Purple bar tape on, then she will be a 'lil beauty!

Runoutofgears

Seriously thinking of going down this route myself, all I have to do now is convince Mrs ROOG that the aesthetic value will out weight the additional obstruction in the shed.

It’s the narrow tubes and the flat top tube that does it for me!

nickel

Gutted the frame of my dad's old 1997 Raleigh Equinox RX100 is too big for me, such a smooth riding bike for it's age and the gears shift far nicer than the tiagra/sora on the Orbea he replaced it with. Plus it has purple bar tape! Oh well the slicked up MTB will have to do for the time being!

pianoleo

Wallace1492, you CAN link pictures from Facebook. Find the photo you want on Facebook, right click on the photo itself (or click with two fingers on a mac touchpad) and choose to open the photo in a new window or tab. Then copy the URL into here.

Like this:



Doesn't work within that new funky slideshow thing though!

Agent57

Wallace1492 wrote:

I recently converted my 1985 Raleigh Elan to SS and am using that.
Pure retro classic!

What did you do with the braze-ons for the downtube shifters? Or was yours band-on? I've been thinking of doing an SS conversion on my 1989-ish 531c steel road bike.

Wallace1492

Here it is.

EKE_38BPM

On my 1980s Raleigh Banana, which I'm a bottom bracket away from converting to fixed, I've left the 105 downtube shifters on. I think the bike looks better with them on rather than having the mounts empty.

I'm looking forward to the spring of steel after the riding aluminium for 10 years.

roger_merriman

I commute on a ali SS bike 25mm tyres but in the shed lurks old red, which gives a much smoother ride, though is a bit of a old barn gate.

SamWise72

I've got a number of older bikes; an early 80's 531 Gazelle roadie with most of the original kit on it for instance, bought for £25 or so. Even better, I bought a Raleigh Royale 531 tourer for £20, and then later upgraded it with the wheelset and drivetrain from a Nexus 7 hybrid. The only tricky bit was the twist shifter, which I installed on the stem. Even as a £20 bike, it was way better than most bikes you see on the commute; now it's better yet (for purpose, anyway) and it still looks like £20 to thieves. I love it.

jonny_trousers

Beautiful bike gtvlusso, but looks a bit too pretty to stay chained to a fence for very long.

My only reservation about going retro is that I want my bike to run really smoothly, but then bikes are pretty basic machines really (not that I know what the hell I'm doing) and I guess can be tuned and tweaked if ever there is an issue.

Would it be sacrilege to use a carbon fork on an older frame?

ride_whenever

I've just finished this:



(sorry about the pic!)

For my gf's birthday. Old steel, french BB. It was in pretty bad nick, but a few modern parts (I tried to reuse them but they were just somewhat pants - especially the mafac centre-pulls that I spent 4 hours polishing up and getting working again)

jonny_trousers

^^ Sweet!

rolf_f

These are my ancient bikes.




The Raleigh is something I keep at my parents for when I visit but the Dawes I bought new (in 1990) and racks up serious mileage - about 7000 last year. Picture is of it in the new year after its end of year rebuild. The cost of that was replacing a cheap, crappy set of wheels I'd put on it (not those in the pic - nice handbuilts from Spa Cycles), a new cassette, middle and outer rings plus cables and brake pads and the first new chain it ever had - less than 200 quids worth. With the new wheels I converted it to cassette - the new cassette was standard Shimano 7 speed and cost £20. A replacement rear mech cost £6.00 on ebay. There is very little to go wrong. The brakes and shifters each contain little more than one pivot and are massively over-engineered. When I brought it back to life a couple of years ago it needed a new BB (standard Shimano) and a pair of tyres. If we had any sense, we'd all be commuting on bikes like this and the shops would be selling tons of down tube shiftered steel framed road bikes instead of hybrids.

It is a no brainer - you might get some initial unexpected bills but in the long run, once sorted, old bikes cost buttons to run.

ride_whenever

Loving the serious quantities of drillium on the raleigh!

tailwindhome

OP

Great thread idea

rolf_f

ride_whenever wrote:

Loving the serious quantities of drillium on the raleigh!

Beautiful chainrings

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

My only reservation about going retro is that I want my bike to run really smoothly, but then bikes are pretty basic machines really (not that I know what the hell I'm doing) and I guess can be tuned and tweaked if ever there is an issue.

The Dawes is as smooth as silk - Carbon forks might be more rigid but certainly no plusher than a 531 fork.

As for being basic - all I can say is that the Suntour Cyclone gears on my Raleigh are probably the best gears I've used (including the Campag Record 2010 on my new bike) - not only are they lighter than most modern gears, the engineered quality of the components makes anything modern feel plasticky. It's not that I don't like the modern stuff - infact I love it as well. But the mechanical feel of the friction shifters is a delight - it feels (as it should) like you are moving the gears rather than the mechanism is doing it for you. [/img]