ericjd

Thanks Tourist in MSN!

I was wondering about this myself and so (happily) have not ordered a crankset yet. Currently the bike has a Stronglight 52/40 on it, which might be fine but I was thinking that perhaps a bit smaller small chain ring might be nice. I will have to see if I kind find a specs for the Huret Jubilee (which, as you probably guessed, is the short cage version rather than the rarer long cage). Velo Orange also has a 48/34 that they sell. Perhaps that would work. Or perhaps I will need to consider a triple as you suggested.

Again, I really appreciate the feedback!

Eric


EDIT: Looking at the specs for the Huret Jubilee on DisraeliGears suggests that total capacity for the short cage derailleur is 28T, so a 48/34 double and my 14-28 freewheel should work.

Bandera

"Back when" that machine was new it was common to set customers who were LD club riders up by pulling the drive-train off to re-build w/ a TA triple set-up as @Tourist in MSN notes. Suntour bar-cons and F&R derails were often chosen as highly functional cost effective if low-snob appeal re-fits. The take off shiny ultra-light Jubillee stuff was weight-weenie bait to sell off to roadie-wanna-bes so infected.

It is worth noting that many of the now C&V high-end machines were modified from OEM spec before rolling mile 1 to suit customer requirements. Doing so to one now is in that tradition. If you don't tell the Period Correct Police I won't.

-Bandera

ericjd

I have zero interest in being Period Correct. I am just trying to salvage everything that is still usable on this old Grand Jubilee for the sake of: 1) my wallet and 2) the environment. The Huret Jubilee short cage is in excellent mechanical condition so I want to save it and make it work if at all possible.

With that (and one other thing) in mind, I may also decide to stick with the Stronglight 52-40 since it gives me a low gear of 1.43:1 (which is probably low enough for me) and no duplication at all, whereas a 48-34 duplicates at 3 points (48/20 and 34/14; 48/24 and 34/17; and 48/28 and 34/20). If I do that. I'll also have saved myself ~$200.

Tourist in MSN

I always thought that the Jubilee photos I saw were beautiful, but I am not sure if I have ever actually seen one.
VeloBase.com - Component: Huret Jubilee (first version; shorter spring on parallelogram)

When I worked at a bike shop in 1973 (after high school, before college) I bought a 72 Raleigh Gran Prix with a 52/40 front and 14/17/20/24/28 freewheel. It came with Simplex gearing which I replaced within a few weeks with Suntour.

Later I built up a custom freewheel with 14/15/17/21/28 which gave me more higher gear choices on the flats, but less hill climbing choices. But I retained that 28 in back for the steepest hills. But now that I am a bit older, I really like some lower gearing, the 52/40 I had would not cut if for me now.

The photo is of the drive train on one of my touring bikes, it has a half step with granny triple. Gearing is 46/42/24 triple and eight speed cassette of 11/12/14/16/18/21/26/32.

The bike in the photo is geared for loaded touring (four panniers, etc.), not really geared for light long rando rides, thus my granny gear may be smaller than appropriate for rando. But I posted the photo to give you an idea of what I am talking about with a half step plus granny triple. You have to look extra hard to see that there actually are two black chainrings of similar size, the 24 is silver and almost disappears on a Titanium frame. It is almost impossible to see in the photo but I put a chain catcher on it when I built it up so I do not know if it is really needed or not, but I figured it can't hurt.

Tourist in MSN

One more thing. I am clueless when it comes to vintage French standards, so I do not know if the taper pattern on the bottom bracket is the same as modern JIS or ISO square taper cranks. You might want to verify that your bottom bracket will work with whatever you crank you consider buying. I suspect that the Velo Orange people would know if you buy from them, I bought a frame from them and I felt that the person on the phone was quite knowledgeable.

Bandera

That can also be a "Swiss" BB on a Motobecane of the era depending on production.
Motobecane was unique in lots of ways, mostly good.

-Bandera

unterhausen

I feel like you might want to sell the Jubilee derailleurs. I have always thought the front derailleur was the best looking ever, but neither derailleur is going to shift as well as a modern derailleur.

aloKen

Don't reuse the old rear hub. If you're rebuilding the wheels anyway, switch to a modern rear hub/cassette system so you can get high quality replacement cassettes. I really like Ultegra 6500 hubs for classic bikes. I run all of mine 9-speed and haven't had any problems with friction shifting or chainring spacing with classic components.

