Road Cycling - I'm a convert!

Well, I bought an old roadie. This is the bike I wanted but never got when I was in high school. Well, not exactly, but this is the type of bike I wanted. It's a 1986 Raleigh Pursuit. 12 speed. Cro-moly frame. A lugged cro-moly frame. God, I love the look of a lugged frame! I've posted a link to the picture of it on the website i bought it from. The picture makes it look dark red almost burgundy, but it's a bright lipstick red with gold trim. The black handlebar padding has since been replaced with black, gray and white mottled handlebar tape. It says on the frame it's a "sports touring" configuration, whatever that means. The deraileurs are just old suntour ones, but the brakes seem decent and all the hubs and rims, etc. are in good shape.

But I digress from the original intent of my post. What I really mean to say is I LOVE THIS BIKE!!! It's so amazingly amazing that I can hardly express myself. I can't believe the difference. My old hybrid now feels like I'm riding a cow or something. It's kind of like I've gone from driving some massive station wagon to driving a sporty little miata or something. I was out riding with my husband today. He took his mountain bike. I decided I was going to push myself a little bit. I just completely left him behind. And the great thing is, I was just pushing a little. I can't wait to see how fast I could go, all out.

The only bad thing about it is that the seat is as hard as a rock. :( But that can be fixed.


http://www.oldroads.com/wapur.jpg

Congratulations, HilaryRose!! But...wots a "lugged frame" please? I probably should know, but I don't.

I have 8 old 10-speed bikes out in my garage, I've collected them to use for experimenting with alternate geometry in bikes. But just for a hoot I more or less got one working today and rode it around the block. It's been 20 years since I've been on anything with drop bars. VERY strange! I would have to make some adjustments before I'd want to swap my 21-speed, 36 lb. MTB for it though.

I peeked at your Raleigh...very pretty!

Lugged refers to how they join the tubes of the frame. All but the fanciest bikes these days are joined with regular welding. The tubes are butted right up to each other then welded, with varying degrees of neatness that seem to depend on the quality of the bike. A lugged frame will have fancy designs around the joins of the frame. I think originally this is for added strength at the joins, but it can also look gosh darn pretty.

Hi HillaryRose,
I agree with you about a lugged steel frame. The nice part is if you damage a tube in the frame it can be replaced as opposed to scrapping the whole frame.
I was in my LBS the other day and they were putting together a bike for a guy in the 3000 dollar range. It was a Lemond which is a good bike in the 2000 dollar range but for that kind of money he could have ordered a custom lugged steel framed bike instead of a mass produced unlugged steel frame.The few extra ounces that a lugged frame weighs is more than worth it for the exta beauty and class it picks up.
About the hard seat....give it a chance before replacing it as you will find as you ride longer distance that the harder the seat the more comfortable it is.

Ride Safe.....Dudley *S*

Congrats, Hillary!

I know EXACTLY how you feel! I love my road bikes, and I have experienced the same feelings you are having! Your bike is a realy beauty, too!

If you want to know more about lugs, go to this site: Rivendell Bicycles (http://www.rivendellbicycles.com)
They also have some good info on bicycle fit, and I think you will notice that your bike is already set up about right, by thier (and my!) standards!

My old Fuji Roubaix has Suntour components, and they work perfectly, so don't worry about that. And there are still a lot of parts for them around on the web if you ever need them.

Well, I better get going. I've been invited to go trail riding on a mountain bike, something I have never done before...but somehow I don't think it will replace my love for my road bike!

Hey, welcome to a new convert to the field of road biking. I definitely know what you mean about riding a cow once you've been on a great road bike.

I hope to see more converts out there.

Lug lovers go directly to
http://www.henryjames.com/home.html

I have 3 lugged frames. One is a Bob Jackson with immaculate lugwork, my everyday bike is a very fine no-name frame with clean joins. My old bike is a Falcon 1970s sports. The lugs are pretty rough and the brazing is crude. No doubt beneath the thick pressed steel lugs, the tubes are very roughly mitred, if at all.

Oh, my gawd!!
It has chicken levers and a plastic spoke protector!

(chortle)

Originally posted by D*Alex
Oh, my gawd!!
It has chicken levers and a plastic spoke protector!

(chortle)
Very funny, Alex! ;)

I had a bike from the late '70s. Had all that, and a bit on the heavy side.

But the ride was sweet, man! :D

I'm honestly confused. What's so funny about my bike? :(



By chicken levers, I assume you're talking about the second brake levers? The ones not on the drops? I took those off the minute I got it out of the shipping box. As for the spoke protector, I didn't think much about that one way or the other. My Trek hybrid has one as well, so I assumed a lot of bikes came with them. As for the bike being a bit heavy. Perhaps it is, compared to a lot of the bikes that people in this forum ride. But it is remarkably lighter than my trek hybrid. It's a big difference to me.

