-Post Your Retro Road Bikes-

PhilPub

welkman wrote:

Here is my new (to me) Ron Cooper. It is frame number 009 and I have no idea of age etc.

Blimey! Nice one, looks well looked after. If you were curious to find out more about its vintage you could probably speak with the man himself, since he works (part-time, Mon, Wed, Fri) at Colour Tech in Dartford. When I took mine in for a respray earlier this year someone quoted the frame number to him and he said "Ooh, that's an old one!"... and it certainly didn't start with 00...!

rustybullet

Bare steel Raleigh 531Club (oiled regularly)

and unknown old frame powder coated with modern single speed equipment

team47b

Imholz of st Gallen, 531, 1964, 3ttt bars, stem and saddle, campagnolo record high flange hubs, Mavic tubular rims, record pedals, seat post, cranks, deraileur 1974, weinmann brakes, 10kgs including pedals and clips etc

term1te

Seen elsewhere, but I hope you appreciate it anyway...

I present the Master...


If it's a nice day tomorrow, I may take her out for a spin.

Flambes

Fairly recent addition, scratched the itch to have a 753 Peugeot since I was 15, a veeeery longtime ago!!
Will be gradually upgraded as I find bits at jumbles, but so far, it's:
Shimano 600 Rear mech, shifters, chainset (52x42), levers.
Chorus Monoplanar calipers.
13-21 7 speed freewheel (not terribly appropriate for Devon).
MA40 rims, unknown Campag hubs.
Selle Italia Turbo Saddle (the one I used when I was 15).
Cheap finishing kit.
Rides beautifully!

philclubman

Loving the Tomassini, the Master and the Ron Coopers! Some lovely bikes.

Mine's not strictly retro, but retro style.







Just bought myself a De Rosa Milanino Training frameset, so sadly she may have to be sold in the new year. Watch this space.

buddy_club

More later.....

sad_muso

Here is an old Giant me and a mate recently did up. I was given the bike by a friend as it had been sitting in their garage for five years gathering dust. We replaced the entire chain drive, got rid of the pesky down tube shifters and blessed it with some new tyres and less GI Joe-esq bar tape.

There is still more to be done but I'm happy with it so far and it rides well


Before


After

Anyone know the age of this old dog roughly?

southdownswolf

sad_muso wrote:

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Is that propeller on the back UCI legal?

simon_masterson

sad_muso wrote:

Here is an old Giant me and a mate recently did up. I was given the bike by a friend as it had been sitting in their garage for five years gathering dust. We replaced the entire chain drive, got rid of the pesky down tube shifters and blessed it with some new tyres and less GI Joe-esq bar tape.

There is still more to be done but I'm happy with it so far and it rides well


Before


After

Anyone know the age of this old dog roughly?

Definitely should have kept the downtube shifters. But what transmission did it used to have?

sad_muso

southdownswolf wrote:

sad_muso wrote:

[/url]

Is that propeller on the back UCI legal?

Haha, I can assure you it is

sad_muso

Simon Masterson wrote:

sad_muso wrote:

Here is an old Giant me and a mate recently did up. I was given the bike by a friend as it had been sitting in their garage for five years gathering dust. We replaced the entire chain drive, got rid of the pesky down tube shifters and blessed it with some new tyres and less GI Joe-esq bar tape.

There is still more to be done but I'm happy with it so far and it rides well


Before


After

Anyone know the age of this old dog roughly?

Definitely should have kept the downtube shifters. But what transmission did it used to have?

Kept the downtube shifters from a 'not ruining a classic bike' point of view? Yeah, considered it but I just couldn't get on with shifting like that. Was too tricky! Not sure, but think the rear mech was a Shimano 105.

secretsam

Simon Masterson wrote:

Definitely should have kept the downtube shifters.

Yup. In the same way that we should all have kept coal fires, outside bogs and thatched roofs, 'cos they were just better

team47b

buddy_club wrote:

More later.....

How's this comin' along?

Bordersroadie

SecretSam wrote:

Simon Masterson wrote:

Definitely should have kept the downtube shifters.

Yup. In the same way that we should all have kept coal fires, outside bogs and thatched roofs, 'cos they were just better

The funny thing is, in some ways they actually are better.

I agree with Simon. I love the STIs on my modern bikes but I love using my from-new 1985 531 frame as a regular winter bike, without STIs.

Downtube friction shifters are lightweight, extremely accurate, reliable and maintenance-free and to a purist, a beautifully simple almost perfect engineering solution. There is also something uniquely satisfying in the sound and feel of perfectly-executed manual changes, with the purring sound of the transmission and the quiet "ker-snick" of another fine gearchange. Even more satisfaction comes from the fact that you actually have to learn and hone the skill to be consistently good at it.

My own retro bike of course keeps the lovely old friction shifters (Suntour which include a clever integral cam system which adjusts the front derailleur to avoid rub as the rear derailleur moves across the cassette).

My own nod to modernism, well worth the modification, has been cold-setting of the rear from 120 (not even 126!) to 130mm and the use of a SRAM 8-speed cassette with 5700 derailleur and modern handbuilt wheels. The front derailleur is original Shimano 105 from 1985.

