Strawbunyan

After adjusting the pedals and riding a few times, all of the pain I was having is gone. Thank you all for the help.
I weighed the bike and it seems to come in at the same weight the original catalog suggested...24-25lb
I think I still need to slide the saddle back a little ways to get the reach I need.

I should have enough room in the back but will the SIS RD handle a 7 speed on the rear end?
I am going to try measure the tire clearance and see how much bigger I can go and start experimenting with different sizes.

the rubber things that cover the levers...the hoods? Is that right? Are the proprietary or do I have a large pool of options for new ones?

jdawginsc 

For that group, the aero is proprietary, though I “think” Shimano 105 lever hoods also fit. Not sure there.

For the seven speed question, Shimano experts might weigh in. There is an extra click in some shifters that can sneak in an extra gear. Not sure this is one. @rccadr

In friction mode (can’t remember if those shifters are friction and/or click), I have heard of some RDs handling 2 or 3 more gears than specified. Tough to tell.

That rear wheel is a freewheel however, and likely maxes at 7 (SunTour winner or something).

Hopefully folks smarter than me start chiming in!

sd5782 

I put some plastic half clips on a bike I built up for my sister. It was an A-D mixte actually. Those half clips were so nice feeling that I tried some myself. I now have them on three bikes. Like you, I do not wish to fall over strapped into my bikes. My more classic looking bikes have the straps, but they are quite loose.

Strawbunyan

I keep my straps very loose as well....however, I did still find myself laying on the ground the other day with my left foot still safely attached to the pedal

noglider 

I don't know if it's apparent, but I probably speak for several of us when I say we really enjoy how you've taken to old bikes, a keen interest of ours. You've taken to them quickly with your good mechanical skills and your enthusiasm. It's taken me 49 years to know what I know, and you're coming along quickly and masterfully.

In 1975, we were 14 years old when my friend and I installed toe clips on our bikes on the same day. We took a long-ish ride in the suburbs where traffic wasn't too heavy. We fell in love quickly and said we would never take them off. I don't think I ever fell over from not pulling out soon enough.

I tried slotted cleats in those days. At first, you had to have a shoemaker nail them to your cycling-specific shoe. You would ride without cleats for a while and let the pedal mar the shoe in such a way as to show where the cleat belonged. The cleat had a slot that allowed the back edge of the pedal to insert. Then you were supposed to cinch down the straps. The only way out was to reach down and loosen the strap. I gathered the skill at doing all of this but I didn't like being stuck in there, so I left at least one strap loose, sometimes both.

Later they invented shoes whose cleats could attach with bolts rather than nails.

Some track racers still use clips and straps. So do city folks riding fixies.

I wore toe clips until I heard about "clipless" pedals which are stupidly named since the shoes do clip into the pedals. The idea behind the name is that they do away with toe clips which were themselves stupidly named. Look, the ski binding company, came out with the first clipless pedals. Getting in them is a little easier than toe clips, but you need to be mindful of unclipping before you stop. Since I had spent so many years with toe clips, the adjustment was easy for me. I only had one incident. I was towing my toddler daughter in a trailer on a long ride in the country. I stopped the bike and then realized I was clipped in and almost fell over. But I was next to a tall garbage dumpster and grabbed on and unclipped. Getting injured away from home with my daughter could have made it a bad day.

The leading system for "serious" road riders and racers seems to be the descendant of the Look system which is Shimano SPD-SL. Like the Looks, the cleats are very hard to walk on.

One of Shimano's best inventions of all time is the SPD pedal system. People think of it as for mountain bikes, but some road riders realize that that's silly. It works well and is practical. Some shoes have the cleats recessed in the shoes! There is a huge variety of pedals, including "commuter pedals" which have the cleat mechanism on one side and a flat surface on the other, so you can ride with cleats or street shoes. I have these on my commuter bike and my "SUV bike." There is a wide variety of shoes. I have countless SPD shoes, including winter shoes, sandals, and running shoes. I have a fantasy of having a pair of dress shoes retrofitted with soles that take SPD cleats. I know at least two master shoemakers who can take on that job, both Jewish immigrants from Uzbekistan.

Lately some research shows that foot retention systems offer little or no performance gain even though they feel like they give one. I still like them. When I meet a cyclist who is resisting the suggestion of getting cleats, I tell them that they should stick with their preference. If you think toe clips or cleats are not for you, you're probably right. I've been using them for 49 years, so it's best for me, most of the time. All of my bikes have SPD pedals except for my "street fixie" which has toe clips for old times' sake.

jdawginsc 

Pretty much the same sentiment as Tom. I need to pull on the upstroke to save strain on the top of my knees. (The Chondromylacia area). Even my MTBs. They have gotten sPD whereas all but one road bike has SPD sL. The other has Campy/ArC Delta.

