80's road bikes anyone?

i recently picked up a 1983 ochsner road bike. i've been messengering on a fixed wheel for a while and riding the roadie has been some of the most fun i've had. its got an almost complete shimano 105 1050 group on it, and i'm slowly changing it to the 1055 group from the 90's. just curious to see who else is riding vintage steel... also curious to see what people are doing to them. any one fitting old bikes w/ modern components? i've personally been digging the downtube indexing shifters. any one restoring to factory spec? its nice to hear from people who are taking old road bikes and keeping them road bikes... not to hate on conversions, but a good road bike should be a good road bike.

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Permalink Reply by on2wheels on April 28, 2009 at 10:49am
Mine is a late 80s Trek 400, originally a mishmash of parts, got the opportunity to upgrade to brand new stuff and took it.

Before


After



Permalink Reply by Ed on April 28, 2009 at 11:13am
Mine is a Zeta tubing, because some of the Columbus sticker on the seat tube is still there, and I can make out the "ta" of Zeta. One of the guys at Ochsner, who knew very little about the bikes, said that they even had Serrota make some of the frames, but these were pretty rare. If the sticker is not there at all, I don't know how to tell which tubing.

Why did my picture get so big that is gets all stretched? how do I fix that?
Permalink Reply by Primitive Don on April 28, 2009 at 12:22pm
I have a 12-speed 88 Lotus Excelle that I'm partial to (see photos on my profile) with a light Tange CrMo frame. When I got it, it had some pretty run of the mill parts (SR custom cranks, SIS DRs etc.) so this winter I had fun putting on some Deore MTB double cranks and Deore derailleurs from a mountain bike, but set up for friction. It rides and shifts great now, but the move from the original 52 tooth large chainring down to 48 is slowing me way down. Still looking for that elusive 600 group!

I also have a 74 LeTour that I converted back into a 10-speed after life as a wretched looking 5-speed. That said, I am building my first SS/FG road bike conversion, from an 80s Chicago Schwinn Traveler that UV powdercoated for me.
Permalink Reply by RodimusPrime on April 29, 2009 at 3:04am
I have that exact bike! A little too big on me, and instead of a guy selling it it was my dad's from the 70s.

Michael D said:


I just picked up this 1976 Schwinn varsity for $20. The guy selling it was real cool and had a bunch of vintage bikes from the 50s and 60s.
Permalink Reply by Jon Skaggs on April 29, 2009 at 3:34am
I got a soft place in my heart for steel from the 80s. Here's mine. Mostly Shimano 105 parts with campy brakes and Cinelli stem and bars


Permalink Reply by o0_dan_0o on April 29, 2009 at 4:24pm
i got this one


'86 panasonic team america columbus sl tubing 56 cm.

and ive been amassing parts for it over the past few months, going with 6 speed dura ace 7400-01 parts for the whole schmear.

so far ive snagged:
derraileurs and down tube shifters, brakes, 7401 aero levers, DA seatpost, crankset, chain, cassette, and hubs.
looking for a yellow selle turbo saddle for it, also on the fence about whether i should use my new looks or if i should find some old DA 7400 pedals.

next:


82(?) fuji del rey 54 cm nothing really special- val-ite tubing, 5 speed freewheel, suntour ARX group, original gum hoods. lol.

its got nice feel to it even though the rear wheel is f*ked. i rode my first organized century on this one. also did a metric in 3 hours (something i haven't been able to do since) with this between my legs.

i love 80s bikes, great thread!
Permalink Reply by niconico on April 30, 2009 at 11:33am
i know for a fact there are those pedals on ebay cos i was checking them out myself. do it. they are dope.

o0_dan_0o said:
i got this one


'86 panasonic team america columbus sl tubing 56 cm.

and ive been amassing parts for it over the past few months, going with 6 speed dura ace 7400-01 parts for the whole schmear.

so far ive snagged:
derraileurs and down tube shifters, brakes, 7401 aero levers, DA seatpost, crankset, chain, cassette, and hubs.
looking for a yellow selle turbo saddle for it, also on the fence about whether i should use my new looks or if i should find some old DA 7400 pedals.

next:


82(?) fuji del rey 54 cm nothing really special- val-ite tubing, 5 speed freewheel, suntour ARX group, original gum hoods. lol.

its got nice feel to it even though the rear wheel is f*ked. i rode my first organized century on this one. also did a metric in 3 hours (something i haven't been able to do since) with this between my legs.

i love 80s bikes, great thread!
Permalink Reply by o0_dan_0o on April 30, 2009 at 12:35pm
i saw a few pairs go for like $50-$75 and i thought about getting some, then somebody threw "TRACK" in the description and the prices jump 150% .. wtf.. its bullshit if you ask me.

same deal with the saddle i want...

i agree the pedals are nice looking, but so are my keos, so i my just ride out the tarck craze on those.

ill be here when its gone.

niconico said:
i know for a fact there are those pedals on ebay cos i was checking them out myself. do it. they are dope.
Permalink Reply by Stacey E on May 1, 2009 at 4:27am
I got paid for an art job in a basement bike: an 86-87 Bianchi Strada. Alex at West Town helped me convert it to a fixie. Marcus at Yojimbos built the wheels. It's got Shimano brakes, new pedals... I flop/chopped the bars. Since this picture was taken I put on a different seat (a honey Brooks B-17) and ground down the outer chainring to make it into a chain-guard.

I seriously am in love with this bike. The responsiveness of the old steel frame is soooo sexy...

Permalink Reply by Jeff Roth on June 7, 2009 at 7:06pm
Downtube shifting is something I'm having to get used to ever since I bought this bike at a yard sale. Being 49, I've been a steel fan since forever. But researching the history of this Specialized has been an adventure in steel love.
Permalink Reply by Jeff Roth on June 8, 2009 at 7:38pm

Permalink Reply by Jeff Roth on June 9, 2009 at 3:28pm
I'll try this again. File is too large to upload, but can see a nice steel tourer at:

www.photobucket.com/rothenfield

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