A rusty mess, it was blasted and repainted a while back in girly pink to celebrate the birth of my first daughter.

simon_masterson

sad_muso wrote:

Simon Masterson wrote:

sad_muso wrote:

Here is an old Giant me and a mate recently did up. I was given the bike by a friend as it had been sitting in their garage for five years gathering dust. We replaced the entire chain drive, got rid of the pesky down tube shifters and blessed it with some new tyres and less GI Joe-esq bar tape.

There is still more to be done but I'm happy with it so far and it rides well


Before


After

Anyone know the age of this old dog roughly?

Definitely should have kept the downtube shifters. But what transmission did it used to have?

Kept the downtube shifters from a 'not ruining a classic bike' point of view? Yeah, considered it but I just couldn't get on with shifting like that. Was too tricky! Not sure, but think the rear mech was a Shimano 105.

Not at all - they're functional, reliable, and even very lightweight. Bordersroadie has it spot on. If you can take a drink whilst cycling, you will have no problem with downtube shifters; friction or indexed.

But they do look better!

P.S. I mainly meant how many sprockets it has/had?

random man

Nearly finished, just cables, chain and bar tape to go on plus new tyres and maybe wheels
I know the bars need adjusting

sad_muso

Bordersroadie wrote:

A rusty mess, it was blasted and repainted a while back in girly pink to celebrate the birth of my first daughter.

That is a mighty sweet paint job

buddy_club

team47b wrote:

buddy_club wrote:

More later.....

How's this comin' along?

Nothing much been done to it, just new bartape and polished up the bars a bit

secretsam

Bordersroadie wrote:

SecretSam wrote:

Simon Masterson wrote:

Definitely should have kept the downtube shifters.

Yup. In the same way that we should all have kept coal fires, outside bogs and thatched roofs, 'cos they were just better

The funny thing is, in some ways they actually are better.

I agree with Simon. I love the STIs on my modern bikes but I love using my from-new 1985 531 frame as a regular winter bike, without STIs.

Downtube friction shifters are lightweight, extremely accurate, reliable and maintenance-free and to a purist, a beautifully simple almost perfect engineering solution. There is also something uniquely satisfying in the sound and feel of perfectly-executed manual changes, with the purring sound of the transmission and the quiet "ker-snick" of another fine gearchange. Even more satisfaction comes from the fact that you actually have to learn and hone the skill to be consistently good at it.

Funnily enough, I've a 531 of similar vintage which also has DT levers on it (in my case 9 speed DA indexed).

But I wish I'd fitted it with STIs, as they are really an improvement. Since I returned to cycling in the mid-noughties after a break of 15 years, they are one of three really good innovation since my 80s riding days (the others being better brakes and lights that actually, you know, light)

Pretty bike, BTW

lesfirth

Bordersroadie wrote:

SecretSam wrote:

A rusty mess, it was blasted and repainted a while back in girly pink to celebrate the birth of my first daughter.

I would willingly die for my daughter but I don't think I could live with a pink bike.

Bordersroadie

lesfirth wrote:

I would willingly die for my daughter but I don't think I could live with a pink bike.

Ha, great response!

I must be completely honest, I sometimes look at it and think "Oh, WTF have I done to my lovely old bike?"

The funny thing is it's my designated winter night training bike, so it never actually gets seen in daylight!

barrowmatt

Picked this up last night for £30. Needs a clean, new saddle/pedals and some gumwall tyres but ready to ride. 8 speed, triple Stronglight chainset.

rolf_f

Bordersroadie wrote:

My own retro bike of course keeps the lovely old friction shifters (Suntour which include a clever integral cam system which adjusts the front derailleur to avoid rub as the rear derailleur moves across the cassette).

Funny how it's taken another 30 years and a load of wires, electric motors and computing power to achieve the same thing with STi shifters!

Wouldn't mind a set of those shifters. I have the standard Suntour shifters on my Raleigh Record Ace and they are lovely things.

pinno

I cannot believe you all passed this one by. You are a bunch of philistines. This is by far the best retro bike on here and no silly ergo/sti levers on it too to boot. I think T47 should post some more detailed pics if you are not convinced.

team47b wrote:

team47b

Oh go on then, if I must :roll:







And a rare photo with tub bag attached and (wrong period) temporary saddle, whilst I restore the original

Bordersroadie

That's beautiful! The same age as me precisely but ageing much more gracefully, ha ha!

Matthewfalle

team47b wrote:

Oh go on then, if I must :roll:







And a rare photo with tub bag attached and (wrong period) temporary saddle, whilst I restore the original

Seriously lovely - chapeau.

Mccaria

My 1980s Colnago Super decked out largely in Campagnolo Super Record alongside its more punkish younger brother

Pictures of its recent build are here :

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 293&type=1

sad_muso

Hi all,

So the seat post on my retro Giant from the previous pics suddenly decided to fail on me (worn teeth), so I went to Halfords (yeah I know, suck) and the only 27.2 post they had was too tight to fit. They have ordered in a 27.0 and a metal 27.2 (the one they had was black and coated so maybe the coating added extra width?) to see if one of these fit.

Do I need to source a weird size for an old-skool bike or is this particular frame just ridiculously tight?