Introductions - Hello from Frankfurt, Germany

Evening all, congratulations on such a great forum.

Having done a few triathlons and found I enjoyed the bike bit the most, that's what I'm now concentrating on. I joined a UK bike club this summer in Lewes and had a great time doing TTs.

I'm looking to do as much maintainance on my bikes in the future - both to keep costs down, and for the satisfaction and to expand my knowledge. That's the main reason I've joined up, for the enormous amount of info and advice on here!

I ride a mid-90's Gitane TT bike (Mach 320? Something like that) with a Biopace crank, a Decathlon sport 2 (cheapy road bike) and a Scott cross bike thingy to and from work, often with one of my two young boys on the back.

Projects for this winter include fixing all 4 buckled wheels on the Scott and Gitane, moving the Gitane shifters up onto the aero bars from the drop tube (doing something clever with bar end shifters), fitting a more aero front wheel to the Git and a rear wheel cover too.

Cheers all,
Simon

Hi there Simon. Welcome aboard. I'll keep my eyes open for any pictures you might post.

John

http://photos-d.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v360/63/34/664664251/n664664251_1478219_9509.jpg

Happy to oblige - hope this works!
I swapped over the stem for a touring bike one, the saddle has subsequently been set up more horizontally and I have clip pedals. Somehow I have to get the gear levers up on the aero bars as I am fed up with putting my fingers in the front spokes when I change gear, it hurts.

http://photos-f.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v257/63/34/664664251/n664664251_916837_2623.jpg

In action last summer. Not a very aero position - I think I was taking a breather going downhill.

That's quite an attention-getter. I don't think I've ever seen that model before (I've only been watching Professional cycling for the past 5 years).

Thanks,

John

It's a typical mid-90's time trial frame. A Gitane Mach 310 I think. Check the ones Indurain or Lemond was riding early 90's and you'll see a similar geometry. I think Lemond was riding a Gitane too in the '89 tour.

I've seen one other on the road, a guy doing the Henninger Turm race in Frankfurt last year.

It had hardly been used when I got it last year - and there's plenty of life in it yet.

I'm going to have to be pretty creative with the way the bars and frame are to get the shifters on top - I don't think there's anything on the drop tube to put a ferrule into, so I might have to 'braze' a housing in there, and then hacksaw off the top section of the bars to make an 'end' to put the bar-end shifters in. I will have to stablilze that section of the bars with a bolt or something.

If anyone has any neat ideas about how to do this, or can point me in the right direction of a how-to thread on the site, I'd very much appreciate it!

I think I might need something like this:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/images/cah51.jpg

Shimano Clamp-on double stop for standard 1 1/8" downtube

These allow the installation of any type of handlebar shifters on frames that don't have housing stops or braze-ons on the down tube.

The 1 1/8" (28.6 mm) diameter fits the down tubes of most steel frames. If you want to use this with Shimano STI shifters, you will also need an inline cable adjuster to allow you to make fine adjustments to the front derailer indexing

Hi Simon! It looks as if you have plenty of projects to keep you busy this winter! I don't have any technical solutions for you, but I would imagine that there are at least a few people here who can.

Welcome to BikeForums, and don't hesitate to send me a PM if you have any questions.

East Hill
Forum Moderator

Thanks for the welcome East. I'm going to give it a good go myself, fortunately there is a friendly LBS not too far away for when I make a balls-up of it.
Happy memories of cycling from the top of Bury New Road to Didsbury in the cold, wet Manc winters. Brr.