Road Cycling - Finally purchased it

I finally purchased my road bike.

It is an older Bianchi Limited. It has that ugly frikin Lavender colour. I dont know how a guy coulda ridden that colour. Im gonna see how many people make fun of me then have it repainted by my buddys dad who works in a car body shop. It has the older Shimano 600 gruppo. Doesnt say ultegra on it so i was mistakened. I also got some Bontrager saddle with it that was supposedly doctor approved. American b/s lol. No offence neighbours. It came with Ambrosio Elite rims with 600 hubs. Unfortunately its only 6 speed but I am able to get any replacement parts if i have to. Derailleurs of course arent the problem, mainly the cassette (yes it is a cassette) will be a problem and a rear hub. If the time comes that i destroy it i will either just buy a new wheel and cassette or buy a new bike lol. It also came with new IRC rubbers on it. Not sure which model. I payed the guy 400 bux for everything. Some may say i got ripped but I like the bike so o well lol. oh the bike is also mint like 2 nicks on the frame thats all

Only turn off. blech that damn purple colour.

Don't be too quick to change the color -- at least give it a chance. Maybe wait a month or two before you decide to paint it -- it may grow on you. Only someone truly confident of his masculinity would keep going with a lavender frame. The bike does sound nice, though. Good luck with it!
:)

lol i planned on that.. ill see how i like light purple lol.. and do you know what 600 would compare to today if it even does

Shimano 600 is roughly equivalent to today Ultegra line, a step below Dura-Ace then & now.

John Hawrylak
Woodstown NJ

its just as good now as it was then? thats what im asking

Well... technology has changed a lot on ten years. Having said that, one of my crew rides a 600-equipped bike and has no problems. If it works, it works.

As for the colour, isn't it a kind of dusty light metallic purple? I think it's actually a pretty cool colour, and one that you don't see much.

Not a colour for a man? Erik Zabel and Udo Bolts ride pink bikes, and I don't think you'd want to tell them to their faces that they're not men. Trust me on this.

oh oh when i thot about it i thot that it was kool to.. yah its that light dusty purple. i just have to tell my friends to shut up and race me when they insult me. ill smoke em all. this being biker friends not normal friends. but yah the shop gave me new rubbers, new handlebar tape, and threw in a bontrager seat for half price. its like 70bux they gave for 35

I think you'll enjoy the bike. Bianchis are keepers.

Don't worry too much about the components. As you've noted, you can always upgrade them as you go along. If the frame fits and you feel comfortable, then you can do anything. Cycling isn't about components, anyway. It's the kind of thing that, if they work, you don't think about them.

except for the pedals and saddle. and the tires well lets say when he pumped them up the sidewalls of both tires started ripping and i said urr gonna replace that right and he said yah yah. as for the seat. hes a nice guy and pedals i dont like toe clips ill just steal another pair of spds or something.. component wise its great

I think you'll really appreciate the Bianchi, the
Italian geometry and eventually get used
to that purple colour (don't call it lavender, ok?),
and even lust for celeste. Soon you'll be drooling over
campagnolo kit and wonder how you ever rode
anything else before.
Nice find.

Marty

wow this seems to be a good bike.. 2 good ratings.. even tho its 6 speed. werx for me. and campy eh.. i love my uncles litespeed with campy record 10..

he let me borrow it when i did a century ride on monday

Lets see, its 6 speed, indexed so I'm guessing
130mm at the rear dropouts (if not its steel not
hard to coldset), would upgrade to 9 or 10 speed easily.
Record? too expensive I'd look for Daytona 2nd hand.
You can find it on either e-bay or Campy only
(don't go to that site unless you're serious,
you'll never want to ride your shimano again).
I think the first thing I'd upgrade/replace are the wheels.
Get yourself a good set of lightweight hoops (no not Ksyriums)
and you'll be amazed by the difference.
anyhow you made a good choice.
Let us know how you like it.

Marty

im not doing any major upgrades right now.. right now i took this money outta my second bank account and i wanna pay it back.. and im saving for a trip to montreal this summer to visit a friend. also i need pedals which are easy enough. then i will worry about upgrades. as for now.. it is a columbus steel frame.. not sure which model. its the one used on like 10yr old bianchi limited. umm if i change the hub and wheel can i squeeze a 9 or 10speed hub in the space

im also 15.. 16 in october so im not a rich dentist yet

4 years ago I started cycling on a used, light pink Peugot Triathlon w/ a Shimanon 105 6-speed group. My kids made fun of me, "daddy's rides a pink bike!" The color didn't seem to slow me down too much, though, and the 501 steel tubes rode very nicely. The bike shifted precisely and stopped when asked.

One day this spring, and several thousand miles later, I nearly fell over in the busiest intersection in town. The bike wouldn't steer. The bars were locked straight ahead. The notchy shifting I was experiencing, I called it index steering, finally progressed to full-blow seizure of the headset.

I discovered that the quill stem corroded itself to the steel steerer. "Time for a new bike," I said to myself, credit card in hand. New aluminum bike is light, climbs like a goat and rides like a NYC subway compared to the old Peugot.

