thenomad

Celeste bartape next time!

The Golden Boy 

So it's been 2 1/2 years since I posted this. It was about time to move on SOMETHING for it. (Not that the "vintage-y" build was bad in any way...)

Over the past 2 years I've acquired a bunch of stuff. Some of it was with an eye to a custom built bike- but I kept going back to what a fantastic bike the 720 is, so I decided to do it.





I've had Suntour Command Shifters running on several bikes. If you're not familiar with them, they were sorta Suntour's answer to STI; they're butterfly paddle shifters that mount inboard of the brake levers.





A few years ago I heard of a guy that was making indexing rings to fit into Accushift shifters to make them work with 10 speed SIS. I got a hold of him and bought one of those indexing rings. (And promptly sat on it for a year and a half).



To make a short story long- I bought a set of Phil Wood hubs laced to Velocity Atlas rims from Rich at Rivendell, Ultegra 10 speed cassette and chain, I installed the 10 speed indexing ring in a NOS set of 6 speed Command Shifters. A really nice, clean Dura Ace 7803 rear derailleur (for goodness sake!! That thing is beautiful!) and have tried a few different front derailleurs, right now it sits with a Suntour Cyclone MII, but I just got a Dura Ace 7700 to play with- see how it handles the triple and the range. It cost me $20 so I'm ok with filing it if I need/want to.

So, here it is- a 1985 Trek 720 with 10 Speed Command Shifters!

Caliwild

Gorgeous!

RiddleOfSteel

Stunning Trek! And I like the off-the-beaten-path Command shifters, especially with the 10-speed conversion. The 7800 Dura Ace RDs are something pretty, indeed. Can't get enough of them. And you seem to have found a rare GS/long cage model (didn't know they existed) and a 7803 FD (definitely didn't know that existed!). Enjoy!

T Stew

Looks great @The Golden Boy pretty cool those Command shifters were able to modded for Shimano 10 speed.

johnggold

I was asked to build a bike for the Manisha UK charity, Everest Challenge Event.


This charity raises money to provide teachers in Nepal.


The charity's colour is orange, so I stripped an 80's white Peugot frame, which I have had for ages, resprayed Orange, and selected a set of Peugot decals from the period with orange content.


The frame was designed to take 700 racing wheels, but I adapted a pair of wheels I rescued from a skip, which are 700 / 35s but with a little stretching turned the frame into a hybrid.


All the running gear is Shimano 105 from a bicycle jumble sale, with Weinmann centre pull brakes.


I have a small stock of original Weinmann brake blocks, found at another bicycle jumble sale.


Seat came from a scrapped MTB.


However, the seat post was a problem as it was 24mm. No way to get a 24mm post. New Peugots at the time used a plastic trim. My solution was a 23.4mm post, and an Iron Bru can. Cans are normally 0.3mm so made a perfect shim.


I fan cut the top edge to make a lip, preventing the shim sliding down. Iron Bru can was used because the orange colour could be placed in the seat slot.


The top edge was flattened and enamel painted to lock in place. Superglue was used to further secure the shim.


Fingers crossed it goes for a reasonable price!

romperrr 

@johnggold, great work rehabbing that Pug!

icepick_trotsky 

What handlebars are on the Trek, @The Golden Boy?

The Golden Boy 

I went with the Nitto B177 bars in 44. I really dig them, I love the long ramps, I don't think about it much, but I dig the angles from the corners into the ramps.

I like Rando bars, but they don't work well with Command Shifters and a front bag. Most bars are measured at the ends, since rando bars splay out they're much more narrow at the hoods. If they're too narrow, the bag gets in the way of the Shifters.

I really wanted to try out the Compass bars, but they were just too narrow at the hoods. I also have a set of Nitto B132 bars- again, they're really narrow at the hoods. I think the Compass bars and B132s look cool from the side with the lower drop parallel to the ramps.

abramj

De Colores

adisson

Frame & Fork: De Rosa (Columbus SLX tubing)
Groupset: Campagnolo Athena
Headset: Campagnolo Athena
Stem: Cinelli XA (De Rosa engraved)
Stem Bar: Cinelli Giro D'italia
Wheelset: Campagnolo Khamsin Asymmetric
Tyres: Veloflex Master 25
Seat Post: Campagnolo C-Record
Seat: Selle Italia Turbo

gaucho777 

@Dizono, Great looking Gazelle! I missed it when it was first posted, so I'm glad to see it reposted again. The color scheme reminds me of the Mondrian/La Vie Claire LOOK frames (also with red on top tube, blue on down tube, and yellow on seat tube and fork).

velofinds

Without going through all 230+ pages of this thread (though that would hardly be an unenjoyable use of time), is anyone running deep section carbon wheels (think ENVE or Zipp) on their retro roadie? I'm wondering if that's silly or if there are still tangible performance gains to be had despite the use of an older, round-tube steel frame.

