djs42

I have a vintage Guerciotti with old school non-index Super Record components including a 6 speed hub. The wheels are original tubular rims and it's now time to look at replacement.
Anyone have a similar setup and replace with a current wheelset and 10/11/12 speed hub?

CV-6 

Probably a good many on this forum have gone the 10+ route. Plan on having the rear spread to the appropriate size. I don't think you will have too much issue making the change. Let's see some before and after pics.

TenGrainBread 

With a 6 speed hub your current rear dropout spacing is probably 124-128mm wide, which means it can be cold spread to 130mm for a 10 or 11 speed hub. If you are mechanically inclined you can do this at home with some threaded rod and nuts. Keep in mind you will have to realign the dropouts after spread, which you can also do with some threaded rod, although the dedicated dropout alignment tools made by Campy, Park, VAR etc... will do a better job.

djs42

Perhaps I'd be better simply buying rims and lacing them myself or looking for NOS components?
And it's a 63CM frame, not 64 as I stated earlier.

malcala622

Absolutely nothing wrong with building the wheelset yourself or gathering the parts for a local bike shop to build them.

NOS refers mostly to vintage parts and they do come with hefty price tag. Modern 10 components are fairly affordable.

But remember going to 10-12 speed will require changing the groupset from downtube to brifters.

Its not just a simple switch of the wheelset to make it a 10 speed.

Salamandrine 

There aren't NOS components spaced for 10/11/12 because it didn't exist yet. The old Campy hubs were at their limit with 126 6 speed spacing, and you can't practically speaking convert them to 130. Modern hubs are required. If you really want to do this, best to buy a modern wheelset from Velomine or something IMO.

If the main goal is only to get rid of tubulars, I suggest the current wheels be relaced, and everything else stays the same. So yeah, buying rims and relacing is going to be far simpler than any other option.

To convert to 130 for modern road spec, you will need to correctly spread and realign the rear triangle, replace both derailleurs, shifters, and wheels. If you go with 10sp, you could use Dura Ace DT shifters. For 11+ you'd need brifters or possibly bar end shifters.

nomadmax 

Post up a picture of that Guerciotti !

rootboy 

I think doing this would be sort of a shame. What's not to like about the description above?
Old school is old's cool, to me. Of course...it's your bike.

philbob57

Some people do friction for lots of cogs. It's easy to get new downtube indexed shifters for 8-speed and 7-speed cogs. Maybe not the highest quality, but brand new, delivered in as little as one day, if you're close enough to an Amazon warehouse.

djs42

Primary motivation here is to replace my old tubular rims with far too many miles on them with clincher rims.
I don't want or need a 10/11/12 gear hub, but that is all it seems a person can buy today if purchasing a new wheel set.
And I don't ever want anything Shimano or indexed on this bike.

So ... where do I go to find a decent set of 36 spoke clincher rims that I can build?

Salamandrine 

Oh, actually I'm glad to hear that.

In that case, relacing is definitely the way to go. Remember to remove your freewheel FIRST...

H+ Son TB14 is well regarded, and looks a little like an old Mavic clincher or something.

I've used the Sun M13II, which looks exactly like an old Rigida if you peel off the stickers, except they are much stronger.

Both come in polished aluminum and are widely available. Google or ask your LBS.

Oh, there is also Velo Orange, and Pacenti, and probably some other purveyors of vintage look rims.

If you want to cheap out, get a set of prebuilt Sun M13II + 'generic' hubs from velomine or wheelmaster. Throw out the quick releases, but the cost is less than the spokes and rims alone, and the hubs are not bad. https://www.amazon.com/WheelMaster-7...-search&sr=8-1

jeirvine 

Velo Orange PBP rims are great, and on clearance at the moment: https://velo-orange.com/collections/...-pbp-700c-rims

Spokes I get from Danscomp.com. You need to use a spoke calculator and order the correct lengths/counts by phone, but their stainless butted Sapims w/nipples can't be beat.

RidesaCarlton

Ahhh, you may want to check how stretched the chain is, and determine what shape the cluster is in. A new (to you) bike like a Guerciotti deserves new wheels, a new chain, and (maybe) a new cluster. Your LBC should help you take the old cluster off. I'm not sure how experienced you are with wheel building, but you may want to consider getting the LBC to do it. I have only built 5 wheels in my life (Tubular tires) and I have never been satisfied with my end results. The skill is beyond me.


(I have been allowed to edit my post.) Last ride 76 pointed out that this bike is not new to you. He is correct, and I am mistaken. I thank Last ride 76 for pointing out MY error.

Last ride 76 

OP does not say bike is new to them, rather the opposite... (Not that there's anything wrong with checking chain wear, etc.)

New to BF, but not to the bike.

OP: Unless you want to change your whole shifting system, why not buy a USED set of wheels, either sticking with tubies, which can be had pretty cheaply on the web at times, or heck, go clincher if you want, but stick to C&V. That's what I usually do, and am very happy running 6, or sometimes 7 cogs in back.Campagnolo Record based wheels, with clincher rims in very good low milage condition can easily be bought for $200, TOPS, and if you have a little patience, can be found for less... (I know of a nice pair of wheels w/ Wolber Aspins w/ tires and tubes, about to be offered at $149 plus shipping from the NYC area...)...

djs42

Yes, had this bike since new in the mid 1980s. On it's 3rd rear cluster, new pedals, rebuilt hubs / bottom bracket / headset, new seat, 2nd chain.
Rims are original grey hard anodized and are worn through fairly thin on the braking surface. If they didn't have the tubular structure they would be cracked everywhere.

I'm also in Winnipeg and want to ride out the weather while I can. When the snow begins to fall I'm going to order some 36 spoke rims, rebuild the hubs again, and build up the wheels.
Thanks for everyone's thoughts.

Salamandrine, you probably saved me a whole lot of money and trouble.
I like both the Velo Orange and Pacenti offerings. I would have bought the Velo's today but the 36H are out of stock.

ThermionicScott 

Another vote for just relacing the old wheels to clincher rims. If you do your homework (spocalc is a good resource, among others), you may be able to find rims with the same ERD as your tubular rims, so that you are able to just tape your old wheels to the new rims and reuse the old spokes without even unlacing the hubs.