Sixty Fiver

The bike faerie brought me this today... stripped off a bunch of craptastic parts and installed some shiny Rigida wheels I had kicking around and figure it will make a nice townie.

unprintable

Figured I'd stick it here, too. The Schwinn Circuit I just picked up yesterday, completely original except for the pedals.

YoKev

^^nice catch and nice XT!

Bikedued

I picked up pretty clean Tenax Super Sport this afternoon, traded for a Ross Mt Hood. I think I got the better end of the deal. The headbadge is not stamped?
600ex friction, but not anodized. Red/white/red fade paint. If it was 60cm I would keep it, but I think I will blow it apart, and build up my 61 SS frame with the parts. After a nice paint job anyway.,,,,BD

Understanding

It's a Fuji... that's about all i know, other than it was built in '84 (if i interpreted the serial number right), and may have been blue. It had a shimano derailleur, which could be original (and it's spray painted too, suggesting there's no way it's an upgrade.)

Bikedued

The Ross is a Mt Hood, and I agree a nice find. Ishiwata 024, lugs, and bullmoose bars. Check the right chain stay
for the name, it will probably be BARELY visible.,,,,BD

fastmunny

I posted over in appraisals/inquiries forum, but forgot to post here...anways here is the Schwinn World thrift find:
'89 Schwinn World Red lugged frame
Shimano SIS shifters and derailleurs
Paint has few nicks.
Alesa wheels 27x1 1/4
Looks to be very well mantained and was stored indoors.

Sixty Fiver

Got a nice little freebie last night... was given a rear Suntour Vx - S derailleur that is in fine shape and sometimes it's the littlest things that make me as giddy as a schoolgirl.

It is a little scruffy but will polish out really nicely and once again I realize how much I appreciate the beautiful design of these old Suntour bits... figuring that this sold for around $10.00 back in 1977 when a Campy would have cost $40.00 and the Cyclone cost a whopping $16.00.

This is what really killed Suntour... their fair pricing policy. The Vx should have been selling for much more money than it did and because of that people thought these were cheap parts.

The Nuevo Record derailleurs that sold back than are probably still shifting as poorly as ever while I expect this Vx to make me quite happy whenever I install it.

And it hits the curb at a mere 215 grams.

jimmuller 

Since you brought it up I'll take the opportunity to ask. I've been running late 70's or early 80's V-series derailleurs for a long time, have one or two unused or nearly unused in the parts bin. I never understood what the differences between the various models were other than the obvious GT with the longer cage. I don't even recall the exact names (V-Lux, Vx, VT, VT-Lux, I dunno'), but from what I can see there was little functional difference between them. Maybe 0.5 ounces weight? Overall longevity? Any thought?

Thanks!

jtgotsjets

I was just reading about this... Sucks for Suntour, good for those in the know about such matters. Wherever I was reading about this actually mentioned the V-series derailleurs specifically (I think... whatever was one below Cyclone) and how they weren't quiiiiite as light as the top end but were basically unstoppable, durability-wise. Good deal for a quarter of campy's price.

It's not unlike the vintage bicycle market. People "know" that good bikes are "always" made with carbon or aluminum and they always cost upwards of $1500, so when they hear "steel" and see a sub $300 price tag, they think it must be trash suitable for a trip to the dump.

Little do they know..... bwahahaha!

fiataccompli

except they'd probably never ride to the dump, just put it on a car and carry it there

Jonatan F

Bought this Spanish jewel from a guy earlier today. I found the bike on a swedish craiglist-site. The bike is in good shape but i think it needs new brakecable-housing and a lot of grease (especially in the stearing-bearings (words?)) Anyway, this is gonna be my trainingbike and I'me already in love!

Wisco

The word you're looking for is 'headset'

Sixty Fiver

Disraeli gears describes the Vx as a V T Luxe that has gone on a strenuous diet and the Vx is still a light derailleur at 215 grams... I'd consider it an excellent choice for a vintage road bike as it has everything going for it and will handle 28 teeth with ease.

The V Luxe is lighter than the V because of it's alloy plates (the V is all steel) and these were highly regarded by early mountain bikers since they were cheap, strong, and work exceptionally well.

Step back a little further and you have the V series derailleurs that were not all that light (a V GT weighs nearly 400 grams) but in short cage versions were a reasonable 240 grams and amazing in how well they worked... the earliest V series has it's limit screws at the front and the V series was an evolution from the Competition which appeared in 1965.

The entire V series up to the Vx is a very nice group of derailleurs if you are looking for strong, well made, and in some cases, a fairly lightweight derailleur that will not explode when you abuse it.

They (V series derailleurs) are my first choice when it comes to upgrading older bikes that were originally fitted with Shimano or Simplex Prestige as neither Shimano or Simplex offered a derailleur that came anywhere close to the quality of Suntour and no-one would catch up with Suntour until the mid eighties when they could all adopt the slant parallelogram design.




I run a V Gt on my extrabike... these were one of those derailleurs that changed everything as their immense capacity and strength really opened up cycling to the masses as few derailleurs of that era could handle the abuse and loads a V Gt can. .

illdthedj

i dont have before pics, but here is the result of a storage clean out save!




i believe its a 68? schwinn racer...new wheels, others were completely rusted.
the paint on the frame was really bad, so i stripped it and clear coated the naked steel.
i like how it turned out, and its a fun bike to ride!

using the coaster brakes reminds me of being a kid again lol

Chris W.

Have to admit, the XT was the first thing I noticed too! While I'm here, nice score on the bike and wheels!!

Cheers,
Chris

YoKev

hahaha...It's either a 1990 or a 1991. I still have traces of my previous obsession stuck in my head

Bikedued

I was just noticing the discussion on my middle ring? It was not a matched set of biopace. I have noticed there are at least two distinct ring shapes over the course if the design. One is almost square and very bizarre looking, and the other is less defined, and almost not noticable as a Biopace if lying by itself on a table. I did line up all the notches and pins, or at least I think I did, with the drive side arm. It's loaded in the back of my truck at the moment. Let me grab a flashlight and check it out. I didn't notice anything odd on the test ride, but it's possible it got out of alignment during the fitting. Thanks for the heads up.,,,,BD

Bikedued

Nope, the pin on the big ring, and the squarish notches are all aligned with the crank arm. I did notice the big ring was the bizarre misaligned square shape, and the middle/small
rings are the more roundish. It's just the clash of the two different profiles playing tricks.,,,,BD

HSean

Thrift store find today. for under 5$ the seat looks new. not sure what a Bim leather saddle is but it will look nice on my new bianchi.

Bikedued

I just Googled it, and according to an old bike forums post, it is made by Ideale. A VERY
nice find for the price! It might look nicer on an old French bike, but I'm biased, hehe.,,,,BD

tugrul

My worn alloy Biopace HP and replacement steel Biopace SP rings are very much like the mellow ones. I guess I haven't seen original Biopace rings, or Biopace II that I've seen mentioned.



It sure does.

Bikedued

Yep, those are the two I have seen, I am not certain if there were more than those two? My 50 ring is the type from the left, and the small/middle are from the right. It has no shifting problems that I could find. It does look odd though, I agree.,,,,BD

HDavidH

Just won a 74' PA10E on ebay for $26.00


shipping included its $52.00

HSean

I nolonger have a french road bike so the Bianchi will have to accept it, atleast now I know what this other leather seat is, it's all dryed out but it looks the same as the like new one but it says Ideale on the sides. youd think they where the same though so yeah Bim is Ideale. i'm gonna try soaking the Ideale one and see if it will have some life left in it.