bicyclebradley

thank you Frost. the cranks are the original equipment 170's and the BB is (i am assuming) the one that came on the bike. i am not sure of the axle length.
while i didn't measure the chainline i can if it will help you in any way. what i can tell you is that the 3rd chainring bolt is about one-and-a-half-hairs away from the chainstay.
its really close. like close enough where i may have my shop adjust the BB or get a longer axle to get it out a little more if possible.

bicyclebradley

Thanks Diego. i liked that it was cheap, soft and looks rad and has no brand labeling plasters all over it.. i was thinking about cloth and then thought i would go with the more traditional cork look, without using cork. leather was also a thought but it is pricey and i dont think the cow wanted to give up her skin for my handlebars...

Do you have a thread on your Pro Tour? I'd like to see it - im curious how you approached your build! Thanks man - B.

bicyclebradley

So - having sworn to keep it Japanese i wanted Nitto racks for the ProTour... totalling $400 for front and rear. they are beautifully crafted artisan pieces of kit that are truly to be beheld in the light of angels' halos...

Well all that changed today when i happened upon one of my fav shops and they had the RackTime Addit and Topit in the shop.

They are made by Tubus for commuting... sturdy, not super heavy and made by Tubus - a leader in racks and bags... hmmm... starting to look pretty good...

The shop owner raved about them and looking at the reviews on the webbernet they seem to be rock solid racks with very high weight capacities and even the secondary low-mount bar for panniers.

So - for $100 i bought both front and rear and I think i made a good choice. Here they are and i will mount them up after i get the VO Facette Fenders on (sometime soon whenever they show up)... with the remaining $300 i saved i can buy panniers and SPD shoes...

Sir_Name 

Be careful with that. Mine came to me after the granny gear had taken a bite out of the DS chainstay - not good. I'd recommend checking alignment just in case something funny is going on. I'm not sure how much clearance there should be at that location when everything is set up correctly (I'm sure it's pretty tight).

Nice looking bike. How do you like the cables so far?

bicyclebradley

Heya @Sir_Name! Thanks man. I rode yesterday with my LBS Mechanic who is also a Shimano MTB team mechanic. he looked at it and said he would order me a slightly longer axle. he said its not uncommon to be close, but when I'm 3 days into the middle of nowhere on a trip he would feel more confident that the axle be a bit bigger and the crank be a lot tighter on the axle to avoid that "bite" you spoke about... so i'm gettin' er fixed!

The cables are really nice. they look great and they are super smooth even with the 30 year old brake levers and cantilevers. They were a lot pricey (i think $75 for the XL length kit) but ive had two UBI guys tell me they are "lifetime" cables... i wholly endorse YGWYPF (ya get what ya pay for).

The Golden Boy 

Those look swell!

I've had designs to do a Tubus Cosmo on the back and Nitto Mark's in the front. But those Racktime guys are looking really sweet and the $100 for both thing just reinforces that.

As an aside- I really like the gracile lines and tubes of the old Blackburn stuff, while I can ride with front panniers, I haven't ridden with a lot of weight on the front "high mount" rack- the amount I did have significantly affected steering. I would imagine holding the weight lower (closer to the axle) would be better.

bicyclebradley

agree totally on the lower is more stable points... if it came time to do a long haul i would consider mid-fork mounts for panniers if i needed to pack more stuff.
i like the high-mount rack for easy access to sammichez and Miller Lights while on a long haul!!

the Nitto's are super rad. just beautiful works of art, but they are rated for like 5 lbs front or something very light like that.. the Racktimes are rated for 20# front and 50# rear.. thats a lot!! while i wouldnt want 20# up high on that rack, its good to know i could.. :-D

DiegoFrogs

Yes I do.

It is, admittedly, a lot different today. I put a dynamo wheel, an 8-speed cassette rear and lights on it when I lived in California, and ended up putting a modern Shimano MTB derailleur on the rear after its first ride here in Sweden. Maybe it'll get brifters next!

