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10-10-06, 06:03 AM
I recently purchased a bar/stem/shifters combo off of eBay; somebody had pulled it off a late-70's bike and sold it directly. (The auction said early-70's, but the construction of the Nitto stem and bar, and the shifters being Suntour's rachet design which I don't think was around in the early-70's, make me think late-70's or possibly even early-80's.)
The auction described the items as "in good to very good vintage condition" which I think was a bit misleading, though probably not intentionally.
I bought it mainly for the barcons, which had a fair bit of rust inside and took quite awhile to fully disassemble and overhaul, but they work well now. But that would qualify as "fair condition" in my book.
The Nitto forged quill stem is in good shape (those things rarely get messed up).
The bars are my main worry. They're Nitto Olympiade 114, and have some fairly deep scratches on the right drop, although I sanded them down and don't think they're a structural worry (I'd be worried about those scratches if they were further up on the bar, but they ain't). Though even that would qualify the bars as in fair condition.
The worry I have with the bars is that they have a dent/abraision on the bulged area at the top of the bar, directly to the left of where the stem clamps on and between the stem-clamp and the end of the bulged section. If the bar had sleeved construction, I wouldn't worry about this (and it probably wouldn't have gotten dented to begin with). But the dent is easy to see and feel, although somewhat harder to capture in photos. I'm wondering if there's any reason to think that the dent is a structural worry for riding with the bars, torquing on them for out-of-the-saddle climbs, etc.
See what you think:
http://www.unc.edu/~cupery/pics/bike_parts/IMG_6081--dent_rear.jpg
http://www.unc.edu/~cupery/pics/bike_parts/IMG_6082--bar_dent-crease_top.jpg
http://www.unc.edu/~cupery/pics/bike_parts/IMG_6083--bar_dent_top.jpg
The auction described the items as "in good to very good vintage condition" which I think was a bit misleading, though probably not intentionally.
I bought it mainly for the barcons, which had a fair bit of rust inside and took quite awhile to fully disassemble and overhaul, but they work well now. But that would qualify as "fair condition" in my book.
The Nitto forged quill stem is in good shape (those things rarely get messed up).
The bars are my main worry. They're Nitto Olympiade 114, and have some fairly deep scratches on the right drop, although I sanded them down and don't think they're a structural worry (I'd be worried about those scratches if they were further up on the bar, but they ain't). Though even that would qualify the bars as in fair condition.
The worry I have with the bars is that they have a dent/abraision on the bulged area at the top of the bar, directly to the left of where the stem clamps on and between the stem-clamp and the end of the bulged section. If the bar had sleeved construction, I wouldn't worry about this (and it probably wouldn't have gotten dented to begin with). But the dent is easy to see and feel, although somewhat harder to capture in photos. I'm wondering if there's any reason to think that the dent is a structural worry for riding with the bars, torquing on them for out-of-the-saddle climbs, etc.
See what you think:
http://www.unc.edu/~cupery/pics/bike_parts/IMG_6081--dent_rear.jpg
http://www.unc.edu/~cupery/pics/bike_parts/IMG_6082--bar_dent-crease_top.jpg
http://www.unc.edu/~cupery/pics/bike_parts/IMG_6083--bar_dent_top.jpg