Chicago Vintage Road Bikes

I'm looking to find a vintage road bike. This will be my first road bike ever. I usually ride BMX bikes but those aren't ideal for commuting to school and what not. I've been checking craigslist frequently but I haven't really found anything I would consider buying. Are there any bike shops in Chicago that have a good selection of vintage road bikes. I would love to go and check them out if anyone knows of any. It would really help me out. 

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Permalink Reply by Samuel Diaz on March 24, 2012 at 2:13pm

What kind of bike did you get?

Permalink Reply by Anne B. on March 24, 2012 at 2:25pm

80s Schwinn LeTour.  After riding a super heavy (but reliable) hybrid for 8 years it's exciting to have something a little faster. 

Congrats on your bike too! Post pictures when you have them. 

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on March 24, 2012 at 2:32pm

Looks like a 4th generation Lotus with the Ishiwata Triple-Butted CroMo frame.  Does it have the name Lotus on the downtube (not the seat tube) like the one in the picture with the flower in the U?  If so then you did really darn good kid.  REALLY darn good...


Jealous now!



Samuel Diaz said:

After a long day of hunting I ended up getting a Lotus Excelle from one of friend's neighbor in Portage Park. This guy has like 20 bikes in his garage that he was selling. He was pretty cool. Hes very good with repairs and what not if you're interested and does it for a good price.

The one I got looks kinda like this one.

Permalink Reply by Samuel Diaz on March 24, 2012 at 2:50pm

It looks exactly like the one in the picture except different kind of pedals, saddle, and different color handlebar tape. Yeah the guy that sold it to me said it was a really good bike so I went ahead and bought it from him.

James BlackHeron said:

Looks like a 4th generation Lotus with the Ishiwata Triple-Butted CroMo frame.  Does it have the name Lotus on the downtube (not the seat tube) like the one in the picture with the flower in the U?  If so then you did really darn good kid.  REALLY darn good...


Jealous now!



Samuel Diaz said:

After a long day of hunting I ended up getting a Lotus Excelle from one of friend's neighbor in Portage Park. This guy has like 20 bikes in his garage that he was selling. He was pretty cool. Hes very good with repairs and what not if you're interested and does it for a good price.

The one I got looks kinda like this one.

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on March 24, 2012 at 4:10pm

If you paid $150 for that bike that guy who sold it to you must be named Santa Claus. 

Permalink Reply by Samuel Diaz on March 24, 2012 at 5:08pm

Well he did have a beard. So maybe it was him.

Permalink Reply by Gerry G on March 24, 2012 at 6:03pm

Congrats all the way around!

Samuel D, give yourself a chance to get acclimated to the downtube shifters.  Cool bike.

Anne your new LeTour will give you tons of miles.  An it's terrific Kevin had one in inventory your size.

Hurray to buying and driving vintage steel!

Post picks when you can and if you're able to.

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on March 25, 2012 at 2:25am

If he really can't get used to the downtubes Riv. sells a set of bar-end adapters that I think will work with those arabesque or z-type Shimano shifters with the special spacers and can relocate them to the ends of his drops.  Or he can just put the Ultegra kit on which might not be a bad idea as it comes with all the cables & housings, the downtube cable stops, and work very well in friction mode.    After buying the spacers, new cables, housings and the stops it might work out to about the same cost in the end.

Plus with the ultegra he could always switch to indexed 8-speed shifting with a new cassette rear wheel and an 8-speed chain.  I bet that Arabesque 600 rear derailleur would take to indexing an 8-speed just fine.   

Wow, that would give him a pretty darn nice ride with all Ultegra all around -nearly 2-decades of difference, but something that could be done one step at a time while he saves up money.   In fact, it would pretty much give him everything that a really high-end modern steel bike could give him with oly about 1/4 the cost even after the upgrades.  The Ultegra bar-end kit is $70 and I'm pretty sure I could build up a used  hub into a 27" rim with a used-but nice 8-speed cassette  and an 8-speed chain for less than that. 

