Bigbus

I'm an avid MTBer and have been most of my life. Recently I've been donated a couple of road bikes. A Ross and a Giant Quasar. Both 27" They're in rough shape from being left out in the elements for quite a few years, but I love tinkering on things. Anyway, I pulled them both apart and decided the Giant needed fewer parts such as bearings, etc. I used the parts off of it that were in better nick on the Giant and have replaced all the cables, repacked all the bearings, tuned the shifters, brakes, and wheels and am now waiting on my tires and tubes to arrive. Still, the dry rotted tires on it are holding air so I'm learning how to use the drop bars. They feel really narrow compared to my fave MTB and with no suspension and rock hard tires, it's like riding a tank. An awful light tank though compared to my full suspension, plus sized tire MTB. It also only has half the number of gears, but they are tall. And yet, in the highest gear it feels easier to peddle than my MTB in the midrange. And my cruise speed on the same course is approx. 13MPH on the MTB while it's 19MPH on the Giant. And pushing it to 24 MPH on the flat doesn't even work up a sweat. That would never happen on the MTB. 18 MPH is tops for me on that (42-11).
No questions here, just wanted to share my wonderful bike experience today. Can't wait till I get the new rubber on it and can venture a little farther from home base. Boo Yeah!

Ironfish653

Good for you for rescuing an 'new' old bike.

Couple more things that might make your 'new' bike more fun/comfortable/useful:

Brake pads. They're cheap, and since you said the tires were dried out, they probably should be replaced too.

* A PSA on riding old, hard, dry rotted tires; Don't go any farther than you're willing to walk home, or any faster than you're willing to crash.

The bars on that bike are narrow; they're probably only 40cm, as typical for a bike of that era. A wider bar, like a 42-44cm will do a lot to improve that narrow, tippy feeling.

Unfortunately your Giant also has a 1" stem and 25.4mm clamp, which limits your choice of modern bars, since modern road bikes use the 1-1/8" - 31.8mm standard.
Fortunately the Nitto 'Noodle' and Soma 'Highway One' are good bars, come in 42 and 44cm widths, and don't cost too much ($40-50). Wrap them in some 3.0mm gel tape,and you'll be suprised how comfortable the ride can be, even on skinny tires.

Bigbus

Just an update on my new-to-me bike. I got the new rubbers on it and took it on a much longer ride this morning, which at the speed I was doing didn't seem all that long. (aprox 20 miles) with lots of hills. I figured out real quick that I miss the lower gears that I have on my MTBs when I hit the first hill. I have to admit, I climbed it a lot faster than I ever have (averaging 8 MPH vs 4 MPH on a MTB) but my legs felt like rubber by the time I reached the top (1.56 Miles of 10% plus grade) On the return trip I hit 38 MPH coming downhill into a head wind and could have peddled even faster. I've gotten the seat and bars adjusted for me so the drops don't feel so awkward anymore, but I'd never consider drops on a MTB (famous last words). Yep, I am definitely going to put some road miles on this bike.

Milton Keynes

Do yourself a favor and get a set of new tires for it. Since they're dry rotted, you never know when they're going to blow out. Worst time for that to happen is descending a hill at 20 MPH.

*edit* never mind, didn't read through the whole thread or look at the date on the original post. But yeah, I was given a mountain bike and the first thing I did was replace the tires on it because they were dry rotted.

terrymorse 

8 mph on a 10% grade!? You were putting out some serious power, with a VAM over 4000 ft/hr. Impressive!

BobbyG

I put a much smaller small ring on the front of my '84 Nishiki road bike when I got it. This last year I changed out the rear gears on my two road bikes to give me lower ratios, while preserving the top ratio. My knees and legs muscles are happier now.

freeranger

You might find that you don't need rock hard tires to be fast-an article you might find interesting: https://www.roadbikerider.com/the-ti...-jan-heine-d1/

livedarklions

Might also want to replace the cogs to a cassette with a bigger range. I actually increased my top ratio while getting a lower ratio that way.

livedarklions

Post a pic of the bike! You are riding the hell out of it.

Bigbus

Bigbus

Here's one with the old rubber on it yet. I'm putting miles on the new rubber!

livedarklions

Old school! Stem shifters, interruptors, and a kick stand.
I'm impressed you're getting such great performance out of it, you're definitely hardcore.

Are you keeping the platform pedals? I'm a big fan of them on road bikes.

Bigbus

I put the pedals, handle bars, new cables, phone mount, water bottle brackets, seat and pad (I'm still getting used to the hard ride) brakes, under seat pouch, and phone/gps mount and lights on it since I got it. Some of the parts came off the other bike that I got at the same time (Ross). I tore all the bearings apart and cleaned and greased them (bottom bracket was a mess and the front wheel bearings were dry). Before I tuned the shifting, I actually greased the chain and sprockets even though I normally use wax only because I had it out and it was handy. I would never do that on a MTB due to the way grease collects dirt, but it seems to be working on the road bike so far.