calamarichris

I "downgraded" one of my beloved '86 Schwinn Pelotons from Dura Ace 7800 to Dura Ace 7700 brifters and mountain-bike Deore XT 9-speed rear derailleur & cassette.
It's my credit-card tourer, and it's pretty relaxing not to have to shift 3-6 times per stoplight with that broad mtb gear spread in the back. I've ridden it from Santa Barbara to San Diego, and climbed it up the freshly-asphalted Pike Peak Road.
Just gave her fresh tires and bar-tape this weekend and fell in love with her all over again. Leaving for Colorado this weekend, and thinking about taking it along for another Pikes Peak assault.

jon c. 

I went the other way last year, 'upgrading' my Raleigh Team Pro to non-aero. I was afraid I might be sacrificing comfort for style, but didn't find any loss of comfort or utility. In fact, I thought they were more comfortable on the hoods.

Soody

[QUOTE=calamarichris;18041363]





Perfect road bike . I'd love to ride up Pikes Peak one day.

CliffordK

I'm not sure how you define upgrade vs downgrade.

My old Colnago Super is certainly not "original" anymore. But, its career as a "racing bike" ended before I bought it 30+ years ago. Since then it has had a hard life as a commuter, errand bike, and town bike. Probably more years on the road than old Ernesto ever dreamed.

It will probably get a good restoration sometime in the near future, but not back to original.

Here are my aero levers + IRD Blackbirds.



Uhhh....
Even downgraded my light bar to carbon fiber as seen in the photo

Anyway, I think the Origin8 levers are a bit cheap... but I don't consider their addition as a downgrade. Oh, and my Universal callipers don't have adjusters.... so perhaps the "downgrade" was the loss of brake adjusters.

gaucho777 

Splash tape = downgrade.

CliffordK

Yeah...
I suppose I should be using cloth tape on my bike.



Or do you prefer plastic tape?

gaucho777 

^I was just giving you a hard time. Personally, I'd go with yellow Benotto tape on that lovely Colnago, but I know it's not for everyone and would look a little out of place with modern carbon bars. So, yellow cloth tape would be option 2 for me. But again, those cloth tape with those carbon bars?...I'd stay away from blue cloth tape. Blue is a hard color to make and the blue tape looks much lighter than the frame color. For "plastic" tape, I think fizik microtex is pretty good (durable, cleans up well, and reusable).

sloar 

Classic builds get cloth, modern builds get Fizik. But that's just my opinion.

IthaDan 

When i got this, i already had a tricolor STI bike. Took forever to find 8s downtubes, but once i did, back in time i went. The solid snick snick of mature dt indexing is something special.

eschlwc

fizik for the win!

bobbyl1966

27" wheels is faster than 700c wheels?

CliffordK

No,
Aluminum Blackbird bars.
CF light bar (not much place to put the accessories with the wings).

And, apparently IRD has discontinued production of the 26mm winged aluminum bars
And, not a lot of choice of quills for 31.8 stems

bobbyl1966

27" wheels is faster than 700c wheels?

CliffordK

Hmmm....
27" wheels seem to be larger than 28" wheels**********

So you should get higher gearing with them.

Whether that would be faster would lead to a long debate. There certainly is better selection in 700c tires.

ppg677

I've never ridden cloth, but I'm loving the leather tape I put on my classic build.

The Golden Boy 

Personally... I think my "fastest" bike has 700C wheels.

I don't think it's got much of anything to do with the wheels alone. I think it's a combination of the geometry, equipment and materials.

I don't know why my bike feels better with wheels other than what it came with. I'd like to.

Velognome 

Maybe but the most fastest is sub 24".

photogravity

Something similar... I didn't downgrade my bike for more enjoyment, but I downgraded my entire collection for more enjoyment. I used to ride bicycles with 9-speed clusters and triple cranks. Now I'm riding 3 and 4 speed IGH bikes. Talk about downgrading! It's the best thing I ever did.

Velognome 

The next logical step is a 2 speed hub.

noglider 

According to some, they is.

kickstart

The closest I've come to owning a 700c bike is my wife's retro 3 speed step through so I don't have any seat of the pants experience, but in theory....all else being equal the larger diameter wheel should have the advantage. Now I suspect that "advantage" would only be quantifiable by lab equipment in an controlled environment.

USAZorro

There's something about being able to coast down hills faster than larger, heavier guys that appeals to me. I'm not sure whether it's the tires, or the hub, or something else, but I am pretty anal about getting good hubs and adjusting them.

noglider 

@USAZorro, I seem to be faster at coasting than everyone I ride with. I don't know why that is. I'm not heavy or light. I'm not fat, but I don't know if I can call myself skinny any more. I do keep my hubs adjusted well, but some of my riding partners have hubs that are fine, too.

bobbyl1966

Hubs is make the difference? Not so much the rims and the spokes? Newer wheels is take grease or is sealed the bearings and never need grease

vtchuck

All this talk about hubs reminds me of a "technique" in the 70's to improve lower grade hubs.

Take a hub.... Normandy Sport were popular choices.... clean out all the grease and replace with something like SimiChrome.

tighten down the cones and spin the hubs with an electric drill. The idea was to smooth out the cup and cone surfaces and make them run smoother.

Clean out and put in new bearings and grease. Never tried this, but some swore by it.... Of course they also believed drilling tiny holes in everything from
levers to chainrings to pedals and derailleurs would transform you into Fast Eddy!