Classic & Vintage - Show off your classic rides

Hey, I thought that we should give the new forum an official "show off your ride" thread. I know you are dying to show it off...

Here we go: a 1981 Bianchi Standard. Back in the day, it was classified a "sport tourer" I'm thinking of upgrading the suntour components on there to a modern campy triple:

Phatman

Don't do it, we're talking classics here, not modern
Campy triples.
The suntour stuff is really nice. I'd keep it.
I'll post pics when I get a digital camera.

Marty

Ok, I forgot I had this one.
This is my wife's 1976 Eisentraut Limited.
All Campy N. Record patent 1973 with
the exception of the hubs which are Nuovo Tipo high
flange, The GS crankset, and the brakes which are Modolo Speedys.
I have added N. Record pedals, replaced the brakes
with Modolo Pro's and added a NOS white Concor saddle
(might get her a Brooks Pro S if she wants it).
Its a work in progress. I'm going to have Brian Baylis
retouch the paint and decals.
Marty

I've attached a link to the photograph of my Flying Scot on Bob Reid's excellent website.

the site is well worth a look.

John's Flying Scot (http://www.flying-scot.co.uk/frame_345l.html)

This was pre pedals (I used the bike with different bars all summer last year). It's now in bits waiting on a swap of wheels (27" from my winter/tourer) and centre pull brakes etc.

Its a n early 60's frame, refinished a few years ago, but with a mix of 70's and 80's Campag and ShimaNO!

I'm trying to get age related stuff for it.

It gives a fantastic ride, slightly livelier than my other 531 bike (which is 531c) The lugwork is beautiful and it has grease nipples on the headset and BB, as well as built in pump pegs for a bluemels pump. Chrome half forks and rear triangle.

Originally posted by lotek
Phatman

Don't do it, we're talking classics here, not modern
Campy triples.
The suntour stuff is really nice. I'd keep it.
I'll post pics when I get a digital camera.

Marty

the main reason for wanting to upgrade to the campy triple is that I currently have double on there, and for touring, its a bit sketchy.

Not a good pic, but It works. I need to do insurance photos soon...
Anyway, heres the nicest of the oldies I have. She's a '72 Gitane Super Corsa. Full 531 frame & fork w/ campy dropouts built up with drilled patent 72 NR deraileurs, diacompe brakes, high flange normandy hubs, gran sport 3-arm crankset, spotless Ideale saddle (my favorite part), Bellari bars & stem and all the little campy chrome clips and cable guides you can never seem to find anymore.

Here is a pic of an old Nishiki I fixed up for my daughter. I picked it up at a yard sale for $10. Hand-built the wheels using some NOS Fuji gold and silver rims, and landed the really sweet old Shimano 600 groupo off eBay. Including paint, which I also did myself, I have less than $100 invested. And, if it gets the daughter riding, it's $100 well spent!
http://home.atcjet.net/~whitlow/nishiki.jpg
http://home.atcjet.net/~whitlow/600shifters.jpg

Couldn't pass up those beautiful lugs...this was a fun project, anxious to take on another one!

Bill! Did you get that 600 group off of ebay during the last month or so? I wanted those! :)

HEE HEE.......no, last year.....got the matching shifters, front and rear der for $3.50, and $3.75 postage! I fell in love with them right off, and this was the perfect project for them! If I find another set of them.........I'll get 'em for myself!! HAHAHAHA Thanks for noticing, tho, they relaly are little pieces of art!

Oh, man, that Gitane looks to be tres bien! Is it a 62cm? Just my size, by the looks of it. Is the frame "noodly", like my '78 trek 770?
BTW, I'll post a pic of my early 60's campy shift levers sometime....

