Bicycle Mechanics - problems with economy rebuild?

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jonmorehouse
11-05-06, 07:22 AM
hi. i've recently acquired a late 80's centurion ironman expert road bike. having never owned a road bike (i ride touring and mountain bikes) i intend to rebuild the bike over the winter. the frame is in decent enough condition, so i stripped it down. i found the bottom bracket bearings and the headset bearings have both seen better days. im hoping to spend very little money on this, so would the housebrand nashbar bottom bracket and sealed headset be worth my trouble? i was going to just repack with new b.b.'s, but i found divets on the race on the headset (overtightened?). any advice is better than nothing. thanks, jon

Retro Grouch
11-05-06, 07:30 AM
You'll be fine. Those parts are probably better quality than the originals which have survived for 25 years. Make sure that you get the right bottom bracket spindle length to match your crank.
jonmorehouse
11-05-06, 09:31 AM
the original bottom bracket is a shimano 600, i just wanted to make sure i wasn't taking a step in the wrong direction

HillRider
11-05-06, 09:53 AM
I installed a Nashbar house-brand 1" threaded cartridge-bearing headset on my early '80's Trek rain bike a couple of years ago and it has held up fine to non-stop abuse. I think I paid about $16 for it and it's currently on the Nashbar web site for $11. It's way better than the price suggests.

As to bottom brackets, get a Shimano UN53 cartridge bb. These are very low cost (Nashbar's web site has them of $20) and extremely durable.