Fat Tire Trader 

Hello,
I purchased a Pro Tour this year also. Based on the Sugino date code, it is an 83.
I don't see the internal light wires anywhere. I think that my bike did not come with them, does anyone have pictures that show the wires?


More photos of my bike can be seen here

1983 ? Centurion Pro Tour 15

Thanks,
chris ioakimedes
San Quentin California

The Golden Boy 

That's a really cool bike! The build looks good- and your page looks nice too.

I think that model year would have come with the Suntour LeTech derailleur- I think it's a neat unit- but I don't entirely understand it- it has a 3rd pivot- So the upper pulley can rotate down and forward- I assume to clear a HUGE rear cog- but I think it's overkill with a 28-30.

IMO- the top of the line tourers really had the best and coolest in bike components. That front Mountech was as good as FDs get. The Sugino AT crankset- the best. And those GranCompe levers are the cat's pyjamas.

Sir_Name 

I have an '84(?) with internal wire routing. I'll try to snap some pictures over the next day or two.

bicyclebradley

GREAT looking bike!! well done! the light wire holes on my '84 are as follows:
Top is on the bottom of the town-tube, actually in the lug for the head tube to down tube. See the photo here, i circled the little wire that is tied in a knot...


the second one is in the BB where the wire exits. i can snap a photo if you wish...

bicyclebradley

Nice ride! cleaned up really well... sorry to hear about your misfortunes in Arkansas...
i thought about making mine a little more current with newer parts and eventually may do so - but for now, the old stuff works and so i'll keep it alive!!

Fat Tire Trader 

Thanks for the photo. My bike does not have the internal wiring. Is the second digit in your serial number a 4?

bicyclebradley

yes it is a 4. N4G....

Here are the exact entry and exit locations for the internal routing of the light wiring - just FYI, cuz i like taking pictures of bicycles

Bottom bracket hole


Head tube lug hole

Fat Tire Trader 

Is anyone interested in a 62 cm. 1983 Pro Tour?

bicyclebradley

Started last week with the fenders and racks installation...

first, let me say that I hope nothing happens to the fenders during a long trip. I will be forced to remove them and throw them to the side of the highway while cursing and spitting...

second, let me say that fenders are the hardest thing i have ever installed onto a bicycle.
running 45mm Velo Orange Facette fenders on 27X1-1/4 tires. paired with Racktime Addit & Topit racks made by Tubus.
The tolerances are VERY close, but it's been done at least a few times i can only imagine.


Anyway, I wont go on too long about how much tiny adjustment is necessary, and how i had to take the wheel off and put it back on a hundred times...

Bottom line is that it's NOT easy installing fenders. especially since i am an OCD perfectionist, so the fender lines and what not need to be perfect or i wouldn't be able to face my day... here are some photos... i also learned that my wheel was juuuuust enough out of true to cause a slight rub, so the rear wheel is off and getting trued and hub rebuilt at the LBS...

The fender kit doesn't come with the "brake bolt" that you need for canti-brake mounting. so i had to get this bolt from the hardware store. 6mmX50mm SS with nylon nut.



Then i had to buy another one when i realized i needed (but didnt have) a spacer for the rack's mount. while backing the nylon nut off, it ceased and i had to snap the bolt. another trip to the hardware store on the fixe, and i was back in business.


After getting the rack brace mounted the front fender wasn't too bad. little tweaking but i did have a problem with the daruma bolt being a tad too long, and so it needed a little filing down. (The daruma bolt is this bolt here, it goes up inside the fork steerer, and the "brake bolt" pictured above goes thru the brake mount hole in the forks and holds this bolt in place, inside the forks. then you can bolt the fender up against the bottom of the forks using the daruma bolt)


Now the front fender and rack is on - looks good with a decent fender line. im happy with it, and the tire just barely clears the nylon nut that holds the fender onto the daruma bolt.


