WolfgangVerne 

I'll have to double check tonight, but from what I recall my frame takes a 26.4mm seatpost. I believe mine is one year earlier than yours, so that may explain the difference. Took a couple more photos of my setup this morning, but let me know if there's anything specific you'd like to see: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmEursU2

I managed to find two QR binder bolts in my parts bin, would be happy to drop one off in the mail if you'd like. They both fit my Univega so I don't imagine you'd have any issues. Just let know.

t_e_r_r_y

oh man, your bike is great! thanks for the pictures, it's got me really excited to get mine on the road. i put my calipers on my frame and, sure enough, it's 26.4 mm.

i also really appreciate the binder bolt offer! i'll shoot you a pm

t_e_r_r_y

oh, and how tall are you and do you happen to know how long of a seat post you're running? i noticed most of the used 26.4 posts are rather short, i kinda feel like i may need a longer one. yours looks to be pretty long

sdn40

Fill dent with wood glue - cover with sticker - genius !!

WolfgangVerne 

I'm 5'-11". My seatpost is 350mm (~13.7in) in length and there's about 6 inches showing from what I recall, although I'm probably going to lower it by half an inch or so, felt a little high last time I rode it. Depending on your height, you could definitely get away with a 300mm seatpost.

t_e_r_r_y

perfect, thank you! i'm also 5'11", so that should work perfectly for me.

t_e_r_r_y

seatpost, crankset, derailleur(s), cables, bar end shifter(s). that's all that's left to collect and i can finally ride this sucker!

WARNING - i'm about to ramble on about gearing!

the cassette on the wheelset i'm using was replaced not all that long ago by the previous owner and while it's not as wide-range as what i've got on my other bike (11-42 10 speed), it's still pretty wide (11-36 i think, 9 speed), so i don't really want to replace it and i think i'll run this bike as 2x for now.

i do have some pretty crazy hills around here, i live on one that hits 15%, so the big sprocket on my cassette does get used quite a bit.

i just need to figure out if i want a front derailleur or not. i wasn't planning on it, i don't want to deal with a 2nd shifter and extra cable, but i was also planning on having a higher range cassette originally.

my other bike is 700c and i run that wide range 11-42 cassette with a 39t ring on the front and i can climb anything on it. this is my first 26" bike and so i'm not really sure where to go with the gearing.

if i go without a front derailleur, a 36t would give me a 1:1 ratio on the big sprocket out back, which might be fine for most of the hills around here, unloaded at least, and then i can manually shift down to the front tiny sprocket as needed. i don't mind getting off the bike to shift, as long as it's not at every hill i encounter. if i give in and put a front shifter on the thing, i could do a 42t or something and get some more speed and not have to get off the bike ever, so i guess it's worth considering.

i know tire size comes into play too, but i don't think it matters all that much. i'm running these 1.75s for now because they are what i have and are in good shape, but i plan on going up potentially to 2.5s or so eventually, so that'll reduce the final ratio a tiny bit.

here's a couple of recent pictures since threads are boring without them. once i get a seatpost and crankset on it, i can figure out where i want my bars and cut the fork tube down. i'm pretty nervous about cutting it too short, so i wanna wait until i get the seat height right. sure looks goofy with the stem stuck on the top of the fork like that, the bars are up to my elbows!

t_e_r_r_y

i checked the cassette before work this morning, it's a 34 not a 36 on the big guy. i think i should probably just run a front mech and get over the whole "less is more" way of thinking haha.

t_e_r_r_y

my plan has kind of changed since i last updated this, but stuff like this is always pretty fluid for me. i can't set anything in stone until i commit to a purchase, haha.

after doing a ride on my 700c non c&v bike last weekend that took me up a gated access road to check out some cell towers, i decided converting that bike from 1x10 to 2x9 was a good call. i climbed nearly 590ft in .8 of a mile on loose gravel and the bailout gear came in handy big time.

