bicicletas

[metronome]

 

[Elena Delle Donne]

explore page served me this chaotic and goofy ass build 

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/ChKpQFXldAa/

 

- 1x roadbike

- crazy bars 

 

Edited August 14, 2022 by Elena Delle Donne

[Elena Delle Donne]

if god gives me a gt force i'll do something cool with it. thank you.

[metronome]

have you ever come across the reddit xbiking sub?  its a fucking mess.

[Elena Delle Donne]

3 hours ago, metronome said:

have you ever come across the reddit xbiking sub?  its a fucking mess.

 

this is causing psychic damage 

[Joker]

@nicklesndimes

 

That's a pretty cool vintage bike, for sure. I like your idea of keeping it stock but I think some upgrades will go a long way in making the bike ride smoother and feel more comfortable. 

 

The first thing I would do is disassemble the bike completely. Remove everything... bottom bracket and headset, too. Degrease all parts, use some steel wool or something to bring the slightly rusted bits back to glory. 

 

As for the frame... you'll need to decide if you want to celebrate the 'history' of the bike and keep the marred paint as is or if you want to strip the frame and repaint it. You can probably find a new decal set online that matches the old Giant logo or you can create your own and have a local sign shop die-cut the decals for you. 

 

From there I would replace the headset and bottom bracket with brand new ones. You could probably spend hours cleaning and rebuilding them both if you'd rather but my lazy ass would just replace them with brand new. 

 

I would also get brand new brake pads, brand new brake and shifter cables. 

 

And, and this is just me, I would replace those shifters/brake levers with a set of vintage Shimano 600 levers - if the rest of your group set is Shimano. The 600s come with rubber hoods which will be way more comfortable on your hands. 

 

I would also replace the saddle with a Selle San Marco Rolls saddle. Classic, super-comfortable. 

 

You could probably rebuild the hubs and they'll be fine, and hopefully true the wheels if needed, and just reuse the original wheels, or you could upgrade them to something that is period correct. Like a set of Mavic box rims laced to a Shimano hub. If you do that, be sure to keep in mind the number of cogs your current cassette is and make sure the wheelset you buy has the correct hub for your set up. Meaning, if you have an 8-speed cassette (8 cogs) make sure the wheelset you buy comes with an 8-speed hub. 

 

New tires, can't go wrong with Conti 5000 tires. Last a while, smooth rolling. 

 

And I would finish it off with Ambrosio bar tape. Can't go wrong there. You could even take it back further with cork bar ends. 

 

Should be a fun project! Would love to see progress or at least the finished product when you're done. 

[metronome]

Just listen to Joker he’s spot on.  My only suggestions myself would have been headset and bottom bracket upgrades.  That thing is sweet.

[Elena Delle Donne]

yeah @Jokeris spot on. velocals sells decal sets — they made one for my niche bike so i'm sure they have yours. 

 

replacing the bottom bracket and headset is a great idea. anything with 30+ year old grease and bearings is good to toss and replace in my book. some folks really like to rebuild those but i'm not one of them. 

 

i would ALSO say you can have a cool resto-mod project here if you want. the rear drops are probably spaced to 126mm. you can safely stretch that to 130mm and fit a newer wheelset in there, a 10 speed or an 11 speed. that's a more expensive drivetrain update than this bike is probably worth, but it's what i did on my bike and i loooooove it. if you go to 9 speed or more you can get integrated brake/shifters on your handlebars which is also pretty nice.

 

the one hangup with this is parts — newer ones may be a little harder to come by still but it seems like the shortages are mostly going away 

Edited August 17, 2022 by Elena Delle Donne

[Elena Delle Donne]

very tempted, even though it basically does what my current bike does 

[Ko SprueOne]

I'm seeing this only this morning. I didn't get alerts to the '@ mention'

 

I can't add to the above info already provided. I can only second the complete total disassembly, clean, and new grease. New tires.

 

Remove the front reflector and bracket. Just a pet peeve of mine I just don't like those. It's the only reflector mount that cannot be removed without removing the headset so that means the previous owner doesn't know how to do that. That means same old factory grease with accumulated grime. Brings us back to complete total disassembly, clean, and new grease.

 

Keep the kickstand or reinstall if removed for cleaning. There was a time when I removed them because I thought they weren't hip or whatever. I keep the kickstands on all of my bikes that already have them. Plus I think you just want a cool restoration project and that this is not intended to be your highest performance road roller.