Merci beaucoup, Alex! I like her alot. The perspective of the photo makes the bike look tall, but its actually a 59 (center to top). She's in great shape for her age considering the quality of French paint jobs in the 70's :) I'll post some close ups if I can later...
The frame is a bit looser than others I have, but still for my size (6'1", 225lbs) its still comparatively firm. I like to think of it as 'Comfortable' :D Definately an all-day bike. I dont ride it too often, but I like to break it out for the local invitational rides just for fun.


got the matching shifters, front and rear der for $3.50, and $3.75 postage!
Wow, thats quite a deal. Yours look to be in good shape, too! Heres some nos ones...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2716914947&category=27950

This one is quite the classic!









Enjoy your April 1st!

:rolleyes:

"Wow, thats quite a deal. Yours look to be in good shape, too! Heres some nos ones..."
Yup, that is the rear der that I got!! Really pretty stuff.....only fitting that such nice lookin' stuff would go on such a great old frame! Such a shame that the aesthetics of these parts has waned over time.

Such a shame that the aesthetics of these parts has waned over time.

Agreed! Thats partly why my newest road bike is circa 1985. Everything is plain-vanilla boring these days. Lookalike racerboi bikes. Yawn.

Originally posted by stumpjumper
Agreed! Thats partly why my newest road bike is circa 1985. Everything is plain-vanilla boring these days. Lookalike racerboi bikes. Yawn.
Agreed, partially.
Check out some of the stuff that is being built by
Richard Sachs, Richard Moon (why do I always want to
write Keith Moon?), Peter Weigle, etc.
Gorgeous lug work, and fitted with some modern stuff
is quite nice.
I still say N. Record derailleur is nicer looking than SR!
(flame away).

Marty

Awwwww, Marty...what you said!! :) I have seen some older Campy stuff that looked pretty nice...a friend has a Campy rear der hanging on the wall of his shop.......just to look at and enjoy the times when a company was proud of what they built, and the product reflected it!
I've ridden Campy, Suntour and Shimano, and ya know, when I move them little fancy levers, the chain goes from one gear to the next, which is pretty much what I want 'em to do! Why, shoot, if I could land an old Campy groupo for, well, $10 plus postage, I'd be happy to use it on my next project bike! :D

Hey Nebill,

You see the 59 Paramount on e-bay?
repainted black with white contrast (pin striping?)
on those nervex pro lugs. . .
not totally correct tho, wrong fork, crankset etc.
but my oh my it sure looks suhweet.

Now about that $10 gruppo. . .

Marty

okay, I'll rephrase that then...Everything I can afford is plain-vanilla boring!

yeah,
Vanilla bikes, lugged steel not too dear
(new builder).
and yeah I can't come near Sachs, Weigle etc. which
is why I hang around e-buy looking for classic
lugged steel.

Marty

Here's my '87 Paramout. Repainted by Waterford in '99. Campy Record triple in 2002 with Look fork, Chris King headset, Thomson stem/seatpost, Prolink saddle and Ksyriums. Have original black 3T stem/Stronglight headset with Paramount logos on them. Not for the purest vintage/classic person, but is a sweet ride.

Man, is that ever an awesome paint job! I have seen one like it on the Waterford site, and I love it!!

Oh, the subject of this string is what am I ridin'.....so, here ya go! First, is my Waterford built '89 Paramount, which I call ol' Blue.
http://home.atcjet.net/~whitlow/olblue.jpg

And, here is my '76 Chicago built Paramount, that I call Liberty.
http://home.atcjet.net/~whitlow/liberty.jpg
What great ol' rides! :D

Ok, thats it.
I'm gonna have to start hanging out on e-bay, scouring
the classifieds to find a Paramount, and learn things like
the difference between P10 and P12 (other than 2).
now, how do I fit that in with my lust for a Carlsbad
Masi, Gios torino and early 70's Colnago?

better yet, how do I tell my wife? (I know, buy one for
her!).

Marty

While I have had my ups and downs with Richard Schwinn, who owns and runs Waterford Bikes (his plant is the Paramount factory in Waterford, WI), if you go their website and open it you will find a listing along the left side that includes "Velorotica". Click on that and you will get the history of the Paramount and everything you ever wanted to know, including how to date and size a Paramount frame/bike from the serial number. Quite interesting and fairly complete.

