Building the Dream Bike. An 80s Peugeot/Campagnolo Eroica restoration.

[bonzobanana]

I've almost finished stripping the bike and it is surprisingly light even though I assumed it would be a little lighter being of lugless construction. I've just got the head races and the bottom bracket to remove and then I will weigh the frame and forks separately. The frame seems to be in very good condition with little rust. I intend to remove (grind off) the mudguard rings and smooth out the edges of the dropouts with some light filing (to reduce that cheap stamped out look) before the powder coat. These bikes really are lovely when polished up to show off their lugless frames.

I must admit I'm curious to know what the frame weight will be with or without paint compared to the Reynolds chromoly frames or lower end high tensile steel frames I expect it to be somewhere in the middle. So are the are tubes butted? It used to be butting not only saves weight overall but provides more material for the weld area. You could in theory have thinner tubes with lugs as they are brazed and supported across a wider area in the lugs. I'm expecting a mid-level weight result but to be honest I don't know what a good reynolds chromoly frame would weigh or a basic high tensile steel frame of the time. You hear so much about CF frames being sub 1kg nowadays and aluminium being not far behind but unsure what these old steel frames would weigh. I have a Saracen Pylon frame from about 2009 which is a heavy duty aluminium commuting bike and I weighed the frame at 2.2kg. It's totally overbuilt with a reinforcement plate around the disc brake mount and lots of additional strengthening. I think it was one of the few frames I weighed out of curiousity. I suppose if I was guessing the weight of your frame I would say between 1.4 and 1.7kg. I've just googled and in a forum it stated a classic steel frame is about 4lbs which is 1.8kg but not sure if it meant classic high tensile basic frame or a more race focused chromoly steel frame. We need a long thread whenever people weigh their frames and forks they enter it into that thread. I'm sure it could be a valuable resource. Perhaps you could start one when you weigh yours.

 

[Sticky Green]

I must admit I'm curious to know what the frame weight will be with or without paint compared to the Reynolds chromoly frames or lower end high tensile steel frames I expect it to be somewhere in the middle. So are the are tubes butted? It used to be butting not only saves weight overall but provides more material for the weld area. You could in theory have thinner tubes with lugs as they are brazed and supported across a wider area in the lugs. I'm expecting a mid-level weight result but to be honest I don't know what a good reynolds chromoly frame would weigh or a basic high tensile steel frame of the time. You hear so much about CF frames being sub 1kg nowadays and aluminium being not far behind but unsure what these old steel frames would weigh. I have a Saracen Pylon frame from about 2009 which is a heavy duty aluminium commuting bike and I weighed the frame at 2.2kg. It's totally overbuilt with a reinforcement plate around the disc brake mount and lots of additional strengthening. I think it was one of the few frames I weighed out of curiousity. I suppose if I was guessing the weight of your frame I would say between 1.4 and 1.7kg. I've just googled and in a forum it stated a classic steel frame is about 4lbs which is 1.8kg but not sure if it meant classic high tensile basic frame or a more race focused chromoly steel frame. We need a long thread whenever people weigh their frames and forks they enter it into that thread. I'm sure it could be a valuable resource. Perhaps you could start one when you weigh yours.

Yeah, I expect the bike to weigh somewhere between my old gas pipe Falcon and a 531 bike. The Falcon was 3.7kg for fork and frame if memory serves. I know the weight doesn't really matter so much when a 52 year old, 6 foot 1, 16 stone + lump is sat on it, but I do like picking a bike up to feel its weight. As a kid, light meant quality and that has stuck with me (true or not). I'll start a frame weight thread when I've got it stripped. Cheers 👍

Oh and I did some checking, the 103 tubing wasn't butted apparently.

 

[bonzobanana]

Yeah, I expect the bike to weigh somewhere between my old gas pipe Falcon and a 531 bike. The Falcon was 3.7kg for fork and frame if memory serves. I know the weight doesn't really matter so much when a 52 year old, 6 foot 1, 16 stone + lump is sat on it, but I do like picking a bike up to feel it's weight. As a kid, light meant quality and that has stuck with me (true or not). I'll start a frame weight thread when I've got it stripped. Cheers 👍

Oh and I did some checking, the 103 tubing wasn't butted apparently.