 

 

[Elena Delle Donne]

On 8/17/2022 at 3:47 PM, Elena Delle Donne said:

very tempted, even though it basically does what my current bike does 

 

some personal news... 

 

 

[Elena Delle Donne]

i've never part-shopped for a bike with these standards before. what is the best mechanical disc group? how goofy is it to put carbon wheels on a steel frame like this? am i unnecessarily worried about how cheap aluminum rims seem to be? 

[Elena Delle Donne]

does hunt make decent wheels? guy has these on facebook marketplace for $275

[Elena Delle Donne]

3 hours ago, nicklesndimes said:

@Elena Delle Donnethat's great you picked up that nice frame you had your eye on. good on you, man!

 

thanks! got him down another $50 too. excited to see this built up. 

[metronome]

On 9/4/2022 at 9:08 AM, Elena Delle Donne said:

does hunt make decent wheels? guy has these on facebook marketplace for $275

 

Hunt seems to be really polarized for opinions online but I was very close to buying Hunt's for my BMC before I came across a very cheap set of second hand Bontrager's that were already finished with hubs, discs, and cassette. 

[Elena Delle Donne]

12 minutes ago, metronome said:

 

Hunt seems to be really polarized for opinions online but I was very close to buying Hunt's for my BMC before I came across a very cheap set of second hand Bontrager's that were already finished with hubs, discs, and cassette. 

 

yeah dude! people really seem to feel strongly about them. a surprise for me because they seem to just be... regular midrange alloy and/or carbon rims. i'm probably gonna message him this week if they're still up. 

 

lot of those bontragers are good wheels, and often pretty light. i have their top-end alloys on my tourer and they're a hair under 1500g. makes the bike feel so much zippier 

Edited September 5, 2022 by Elena Delle Donne

[Elena Delle Donne]

i'm back for wheel opinions

 

cc @Joker and @metronome

[metronome]

Vision are definitely the more "reputable" choice between the two but the cost of those Hunt's would have me very curious.  Pretty good value on both of them tbh.  If possible I'd want to see any carbon second hand wheels in person to make sure there isn't anything wonky like a hairline somewhere on them.  I take it you're going with discs and sram groupo?  @Elena Delle Donne

[Joker]

The price on those Hunt wheels is tempting but if I had to choose between the two I would definitely roll with the Vision wheels. A better wheel, for sure. 

[Elena Delle Donne]

9 hours ago, metronome said:

Vision are definitely the more "reputable" choice between the two but the cost of those Hunt's would have me very curious.  Pretty good value on both of them tbh.  If possible I'd want to see any carbon second hand wheels in person to make sure there isn't anything wonky like a hairline somewhere on them.  I take it you're going with discs and sram groupo?  @Elena Delle Donne

 

i know you guys were on the edge of your seats for this one. verdict: the hunts are geographically much closer.. the visions require renting a car and for used carbon that probably aren't but could be cracked (that are only 40g lighter). i'm gonna go with the hunts. save some money for sram force and maybe do the wheel upgrade down the line. 

 

thank you @metronome/ @Joker

Edited September 7, 2022 by Elena Delle Donne

[Elena Delle Donne]

UPDATE: it's getting interesting. neither of these sellers are messaging back anymore, so we're moving on to these, which someone has on facebook marketplace for $750 with 140mm rotors and tires/stock gravel tires.

 

i'm trying to get him to take all that off (i want 160mm) and sell them for $600. probably won't get it but they've been sitting for three months, let's see. 

[Elena Delle Donne]

tubular rims: who has thoughts? what happens when you flat? 

[metronome]

Can't help you there unfortunately.  I have only ever ridden clinchers. 

[Elena Delle Donne]

wheel situation solved... i feel alright about these. got the variant with the ceramic bearings!  got the seller down to $1250

[Elena Delle Donne]

now to pick a drivetrain... 

 

i prefer something i can work on myself. and i'm in an apartment so that means mechanical disc brakes. are all the high end groups hydraulic now? how far back do i have to go for a good (light-ish) mechanical disc brake wheelset? ultegra 6800 or something? old sram red? 11 speed is probably what this will end up being 

 

i could do electronic shifting but really don't mind mechanical shifters either. nothing to charge. 