The best thing is he can ride it as-is right now indefinitely and when the time comes in the future after a couple of years for another $150 he can really raise the bar to a more-modern high-end index drivetrain. 

God, I love high-end vintage steel!  So much  potential!!!  This story has such a happy ending with an ever after attached...

Steel Driver said:

Congrats all the way around!

Samuel D, give yourself a chance to get acclimated to the downtube shifters.  Cool bike.

Anne your new LeTour will give you tons of miles.  An it's terrific Kevin had one in inventory your size.

Hurray to buying and driving vintage steel!

Post picks when you can and if you're able to.

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on March 25, 2012 at 2:34am

Oooooooh!

I just realized that the fourth-gen Lotus already had indexed S.I.S. shifters on the downtube on a 6-speed freewheel with the Shimano L532 derailleur.  The Ultegra bar-ends would index that very well!  Masterful!

What an awesome bike Mr. Diaz lucked out upon!

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on March 25, 2012 at 2:56am

Oops, browser freaked-out and double-posted...

Permalink Reply by Samuel Diaz on March 25, 2012 at 8:41pm
I am so happy with this bike. I rode it to work today. But I need to get some new tires for it because the ones it has are kinda worn out. I wanna change the handlebar tape as well. I need to clean it up a bit too. Is there a certain way that I should clean it to make it look like super clean. But I love the bike so far
Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on March 26, 2012 at 12:42am

How best to clean it depends on how it is dirty and what kind of shape the paint is in.

If it is grease,, road tar, and road dirt there are a few automotive washes that work very well.  Remember that many of the harsher detergents (including things you find in your kitchen like dish soap) will strip wax off as well as dirt and goop.  Once you strip any wax off the shine will disappear as well as any rust protection you are getting from the wax in the chips and scratches where the bare metal is exposed.

If the paint is dulled, or somewhat oxidized from age the best thing for that is a product like Scratch-X or other similar automotive paint polishes.  This stuff is easiest to  use on a stripped bare frame but can  be used on a built-up frame but it takes a lot more work and patience to work around components, cables and housings.  Of course a polish will strip wax as well.  The nice thing about the polish is that it also helps strip road grime, grease, dried glop, and tar goop as well as burn down through the top layer of oxidized paint to the harder good paint below.  Be careful around decals as they can be scratched and/or burn through the colors/lettering.  The polish also will help remove surface rust hazing as well as the rust in chips and scratches.  Sometimes in some of the larger scratches or chips where the polish isn't removing bad rust spots I carefully use a little bit of Barkeeper's Friend powder on a damp sponge. Be REALLY careful as this stuff will burn through paint and/or scratch it.  After I get done with the Barkeeper's Friend I use the polishing compound to bring the shine back up to a high gloss around the chip.

This method really makes the bike look nice.  Any rust chips or bare metal will be a burnished grey color instead of rust-brown and looks nicer IMHO.  What is left is a natural-looking patina rather than nasty rust.

Re-wax the frame with an automotive wax to protect the paint, any bare metal chips, and keep everything shiny and slippery so dirt, dust, and mud doesn't really want to stick.  If done right the bike can be simply rinsed off and wiped down after a ride when it gets dirty.    A little bit of lemon pledge or other furniture polish can touch up the shine and keep the wax fresh and deep.

I like to strip off the components on a bike I refurbish and go nuts on the frame for an hour or two with this process before cleaning all the components, oiling them and then putting everything together.  That's a lot of work and requires some skill in putting everything together just right.  If you are careful and spend a little more time you can really clean and wax a bike without doing all of that although I find the time it takes to strip a bike of parts and rebuild is saved in the extra time it takes to clean around them.  Having a bike stand really helps too when it comes time to wash a bike.   But I guess a $100 bike stand really isn't in your budget.  Just be careful not to knock the bike over when you are washing it.

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