SurferRosa

Guess I'm naive to think that it would be $40ish for modern ratcheting shifters that look good. From Rivendell, it would cost $94.83 to ship a set of two shifters to my address.

The Dia-Compe shifters VO sells are $63 shipped (plus tax) on eBay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/163138630379

SurferRosa

Found the Silver shifter set for $63 on eBay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/123536566080

​​​​​Along with "silver," I needed to use "dia compe" in my search, not "rivendell."

VintageSteelEU

There are still Shimano SL-R400 downtube shifters widely available and they are alright, but 8 speed index only (no light action switch). I found that limiting. Exage ones can still be found NOS out there and these are index and friction, but the prices may vary. They are good, actually. There are SunRace and Microshift options as well (again, Shimano compatible), but they are both just ugly. I guess if they can be given a grinding wheel treatment to change the shape, that could be some option. Dia Compe ones are perfect for vintage and classic bikes though. I know they literally copied the LD-4850 without Suntour logo, but I can't blame them for copying a great design that's not readily available any more. They also make nice looking brake pads for vintage brake pads (GC76AL and MX1000) and good brake lever hoods, so I have to say I like their products and appreciate them still making stuff like this. Now I need some company to start churning out copies of vintage seatposts in various diameters, not 27.2 only and also the nicer cranksets of the 70/80's era and I'll be very happy. Well, OK, I still need someone to make decent cup and cone bottom brackets in Swiss threading and with various spindle lengths

steine13

Here's some 'wrenching' I hadn't planned for... I broke a spoke in the ancient rear wheel of my Moto GT last night. The usual: drive side, at the elbow. I'd been so proud of myself for cleaning up the wheels, truing them, and then riding all summer, at least a thousand miles. These are galvanized spokes, not stainless, and I was surprised they held up so well under my 190 pounds in riding trim.

Well I'm surprised no longer.

I learned that these old rims (Weinmann Concave) are stiff vertically, but one broken spoke makes a big wobble. The tire rubbed the frame at the chain stays on both sides, which was loud and annoying. I made the obvious adjustments to the four nearest neighbors, 1/2 turn and 1 turn, and rode home without any further rubbing. If this happened on the 350-mile ride to the Mackinac bridge that starts next Wednesday, that would get a lot more awkward. Now I have to decide whether to swap in a set of 700c wheels and give up on my classy 27" Paselas -- or ride a different bike altogether.

cheers -mathias

jdawginsc 

Oops. Stuck?

ascherer 

Not exactly wrenching, but adjacent. I set up an overflow parking lot in the basement. The rain and humidity this summer has started to show up so I moved the less-ridden bikes, 3 of which may be up for sale by the spring.

RCMoeur 

Not exactly wrenching on bicycles, but bicycle-related. Building signs for tomorrow's big collection day for the Recycle Your Bicycle program to guide the hordes into the loading area.

rustystrings61 

Post-ride adjustments today - rear hub cones were a touch loose, slightly out of true rear wheel, rotated bars back up to have flat ramps, dialed in derailleurs due to cable stretch and tightened the headset. This was after finishing assembly Monday night ….



Photo from Thursday morning’s ride

jamesdak 

Was going to put the Holdsworth together today. But I got stung out on my ride and am now living on Benadryl. I did clean up all the parts and managed to clean and service both the bottom bracket and the headset and got those back together. But I can't keep my eyes open so no more of that today. I also wanted to get the new chainrings on the Merlin along with a new cassette and chain. Got a feeling I won't get much done today or tomorrow now. I had someone coming by to buy the Tourmelet so that kept me awake and working on the Holdsworth. But the bike is now gone and I am ready to doze off, zzzzzzz..............

SurferRosa

I wanted to explore new territory, an early '90s Record rear derailleur, on a couple different bikes to compare with Victory. I picked up two Record rears on eBay the last couple days. I fully overhauled the better looking of the two...



I'm a newb to overhauling derailleur wheels with bearings. Here, the cones thread into each other. And their flats fit into the aluminum washer things. You have to adjust them before you lock them down with the cage bolt, which is a shorter exercise than I expected and the funnest part of the job, 'cause it means I was done.


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cheffyjay

Had to get this build out of my system. Recreated the bike my dad bought for me for Christmas as a kid, just before he passed away. This was actually a Mag Scrambler but I 'downgraded' it to a Scrambler 36/36 like I had, and customized it the way I would have if I had the means then. Paint color is a pretty good match! Not intended to be perfectly period correct. I sold the Schwinn to buy a red Univega ten speed and got onboard the bike boom touring and camping thing. Feels surreal to look at and be around it.

Nemosengineer 

Woops... I did it again. There are grail bikes out there, I found mine, the color is a bit over the the top but the make model and size are exactly what I have been looking for, This frame set shall remain a mystery but will be revealed at a later time. So let the project begin...

Dura-Ace titanium 10 speed cassette 12-25 cleaned and ready to go.