Umm....Didn't all the "Chicago Paramounts" have a fillet brazed frame? That frame was quite obviously lugged.

Well, I will of course defer to those who know more about this than I do, however, the serial number on the bike indicates that it is a '76 Paramount, and to quote from an article by Mike Rother on Sheldons site, "The top-line Paramount series , framesets built of with silver-soldered Reynolds 531double-butted tubing and Nervex lugs.

The Superior, Sports Tourer, and Super Sport , whose frames were
brass fillet-brazed of SAE 4130 chrome molybdenum straight-gauge seamless tubing.

The remaining models from the "Continental" on down, made of
flash-welded ("electro-forged") 15-16 gauge longitudinally-welded steel tubing produced in Schwinn's own tube mill.

OK, my mistake. Got them mixed up-both were made at the Chicago plant (unlike lower-line Schwinns).

I just couldn’t resist posting my 1978 Raleigh Competition GS. I didn’t restore it to original since I planned on using it as a commuter. I purchased the bike when I was in college rode it hard in those days and it has held up very well over the years. When I thought of commuting to work late last year my initial tune up showed a number of problems, worn bottom bracket cups, bent chain ring and grinding noise in the freewheel.
I found a Campy Veloce Gruppo on E-Bay in January and my restoration was underway.
The Raleigh’s tubes and stays are Reynolds 531, with Campy dropouts and originally had Campy Grand Sport crank, F/R derailers, hubs, BB; Weinman brakes, Brooks saddle, Weinman rims.
I rebuilt the wheels using the old Weinman rims with the new Veloce hubs, (my first wheel build). I took Sheldon Brown’s recommendation and coldset the rear stays to accept the new rear 130mm hub. I made my own bender from a pair of carpentry clamps. However, I still need to use Sheldon’s 2X4 method to bend the chain stays wide enough.
The rebuilt Raleigh now has a modern Campy Veloce 9 speed drive chain, brakes, BB, crank, F/R derailers, Ergo levels, cables and guides; Look clipless pedals, Still use the Brooks saddle, fits like a glove.
The ride is smooth and very quiet, with some good spring left in the frame "steel" ;-). I’ve put 280 miles on the bike since mid February. My investment for rebuilding was $425, the LBS’s in town thought I was crazy to waste the money and time. Buy new they all said, but after they saw the bike, I received nothing praise and envy. The best part is getting to ride the bike of my youth. :D

brajdicm - While I generally differ to Sheldon on matters bicycle I do not agree with his home-brew reset of the rear stays. If you have your LBS do the work and they have the correct tool, it not only resets the stays to the proper width it also insures that the dropouts are set parallel to one another. It is difficult to accomplish this last bit using the home-brew method. My LBS charged me a grade total of $10 to to do the work with the correct tool.

Very nice Raleigh and good selection on the components. I rebuilt my daughters '81 Bianchi with the same group two years ago.

brajdicm, that is a nice lookin' ride! Lugged steel...hard to beat!! By the looks of that frame, you must be a pretty tall rider!! Great to see more great old rides on the road.

MORE GOODIES FROM THE GARAGE...

1 My commuter. This pic still has the drop bars and the h-bar bag. Its a Kurahara, circa 1985. rebuilt with shimano 600 stuff, 105 hubs, mavic open pro cd rims. original diacompe brakes & nitto bars/stem/seatpost

2 '65 Schwinn supersport. Yes D*Alex, its brass fillet brazed by hand in the chicago factory. Project bike. the brooks saddle is currently being "reconditioned" in my kitchen ;)

the supersport, gitane, and an 89 Stumpjumper...

project frames... mid-70's U-08 wet-weather commuter and an old Vitus 992 frame waiting for Mavic 801 components to appear...