The REAR rack - oh man... first the chainstay bolt gave me grief. i had to use the flattest button head bolt i could find, the allen head bolts were just too fat, and the tire rubs against the bolt head, so using this flat guy i now have clearance as long as i don't use the leather washer between the fender and the chain stay brace:


next on to the rear rack posts. there is just about ZERO tolerance for the rack to be plumb and the rack braces to clear the QR on the wheel. This means that you have to cut the fender brace bars perfectly exactly flush with the P-clamps to allow the quick release to not hit the ends of the braces... see here what i mean:


Hard part: if you cant hold the wheel onto the bike with the quick release, then how the hell can you figure out where the right place to cut the fender braces?
this was a challenge being alone in the garage. really its a 2 person job. one person holds the wheel up in the dropouts while the other adjusts, figures out the lengths and cuts. you only get ONE shot at cutting the braces... this took a while and some patience....


Sorry - enough b*&ching about how hard this was. I will have the wheel back today, and take her out for a proper photo shoot being 100% complete.

I'm still battling 100% proper adjustment of the front derailleur as it doesn't like going into granny gear on the front rings. I think it may be the 8 speed chain. its not as wide as a 5 speed chain and so i think its that tiny bit of extra width i need to push the chain over onto the small ring... ive tried twisting the front derailleur a bit, and the micro-adjustment screws are all the way out... the only thing i can see now is the fatter chain to give it that extra push.

She's a fickle old girl and i'll get her dialed in here soon. Until then, thanks for reading and i hope that this thread helps someone out there who has any questions... please feel free to hit me up...

next set of pics will be the FINAL build photos, which I will take somewhere cool and do some nice pics with my good cam.. all these are iPhone pix...

thanks!!! Bradley.

Fat Tire Trader 

Looking good Bradley! I'd recommend going for some short rides first then re-torking all of your fender fasteners, they often come loose after being installed.

Fat Tire Trader 

I was sent a message from someone who is interested in the 62cm ProTour, but BikeForums won't let me use the messages until I have 50 posts, so anyone interested in the bike, email me directly chris at fattiretrading dot com

bear_a_bug 

Don't know if you already cut the stays, but did you try flipping them around, so the clamp is above the eyelet, rather than below? I had the same issue when I installed mine, and found that it easily alleviated the necessity of cutting the stays exactly flush. Having a little play came in handy later when I swapped the 27" wheels for 700c...

bicyclebradley

Hi @bear_a_bug - thanks, yeah, i tried that but the rack mount prohibits the P-clamp from being flipped. it has to be below the bolt, not above...
i got it to fit perfectly last night, after the wheel was trued and i took the bike off the rack, the wheels both spin free of rubbing, they look great and the fender lines are clean. i just need to take apart the cassette and clean it out - wait for the rain to stop, and ill post some "finally done" photos....

that is until i put panniers and stuff on it...

bear_a_bug 

I see what you mean about the stays interfering with the rack.

I have had some issues with those p-clamps slipping in the past. I ended up with a neat workaround.

Took some of those M5-threaded draw-bolts (used to attach the stays to the fender) and used them to clamp the stays at the eyelets, which were tapped for M6 on my Miyata Two Ten.



Keeps them tight and free from slippage.

Looking forward to seeing more "finally done" pics!

bicyclebradley

After a long battle with the spindle (which is a 128 by the way) and the small chainring bolt too close to the chainstay - i have overcome and the bike is 100% complete.
The 27" wheels are SUPER close to the fenders, but they work with no rubbing. The racks are rock solid, and are complete.
It will be her true mainden voyage tonight, to take her across town and do minor adjustments to the brakes and deraillers (performance under power is different than on the workstand)...

So i will snap some photos and post them up here tomorrow morning! Just a heads up and BIG THANK YOU to all the people who helped me out along the way...

I am now in need of rear panniers and a front rack bag and am open for suggestions. im thinking medium-weight stuff, waxed canvas style...

thanks - B.

bicyclebradley

thats a brilliant idea... and it looks wicked clean!
if my P clamps start acting foolish i will consider this. i got some extra hardware with my fenders... thanks!!

Dfrost 

Be very cautious with that minimal fender clearance. A stick or pebble that gets drawn up into that space can lock up a tire or crumple the fender into the tire. Bicycle Quarterly had an article a few issues back on that concern. Sorry that I can't find a link to it ATM.