Bandera

Agree, the FW is an obsolete design superseded in functionality by the cassette: Stronger axle, easily sourced cassettes in a variety of cog count/ranges and only a cold-set away.

Being able to bring a few ranges of cassette to an event and change to the correct range for the terrain in 10 minutes
w/ a couple of portable tools sure beats looking for a bench vise and the correct FW tool, or walking w/ the wrong guess on FW range.

edit: It is a slippery slope once committed to modify a C&V machine to suit current requirements.
Where to start, how to stop and what commitment of time & $ will involved in the project are best worked out in some detail before wrench 1 is turned or the failed project scenario of "over budget, over time and did not meet requirements" can result.

-Bandera

skiffrun

Glad somebody "got it" -- my "Yes" answer, that is.

ericjd

Thanks again for all the input, everyone.

To skiffrun and ThermionicScott: Thanks for this important reminder.

To Bandera and aloKen: If I were to cold set the frame for 130mm in order to switch to a cassette system, you think I could do this and still keep the original Huret derailleurs? The goal, as I explained, is to preserve as much on the original bike as is still functional, and the derailleurs are very functional even if they might not, as unterhausen suggests, shift as well as a modern derailleur.

I guess the question for me is what is really gained by switching to a cassette system? Stronger axle, sure, but if I kept the Huret derailleur am I really going to be able to gain all that much in the way of gearing? The total capacity and max cog capacity are both 28T so that limits me to a cassette in the x-28 range from the start. And since most Shimano 10 speed cassettes are geared 11-28, that would necessitate changing the cranks as well (which are a Stronglight 52-40). Now, I might decide to do that anyway, but I'd *have* to do it if I switched to a cassette. And I'd only be really gaining smaller cogs, so is it really worth it? Just my initial thoughts.

I think I'm going to stick with the freewheel for now and see how the 14-17-20-24-28 handles the brevets since, as I said at the outset, up until now I have been riding some fairly hilly centuries perfectly fine (avg time: 7.5 hrs) on a steel frame single speed with a 42 chainring and a 16T cog in back. Having a 5-speed bike that can go to 40/28 will be a huge change for me and may be all I will need. We'll see.

ThermionicScott 

I did my first brevet with a 39/28 low gear, and it wasn't flat. You'll find out one way or another whether it works for you.

Bandera

Do it, if that doesn't work out have Plan B in your pocket.
Lots of hours/miles were put on those machines in OEM bone stock trim when new, although some were highly modified to suit rider's requirements.

I put some long miles on a 70" fixed gear, obsolete and obsolescent doesn't necessarily mean unride-able although it can be un-fashionable .


edit: Your Jubilee derails are frame spacing agnostic, if the limit screws can be set out/in to span the range.
Being designed for the wide cog spacing of a 5/FW and it's wide chain the idiosyncratic long-throw shifters and "modern" 8-10 cog cassettes/chains may be very finicky to operate smoothly/positively even if the range is the same. Can't say definitely, never tried.

Back when that machine was new wearable/disposable components like FWs and chains were replaced as necessary from readily available stock.
With the passage of four decades and the adoption of the cassette the C&V community that continues to use FW tech is bemoaning the inferior quality of new FW replacements and the high prices/low availability of NOS 5/6 cog FWs. If you put the hours/miles necessary for LD riding on that machine w/ OEM drivetrain components plan for "what now" when that FW/chain combo is worn out, probably later in this season. Hence: Plan B.

Project planning for long term/long distance use of C&V equipment can go through several iterations of requirements and re-builds, my Internat'l is on it's 4th incarnation bearing scant resemblance to when it came out of the shipping carton but rolls on in its's 44th season of service.

-Bandera

Tourist in MSN

I am not Bandera or aloKen, but I would suggest you first try to put a 130mm hub in the frame to see how hard it is to put the wheel in without bothering to cold set it first.

I am running a 135mm hub in my Velo Orange Pass Hunter that is a 130mm frame. It just means that when I drop the wheel in, I have to pry the stays apart a bit first. I scrape the paint a bit getting the wheels in and out, but otherwise it works good enough. I am doing the same on my Italian bike, spreading the stays by hand when I put the 126mm hub into a frame set for 120mm.

I have no idea if you could use your existing crank with an eight speed chain, but if you can you could run an eight speed cassette on a 130mm hub. This would certainly cut down on costs and allow you to keep the crank original.