Edited November 2, 2022 by Elena Delle Donne

[Joker]

@Elena Delle Donne- tubulars are for racing, period. You don't want tubulars for rolling around town or adventure riding. Tubulars have to be glued to the rim and it's a process. Changing tires is also a process. I would go with clincher wheels or tubeless ready wheels. I've been riding tubeless for the last five years and I'll never go back. With tubeless minor punctures get plugged immediately. Bigger punctures require a plug but they work incredibly well. There's been so many rides where I've gotten a puncture and didn't even realize it until I got home and saw some sealant around my tire. Not sure if those Boyd wheels are tubeless ready but if they are I would recommend looking into adding tubeless tires w/ sealant. 

 

I'm pretty sure the 2021 SRAM Red22 groupset is a mechanical groupset. You should be able to find a decent set for not too much money. The Pros Closet has some SRAM Red22 components right now. I've been running Red eTap for about ten years and I swear by it. I probably have to charge my derailleur batteries about every three months or so... possibly longer. So charging isn't really a big issue. And they're super-easy to charge. I don't know much about Shimano so I can't speak to it. 

[Elena Delle Donne]

@Jokeryou're the man — yeah, i did some digging and realized tubular was wrong for this. these boyds are tubeless ready and i'm definitely interested. the previous owner ran tubeless on these and sang its praises too. 

 

REALLY appreciate the lead on sram red22. i'm worried about the previous generation shimano groups and the bonding failure documented extensively on @thanksshimano instagram. 

 

i think pros closet is wildly overstocked. they've been running sales for two months now. 

[Joker]

With tubeless you'll need tubeless valve stems and some sealant. I use Muc-Off valve stems and Stans sealant. They have one that is compatible with Co2 cartridges should you need to fix a flat. Most sealants aren't compatible with Co2. Also, make sure the rim tape on the rims is tubeless ready. I'd assume if the wheels are tubeless ready then you're good to go.  

 

One thing to keep in mind with Tubeless tires is that you'll need a high-pressure floor pump to get air in the tires, at least when seating the tires for the first time. I take that back... you don't NEED a high-pressure floor pump but it will make you're life wayyyyyy easier if you have one (before I invested in one it took me almost two hours to seat two tires. I've never been so exhausted in my life). The reason is because of the way tubeless tires set up on the rim. Typically you'll have a tube and air goes into the tube, and the air is contained in the tube so it doesn't escape. With tubeless it's... well, tubeless. So when you pump air it goes into the tire, and since the tire isn't perfectly seated into the rim yet air can escape as you're pumping it in. What a high-pressure pump does is allow you to pump air into a chamber, and then release a blast of air at once. This blast of air seats the tire in place. Then you spin the wheel around and move it around in a swirling motion so the sealant coats the tire beads and creates a tighter seal. Once they're seated you're fine. 

 

Air will slowly escape over a several days. You'll notice after two or three days that you have to put air in your tires. You won't have to use the blast of air, just a normal pump. 

 

All high-pressure floor pumps have a release for the blast of air from the chamber. And if you keep the release open the pump becomes a regular floor pump. I personally use the Lezyne digital pressure overdrive floor pump, which was way too much money for a pump, but it works great. I've heard great things about the Foundation Airblast tubeless floor pump which is $90. 

 

And you can always set your tires up and take them to your local bike shop to pump air into them to get them seated. At least until you can get a high-pressure floor pump yourself. 

 

 

[Joker]

Also, not sure where you're located but if you have a local racing scene I would check their message board for a "For Sale" thread. Especially this time of year when guys are looking to unload bikes or parts so they can upgrade for next year. Bike racers are like any racing culture... they have to have the latest and greatest so they're constantly upgrading. You can get some quality stuff for cheap that's only been used for one or two years. And you can haggle.  

[metronome]

On 11/1/2022 at 8:59 PM, Elena Delle Donne said:

now to pick a drivetrain... 

 

i prefer something i can work on myself. and i'm in an apartment so that means mechanical disc brakes. are all the high end groups hydraulic now? how far back do i have to go for a good (light-ish) mechanical disc brake wheelset? ultegra 6800 or something? old sram red? 11 speed is probably what this will end up being 

 

i could do electronic shifting but really don't mind mechanical shifters either. nothing to charge. 

 

Mech Ultegra is my vote, although tbh I don't think the di2 stuff is overly complicated if you wanted to tinker and watch some videos.