Moral of the story: Grease your quill stem twice a year. Bike color has almost no effect on speed. Everything they say about steel is true. Index steering is not as good as index shifting.

index steering i love that one..

and i know colour dont slow me down.. itll just make me swear a little more. thats all..

Originally posted by WoodyUpstate

I discovered that the quill stem corroded itself to the steel steerer.

The quill stem fits inside the steerer. I don't see how this would affect the steering. Even if your stem and steerer bonded together, it wouldn't cause the problem you are describing.

It sounds like your headset went "kaflooie" (technical term). I've had that notchy steering when the headset got loose and the bearings ended up pitting the races. A new headset fixed the problem.

Steve,

Yes, index steering is caused by a crapped out headset. I knew for a year that I couldn't adjust/remove the stem, so I just rode it until, well, I couldn't anymore.

After I had the new bike in hand a wrench said he could have cut the stem and extracted the fork, installed a new headset and fork. But a new bike is so-o-o much more fun. I still have the old Peugot frame. I plan to build it back up and keep it permanently attached to my wind trainer. . . no steering required.

I had a headset problem on my MTB a few years ago. It creaked for a while and then siezed up. One of the bearing rings in the headset had rusted out, probably because of some very bad-weather riding I had done in which my bike sunk in a bog [long story... I'll tell it some day]. All it took was a new bearing ring and some grease and has worked fine since. It's threadless.

I attributed my headset problem to gallons of perspiration dripping on it while on my trainer during the winter. If this were a threadless set up I would still be riding it.

i took it out for a 40km spin today. OMG i love the feel of the road bike. its so much smoother than my MTB cuz the tires are smooth and im not bouncing up and down on a shock. and its fast. i got to my destination 18minutes quicker on this bike and the head winds were the same. as for the colour, that one friend insulted it.. i told him to fook off
i love the bike. i dont even feel a need to upgrade the wheels.

pedals tho... thos shimano 600 rat traps gotta go... too confusing lol.. and annoying ..

Way to go!:thumbup: :thumbup:
Instead of whining for a month you found a good ride and hit the road. BTW I like 600 EX pedals, frankly I like all of the 600 EX gruppo. You can even swap the short cage on the rear derailer for a medium one easily, I just did this on one of my spare 8 speed ultegra derailers too, wish somebody made a replacement medium rear cage outa titainum!
<<Removed line to remove foot in mouth.>>
kev

Different young Torontonian, Kev...

IRC's been looking for a used ride for about a month now. KennethToronto is the one having motherhood issues. He should take IRC as an example, actually...

OMG i love the feel of the road bike

Welcome to the club.
It will only get better.
about that "friend", aside from telling him to piss off
(a little more polite than F**K off), challenge him to a
little competition, the stakes being if he loses he shuts up.
Drop him like a bad habit and you will hear word zero outta
him.

Marty

yup ive done that but hes to pompas. like i said hes a rich spoiled kid so... he knows id beat him in a race cuz hes not in any shape whatsoever so me beating him would mean nothing to him. dont matter.. i got 5 compliments by my actual cycling friends today. they think the colour is kool. i think im growing to it aswell.

the only problem i have is with the pedals. i like the feel of being apart of the bike. the rat traps dont do that. i know they are good for that type of pedal but i need my clips. i think i will buy the ritchey lookalikes. the price is right.. the bearings in the spindle are amazing, they dont mess up like actual ritcheys, and they match the colour of the cranks

also.. it came with IRC triathalon tires. are they any good.

they are also 700x20. the techy at the shop who didnt do this bike said yo guy are u riding the tour de france or something lol. does that mean they are too thin or what.. they seem fine to me but i dunno. im only a wrench, not a racer

700X20 is thin but I certainly wouldn't say too thin. A common road size is 700X23 and many like to rider wider.

IRC is a good tire, maybe one of the best of the moderate priced road tires, I've used them several times. Takes high-pressure and will last awhile. Don't replace till they wear out, that's for sure.

:beer:

aight i thot so. but what will 23 offer that 20 wont. like i know the difference between 2.1inch and 1.75 when it comes to MTB but thats different as it has grip and all

another thing i notice on the bike is the good ol prob that everyone has.. SHIMANO BRAKE PADS. they must go before i kill myself. they just dont work

koolstop for me.. grr i have no money

Originally posted by WorldIRC
aight i thot so. but what will 23 offer that 20 wont. like i know the difference between 2.1inch and 1.75 when it comes to MTB but thats different as it has grip and all

23c will be more comfortable, less likely to piinch flat, have less rolling resistance than 20c and handle better.
23c maybe slightly heavier than 20c.

Congrats on the bike and it's great to hear about your new ride. Post a pic soon!

so 20c is just aerodynamic then. so far 40miles and i feel fine so i think i will keep the tires. plus i got no money. i need to pay this bike.. pay for my mtl trip in august. somehow get new clips, brake pads and a helmet. then i can worry about the tires