Same as my Viscount/Lambert bike with chromoly tubing. They were lightweight British road bikes at a great price point but the tubes weren't butted I guess they didn't have the margin for it. They claimed their tubing was the most advanced in metallurgy though so could be the same weight without butting.

 

[Sticky Green]

Same as my Viscount/Lambert bike with chromoly tubing. They were lightweight British road bikes at a great price point but the tubes weren't butted I guess they didn't have the margin for it. They claimed their tubing was the most advanced in metallurgy though so could be the same weight without butting.

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What a lovely bike. I do like a chromed fork. It's hard to tell from the picture, but are your cables grey, or those clear ones? I was looking at fitting the clear ones and wondered what they were like.

Well, those or the ridiculously expensive Campagnolo steel ones.

 

[bonzobanana]

What a lovely bike. I do like a chromed fork. It's hard to tell from the picture, but are your cables grey, or those clear ones? I was looking at fitting the clear ones and wondered what they were like.

Well, those or the ridiculously expensive Campagnolo steel ones.

I only recently bought the bike and the cable outers are a bit mixed in colour which I don't mind but over time will get them matching. The fork doesn't show itself very well in the picture but its a mirror chrome finish and steel not the death fork that Lambert/Viscount were famous for which was a mixed aluminium and steel fork. This one has the updated safer fork model with a small weight penalty. It has been completely restored by the former owner using Shimano 600 (early Ultegra) components and I managed to buy it for a great price on ebay. The perils of collection only option.

 

[Illaveago]

Thanks. My intention is to take it to a unit just around the corner from me to be blasted and powder coated in the red of my original bike. They did a good job of a motorbike frame for me a few years ago, so I trust their work. I'm hoping that I can then add decals and clear coat myself. I've sprayed bikes myself in the past with decent results, i just need to confirm that the clear coat will sit on the powder coat OK.

You might need to take the shine off a bit with grey Scotchbrite pad, it's like a scourer pad if you aren't familiar with them .

 

[Sticky Green]

You might need to take the shine off a bit with grey Scotchbrite pad, it's like a scourer pad if you aren't familiar with them .

Thanks for the tip. 👍 I might even ask them if they can clear coat the bike for me after I've applied the decals.

 

[Illaveago]

Thanks for the tip. 👍 I might even ask them if they can clear coat the bike for me after I've applied the decals.

Better ask them as powder coating is baked at around 250 C.

 

[Gunk]

Personally I would wet paint it, you can lose some of the detail with powder coat, such as frame numbers etc. I’ve also had it flake off in lumps.

 

[Sticky Green]

I've been looking into my wheels. The rear wheel looks to be decent quality with a Campagnolo Berlin 36 rim, Shimano 105 (1050) hub and stainless spokes. The front wheel while looking similar is not the same quality. I've managed to find a Berlin 36 rim for the front and I'm now wondering if I should get a matching 105 front hub, or change both hubs for Campagnolo? What do you think? Will having vintage 105 hubs on my Campagnolo build spoil it?

 

[Sticky Green]

Got a day off work at last. Polishing day! Must have shiny things...

 

[Illaveago]

Got a day off work at last. Polishing day! Must have shiny things...

I find Meguiars All Metal polish really good. You only need a tiny spot on cotton cloth to bring ally up like chrome .

 

[Sticky Green]

Very happy, just managed to get hold this Campagnolo Aero Water Bottle (biodinamica 500) to go with the cage I already own. 😁

 

[Gunk]

I’d fit a set of Campag hubs, shame you didn’t start this thread earlier in the year, I had a massive clear out of vintage Campag stuff I’d hoarded over the years including quite a few NOS hubs.

 

[Sticky Green]

I’d fit a set of Campag hubs, shame you didn’t start this thread earlier in the year, I had a massive clear out of vintage Campag stuff I’d hoarded over the years including quite a few NOS hubs.

Sod's law Gunk. Are there any must have Campagnolo hubs? Those Sheriff star ones look nice. Obviously I'll be looking for pre 87 hubs if I can get them. From what I have seen the rear hubs tend to be freewheel type, but I haven't seen many 6/7 speed Campagnolo freewheels about. I need a 36 hole rear and a 32 hole front.