Untitled by nemosengineer, on Flickr

Installed on a tubeless/tapeless Mavic Ksyrium SL wheelset

Untitled by nemosengineer, on Flickr

Soon to be fitted with 26mm Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR tires and caffelatex goo.

Untitled by nemosengineer, on Flickr

The cockpit is NJS stamped Nitto , NJ-SP72 seatpost, Pearl 11 stem, 40cm B125AA heat treated track bar, cheap and cheerful Shimano BR400 brake levers, and a titanium frame Brooks B15 Swallow saddle,

Untitled by nemosengineer, on Flickr
Untitled by nemosengineer, on Flickr

That's all for now: Mike

bikamper

Not bicycle related, but I spent about 40 hours on a 2 hour ‘Service’ for my new to me Polaris ATV, undoing what other so called ‘mechanics’ had done.
Over tightened drain plug.


Effed up front calipers. So bad I bought new ones.


Vent hoses routed against the muffler.


Steel bleeder was broken off on the rear caliper. The threaded parts were married. New calipers are made of Unobtainium and used ones OMG expensive. I broke down and used a bleeder repair kit.



I got it done.

I didn’t take any pics of the hubs without oil, the starter drive full of water, loose oiler injector fittings, etc. All I wanted to do was change fluids, add a tach/hour meter, and add a pair of heated grips. Jeez, I thought my wife’s old Audi was PITA to work on. You need a toddlers hands to get into places to work on this thing.

jamesdak 

Oh the nightmares. I had two of these and you are soooooooo right. Hopefully your battery is in a better place than mine was. That was a 50 cuss word job at least, just to get it out.

bikamper

It didn’t take me long to learn why the dealer charged $120 to do an oil change. After I did it once, and only once, I was glad to to pay to let them do it.

xiaoman1 

Again!
Best, Ben

steine13

On this thread, the following may not even be off-topic.

>> I had two of these [Audis]

THERE's yer problem.

Seriously, I know quite a few people who had them over the years.
It's somewhere between a second job and an abusive relationship.
They are lovely cars, and they work a little better in their native environment, but whenever I get indecent thoughts in that direction, I spend a few Zen-like minutes looking at the picture below.
That was when they went from timing belts to chains -- a quarter mile of chain, mind -- and turned the engine around so this whole mess is against the firewall. Because no need for access, right? Lifetime parts.

The plastic chain guides, on the other hand...

Which is why you can buy older A8s in need of a leetle maintenance for a fraction of their new price.

Just look at this mess and ponder the thought processes that must have led to it. I just can't get my head around it.

cheers -mathias

bikamper

That is the thing of nightmares.

I often questioned the use of plastics on VAG engines. Tried to check the oil and the top of the dipstick came off. Got a new dipstick and used a pliers to get the old one out. Dipstick tube came out with it, in several pieces. I changed more than my share t-stat housings on the 1.8T.

xiaoman1 

Not quite the same ...but I feel your pain.



It's a lot like the plastic used in these.

A lot of "newer" cars are using a lot of plastics to "reduce" weight, BUT not "extend" longevity.
Best, Ben

SurferRosa

Made some bad, late night purchasing decisions on eBay recently, but this one turned out all right, a Victory derailleur. I saw it had its hanger insert intact and the major rash was only around the b-pivot.



It was pretty gunky inside. It's rewarding to thread an oiled piece of paper towel through the spring a few times to rid all the years of nastiness.



Usually takes me about 2 hours to overhaul an NR mech and file a little rash, but this Victory unit took quite a while longer. There was more rash on the cage, and I wanted it to look near perfect. For reassembly, there's no grub screw, so it's a tricky balance to keep everything where it needs to be while tightening that cage spring just enough to wind the cage and then tighten it down all the way. Whew! Thank god for alcohol and good music.



Those light colored wheels turned out all right. I may follow up with some Mother's to remove the scratches the 600 grit paper left behind, but I think these look better matte, not mirror finished.

Kabuki12

Mothers is my friend! Nice work , SurferRosa.

VintageSteelEU

It looks like you've done a really good job on this one. I wouldn't say it ever had any rash looking at the final result.

pwert

I found a '79 Ross Professional at Goodwill the other day.. I saw the rust and was going to pass it up until I looked at the Shimano 600 equipment. I decided I could strip it and reuse the parts. After stripping it I laid the frame next to my father's Trek and they were almost identicle. I put some cheap stuff back on the bike to see if it could be ridden. What a surprise! Other than being a little heavy it was a very nice ride.

merziac

Well now you know, and this should not have been a surprise, the upper level Ross's can be as good as many and weight is not always a good measure either.

Plenty of heavy bikes/frames ride great and many light ones ride crappy, you have to be open minded because you never know when something is going to be just amazing until you check your perception at the door.

Also, good deals like this are the best way to expand your horizons, cheap education good or bad. You can always move them along or keep studying them to find out more.

SurferRosa

It starts getting really fun now...
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