The PX-10
is nice and all, but...we
are talking about the grand Le Grande, after all!
If it fell, it would probably kill the Peugeot
The scorecard for today: Le Grande - 1, PX-10 - 0
Finally got to take it for a spin. It started off slow, and, well, just kept going slow
. I think the bikes 'muscles' may have atrophied from not being ridden in so long, but we finally got into a good groove.
Coming from the PX-10, the Ironman, the Trek 957, etc...I was actually very impressed with the ride. It was smooth (for the most part), and was
very comfortable. The needle on the dial moved a line past 'I wouldn't care if this was stolen', so I think the test ride was a success. Its got a slightly wicked lean to the left, but I think I know why and should be easy to address. Honestly, it was a big nostalgic. I never had a Huffy road bike growing up, and didn't really ride road bikes growing up, but I did have a black Huffy bmx when I was a kid, and grew up on relatively pedestrian bikes. I always drooled over the GTs, Elfs, PK Rippers, and Robinsons down at the
GT BMX Store that was literally a couple miles from my house. So it was kinda cool to be taken back in a way.
It was also very plainly obvious why people hate these bikes, and I think we can isolate much of that to the components (which will be going away eventually), so that is actually good. The brakes just plain suck, there is no other way to put it. They are flimsy, flexy, weak, and have little chance of success with those steel rims. I road through a little bit of water and snow here and there, and after that there was just no hope. Lost probably 60-80% of braking power and it screeched and screamed so loud when pulling up to my house I actually laughed. Since brakes are such an integral part of a functional bicycle, I can see why people just wrote the whole bike off completely. And very few people would have been willing to change out the brakes AND the wheels. That, and the seat tilt adjustment. It was either -5 degrees, or 15 degrees, nothing in-between.
While one part of me hates the idea of separating out all the original components since the bike is still in such stellar condition...they will find their way to the dumpster soon
My heart will go on
I think what I am going to do, however, it try to put at least 100 miles on the bike before really tearing things down and gutting it, again, just to get a better impression in it's 'before' stage. Plus it would be fun to do an unofficial 'Clunker Challenge' with it (paging @
Narhay !), since it currently meets the criteria. Bike's gotta earn its keep!
In sad news, I tried the SR Royal Extra Super Light stem, and it definitely didn't fit
But it wasn't off by much. Stem diameter was a true 22.2, and the ID of the steerer tube was weird, something like 21.6mm. So, do I attempt to shave off .6mm from around an already light stem? I haven't taken a digital caliper to the wall thickness of the stem, but opinions are definitely welcome. The Jun stem was actually a slightly loose fit. I haven't weighed the Jun, but if we end up going with that one, we are definitely going to shave it down a bit and use a titanium wedge bolt and an aluminum wedge (drilled out, too).
The great news about this build is that I have some time to think about things. I already have most of the upgrade parts, but riding the bike as-is will allow me to get a better feel for how things will need to change.
Oh, and based on what a previous posted mentioned, I did look it up, and it sure does look like Rene Herse makes tubulars...
But...uhh...well, maybe those 100 first miles will give me time to setup a gofundme for the bike!
All in all, a good day. Tomorrow I'll be busting out the polish and we'll see how clean and shiny that frame sparkles.