This morning I raided the storage unit again, returning one saddle and fetching the Vetta from the '86 Univega Arrow Pace I bought late last year for $24.99 - so I set the value at $5 for the saddle. Once back at the shack, I installed it and tweaked height and position on the rails, but not quite enough. I put the bike on the work stand again and did a little more spoke wrench work to get the wheels to run true, cinched the headset locknut down and played with everything to make sure it all worked and was secure. I remembered the bike came with a bottle cage, and fished it out, slathered the mounting bolts with grease and screwed 'em down.
It was surprisingly cool today for South Carolina in May, so I waited for it to warm up, which gave me an opportunity to put away all the tools and cleaning supplies used to get the LeTour to where it is, vacuum up all the dirt that came out of the old tires when I pulled them and do some laundry. Finally at 4:15 or so it reached the mid-60s and I decided it was time.
I barely got out of the parking lot before I pulled over to fish the multi-tool out to raise the saddle another centimeter - Look pedals + non-Brooks saddle = 79 cm center of BB to saddle top, period. then after another mile and a half or so I pulled over again to loosen the seat post clamp and smack the saddle back as far as it would go on its rusty rails. My quads were much happier after that.
I took a route I used to ride 40 years ago or so, one that normally has too much traffic now. The gift of Sunday afternoon and everyone being at the lake carried me along nicely and quietly - and very, very slowly! - up the long hill of Deadfall Road, across the scary intersection at 246 and on to the light where I crossed U.S. 25. The section between there and Dixie Drive was reconfigured a few years back, making it much shallower and smoother. I kinda miss the crazy near-switchback turn it originally had.
Feeling brave - this was my second ride for 2022, and I haven't ridden regularly since early October - I turned right to follow Deadfall down the long hill to Pine Drive, once a staple of the old Greenwood Cycling Club that led out from the local Y parking lot. I got down in the drops and got as aero as I could manage, and the old Schwinn rolled smoothly along, making the turn onto Pine predictably and well. I went for the small ring as I crossed the bridge and started up the climb, then cheated and took the left turn that returned me to Dixie, sparing myself a nasty hill. Dixie being essentially flat, it was a easy mile or so to four-lane Calhoun Road, which became Northside Drive as I re-crossed U.S. 25 and muscled up the short little rise.
It wasn't quite all downhill from there, but it's pretty close. I stopped to check my phone when I heard it ding and responded to my wife's text, then back on the old bike and down along the last stretch of Northside, grateful that it's a 35 mph speed zone because it's really too narrow for the volume of traffic it gets. When I turned into the parking lot, I decided to ride all the way to the back of the apartment complex, as I'd never bothered to go back there before, then looped back in.
I realized I hadn't taken any pictures while out on the ride, so for now here's how the LeTour - now called Champagne Charlie in honor of both its color and of Leon Redbone - looked after I finished up.
Observations -
1. The SunTour Blaze indexing derailleurs worked very nicely, making reasonably crisp shifts. If I had a chain and freewheel that had never been allowed to rust to an interesting texture, it would probably be excellent. As it was, I found the gear I was looking for every time.
2. The cheap used 25mm IRCs felt very nice at 80 psi or so.
3. As always, once I've been on the bike for a couple of miles, any peculiarities start melting away and it's just a bike beneath me. This is a quality machine that has been badly neglected, and if I were to keep it I would find some replacement cones for the front hub (and I may do that, as I think I have some in the stash!) and a decent bottom bracket to replace the Horror that is Hatta down there.
4. It probably deserves better bar tape, and I may splurge $9 or so for a set from the 'Bay.
5. I sincerely wish this bike was about 1-2 cm taller and longer. The 56 cm top tube is just enough too short and the drop from saddle height to bar tops is just enough to be mildly annoying. Pity, and maybe if I threw some money at the bike and got a taller seat post and a Nitto Technomic stem ...
Still - nice old bike, rides much better than it looks, and I now have 17.3 km under my belt.
Total to date -
$15.00 - acquisition of the bike
$10.70 - pair of used tires, plus tax
$4.00 - value of one used and one new shift cable from the stash
$5.00 - value of one used Vetta saddle scavenged from another clunker
$0.00 - value of used Look pedals given to me with a free bike
$0.00 - value of scavenged nasty green bar tape
So, $34.70. And who knows, maybe I'll finish up with this bike and go for entry number two with the Univega!