Originally Posted by
gycho77
I had Quill stem version.
That might be the reason.
That's probably it.
Originally Posted by
gycho77
Ditobici wants to make parts for track cyclists. Can you give us any good ideas?
The best advice I can give you is to:
- Use modern components that are easy to get and are inexpensive.
- Use modern components because they solve the problems that existed with "old school" components.
Vintage stuff is nice. But, people stopped using that stuff for a reason. If it were a good idea, it lasted. If a better idea came along, it was replaced.
Vintage bikes are not bad. The biggest problem with them is finding parts.
There have been A LOT of racers that start out using vintage bikes, either because they love them, think they are better (somehow), or that's all they have. But, if they hang around long enough, most of them upgrade to modern gear for the reasons mentioned above.
It's one thing if you are an old guy and you know exactly what you want and you aren't gonna change any parts out looking for a better fit. But, you are a young guy looking to experiment. Experimenting with vintage parts is expensive and annoying.
Learn from my mistakes
The first track frame that I bought to actually race was an old Shaklee Marin team frame (made for
Olympian Kent Bostick).
(similar to this, but not this one)
I thought it was awesome...til I started looking for parts. Quill stems are impossible to find locally. (I bet that's the problem you are having now, hence the ergostem). And swapping bars is a pain in the ass... (gotta remove the grip/griptape every time) and the dropouts are really short. And it's not as stiff as modern bikes.
I was so frustrated with "the hunt" for parts that it never saw the track. I rode it on the road a few times then sold it and bought a Planet X.
Why not use a quill stem adapter + modern stems? It's not pretty, but it's MUCH easier to work with than quill stems.