I almost fell with toe clips when I was 15. Got cut off at a stop sign. Ended up bunny hopping up to the right over the curb and close enough to a yield sign to grab on.

only successful bunny hop in height I ever had...

Strawbunyan

thank you for the compliment and the history lesson. It sounds to me like everything was better before the internet, you had to really want to make something work for it to be worth the time and effort...with all of the options right at our fingertips making it so easy for us to consume consume consume, it seems to have taken a lot of the love out things. However, I do really appreciate it for one thing...communities like this one. You have all been so helpful and caring and willing to share that it makes it impossible not to love. When I originally wanted to get back into riding after so many years I thought for sure I would be bored to death just going back and forth on the roadway....I grew up in the beginning of the "extreme sports" Era when nothing was fun if you weren't flying through the air on something not originally designed to fly through the air...and it was all televised LOL....I don't remember exactly who's bike on here I saw that made me start drooling but I am glad it led me down this route. I find this to be much more fulfilling. I love working on and building and tuning old machines but I hate engine work and this has really done wonders for both my mental and physical health.this bike is so much more fun to ride than my BMX ever was and more than the MTB I was using( I gave that to my daughter for now until I find a build her mixtie) I don't miss jumping things or doing wheelies at all
I can't see getting rid of the toe clips at all, they mean too much to the astetics of the bike for me and seeing the bike without them would break my heart. If for some reason i end up with a more modern style of road bike or "gravel" bike or get into XCMTBing like I was going to train for ill go clipless but for now I am all about these bad boys...I do have to be careful though because the clips like to drag the ground when I am pushing the bike if I forget to spin the pedals into the horizontal.

I don't wear dress shoes often(I work at a juvenile correction facility) but the thought of riding a bike like this in business attire gives me happy feelings and sounds like something that a crazy person like me would do just for fun.

Thank you all again for all of your love, help, and support. A lot of otherwise fun activities have been ruined by rhe community that surrounds them and I am glad this is not one of them for me.

Stay tuned because I will definitely be building an all Japanes "Gremlin" bike sooner or later

noglider 

Maybe some things were better before the internet, but not everything. I don’t want to go back to those days.

And maybe it really is fair to call this love, this exchange of knowledge and passion. I think here in C&V it gets into a virtuous cycle, so the love multiplies. I love what you wrote.

Strawbunyan

So I have been having trouble shifting into the larger chainring when the bike is under load. Everything was fine in the closet but once I got out on the road it was clunky at best and rubbed too much, then at some point would just completely fail to shift, leading me to pull the shifter more which then led to the cable pulling out of the FD.
I adjusted the twist of the FD, pulling the back of the FD away from the rear tire more and it now seems to shift very smoothly and I have not yet manhandled the cable loose again. Hoping that solved it, we will see on some longer rides.

that is the new alignment
I originally had the front plate of the derailleur lined up with the chain ring.

While I was giving the bike a bath I noticed I have a bent spoke on the front wheel.

How much sleep should I be losing over this?

Aubergine 

I would not worry much about that bend, but I'd replace it anyway. It's easy enough.

Good job re front derailleur. It looks well aligned. IMO it is ok to tweak front derailleurs as needed for proper shifting.

noglider 

The bend in the spoke does not matter. I don't think it's necessary to do anything.

I do all kinds of things to front derailleurs to get them to work. I bend the cage with an adjustable wrench if it helps. It's good you thought to twist it. The cable came out while you were shifting, and that means your pinch bolt was not tight enough.

Front derailleur adjustment often requires compromises. If you eliminate chain rub in one gear combo, you introduce it in another. My recent compromise is to let the chain rub in top gear (chain in smallest cog in rear) so that it doesn't rub in more frequently used gears.

My method includes using a bike stand and spinning the crank as fast as I can, shifting as quickly and as hard as I can. I try to toss the chain off the chainring. I do this because I don't want it to happen on the road, so if it happens on the stand, I know my limit screw is not limiting enough. But screwing it in a bit might cause chain rub. It's a compromise. To me, chain rub is not as bad as tossing the chain.

Strawbunyan

I have the pinch bolt down as tight as I can possibly get it...and that says a lot because I am notorious for over tightening everything I get my hands on...torque specs be darned. I realllllly cranked the lever to try to get it to shift and i guess something had to give.
I absolutely loath rattling and rubbing sounds so chain rub is not something I am willing to live with in the slightest.

I did take the bike out for a torture test today. Went down some roads I am unfamiliar with and even conquered some hills I normally avoid because i thought I would never be able to climb them.
I've had a few naysayers in other places tell me that this bike would not do they things I want to do....oh how wrong they were. From pothole filled county roads, light gravel cover pavement, all the way to heavy gravel and about 100 yards of nicely paved city road today and the SLE didn't flinch at any of it. I even bombed it down a loose gravel hill and it said "yes, thank you"





Didn't get any photos of the big stuff cause I was too busy feeling like a kid again.