Looks like a fine bike to me! Im sure it will bring years of joy to you hillary :)

Originally posted by HillaryRose
I'm honestly confused. What's so funny about my bike? :(

Nothing. Alex is just being a velosnob. The chicken levers and spoke protectors just look uncool to some people -- as if riding a bike is about looking cool. [It's nice if it does look cool, but that's not the goal, is it?] Actually, the chicken levers were always a bad idea, even in the 70s, it's good you trashed them.

Frankly, I think it's a very nice looking bike. The geometry looks relaxed, which should make it an excellent starter road bike. In fact, I doubt you could buy a bike NEW today with that kind of geometry.

And it's steel. A bit heavy, maybe [it's probably in the 23 lb-range for the size], but you're not riding up Le Galibier, are you? Being steel, it will be a very sweet, smooth ride.

You will always love this bike. It's not fancy, like a $5000 Pinarello, or super-high-tech like a carbon-fibre Trek; but it is your first road bike. Youre going to do a lot of mileage on this baby and someday -- maybe next year, maybe later -- you're going to upgrade to an even better bike because you just LOVE the freedom and speed your first road bike gave you.

There are so many things about cycling that defy logic. Passion for the sport and love of a collection of tubes and parts are two of them.

Originally posted by HillaryRose
I'm honestly confused. What's so funny about my bike? :(

Oh, no! I'm very happy for you! :thumbup:

(I've tried unsuccessfully to retrieve my old Schwinn from the man I gave it to. "Indian Giver." :cry: )

HillaryRose,

Never get fooled into believing equipment will make a huge difference. Your state of mind and your heart-lung-leg engine is vastly more important. I routinely pass immensely expensive equipment on the road with my trusty old 300 dollar Giant Perigee. You buy performance with hard work not money. And almost any road bike makes hard work fun.

a plastic spoke protector!
My Litespeed Tuscany :cool: :dance: has Rolf wheels and because of the spacing of the spokes has a rather large plastic spoke protector.
It's better than having the chain get caught in the spokes. :)

Hi Hillary!

Well, you have had that beautiful bike for a few days now! How is it going? Getting used to that saddle??

I had a great ride to work today! Only 58 degrees when I left the house...a little cool on the arms, but I soon had my blood pretty well warmed up!

Let us know how it is going!!

I'm not a fan of spoke protectors, I call them "dork discs", but they do serve a couple of purposes: 1) they protect the manufacturer in a lawsuit. 2) they make up for an inproperly adjusted rear derailleur and 3) they provide the neccessary additional weight all cyclist are looking for to aide in rotational mass acceleration.

Just kidding! But they are really unneccessary if your bike is adjusted properly. And I think the "look" is cleaner without them.

L8R G8R

Hey!
A fellow velosnob!
I hope that they don't shred you up too badly! It's obvious that there really aren't very many people (even in the "road bike" thread) that really take their equipment as seriously as we do. Maybe there should be a special folder for those of us who do. Maybe a "no gas-pipe bikes" folder? A "<20 lb (or <9kg) only" folder? How's "serious roadies only" sound? Y'know they all say we roadies have bad attitudes.

Originally posted by a2psyklnut
3) they provide the neccessary additional weight all cyclist are looking for to aide in rotational mass acceleration.

Just kidding! But they are really unneccessary if your bike is adjusted properly. And I think the "look" is cleaner without them.

L8R G8R

Cool! That little additional weight will sure help Hillary build up those killer biker legs! And, if it adds to rotational mass acceleration, then it would follow that it will also aid in resisting deceleration, allowing Hillary to fly up hills without pedalling at all!

I am also kidding! Don't sweat the "dork disk", Hillary, it's a beautiful bike, get on it and ride, that is what it's all about! I think you are lucky to have a first road bike like that!

Originally posted by D*Alex
Hey!
A fellow velosnob!
In all fairness Alex, I'm also something of a velosnob. I think it does come from being a serious roadie. I always take things like spoke protectors off of my bikes. [The Marinoni didn't come with one.] :-)

What is wrong with chicken levers?:confused:

Originally posted by M_E_B_S
What is wrong with chicken levers?:confused:
To tell the truth, I find them dangerous. They never allow you to brake very well, and that can lead to some nasty surprises on descents and in heavy traffic; and they seem pointless -- is is really so difficult to slide your hands a couple of centimetres to the hoods?

One guy I know had his leg impaled by one in a crash... don't quite know how.

Thanks, that's enough of a reason for me. I just took them off my bike, and it really cleaned up the front. It looks much nicer now, If that counts for anything.