I spent 7 hours on Saturday, refitting my Battaglin MAX bike. New cables, new rear derailleur, new cassette, new tires, new handlebar, new bar tape. It took so long because I was trying to make a short cage Centaur derailleur work rather than swap in the medium cage Veloce I'd bought for the job. So after a lot of time spent fruitlessly, I swapped in the Veloce and voila! It works. Now I'm running 53/39 and 12-30.
The frame is so old, it doesn't take a regular cable guide under the BB. No, it's got a plate with two holes in it. And for years, I've been tolerating the sub-optimal shifting from all the added friction it causes. I threaded some shift cable liner through the holes, and fed the cables through that, heavily greased.
New bar, because the Cinelli Nerve I had on it is 1) real old, and 2) a LO--O-ONG way down to the drops, compared with what The Cool Kids are using these days. I used a SOMA Highway One, which is the right shape, and unlike nearly every other bar, it comes in 26.0 and silver. Finished it all off with white Fizik tape. Even got some white gloves just for this bike, so I don't foul the tape as quickly.
I thought about getting 28s, but the 25s I've been running barley fit though the calipers as it is. And the chainstays are pretty close to the tires. SO instead I just replaced the old Ultra Sports with new GP's, pumped to 100/105.
Today was the 'shakedown cruise'. The new bar fits well, in fact it might need to drop a cm or so - at the same stem height, I feel more upright. Or maybe turn the bar down a hair. Shifting was MUCH better! AND the 30 works well! And I think that the tires made a big difference, even though they're the same size at the same pressure. Felt much less rattly. I'm in love all over again!
