My old gas pipe carbolite pug, which I cannot bare to part with is getting some time, effort and cash thrown at it. Having got it out of the shed a few weeks back I've been messing about on it and realised what a fine riding machine it is. I've got a modern briftered road bike which although nice is totally impractical as there is no chance, I've tried, of putting mudguards on it. Then there is the new'ish mountain which is a bit of a one trick pony and will also be hopelessly uncompy during the winter. I have my mainstay hybrid which is fully mudguarded and has rack and panniers as my main and go to bike. To supplement that the Pug is getting an overhaul.
Having dusted the old Pug off and knowing it is nothing at all special I started, as you do, ebaying in the search for a mid 80's 501 road frame or bike and quickly came to the concluson of nope, I'll keep the Pug.
One thing that struck me though on the old Pug was that I'm currently not in a fit state, and never will be due to my heart, to push the very high gearing. A 52/42 up front and a 12/24'ish 5 speed out back was fine when I was younger but not now.
The joy of having lots of bikes and bikes bits laying around is that you can mess about and trial fit stuff.
So, here are my plans...
1, Frame; previously I'd stripped it down and sprayed it satin black which I really like. I'm going stay with that but I've ordered a set of period correct frame decals for it. It is a lowly carbolite Pug but I'm not shy about it. I've also successfully spread the rear dropouts to accpet a modern cassette rear wheel.
2, Wheels; going are the old Malliard freewheel jobbies and on are going an old set of cassette road wheels I just happened to have laying around. The shame is the new (old) wheels are black and the old (old) 5 speed freewheel wheels were shiny shiny aluminium.
3, Gearing; new front and rear MTB acera (nothing special) derailleurs will be replacing the current simplex items. A 22/32/42 MTB crank is going on, which is interesting as the small front on the bike currently is a 42! Out back it will be an 8 speed 11/32. I'm keeping the trusty downtube shifters and hopefully there will be enough cable throw for the triple and 8 speed at the back.
4, Brakes; I am keeping the Weinmann duel "suicide" levers. I love them, always have and always will, child of the 70's and all that. But I am retiring the Weinmann 500 calipers and will be fitting a set of the Tektro A559 long reach 'nutted' duel pivots.
5, Mudguards; a new set of SKS thermoplastics will be going on.
6, Rear rack; I just happen to have a Pletcher 'rat trap' rack which is a period correct looking thing. Again, not the best but I love them and anyone of a certain age will instantly recognise them. I will be deep / machine polishing this to make it shiny shiny.
7, Other; a new jagwire cable set is on order, new bar tape and I might, might get and fit, depending on clearance once everything is fitted up put another period correct item on it, a Pletcher kick stand !
I'll update as and whenn bits arrive and I make any progress.
One question though....
With it being an 80's road frame on which I'm attempting to fit modern MTB gearing to I'm a bit conflicted about bottom bracket length and the chainline. I've put an old sealed BB in it as a trial fit (instead of the old axle, cup and cone setup) and also temporarily fitted a worn out mtb triple to see what's what. This is gives me a chain line of about 52mm so I know i'll probably need a different BB. Obviously I'll need to make the final measurements when the new triple and derailleur is fitted but what chainline should I aim for? 45mm as typical for a road triple or 47.5-50mm as is typical for an mtb? It is 68mm shell if that is any help.
and fitted,11-speed cassette and chain and then messing with Schwalbe X-One tyres and Halo Vapour wheels(with a nice zippy superdrive hub).
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