Bicycle Mechanics - New wheels On old bike,, will it fly??

I have a mid 80s Gianni Motta that I built, with DA hubs. Dia compe brakes, a 7sp SIS rear DA downtube shifter, DA double front.The rims are Weinman 700 concaves... The rims make it tough to put high pressure in the tires without popping off.
I was gonna buy some rims and spokes and replace the rims.

There are sales on where I can get a complete wheel with Open Pro rims and Ultegra 6600 10sp hubs for not much more than the parts to re lace the 36 hole DA hubs.with some other Mavic rim, since the OP's are 32 hole.

My thoughts were to buy the OP wheels, and a 7sp cassette(if it will index with the old 7sp downtube) I think the spacings are the same for 7sp casette/freewheel???? Stretch the rear to 130mm.... Then sometime later buy a 10sp downtube shifter and a 10sp casette and chain.and probably a new DR.

Will this fly???,,Will the Dia compe brakes work with the new wheels???Anything else I am missing??

Any direction would be appreciated....

Bud

I wouldn't try putting a 7sp cassette on a 10sp frreehub regardless of whether or not it would work or not [with spaces], just put the 10sp cassette on now. As long as your dt shifter has a friction mode, you should be able to hit all 10 gears just fine.

The part I'm not sure about is if a 10sp chain would work with your current chain rings.

I wouldn't try putting a 7sp cassette on a 10sp frreehub regardless of whether or not it would work or not [with spaces], just put the 10sp cassette on now. As long as your dt shifter has a friction mode, you should be able to hit all 10 gears just fine.

The part I'm not sure about is if a 10sp chain would work with your current chain rings.
i don't think it will either. it'll probably slip between chainrings when you're shifting your ft der.
if you know how to, relace the old DA hubs to some new rims. there's nothing like hand built wheels.

oh and by the way, your brakes should work just fine.

Maybe go 9 speed?

It will all work. I use a 10sp chain and cassette with an old 5/6 speed Zeus crank. It will also shift much better than you'd expect. The ramps on the cassette along with the matching chain make shifting effortless, just make sure you have friction mode on your shifters. Also, you won't find yourself between gears because there isn't all that much space between them.

See pics of my setup here:Davidson w/ 10speed (http://www.flickr.com/photos/49759850@N00/sets/72157612371507005/)

One thing though, it may all work, but it won't fly. Birds fly, airplanes fly, bikes roll.

you can also put a 7 speed cassette (you'll need a spacer) on those 10 speed hubs. you're probably better off rebuilding on the old hubs, though.

One thing though, it may all work, but it won't fly. Birds fly, airplanes fly, bikes roll.

Except on occasion, which I will spare you the descriptions of....(one flying, one bikeing)

Anyway, looks like the brakes will work ok ,,and the narrow chain will work on the old chainrings.
Then, all I have to hope is that the freewheel SIS DT shifter will shift the 7 speed cassette,

Then later on, I will spring for a 10sp DT shifter and a 10 sp casette...

I agree about the hand built wheel comment, I built these wheels when I built the bike and they have done well. They just won't hold modern tires to well.
The built rear wheel, with 10 sp hubs, only costs $30 more than just the rims and spokes to re- lace .
The front is $10 less. So I will give it a shot and see what happens
Thanks for the help...
Bud

If I went to the trouble of getting 9/10-speed wheels, I'd probably go ahead and swap out the shifters. $50 for new downtube shifters, $25 for a chain and $50 for a cassette (tops) and you're good.

In fact, I bought a nice new set of wheels for a 7-speed bike and will soon be upgrading.