sdn40

I went to see this bike 3 months ago, knowing it was probably a size too small (short 60cm), and I thought someone would bite at the $350 price tag, which I wasn't prepared to do. Turns out the super nice gentleman was selling it for his cantankerous 81 year old father in law who bought it new and toured both the east and west coasts with it. I left a standing offer, letting him know I would tear it down, replace some parts and needed to adhere to a budget. Fast forward to today and I get an email accepting my offer. Apparently, there was little interest, a couple of no-shows, and the gentleman finally convinced his father in law to accept my offer. I was shocked. Soooooo......here we are.

I am crazy busy at work (being self-employed sometimes sucks) and even working today, so hope to start tearing it down this week, fingers crossed. The paint is surprisingly good, all things considered. Just some well earned sticky grime and the usual wear marks. I will enjoy cleaning this one up. The tires are new, but "Performance GT2's" which are not so good from my brief search. I have a Blackburn front rack which will finally find a home as well

1. Rear derailleur has been replaced with a RX100 long cage, which I've never seen before. Not sexy but probably bombproof. Should I source an original Deerhead, a more modern Deore, or leave well enough alone ?

2. Currently has the "Gripshift" shifters on it. The story of these is pretty interesting in itself. Apparently these were the first grip shifters ever !

https://www.bikemag.com/blog/exclusi...ged-the-world/
“I remember this one time at Mont Sainte Anne,” recalls Herbold, “when the pack started up this steep climb and all you could hear out there was the click, click, click of Grip Shifts—fully 70 to 80 percent of the pros were on them.”

I know bar ends are the popular choice here, but tempted to go with brifters, although I would have to source a triple, which I'm not crazy about. I do have a set of Suntour friction bar ends, but one of them is stuck in the bars and currently soaking. I'll sleep on it I guess. I actually kind of like the Gripshifters but not the most aesthetically pleasing I will admit. Currently 7 speed so now would also be a good time to jump to 8 speed I guess. I would be more tempted with a set of indexed bar ends. I'll have to do some research. Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

ramzilla

I travel constantly for work and have an extremely busy schedule too. But, I've been able to refurbish a dozen bikes over the last few years by following some simple steps. First, I'll get two nice big square plastic bins. (Kitty litter trays work well). One tray for dirty parts & the other for clean parts. I tear down a whole bike & put all the parts in the tray. Hang the frame & wheels on a hook in the ceiling. Then, whenever I have an hour or two I'll clean the dirty parts & transfer them to the clean tray. It's worked well when progress gets interrupted for a month or so. (The bins can be placed out of the way so nothing can get lost when your wife wants to clear out space & organize the garage). After a while, all the parts are clean. New parts have been procured. And, the reassembly process can begin. I'd definitely put brifters on that bike. Be good. Have fun.

SurferRosa

Overhaul the whole bike, including the rear derailleur, which probably works just fine.

Make sure you know how to remove the "stuck" suntour barcons. I'd go with them in place of the grip shifters.

Buy new consumables (and pedals?), and you're set.

sdn40

The first side removed fine. On the second, I can't get the allen head screw to loosen (turning clockwise). First step was to soak some PB in there. I have it soaking as we speak. If that doesn't work, I will cut the bars and soak from the back as well
Yea - definitely tearing this one all the way down.

thumpism 

Those do appear to be first-gen Grip Shift shifters. Very unusual to see them on a road bike as they've always been more popular for use on MTB bars. I always thought that the shifting motion was odd on a drop bar; barcons seem more intuitive and have a more natural motion. Great find.