AdventureManCO 

I came here to say something similar before I saw noglider 's post. Its refreshing to see your enthusiasm. Keep at it, we're all cheering you on here!

jdawginsc 

Looking like you are having a blast!

Strawbunyan

it's weird how much happiness a simple machine can bring an old man

Anyone know what these holes are for?
One side near the dropouts has a hole and a peg, the other side has just a hole and then their are two more holes way up at the top near the seat post area.

daverup 

The peg is for hanging the chain with the wheel off.
The holes are vents

Strawbunyan

that makes sense. Wouldn't want the chain getting all messed up and definitely need to equalize the pressure in the tubes so they don't implode when I break the sound barrier. thank you.

jdawginsc 

Haha!

Yeah, all ADs were silver brazed if I recall correctly (by hand). Needed venting holes somewhere. They also make fun whistling noises...and catch ghostly apparitions if riding at night.

noglider 

That sounds and looks like a beautiful ride. I do things people advise against like riding rough gravel roads with my narrow-tire road bike. It's not ideal, but it's fine.

Strawbunyan

That checks out...need the vents to keep from warping the tubes...learn something new everyday.

It is actually really nice around here if you stay off of the main roads, don't mind hills, and like your roads a little rough. We have a lot of beautiful country riding that most people miss out on because they ride their bikes down a major highway to the Natchez trace parkway (which is absolutely gorgeous) and don't usually experience the other offerings.
I can definitely understand why people would want more tire but at the same time nothing is more fun than the back end of the bike sliding out from under you at 30MPH and staying upright. I'm guessing it is the hubs but this bike acts like a wild horse, it just wants to run...the moment i let off of my brakes it gets to moving, even on the flats. And when going down hill it accelerates in an instant so even without pedaling it can be hard to resist the urge to apply some brake to maintain a "safe" speed.but learned that if i stay off the brakes in the loose stuff I have alot more chance of maintaining stability.. atleast with the wheels rolling I am still cycling and not skiing. Im gettin older but i still love a good shot of adrenaline, and if i can get that shot 5 minutes from home, ill take it.

noglider 

We spend weekends in the Hudson Valley, a rural area in New York. My friend whose family is from Tennessee visited and said there is a lot in common. Probably the shapes of the hills. He really loved it. I went to Knoxville on business years ago and rented a car. Didn't have time to cycle there. Spring was just springing at the time. It was beautiful. Maybe I'll get there one day.

There isn't a lot of difference in friction in hubs from one hub to another. It's everything put together that makes a road bike roll fast, though I bet it's mostly the tires. Frame geometry may be a factor?

A few years ago, we learned that the ideal pressure is a bit tricky to find but worthwhile. It's usually lower than we think but sometimes higher. The determining factors are weight (rider plus bike), tire width, terrain, and a bit of preference. The ideal pressure is not the rating on your sidewalls. This article is a start. I weigh 160 lbs, and I use 70 rear and 65 front on 32 mm tires. One problem with inflating to the ideal pressure is that you have to keep checking and topping up.

jdawginsc 

I don’t think I have used the full on capacity in several years. 25s are not friendly to lower pressure usually, but 28s start to be and after 30, especially in the gravel variety, there is no set rule since there’s enough rubber to take a range.

i think only two bikes have 23s anymore. @Mad Honk has about 50 tires of 20mm that he loves! My teeth would come out.

Classtime 

I think it's time for another drive side glamour shot.

Strawbunyan

It may have much to do with tire then, cause it even tries to roll away from me in the "workshop" if I don't block the wheels. All the other bikes just fall over.
I have 80lbs in them right now. The max recommended is 123PSI. I stopped at 80 simply because i could not physically get more pressure into them with my pump and my baby arms, otherwise I would have aired them up higher, I don't know if I want to go lower because they do have some moosh to them at 80 and I am worried about flats if I take more air out.
some of the roads to get a little abusive but I've just been standing up and using my arms and legs as suspension so it doesnt beat me up too bad. I still have not measured the clearance to see how wide i can eventually go.... I have more thoughts than time hahaha.

Strawbunyan

Its the bronze chainrings, isnt it? i have this weird urge to buy up every bronze biopace ring left on the planet to make sure i always have one.

The "dont worry, I am a volunteer firefighter" hydrant lean pic I took to post to the "look at my bike leaning against stuff" FB group im in.

I took the straps off the pedals yesterday for my ride as I was going down roads I had not seen before and wanted to be able to easily bail if needed. The strap loops rattled like loose change so those are going back on immediately. Id rather flip down a hill attached to my bike than listen to that.