seypat

It's actually a stealth GoPro mount. The lens is in the head. It has 360 swivel to capture video from all around. The coal rollers and other unsuspecting drivers don't know they are being filmed. They just think he's trying to "Cowboy Up" for motivation with an action figure glued to his helmet.

madpogue 

I won't ask where the aft-facing lens is located....

robertj298 

seypat

Noyce! That bike is in great condition.

canklecat

I've mostly been using my Ironman on the indoor trainer the past several months, giving my old neck injury a chance to heal. The neck and shoulder muscles tended to spasm too easily and home physical therapy wasn't helping. I figured it just needed rest or less demanding activity. No bumps or jolts on the trainer.

I did ride the Ironman outdoors in February, I think, on a balmy night just before the Big Freeze. Dinner ride with friends at an outdoor venue. I did a bunch of hill repeats that night too.

texaspandj 's post about Dura Ace reminded me of a project I'd planned for the 2020 pandemic and never got around to doing: I bought some DA 7- and 8-speed goodies from BF members and intended to try them on the Ironman and Trekenstein 5900. But I never got that round tuit.

Meanwhile I've built up a 2014 Diamondback Podium crabon fibber frame into a rideable 7-speed (yeah, I'm very low tech here). Since I have that road bike ready to ride, I suppose I should resume that Dura Ace project for the Ironman and Trekenstein. TBH, the old Trek 5900 fits me better than the Diamondback. The mid to late 2000s era road racing frames are a bit too aggressive for me and I can't get comfy on that bike for more than 90 minutes or so, two hours tops. But the Ironman and early '90s Trek 5900 were all-day comfortable even with my gimpy neck.

I don't want to mess around with the Ironman's wheel spacing, and I have a couple of good wheelsets with 126 width wheels. So I might swap a Dura Ace 7-speed shifter and RD over to the Ironman, and put the 8-speed DA stuff on the Trek 5900. Nothing wrong with the Suntour GPX group on the Ironman, I'm just curious to try the DA on something.

I also have some 7-speed MicroShift brifters and might see how those do on the Ironman. There are occasions on blustery days when I'd rather keep both hands on the bar for shifting in crosswinds. Or on gravel-lite rides. We don't have any seriously technical gravel trails here, but the maintenance organization occasionally fills potholes with sand. It can make handling a bit sketchy, hitting invisible sand traps while reaching down to downtube shifters. I'm wondering whether the brief late 1960s-early '70s flirtation with bar-end shifters in the pro peloton was for better handling on the cobbles and unpaved routes. I see a few photos of Merckx and others using bar-end shifters, but no info on which particular race they were in.

texaspandj

Hey IronHeads! Glad to see this thread is back from the dead.
I was sick for 2 weeks so no training but didn't want to let my cycling buddy down for the gravel ride this past weekend. As a matter of fact I was still not 100 percent but soldiered on.
The 63 mile Gravel Locos gravel ride was much hillier than anticipated. Not to mention Tough and humbling. I had kids, grandparents, guys wearing sandals passing me. It got worse, I could feel my right and left quad twitching and leading to a cramp. So I stopped after a particular hill and let the cramp happen (right quad only). That happened 3 TIMES, same right quad. The first rest stop on the 63 mile route was 20 miles, before I got there I told myself I was gonna stop there and get a ride back to the start. People that's 20 miles into the ride, 20 miles and I'm ready to quit. I was not feeling good (I blame it mostly on illness). My cycling buddy had left me behind and waited at the 20 mile rest stop. I ate told him about my bad riding so when we got to where the 30 ride mile split, he asked am I gonna take the the 30 mile route back to the start. I thought very hard about it and asked him are you still gonna ride the 63 mile route and he said yeah. I said I'll ride to the next/last rest stop (there was only 2 rest stops) and maybe catch a ride back to the start. But just like before my buddy was waiting for me and after some refreshments I decided to continue and finish the ride. He said he'd stay with me til the end. I think at this point, his school, job, new baby and lack of good training was finally getting to him. With about 20 miles to go I actually started feeling better. And my buddy fell back, I thought he stop to use the facilities or something, eventually I stopped waited on him and he said he hit the wall. He ate some candy and then the rain started. It sprinkled then progressively more til it was a down pour. Oh, its about here where I stopped for my last quad cramp and he made the mistake of stopping too and he got cramps from hell, both quads and both hamstrings. I couldn't help but make fun of him and because that's what he gets for making do this ride while I was sick. How sick was i? Well I fortunately didn't have COVID but I wasn't even able to teach my evening classes for 2 weeks.
He didn't have the best performance either and we both decided to redeem ourselves at next year's event.
This weekend, actually Monday on Memorial day, I'll be in Austin for a sprint triathlon. The cool part will be riding thru Downtown. I'm really looking forward to that part and pretty much no other part especially the 750 meter swim.
So my plan of a triathlon every month is still on. April was Pflugerville , May Austin, June xterra mtb tri in Waco, July Olympic distance triathlon Waco, August possibly, possibly, HtH 100 in Wichita falls. If RT is in Texas I'll probably do it.

texaspandj

That's cool. Best Ironman from the '87 group me thinks.

seypat

Well, at least I'm not the only one who gets cramps! Congrats for HTFUing and seeing it through.

seypat

For the people thinking about the HotterNHell, I can confirm that the former member pictured up thread will be riding that event. I will be doing it as well. Probably not in shape currently for the century, but the fun's in trying. Crash and burn, baby! Maybe they have shorter routes.
Anyway, as the event get closer I'll post updates on meet up info.

