Whit51 

I had the same idea, DA 9 speed.

noglider 

phtomita I like where you are going with shorter cranks. rhm has written some interesting ideas about crank length. He is fairly tall and likes short cranks. I'm approximately medium height but a slight bit shorter. My jeans inseam is 30 inch. I usually ride 170 mm cranks because they are plentiful. Whenever I try a bike with very slightly longer cranks, I hate it. I didn't believe one could feel such a small difference but I do feel it. He suggested I try 155 mm cranks when they showed up on ebay, and I thought they might feel weird, and they don't! I have them on my fixed gear bike with a low ratio.

phtomita

I am shorter too, inseam is 29.5 inches and my bikes are 50 or 52 cm.
I have an experiment with a 145 mm crank arm I got for the Centurion Ironman. It was actually a triple and with only 2 rings in the front, I adjusted the limit screws on a dura-ace triple FD I got from co-op.
Result - I did some 30 to 40 miles ride and cramps. It is hanging on the garage wall since. It feels very strange with 145 mm, and needed much more effort on a light up hill and probably won't keep trying that short.
I had my eyes for the 160 mm hollowtech when R7000 came out and pulled the trigger this year that got some budget.
So far, love it and after a longer ride on Saturday it's all good for the Spring/Summer.

Schlafen

There's some stellar steel in this thread

RobbieTunes

Yep. Read if from the beginning, and there's a pleasant surprise on every page.

pcb 

Just a couple weeks over a year since I last posted this '78 Kvale, but a lot of water under the bridge since then. Especially this past month...

Found a lighter FSA SLK 4-bolt crabon crank, put on a SRAM XX-1099 11-36t weight-weenie special cassette, and sub'd in a vintage-ish Titec Malone 7075 46mm bar for the Nitto Noodle/48 (250g vs 370g). The Kvale just broke into the very high 18lb range. About all's that's left to go lighter, that I'm comfy with, would be a carbon-railed saddle, so I'm on a slow-boil hunt for a Specialized Toupe Pro 155 in white.

gomango

Wow. Looks fantastic.

I have a Kvale frameset sitting here.

Waiting on a refinish.

Color scheme is now confirmed..

goatalope

Early 90s? Fausto Coppi. Maybe someday I'll put Italian parts on it, but for now Dura Ace 7800. So smooth. Columbus Minimal fork is awesome light and looks svelte enough for vintage steel bikes (I think). 19.2 lbs as pictured.

himespau 

Ooh, that is pretty. I much prefer the looks of carbon (and really all) forks that have a curve to them like yours does to those that are just angled at the head tube.

Essthreetee

Bike looks great. Can you please share more about this Fork and headset?

shuru421

Digging those cranks.cfsa slk carbon 4 bolt is what its called?

himespau 

What are those tires?

pcb 

Covering two q's in one reply.

The tires are labeled Panaracer Competition SX, with "Protite Belt" and "Super Supple Casing." They're sized 28-622, measure about 30.5mm on HED 23mm o-o rims. I think they're Panaracer's highest-zoot road tire, mine all weighed 200-205g each, lightest 28mm belted tire I've used, lightest 28mm tire period. But it's hard finding info on them, and I don't see anybody selling them now. Maybe they were Japan only, or got absorbed into the Race EVO series?

I dunno, they seemed to magically appear in the US last year. Excel was blowing out 25-28mm sizes at an insane $29ea, and there was a bit of a frenzy on the forums/lists. AFAIK everybody who bought loved 'em, and just about everybody wished they'd bought more. I most definitely wish I had another couple of pair on hand. Here's a write-up, I've got no connection to the author/site:
https://www.omcyclingbuffalo.com/sin...n-SX-28mm-Tire

The cranks are FSA SL-K Light, which is a model they've had for years now. Formerly 5-bolt, now 4-bolt, with narrower-profile arms, and lighter. These are an ebay find, a couple/few years old I think? I wasn't anxious to jump into another bolt-circle standard, everything else in-house is 5-bolt 110 or 130, but I got a couple to shave some grams. Current iteration looks like this:
https://shop.fullspeedahead.com/en/t...o-crankset2019

BFisher

I've got a pair of those Panaracer Comp. SX in 25mm and love them. Very, very nice riding tire, and that blowout price was unbeatable.

That Kvale is beautiful!