this bike will be 1x10 after all. after some part swapping and a few emails back and forth with an old friend up in seattle who had some extra parts laying around, plus a little more spending than i would have liked, i think i have everything i need either here or on the way to finally start riding the univega!

i got my hands on the selle anatomica x1 i wanted (brooks is up for grabs if anyone's interested!), a used thomson post, borrowed the seatpost qr from my specialized, and swapped the clutched deore xt rear derailleur and 11-42 10 speed rear cassette over from the other bike.




after doing a TON of reading around about tires and pricing everything out, i decided to roll the dice on these eastern tires that i wasn't really able to find a whole lot of info on. they're pretty chubby at 2.125 and you can get them for $30 on amazon with a tube and a couple tire levers. i was slightly concerned about a bigger tire fitting in the frame, so i thought this would be a cheapish way to test the waters of fat tires. there's still a lot of tire clearance and i'm pretty sure i could easily go up to 2.5 in the future.






the cranks should be here in a couple days (some beat up old race face) and then i can finally set the seat height and cut the fork steer tube down. the bar end shifters should be here any day now too. if everything shows up on time, i should hopefully be able to go for my first ride on it by this weekend! i can't wait!

t_e_r_r_y

this'll probably be my last post on this thread for a while! got the last few bits and everything's finally together. still have some fine adjustment to do with bar height and seat tilt and all that other junk that gets worked out as you ride, but i'm pretty excited to say it's "done".

i'm going to pick up some racks and bags for it as money allows, or maybe try my hand at making my own - i'd place my fabrication skill levels at intermediate to advanced when it comes to fitting and welding, but i don't have a whole lot of brazing experience so i'd need to learn a new skill, which i'm always happy to do. i'm also pretty handy with a sewing machine and have made custom patterns for different thing sin the past, so i may give making my own frame bag a go.

i don't know if i'll be able to budget to get outfitted for bike camping this year, but that's alright. i'm just excited to put some miles on this thing.

MosEspecial

Hi, I just picked up an 89 Alpina Pro that I am looking to do something similar with. This thing was barely ridden and has all the components intact so I’ll just be swapping out tires and replacing the handlebars but I was curious to know how this worked out as a rider for you? Thanks!

t_e_r_r_y

sorry for the 5 month late reply! the bike was great, probably my most favorite ride i've ever built. i went through a few different sets of bars before i found some i liked, but that's to be expected i suppose. i rode the crap out of the thing up until it was stolen from me.

MosEspecial

sorry to hear it was stolen!! I actually ended up buying two of the Alpina Pros so if you’re looking for another and live in New England.. I settled on some mustache bars for mine but can’t decide whether I prefer them right side up or upside down…but I love the bike.

t_e_r_r_y

beautiful bike!
thanks for the offer but i literally recovered mine this morning!
it's a little worse for wear, but ready for it's next version, i think.

i was in traffic at a stop light in a lane that was going forward when i spotted it, the dude rode across my lane (i was about 8 cars back or so but those cranks are hard to miss) and was heading away from me down the main road here in santa fe. once my light went green i had to do some sketchy (but not too sketchy haha) driving and going down some back streets to end up on the road behind him where i held up traffic pacing him and yelling at him to pull over.

here's a shot of him on the bike riding down the main road once i was able to swing around and connect back to it.


after he pulled over and we exchanged some heated words, i got it back from him. i thought we were gonna brawl over it but luckily he believed me when i told him i really didn't want to hurt him over a bicycle and he gave it up. i broke it down and threw it in my jeep and took it home.


i have a really busy day today and haven't had a chance to assess it very well, but it appears to be mostly intact, other than the stickers that he or someone tried to scrape off with a knife or something.


super stoked to have it back. definitely gonna be more vigilant with my stuff moving forward.

MosEspecial

That is nuts! Congratulations on getting it back, that’s great news. And what a crazy story.. makes me think I should get some bright red cranks!