Patrick

dbhouston 

I started this search thinking I'd find a suitable old steel frame for hanging a Dura-Ace 7700 groupset and Spinergy wheels I'd come by. Instead, I found this pretty pristine 1987 that needs very little from me. Looking forward to riding it and learning how satisfying early SIS can be. I'll have to find anoth home for the orphaned DA and Spinergy parts.

seypat

Nice score!

texaspandj

Cool. I think Doc has one.
That '87 Ironman Master would be awesome with the 7700 group too.

texaspandj

Here's my '89 Ironman Master with full 7700.

dbhouston 

In what I'm calling Project Dave, I'm going to try it both ways! Rode today totally stock and enjoyed it, even when I ran out of gear ratios. Right now, it's down to the frame for a deep cleaning, then it'll get built up with the 7700.

seypat

Hot!

seypat

Here's a question/questions for the thread.

The red/white 86 IM beater will be the bike going to HotterNHell. I'm thinking of ways to spruce it up for the ride. I have some white Suntour Superbe chainrings. I could order some red anodized chainrings as well. Also have a black crankset/chainrings/wheelset that I could use. Would any of these look better than the stock chainrings/wheels? I'll have to post some mock ups when I get back home from the holiday weekend. At the inlaws for the weekend.

texaspandj

The white chainring might look good. However, even though your '86 is a beater, I think going as modern as possible will do it justice and make the HnH less stressful... maybe.
IF I do the HnH I'll try to make sure I'm not riding the same Ironman as someone else. So now that leaves my '86 Classic out.
Here's a different view of my '86 Classic that I Won't be taking to HnH. But I will be racing it Monday on Memorial day at the Capitol of Texas triathlon in Austin.

Upgraded to Dura Ace 7400 except for the 600 Brakeset.

madpogue 

Oh, what a scandal that would be!

seypat

I guess maybe I could ride the murdered out Black Turbo. That's 9 speed with Microshift brifters. I need to figure out how the bike's getting there and back. That would give people more options with their IMs.

dbhouston 

So, I've tried the first two builds of my 1987 Master experiments, which I'm calling Project Dave. So far we have a solid stock build, followed by one that included Dura-Ace 7700 triple, funky Spinergy Wheels, and watt-saving white bar tape. That was a two pound difference. Without spending money, I can move to a carbon fork and seatpost, though that'll mean a black stem and probably bars and I think all that black will change the look more than I'd love. It would also be fun to take that frame into a truly modern 11-speed world, but that's not in the spare parts bin! I'd love to see others with an 11-speed Ironman.


As stock as they get, I think. Shimano 600 EX SIS. Wolber Alpine wheels. Turbo saddle. Conti UltraSports are the only real change from Dave's plan.


Halfway modernized. Dura-Ace 7700 triple groupset. Spinergy XAero wheels. Modern saddle.

After this, I'll stop hijacking this thread and start a new one if I keep going on the Dave project. But I will say the 7700 build is so good I may use it in two weeks for the Tulsa Tough Saturday Medio (with better tires). And if you are looking for a fun cycling weekend, you could do worse than coming to Tulsa that weekend. www. tulsatough.com You ride a well supported, timed, hilly fondo, then watch crazy peoole do the crits while drinking beer. Which makes me wonder, are there Eroica crit races?

th3realmckay

dbhouston Did you snag this from the marketplace? I was a bit bummed to see it sold before I made space for it.

dbhouston 

Just found it locally in Tulsa. Probably overpaid a bit for the local market at $200, but I was ready for a project.

th3realmckay

Well, you did it up right. Love it! If you're on Instagram, you should follow Hideandgobiketulsa. Fun hide and seek game around town.

Classtime 

200 bucks is a good price for a nice Master. My wife's Miami Vice has 7700 except for crankset.

icemilkcoffee 

Actually lots of bikes came with black seatpost and stems in the late 80’s. So I don’t think you’ll be changing the look all that much. My bike has cf seatpost (25.4mm with adapter sleeve) and cf handlebars (26mm) in quill stem:


Now if you go with a 31.8mm bar with a threadless headset- that would definitely change the look.
My bike is ‘halfway modernised’ too with 7 speed freewheel, 7 sp Sora brifters and dual pivot brakes.