5 front to back, late 60's Astra (rebadged Motobecane) with original Hruet deraileurs, a cruiser I built for fun, and a late 50's JC Higgens with its original S/A 3-speed. Project bike for the summer ;)

6 Left to right, up to down... frames waiting for attention in the garage... mongoose al freestyle, nishiki century, Bianchi Avenue, Sears Spaceliner, Univega Rover, schwinn collegiate 5-speed grocery-getter project, very very early Specialized Rockhopper

8 mid 70's Concorde Japanese lugged steel frame, destined to become the utility singlespeed in a few weeks...

8 my 89 SJ SS. an in-town commutter/fun bike. Classic mtb.

Behind the bike... every garage needs boxes of spare parts. Most of ther h-bars are older Nitto's, 6-7 forks, a few old touring deraileurs, lots and lots of other stuff....

wonder what happened to pic 6?? Ah well, here's a repost...

Stumpjumper, you have a ton of bikes! And some strange gravitational forces are acting on your garage in some of the pics.

-Middi-zon

And some strange gravitational forces are acting on your garage in some of the pics.


Everything (including all of my money) is being pulled towards the '72 Super Beetle project in the middle of the garage. Its the gravitational center of my entire back yard ;)

Thanks nebill, I had a great time building it and a better time riding it. Your right on, I'm 6"2". If I remember seat tube measured: 63cm center of BB to the center of the TT. Lug steel just can't be beat for beauty. This Raleigh was a common production bike however, the lugs with their teardrop cutouts puts the modern TIG welds to shame.

ParamountScapin

<I do not agree with his home-brew reset of the rear stays. If you have your LBS do the work and they have the correct tool, it not only resets the stays to the proper width it also insures that the dropouts are set parallel to one another. It is difficult to accomplish this last bit using the home-brew method. My LBS charged me a grade total of $10 to do the work with the correct tool.>

Agreed, I wouldn't recommend the method to others, it is VERY risky. I am fortunate enough to by the son of a tool and die maker. I fabricated the tools needed to make the dropouts parallel for $1.50. Although I did spend several hours checking out Park Tools website, walking through the local scrap yard, and figuring out a reasonable facsimile of the Park drop out tools. Really was not worth the time. I just love to tinker, must be my Irish half.

Glad to see you're still pleased with the Veloce Group, I was on the wire between Campy Veloce and Shimano 105.

Yes, lugwork is a beautiful thing. That is what caught my attention on the Nishiki. Gee, come to think of it, the two years that I have been riding, every road bike I've owned has been lugged! First a Fuji Sagres, then the Roubiax, then two Paramounts. And, there are three more lugged frames out back waiting for a bit of tinkering !! Good deal on the home made tools, brajdicm, a man after my own heart!

Here I am. The teacher commuter on an almost classic Schwinn Le Tour (circa 1982). I still commute from my little country residence to the school where I teach. Since this photo I have had to put Freddy Fenders on to keep the rooster tails off me on those rainy days. Note the 'Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer' above the door on the porch.

Mid80s Basso. I picked up the frame and the Campy SR group from eBay nd CampyOnly. Went with the aluminum fork as I wasn't happy with the choice of steel replacement forks. Yes those are the Campy SGR clipless pedals. I don't like them to be honest, Looks sooner or later. The clipped SRs are on a fixed gear project.

Braking/shifting is set up to accomadate my motorcycle injuries.

Painted and decalled it myself. Poor picture the blue is darker and much glossier.

:beer:

Mine is this 1961 Paramount with complete Campy Triomphe gruppo.

My commuter.
1979 NOS Nishiki Professional
Last edition Suntour Superbe Pro drivetrain
Diacompe Gran Compe Brakes

wow all of these are road bikes. what about the comfort or cruising restorations?

Originally posted by Phatman
Here we go: a 1981 Bianchi Standard. Back in the day, it was classified a "sport tourer" I'm thinking of upgrading the suntour components on there to a modern campy triple:

I agree with another poster about keeping the Suntour, they kinda go with the bike; but if you must swap, send the components my way-IF your just going to throw them away! I'm trying to restore a old Schwinn and depending on the model of Suntour they could help.