TenGrainBread 

It will make you more aerodynamic and faster when there is no crosswind. The "tangible" part not so much, but that's true of all aerodynamic marginal gains. The keyword is marginal.

velofinds

Thanks, seems reasonable. Given the opportunity, I think I'll try it.

hayden52

I'm of the opinion that retro thin tube steel frames have a similar drag figures to modern aero frames. Aero drag is proportional to the drag coefficient and the frontal area. The drag coefficient of a modern aero frame is probably half that of a cylindrical tube, but the frontal area is greater because the tubes are thicker than your thin steel ones. So, in the end, the lower CD is cancelled out by the bigger frontal area.

johnggold

I recently purchased a Trek 2000 frame. From the serial no I have dated it to 1991, and the decals reveal it to be a special.


I am currently sourcing decals, although I haven't found a UK source yet.


More importantly, since the bottom bracket was still in place, it is from a Shimano Ultegra chainset, but the rest of original equipment I don't know.


Has anyone got any knowledge or has photos which clearly show the products in use in 1991?

mstateglfr 

A 2000 isnt in the '91 catalog. Ive read that the 2000 was a frameset only...maybe always like that or maybe like that during certain years, not sure.

Trek Bike Models by Year and Color

This will help identify for sure which year it is based on paint scheme.

noglider 

It's time for me to count my Raleigh among the old bikes with STIs. This is a 1974 Raleigh International. Last week, after the first picture was taken, I replaced the rear derailleur with a new one, as the old one went south.

crank: used Ultegra triple with new RaceFace middle and large chainrings
FD: used Ultegra
RD: new Sora
cassette: new 8-speed
shifters: used Sora, soon to be replaced

The rear derailleur works like a champ. It's led me to realize that these things really do wear out, because my very old 3x7 RSX drivetrain (on another bike) is a lot sloppier, and my 3x9 drivetrain (on anothernother bike) is a little sloppier. This is pretty quick and very quiet. The front is a little troublesome, and I'm hoping the new shifters resolve that.

plonz 

^ best looking chainring $7.49 can buy

Barchettaman

A Google image search for 'steel frame with carbon wheels' brings up plenty of visual inspiration if that'll sway your decision.

In my opinion, deep section carbon hoops (and a modern STI drivetrain) on a vintage steel frame are a killer look, but many do not agree.

A deep section wheelset will almost always be faster - unless you're time-trialling Alpe d'Huez, or it's massively windy and the front end is rendered uncontrollable. The best gains (for me) would be something like a 45-50mm rim up front and an 85-90 at the back.

Bear in mind that one of those trendy modern 'aero road' helmets will also bring a real benefit, as will tighter-fitting clothing, superfast clincher rubber (GP 4000 Black Chilli Compound with latex tubes are amongst the fastest).

velofinds

Good posts, thanks.

To the second post, here's a topical video:


Maybe not non-biased, but interesting viewing nonetheless.

Barchettaman

The Specialized video is really interesting, they do some fun stuff and are open about it too.

I would suggest that the fork and handlebar contribute a pretty big chunk of the 50secs/40km gained by the Venge.

It's worth looking at some of Rob English's custom steel bikes for an idea of what steel and aerodynamics can become, that guy does incredible work, some of it is just laugh-out-loud genius.

Kevindale

+1 If they had really wanted to test frame against frame, they would have used the same bars. The only change I've ever made to my bike that made me immediately feel faster, and which I could document in my times, was changing my handlebar.

It also seemed that for the testing rider, the Venge was his personal bike, and the steel bike was one he hadn't ridden before, though it was set up for him. I have to think that makes some difference.

At the end of the day, it's very likely that a $6k aero CF frame is probably worth some seconds over a race course, compared to a high quality vintage steel frame that you can buy a few hundred bucks. What's striking is how little that margin really is, and how easy it is to 'update' a steel frame to get right into that ball park, and end up with a beautiful machine that will outlast you.

Barchettaman

I think they mentioned that the old Allez was his personal bike, just that he didnīt ride it much anymore.

Agree with everything you said BTW. My personal preference is a steel frame and fork, as I love the springy ride of the thing, plus itīs a nice feeling to ride an ex-Olympic gold medalistīs bike around:

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