Scilly Suffolk
Über Member
I'm not after "answers", so much as a knowing smile and a little encouragement.
Earlier this year I took a punt on a "vintage" (early 90?) Ebay bike that hadn't attracted the usual attention, after the flat-barred hybrid I'd been labouring around on (I don't drive) for four years was knicked.
£100 plus £25 for the courier struck me as pretty reasonable.
In fact, once I tore open the cardboard I was pleasantly surprised, if not excited: true she was showing her age, but aero profile tubes (more of them later) and a mix of "second tier" Italian components (Gipiemme, Ofmega, Modolo etc) was more than I could have hoped for.
Having no other transport and a job to get to, she was straight into action: bar a popped spoke, a puncture and dumping the derailleur into the wheel (cf: popped spoke) due to "operator error"/it being one of Simplex' less admired works (http://www.disraeligears.co.uk/Site/Simplex_SX610_GT_derailleur.html), I have had faultless service!
Now that the dark months are here, I have refurbished an old Pug (mudguards, low gears, fat tyres) to see me safely home and also give me the opportunity to lavish some much needed attention on the "Summer bike" (full strip down, respray etc, etc).
One of the first things I noticed, was that although I had "cool as funk" Modolo America levers, the actual calipers were something unpronounceable from Taiwan!
After much patience and not a little nail biting, I secured (from Hungary) a pair of NOS Modolo America calipers complete with original Modolo blocks: for £40, not unreasonable I think.
Second up was the seat post: it was too small, the binder bolt was pinched right up, distorting the tube into an oval and making a mess of the clamp.
Again, more patience and I have NOS Selcof and used Campag Record posts (from Italy and the US). Not to mention a NOS Gipiemme seat post binder bolt...
So where's the frustration?
1) The levers are non-aero; the calipers are aero (the cable enters on different sides; but you already knew that, right? I do too... now). It can be made to work but it is so "Italian" that you can have matching levers and calipers that don't, er... match!
2) Although round where they enter the lugs, because the tubes become "aero" (oval) I can't get enough of the (27.2mm) seat post into the tube to be safe (60/65mm). Best guess is that I need a 27.0mm pin and a shim but certainly I'll need to cut it length rather than just enjoying the convenience of raising or lowering the post.
Perhaps it is because I spent my teens on the side of various A roads across the country, up to my elbows in the guts of blown-up Lambrettas that I forgive this triumph of Italian form over function, just for the brief thrill of her dangerous beauty?
Either way: I'd rather skin my knuckles to the bone, waste countless pounds on parts that were bettered a decade or more ago and swear a thousand oaths to deaf deities for just one Summer on this svelte slice of 531c sex-on-23s than a lifetime of certainty on the bloated tubes of your "Honda".
You're right; you win: there is no doubt that your "2013" is a better bike! Now move over, you're blocking their view of us...
Earlier this year I took a punt on a "vintage" (early 90?) Ebay bike that hadn't attracted the usual attention, after the flat-barred hybrid I'd been labouring around on (I don't drive) for four years was knicked.
£100 plus £25 for the courier struck me as pretty reasonable.
In fact, once I tore open the cardboard I was pleasantly surprised, if not excited: true she was showing her age, but aero profile tubes (more of them later) and a mix of "second tier" Italian components (Gipiemme, Ofmega, Modolo etc) was more than I could have hoped for.
Having no other transport and a job to get to, she was straight into action: bar a popped spoke, a puncture and dumping the derailleur into the wheel (cf: popped spoke) due to "operator error"/it being one of Simplex' less admired works (http://www.disraeligears.co.uk/Site/Simplex_SX610_GT_derailleur.html), I have had faultless service!
Now that the dark months are here, I have refurbished an old Pug (mudguards, low gears, fat tyres) to see me safely home and also give me the opportunity to lavish some much needed attention on the "Summer bike" (full strip down, respray etc, etc).
One of the first things I noticed, was that although I had "cool as funk" Modolo America levers, the actual calipers were something unpronounceable from Taiwan!
After much patience and not a little nail biting, I secured (from Hungary) a pair of NOS Modolo America calipers complete with original Modolo blocks: for £40, not unreasonable I think.
Second up was the seat post: it was too small, the binder bolt was pinched right up, distorting the tube into an oval and making a mess of the clamp.
Again, more patience and I have NOS Selcof and used Campag Record posts (from Italy and the US). Not to mention a NOS Gipiemme seat post binder bolt...
So where's the frustration?
1) The levers are non-aero; the calipers are aero (the cable enters on different sides; but you already knew that, right? I do too... now). It can be made to work but it is so "Italian" that you can have matching levers and calipers that don't, er... match!
2) Although round where they enter the lugs, because the tubes become "aero" (oval) I can't get enough of the (27.2mm) seat post into the tube to be safe (60/65mm). Best guess is that I need a 27.0mm pin and a shim but certainly I'll need to cut it length rather than just enjoying the convenience of raising or lowering the post.
Perhaps it is because I spent my teens on the side of various A roads across the country, up to my elbows in the guts of blown-up Lambrettas that I forgive this triumph of Italian form over function, just for the brief thrill of her dangerous beauty?
Either way: I'd rather skin my knuckles to the bone, waste countless pounds on parts that were bettered a decade or more ago and swear a thousand oaths to deaf deities for just one Summer on this svelte slice of 531c sex-on-23s than a lifetime of certainty on the bloated tubes of your "Honda".
You're right; you win: there is no doubt that your "2013" is a better bike! Now move over, you're blocking their view of us...