Schlafen

I did, that was my reaction on page 305.
Wanted to post a picture of my updated steel bike, not enough posts, just didn't want to spam other threads for post count.

tricky 

Wow wow wow. So nice. You don't have to change a thing since it looks great already, but have you thought about white bartape? The Fizik stuff is easy to clean and rides nice.

hellion14

I’m a noob to the forum. Very happy to have found it however. I was researching buying a new bike which led me to consider selling my current road bikes. So I came here looking for value estimates and ended up coming to the realization that I couldn’t part with either. After looking around here I was amazed by some of the builds, so I decided to fix what bugged me about my more current ride, an 02, Cannondale r3000si. Namely the gearing as I spend most of my time climbing. After looking for just a compact crankset, I found that by the time I replaced everything I’d need to I was only a couple hundred bucks away from just getting an entirely new Ultegra groupset with a 52/36 crank and 11-34 cassette. So that’s the direction I went. I know the dale being an 02’ is not quite what this thread is about but I’ll post pics before and after if I’m welcome to do so.

But, now my wheels are really turning about my 87’ Panasonic DX5000. I want to make this a bigger project. So with inspiration from here I’m going to start acquiring those parts for a future build. The bike is still beautiful in its standard light purple metallic and white paint, white bar tape and saddle. As such, the modern black wheels and black components aren’t going to look right. Sourcing modern silver polished wheels will be the first order, as I’ll need to fit a modern cassette and I’d like to be able to run at least 28mm tires. Then, I’ll need to acquire a modern drivetrain and set about stripping and polishing the crank at least and maybe some of the other components as well. At the end of the day, I’m here to say thanks for the unspiration. I’ll be back : )

lesterp66

What a feast for the eyes this thread is! Someday I will restore this battle axe. 82' Sequoia with 3x8 105 shifters and longreach ultegra brakes.

noglider 

@hellion14, welcome! A famous steel frame builder, Dave Moulton, recently said putting a modern drivetrain on an old steel frame gives you the best of both worlds. I like it. I've built most of my bikes by cobbling together components I get used and cheap-ish. But I have bought some components new, and it's a little less hassle. Either way, it's a fun challenge, and it usually works out well. There are sometimes problems along the way.

goatalope

The fork is a Columbus Minimal in a 1" steerer. Not too many carbon forks with 1" steerers out there. Fortunately, it seems really nice. Full carbon. Around 320 grams. Nice lines and clearance for 25s (and probably true to size 28s). The headset is just a Cane Creek 40. Got fork and headset thru my LBS.

droppedandlost 

Just for clarity, the Minimal is a threadless fork and it does indeed clear true 28mm tires.

Reynolds 531 

There is a fairly priced carbon railed white Phenom saddle on bay, which I like better than a Toupe

hellion14

The Panasonic DX5000 I mentioned above was the first new bicycle I ever bought when I was maybe 18’. I was a motocross racer and hockey player so while I was super lucky to have such supportive parents, there was no room in their budget for another sport. So when I started actually making money racing this was my first purchase.
It’s all original except for a few things a friend added when I lent it to her for a couple of years. The handlebars, brake levers, and red striped tires (yuck). I tried to post a pic but since I’m still a noob that’ll have to wait.
So, my plan is to modernize (11 speed drive train) the bike while trying to keep the looks as close as possible to stock. This will take me some time to gather parts but I thought I’d ask you all a few questions as I’m new to this side of cycling.
For the crank, I’d like to keep the elegant look and silver color but I doubt the Shimano 600SIS crank will work with 11 speed. I have a Dura Ace 7700 53/39 that looks the part, but will that work with 11 speed?
Of the more modern cranks available only Campy seeks to make something that has the look I’m after, but is it heresy to put Italian parts on a Japanese bike that will also be Shimano everywhere else?
Wheels. I’d like to find a rim wide enough for 28mm tires at least. Low profile and polished silver, with a higher spoke count (not 24 or 28). Polished silver or satin aluminum hubs I’m pretty sure I can find but in my searching last night rims seemed hard to locate.
I’ll get the proper bars and a more modern (but still white) saddle and the aforementioned 28mm tires in a tan wall color and I think this could come together to be a super nice bike.
Thanks for any advice you can share.

tricky 

You can use your Shimano 600 crankset with 11 speed so no worries there.

There are definitely still classic style rims and hubs being made. A couple options off the top of my head are Velomine and Velo Orange You'll need to spread the rear triangle to get a wider modern hub in there. You can either do that permanently by "cold setting" the rear triangle or just force the wheel in everytime you need to install it. I've done both and both work fine.

You can use 28 mm tires on most any road wheels, but will your frame fit 28mm tires?

hellion14

Thank you tricky. It seems there’s a ton of room for tires, but I’ll need to try them to be sure. 25’s fit easily though. And I’ll look up those rims too, I found a couple other brands as well over lunch that would do the trick. H Plus Son and Velocity being the brands.