kcblair

!5 speed Ergo, That's just plain Kool !. KB

antmaster5000

I have become sufficiently jealous and inspired by this thread. The CL search begins!

A couple questions: Does anyone have experience buying a lone frameset and then a complete groupset? Of course it depends on the frame, but for vintage roadies what do you look for in a modern groupset? Also, I see a lot of threadless headsets in this thread. What is the general era that these start to pop up? I've never had one on a road bike but I think I'd like to for modern stem and bar combinations.

dpicare26

My 1989 Schwinn Circuit. Shimano 105

non-fixie 

Isn't it? I'm actually thinking of going totally overboard and upgrade to 18-speed!

botty kayer

My Brian Rourke has had an update, with some 'new' wheels, Campagnolo Chorus 10 speed hubs, Sapim spokes laced to Mavic Open Pro rims, and Vittoria Corsa G+ tyres.

obrentharris 

Or 24 speed?



Brent

Nagrom_

You can make anything threadless. You just need a new fork and headset. Most old threaded frames are 1" headtube so you're fairly limited on forks. Then you'll need an 1" - > 1 1/8" steerer shim.

Get some downtube shifter to barrel adjust adapters. Problem Solvers sells em.


When your getting a groupset just mind how the front derailleur is attached and bottom bracket compatibility.
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tricky 

You can make most any groupset work. The front derailleur needs to be compatible with the frame, e.g. braze-on style vs clamp on style. And you obviously can't use a crank that uses a press-in bottom bracket. Once you get your frame, feel free to start a new thread here about what groupsets you are looking at and we can give you more info.

The threadless bits you see might be threadless stems clamped to adapters that fit into threaded forks. It's the easiest way to put a modern cockpit on a vintage bike with a threaded fork and headset. You can also go the 1" threadless route, but that stuff is getting harder to find and you would need to get a new fork and headset.

non-fixie 

Only with a with a quadruple up front, as my brifters are old 9-speeds. Who needs that many speeds anyway?

Nice bécane, BTW!

vintagerando

Are most these upgrades accomplished with cold-setting the rear triangle?

lasauge 

I have 5 bikes that fit this category, and only in one case did I need to "cold set" the rear triangle. That last one is a truly exceptional case because I use that frame as my main commuting bike, and my route to work is about 50% off-road trail, so I respaced the frame so that it would happily accept the 135mm MTB hubs which were part of a wheelset that was previously in use on my CX bike.

Dfrost 

RobbieTunes

None of mine.
None.
And that's a lot of bikes.
Only from 126 to 130, though, never from 120.
I've tried 120 to 126 once, and immediately switched back, for peace of mind.

For me, a 120 means 5 speeds, and the quotient is an even number, so I like it that way.

RobbieTunes

2x10 Centaur, no cold setting. I'm considering going to go triple Centaur with just a BB/crankset/FD swap. I need a climber, but then again, it's such a race bike, a triple may just be too incongruous.

himespau 

Yeah, but that's the thing about a triple. You can leave on the race-y gearing (53/42) while adding a granny. If you want to keep the race-y look of a double, you lose the race gearing. Plus 3 is more than 2 and more is moar better.

shuru421

Interesting..do you do anything after putting on the 130 hub? Or just put-in-the-frame and ride?
Curious as to why not more riders used the Dura-Ace 130 hub with the 'mushroom' locknut?

RobbieTunes

Just put-it-in-the-frame and ride.
You quickly develop a technique for the rear wheel that works and saves your knuckles, too.

As for the DA 130 hub, if you mean the 8-sp with the locking cog, well, that was a problem with the cassettes, too.

I also think Shimano sort of shot themselves in the foot (feet?) from the DA 6sp freewheel right up through the 8-sp STI, with compatibility issues, and that stigma lingered a while. People just avoided Dura Ace, both for the issues and the cost. Which only benefited Ultegra even more, and still does. The R8000 is selling like crazy.

HarborBandS

Unlike Robbie, I wasn't able to squeeze a 130mm hub in the Schwinn Super Sport frame pictured in this thread back in late October. The rear stays were just too rigid. So I cold set the frame using the threaded rod method that can be seen on "RJ the Bike Guy's" YouTube channel. I feel this is more gentle and safer than the old Sheldon Brown 2x4 lumber lever method.

HarborBandS

For the build I posted here in October, I used a 1" threadless fork and an inexpensive Origin 8 1" threadless headset. I had to use a shim to use a 1-1/8" stem on the 1" steerer (available from many places). It does not creek.

I spent more on components for that build that I might re-use on a future bike (105 5800 components, seat post, wheel set, saddle, etc), but didn't put a lot of dough in the frame, headset, and fork. A lot of this stuff may end up on a nicer frame at some point in the future.

noglider 

Yes many of the bikes in this thread started out as a frameset, including my 1974 Raleigh International and my ~1996 Lemond Ti. I've also rebuilt my 1982 McLean with modern-ish components, and I'm doing the same with my 1971 Raleigh Super Course. I look for components that are likely to work on the frame. Then I make "discoveries" and adapt. I think having 8 or 9 speeds in the back is wholly adequate, and I'm not sure more help any, though it's now easier to get 10- and 11-speed groups, and there's nothing wrong with them. In fact, with the added speeds, they have improved performance and maybe reliability. Time will tell. So price is a criterion for me, too. There is a C&V for-sale section, and you have to be a paying member to participate there. Often people offer things for very nice prices, and it's how I got a lot of the stuff I'm using. Even nicer than price is that the folks there are pretty trustworthy and won't misrepresent what they're selling.

Threadless headsets require threadless forks. The steerer tubes are longer than threaded tubes, and you can't add length. Also the steerers are typically 1-1/8" in diameter, so you can't convert. I don't remember when they became common.

horatio 

Another BF'er with a Rourke. Sweet.

RobbieTunes

Another recent option, that I've used 3 times now (once on an Ironman, and on the two bikes below). It is the Innicycle headset/stem combination part.

You can keep your C&V 1" threaded fork, and it replaces both the headset and the steerer tube, and can vary in length. It has a 1 1/8" steerer to fit modern stems, and comes with spacers, as well. Looks good, retains the original fork.

It comes in both silver and black, and is sold by joejack951 here on BF.

This (1999) is with the OEM 1" threaded fork, and I didn't cut the steerer because the fit is dead on this way.


This (1984) is with a replacement (Performance) 1" threaded fork from a BF member. Due to the fit of the bike, I cut the steerer to create the fit I wanted.

tiredhands 

I put together this Black Lightning last night and took it for a ride this morning. Dura Ace 7800 shifters, 1x10 with the original Suntour Superbe Pro crank and an eBay Special chainring. Absolutely my favorite road frame so far. I did some crit practice loops in a parking lot - dang this thing can hold a line around some tight corners. It'll eventually get repainted, this thing definitely deserves some love.

RobbieTunes

Looks fast sitting still.

johnggold

For me I start with the frame. I have a 1951 Holdsworth Monsoon which I rescued from being damaged and painted with Hammerite. It now has new decals, is lug lined, and I am gradually sourcing original parts, because it deserves the effort. It now sits next to me in my office because I am a couple of parts shy. Its been a year.

At the same time I took a frame I wanted to be good to ride, and so I selected modern components, and the only problem is I had to change the bottom bracket because I was using a triple instead of a single and I needed a longer shaft for the clearance.

The only frames I have struggled with are vintage French, because everything is different. Different threads, different diameters, and difficult to get spares.
This means that instead of replacing old parts such as a worn headset, I end up renovating and rechroming parts - very expensive.




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