Older steel frame question
07-22-12, 06:29 AM
#1
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Older steel frame question
Since I really like steel lugged frames I have a question.
Can ANY older steel frame be upgraded to have brifters and a newer rear wheel with a cassette?
Are there any limitations? Other than $?
Thanks
Can ANY older steel frame be upgraded to have brifters and a newer rear wheel with a cassette?
Are there any limitations? Other than $?
Thanks
07-22-12, 07:01 AM
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Yes they can and the cheapest way to do it would be to buy a newer bike with brifters on it and move all the parts over. All means wheels also. By the time you do that you should just ride the newer bike. Steel frames are still made and sold at reasonable prices. Roger
Last edited by rhenning; 07-23-12 at 02:24 PM.
07-22-12, 07:23 AM
#3
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That depends on the connections. As a person who has friends in the fab shop industry, I have had mods like a rear disc brake mount welded on for free(I supplied the part). Biggest concern is if the welder is familiar with sheet metal grade welding since some tubing is VERY thin in places.
07-22-12, 11:12 AM
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Old steel frames with 120 mm dropout spacing can be safely cold set to accept a 126 mm (6/7-speed) hub and, possibly to 130 mm (8/9/10-speed hubs). Somewhat newer frames with 126 mm dropout spacing can either accept a 130 mm hub with a bit of forcing or be cold set (only if steel) to 130 mm.
Beyond that, if the bike came with 27" wheels, you may be able to fit newer 700c wheels if the brake shoes will adjust the needed 4 mm lower or you are willing to find longer reach brakes.
After that, it's pretty much just a matter of cost.
Beyond that, if the bike came with 27" wheels, you may be able to fit newer 700c wheels if the brake shoes will adjust the needed 4 mm lower or you are willing to find longer reach brakes.
After that, it's pretty much just a matter of cost.
07-22-12, 11:35 AM
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Yes they can and the cheapest way to do it would be to buy a newer bike with brifters on it and move all the parts over. All means wheels also. By the time you do that you should just ride the newer bike. Steel frammes are still made and sold at reasonable prices. Roger
07-22-12, 04:07 PM
#6
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Well it may be difficult to add brifters to this road bike
:
07-22-12, 08:52 PM
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07-22-12, 09:18 PM
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07-23-12, 06:25 AM
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This. Anyway, to add my unnecessary two cents. Almost anything is possible if you really want to make it happen, but it all comes down to whether or not it makes sense to you. I've been known to dump several hundred dollars into bikes that aren't optimistically worth a hundred. I know better, but it's my idea of fun. My 1985 lugged steel 27" bike has brifters from two different groupsets, a thread on freewheel, and conflicting brands of derailers. Haters gonna hate.
Where the problems arise on this forum is with posters expecting to do that kind of "modernization" to an older bike simply and at low cost. It will not be either simple nor cheap in most cases.
07-23-12, 08:40 AM
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Not really. You could run cable from the shifter to the derailers or get clamp-on cable stops. A bolt-on derailer hanger would be needed as well but overall, it wouldn't be that difficult. It'd be putting lipstick on a pig but...
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Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
07-23-12, 11:03 AM
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I've been known to do similar "upgrades" that made little to no economic sense. However, we both knew going in that what we were doing wasn't cost effective but that's the price of our hobby. Call it an entertainment expense.
Where the problems arise on this forum is with posters expecting to do that kind of "modernization" to an older bike simply and at low cost. It will not be either simple nor cheap in most cases.
Where the problems arise on this forum is with posters expecting to do that kind of "modernization" to an older bike simply and at low cost. It will not be either simple nor cheap in most cases.
