kmman

Hi Folks, new to the Forum here. I have been ring a 1995 Eros for 30 years and recently got a new road bike. I am considering converting the Eros to a commuter. I'd like to simplify and go from the triple chainring / 8 speed Mirage to a 1x9 or 1x10. Would this require swapping out the entire groupset (brifters, chainring, dérailleur, cassette, maybe even rear wheel) as opposed to just the chainring and cassette? Any advice would be appreciated.

bikemig 

Why not just keep it cheap? I'd keep what you have and focus on what you need to make the bike suitable for commuting.

3speedslow

Welcome to BF! Thank You for joining the commuter world!

Your Q?, really is so many ways to tackle this. Keep everything and just lock the front derailleur down or maybe take the drivetrain off, sell it or keep it. Buy a 9 or 10 set of stuff you need then build.

MHO, keep what you got and use it. But clean it every Night! We commuters are a dirty lot!

3speedslow

OMG! Most important question you should be asking... what fenders should I be using?

tricky 

Why are you thinking of going 1x? Commuting tends to require more gear range rather than less. It's nice to have a bail out gear when you are tired from a long day or carrying home groceries.

In general though, going through the bike to find any issues, a tuneup, and replacement of any worn out parts is a great start. You may also want to adjust your cockpit to be a little more upright to increase visibility if you are doing a lot of urban riding.

mechanicmatt

We need pictures of the condition of the bike. However, this is a nice bike with a nice Campy triple set on there. The gearing should be great already. I'd just get a taller stem and wider drop bars, fenders, and you'd be ready to go.

To do a 1x9 or 1x10 is a lot. Because this isn't a Shimano or SRAM based system, the entire drivetrain, bottom bracket, rear wheel, and shifters and bars depending if you want drop bars or not.

That's a nice group set, that if is in nice shape could be tuned and reused.

mechanicmatt

I think it's this bike. Campy Mirage.

bOsscO

Honestly wouldn't change a thing for commuting other than maybe wider tires and adding fenders.

pcb 

I'm going to sound like a skipping record again ('cause all us old analog heads know that a _broken_ record wouldn't even spin, right?), but before we can give you useful advice, we need to know what your gearing range is now, and what you think you might want it to be when using the Eros as a commuter. And we need a rundown on the actual parts.

_Then_ we can deal with the details of what might need to be changed.

In general, I can't see any reason not to want to simplify the gearing for commuting use. Figuring out how 1x will work for you can be as easy as leaving the chain on one chainring. Ride your commute route, leave it on one chainring, and see what the gear spread is like. If the high/low gears are OK, whatever chainring you picked should work. Toss the other ring/rings and use track chainring bolts for the single ring, ditch the fder and fshifter, and Bob's yer uncle. Instant 1x.

If the range is overall too low/high, you'll want to use a bigger/smaller ring.

If you can get the actual high/low gear to work with the 8spd cassette you have now, no need to change that.

But first, let us know whatcha got, and what you think about whatcha got.

PS: If you expect to ride in the rain, you will want full-coverage fenders.

kmman

Thanks for the replies - to answer the questions, the triple chainring is a 20/32/42 and the cassette is an 8 speed 11-28. I live in Phoenix - in the last year I have gotten caught in the rain exactly once, so I will pass on the fenders. I have put on 700 x 28 Gatorskins, and double wrapped the bars. The terrain here is VERY flat - I keep the chain on the middle ring, and literally only use the 12, 14, and 16 cogs on my daily ride. I am thinking a narrow range cassette would be a little more useful than the wide touring range cassette on there now. Sounds like the simple thing to do is to just swap the cassette. I have the dark blue Eros - kick myself daily for not shelling out the extra $50 in 1995 for the celeste ;-)

Tomm Willians

I have an Eros in the Crimson color and find it to be a very versatile bike. Although mine came with the Mirage triple, it also came with Shimano brakes which makes me a bit crazy as everything including the wheels is Campy. OP may I ask what brakes yours has ?

kmman

Campy Mirage brakes

Tomm Willians

Thank you, I was never sure if it came from the factory with mixed parts or were changed along the way. One of them (front or rear) is a long reach which are not too easy to find.