Ged117 

Thanks mkeller. I think the chain might be the second since the bike was new in 1990, so it certainly wouldn't hurt to replace it at least. I need one for my Peugeot as well so I think I'll buy two and see if that makes a difference along with a new bottom bracket. I'm having a sizing issue with the Voyageur since it is a bit too small for me at 58cm and I am 6'3 (all legs). My Peugeot is a 62cm and boy does it fit better. I'm having knee pain and the reach is weird on the Voyageur - I'm hoping a nitto stem and longer seatpost will help since I'm long legged with a regular size torso. What I'd like to do is find a Voyageur in my size and sell this one, but they are few and far between.

malberto13

Do you guys think it will look nice if I build my 90's Eddy Merckx Corsa extra with newer STI shifting? will it loose its vintage look?

HPL

Not much wrenching; mostly machining, filing, polishing, and painting of parts for customization and modification of 1974 Schwinn World Tourist. Building for University of Florida fan, thus the blue and orange. Removed all the steel ('cepting the blue frame of course), replaced with alloy, and converted to 7 speed rear with single front. Down to 28 lbs without fenders, but with a kickstand so not too bad. The guy just turned 60 so trying to lighten his load. Will post a completion photo soon.

rccardr 

Sounds like a good plan,if that's what makes you ride it.
STI was introduced in the early 90's with Dura Ace and then Tricolor 600, followed by 105 and other groups. So, depending on the exact year of your frame, it's period correct

malberto13

I think the frame is a 97. The years are kinda hard to decipher on these Merckx frames as you know. I was planning to put on a Dura Ace 7800 group set. the only thing is that the crank looks a little too modern. will it look funky if I downgrade the crank to Dura Ace 7700 just for the classic look?

rccardr 

Do a little on-site searching and you will find that one of the members has pretty much de-coded the serial numbers more accurately than the Cadre site.
Dura Ace 7700 or 7410 would be an excellent aesthetic choice for frame with more modern components. Sugino also makes some compacts that would work well, like this:

malberto13

Ohh nice! that a sweet Merckx. Im going to have to reach to figure out my serial number. since I'm a new on this site it doesn't let me post pics of my frame until I get a certain number of posts or something like that. When I reach that I will post them.

merziac

Hi, welcome aboard, glad you found us.

Go around, say "Hi" and or comment on more posts to get your count up, then as we say "pics or it didn't happen".

You really can't tease about an EM, most here will be eager to see and help.

malberto13

Thanks for the welcome! Yeah I also have 2000 Litespeed that I'm about to rebuild and update as an everyday commuter bike, so I got my hands full with these projects. I can't wait to post pics I already have some the parts for the EM so I will finish it in a few weeks.

DQRider 

It rained much of the day yesterday, but I managed to get a ride in between showers.

I've been tuning up my bikes after their winter hibernation, and yesterday I took Velo de Ville out for a quick Tour de `Hood.



She's looking good in her commuter trim, with the new Deore 1x9 drivetrain and the lovely new Ultegra-hubbed wheelset. And she is still the best-riding bike in my stable.

The sun made a very brief appearance for the shot, above. But after ten minutes or so, the skies went all gloomy again. Here we see the city of Saint Paul under an approaching storm front:



This was my cue to head for home. I spent the rest of the day in the shop, fettling several other bikes while the rain pelted the roof. It was kind of a "Zen and the Art of Bicycle Maintenance" day.

Slightspeed

Swapping chain rings from 50 to 52t on my '73 Super Course. When I built the bike I used a swap meet Sugino AT triple. The rings were in OK shape so I never took them off. I've been wanting to try a 52t like I have on two other vintage bikes. The 50 was getting kind of sharky tooth looking after 3000 miles. It should have been a 10 minute job, but I just finished my 3rd day messing with it. I usually just use a big flat blade screw driver for the back side slotted nuts. These were really stuck, so I bought the Park tool. After a couple of PB Blaster soaks, still no go, so I got out the old Workmate with the wooden jaws, and clamped the tool in, to hold it against the beat up slotted nuts. Worked great. Now I need to find new chain ring screws since these have messed up slots from the tool slipping. Turned out somebody used red Loctite on the threads. Didn't take much really lock them in.

The slots were so beat up, I had to brute force clamp the tool in place.

The "L" shaped hex driver just cleared the crank arm.

Traces of red Loctite made a 10 minute job take 3 days.

Update: Got the 52t mounted, (52/40/32 triple) works great!

velojym

First attempt at twining my bar tape. Added a camera charm my daughter likes.
While I'll leave this on for a while on this bike, it was a practice run for the leather Brooks tape my brother bought for my birthday. I'll be putting that on my touring bike, to match the B17 saddle.
Could be a bit neater, but that's what practice runs are for.

toavii

Haven't been riding much or working on many lately but couldn't refuse this.

ThermionicScott 

Not the most exciting "wrenching", but I did clean and lube a couple chains. First time trying two at once in the mineral spirits/ultrasonic cleaner setup, there were pros and cons. But it bought me another 1000+ miles of riding before I have to think about my chains again.

malberto13

I think its a 97 but I don't know for sure. any thought?

HPL

Another project finished!
74 Schwinn World Tourist retromod.

Mr. 66

The A-D cleans up well. I decided to go with hubs I had sitting around for years 4x spokes on Torelli Master rims.

BFisher

Switched my Klunkeresque cruiser from this fork:
...back to an Ashtabula fork. I like the look much better:



I'll add truss rods when I can.

SurferRosa

Finished rebuilding this Crescent, put it up on Craigs, and it sold today. Yay!

... and at $340, maybe the c&v market hasn't dropped through the floor after all.

malcala622

My LBS did the wrenching for me this week. Picked up my Record/Matrix wheelset for the Gios.

DQRider 

I decided that I needed to finish this Clubman build by July 4th, so I've been out in the shop all morning. It's rideable, but not completely finished.



I have to find the headbadge I misplaced over the winter, and change that front wheel - it doesn't match the rear. How did I miss that?

capnjonny 

I took this Bianchi Eros home last week to spiff it up to sell at the Bike Exchange . Bike stripped to frame then everything cleaned, head set bearings re greased, and new(used tires, Bar tape, and Seat) installed.

Before it was dirty and lots of paint chips showing white undercoating . Now it sparkles, Black touch up paint practically invisible on the dark blue paint , and the tan tires, bar tape, and seat give it some color.

Now I need someone to tell me where I can find Campi Mirage 3x8 sti hoods , probably 94-97 with the small Script going up the side. or tell me what if anything will fit.

Help'

+

SurferRosa

The old Dawes I picked up Saturday came with a modern black seatpost. The first step was to use a pipe cutter. I saw no need to bury all that extra post in the tube.



That was sorta fun, as I hadn't done that before. Then I had to deanodize and polish it. The black finish was incredibly resilient. I had to apply several coats of oven cleaner. But I'm happy with the results.



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noglider 

I got cracking with my gravel bike build. Why have I been putting it off? A neighbor showed me some secret gravel roads in Upstate New York. I rode it on my road bike, because it was all I had.

Maybe this weekend I'll finish it. Or at least I'll get close.

SurferRosa

Needed pedals and a saddle for the Dawes. Picked up three saddles at Recycled Cycles (two turbos and a san marco for $10/ea) and two sets of pedals ($15) at 2020 here in seattle. Some black Sugru will cure the saddle tears. Not sure what to do with the suede san marco. Maybe just use a horsehair brush.


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