daughertylr

Hello All- As the subject shows, I have a 1984 Giant G930 road bike, and want to upgrade everything except the Fame and Seat. Currently this has Suntour gear installed, and they no longer exist as far as I can tell. I also want to convert the handle bars from drop bars to flat bar. I would prefer Shimano equipment, but am not married to it. The goal is to upgrade this without spending more than just bying a new Giant fitness/road bike for about 450 USD. I am asking for ideas as to what component sets you all would recommend. I am handy and a trained aircraft mechanic, so I would prefer to do all the work myself that I can to keep the costs low.

dsbrantjr

It will likely be cheaper to buy a new bike.

daughertylr

Thanks. I assumed as much. I just love the skinny steel frame. It is as light as my sons aluminum frame, but holds my 250 lb mass without concern.

Iride01 

Probably a BSA threaded BB. I have a '91 Schwinn Paramount that I put 11 speed 105 5800 on. I was pretty good finding deals on the all new components I added since this was only a bare frame and fork with headset. I'm very happy with it and it rides and shifts exceptionally well.

However when I add up my costs, I probably could have bought a brand new Specialized, Trek, Giant or other Tiagra equipped bicycle for the same money I spent. Decent seat post, seat, wheels and handlebars add up quick. Then throw in a set of really good tires on top of that. And Tiagra is a very decent group if you never rode a better group of the same model year.

Not to mention that the new bike probably would be 4 to 5 pounds lighter than what I built. Sure better wheel set might have saved a pound. But then costs skyrocket. But it was a good learning experience for me as I've always worked on my own bikes. And doing so got me out of the seventies and eighties era of mechanicals and into the 21'st century.

P.S. I like the skinny tubes on old bikes too. Sadly my Paramount is OS tube. My Raleigh looks so much better, but sadly, it's still weighs 5 pounds more than the new bike I just got.

Bill Kapaun

+1
I was given an 87 Rockhopper to replace my stolen 86.
About $350 later I have it close to what I want.
You have additional handicaps such as narrower drop out spacing.

daughertylr

Thanks for the feedback. I may start shopping for a new ride made to what I would like and keep the skinny frame in the garage for a future project. This would give me time to strip the frame and get it painted. I love bikes and working on bikes and have since I was a kid. Thanks again.

Ironfish653

One way to upgrade older bikes like yours, on a budget is to look for a donor bike that has the kind of components you want, and swap it over to your 'project' bike. Mid-2000's 9-speed road bikes make good wheel and drivetrain donors for 80s-90s ers bikes, and you can often find them for $200-$250, which would leave a fair bit of a $400 budget for bars, grips and finishing parts.

Bonus, is that you can often build up a passable bike out of the left over components, and the donor frame, and sell that, to make back some of the upgrade buy-in.

icemilkcoffee 

It's cheaper to buy a new cheap bike but it's definitely more fun to buy an old donor bike and swap parts over to your frame. That 1984 frame probably has 126mm rear spacing. You can upgrade to a 126mm hyperglide cassette hub, and then run drivetrains from 7 speed to 10 speed (leaving out one cog in the 8-10sp cassettes). You can probably find a used bike with Sora or Claris groups which have the flat bar shifters.
MTB's have different derailleur pull ratios, brake pull ratios, chain lines, and all of them use either 130mm or 135mm rear spacing hubs, so I would stay away from MTB's.
I am doing the same thing at the moment-that's why I've studied up on this subject!

Retro Grouch 

1. The major bicycle manufacturers can buy components, like derailleurs, cheaper than you can.
2. Everything on a bicycle is designed to work together. You can almost never replace just one component without having to change something else to make the new part work properly.
3. If you upgrade your bicycle you will at best be converting a 25 year old bicycle into a 25 year old old bicycle that has a few new parts. A new bike has every single part brand new. Every single part has been chosen to work with every other part. A new bicycle will also come with a new bicycle warranty.

Ironfish653

I don’t know that dropout spacing is such the deal-breaker that it’s made out to be, especially with mid-range welded steel frames.

Cannondale, during the 6/7/8 era built (aluminum) frames at 128mm, so they could be fitted with either 126 or 130mm wheels, depending on model spec.

I don’t know much about the OP’s Giant, but there are some ‘old’ bikes, the likes of which “they don’t make any more” like PDG Paramounts, and 2.8 Cannondales, that still make great bikes, with modern running gear.

The ‘value’ of such a project, though depends on the OP, though, YMMV

Thomas15

I have a few mid 80s Nishiki's that the frames were built by Giant. They are well built frames and I understand the attraction to classic steel and 700x25 wheels but as far upgrading on a budget, as others have said, it is better to just buy something new. Every upgrade I've done on them, and I've done many, has been at some level a pain in the *.