ozneddy

Anyone ever had a really cheap and nasty low end racer and tried to make it into something it,s not ? such as adding upgraded parts when you could get them , eg: Campy, etc etc !

4Rings6Stars

I remember somebody on here built up a Varsity with decent modern 9 or 10s group. I don't really see the point though as nice components are expensive and you can pick up a decent frame (db chromoly, 531 etc.) in the $100 - 150 range without much searching.

Edit. I guess upgrading with a modernish STI/Ergo group is MY idea of upgrading. However, adding NR derailleurs to a RGP or UO8 or something could make sense and I've seen lots of that before. Again though, when you get into the realm of really nice vintage parts I still think you should spring for a decent frameset. At least something with an integrated derailleur hanger/forged dropouts that doesn't weigh 10 #.

just my $0.02

Edit #2. https://completed.shop.ebay.com/Road-...5&_mPrRngCbx=1

And this is a very very generic search for "Vintage Steel Frame"....

tugrul

I remember that one.

sailorbenjamin

All the alloy parts on my Schwinn keep the weight down to about 30lbs.

sailorbenjamin

Seriously, though, I think that's what this hobby is all about. I like a nice all original bike as much as the next guy but I tend to get bored with them and flip them before long.
I had an extra 7 speed Hyperglide freewheel that I finally got around to putting on my '70 Raleigh SuperCourse and it's great. The Suntour deraillers I added a few years ago when my pal converted his to IGH and I've been toying with triple cranks and various spindles for a while now. I think I've finally got a setup that makes me happy and shifts quietly and precisely. I had a 9 speed cassette on it for a while that was pretty dreamy but gave me chainline problems. That would have been easy enough to overcome but the modern 700 wheels just looked puny on that bike.
Somehow, the 700s and the 9 speed looked great on my '66 Raleigh, though and believe it or not the Campy Record derailler that was in my derailler box will do 9 speeds just fine. So I had to upgrade that bike to Campy and 700s.
I could go on and on, and it's sleating out there for the 3rd day in a row so you're lucky that I have a modicum of self control. Point is, nothing is more fun to me than a bare frame of any variety and a box of parts and a Pay Pal account to fill in the corners

nlerner

Is this what you had in mind?



Neal

seypat

One could argue that most people do that anyway. For instance, how many people change out the cottered cranks for something cotterless? And what about those steel wheels/rims? You don't see many keeping those on except for picture day do you? What about if the bike is French and has Prestige derailleurs on it? Some people keep them but not many.

To answer your question specifically, I'm doing that right now. I have an old LeJuene with all of the above. It only has a "Sauvage Alliage" tubing frame and fork no 531. But the frame weighs only a pound and a half more than my 531 DB frame so why not. The cotters are going and a Stronglight 93 is waiting in the wings. The old Rigida Chroluxes will be gone as well and Super Champions will take their place. The 2 Prestiges are gone as well. A Simplex 28mm SJA 102 (only one I could find) is up front now and a Suntour is at the rear. But you can be sure that if I can score one of the high end Simplex RD's for the back I will.

Of course none of these upgrades will go on until after I take the "before and after" photos. Then the bike will be transformed with the better components to make it's daily rider status more enjoyable. Once that is done then I can turn my attention to the Crescent Pepita that is waiting on deck.

buldogge

I've "wasted" a Campy 10s gruppo on the Titan Thron frame. Having said that, I swapped it out to the cheaper Veloce gruppo now. Probably be stripped shortly and sold off though...

juls

My Mutt before and after Lipstick on a pig?

sailorbenjamin

I really only look at the lipstick anyway.

javal

The frame is much more interesting than components. Brand can be more interesting than tubing to me. I would easily up-grade to make a nice frame (my favoured brand) into a good bike, so to speak. But I suppose the frame wouldnt be what OP means by low-end?

sailorbenjamin

Raleigh Sports make great conversions. Probably the greatest gaspipe bike ever. The whole klunker movement had something to do with this kind of thing, didn't it?

FlatTop

Link to reverborama's killer Varsity project: https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...=light+varsity

I've not tried this sort of thing myself. It's challenging enough just to make good mutton, let alone pretend it's lamb.

RobbieTunes

Night Tiger made a killer bike by "roading" a Schwinn Heavy Duti. Not a lamb, a ram, but you get the point.

Glennfordx4

I did it with my first bike I built up to get me back riding on the road after a 25yr absent. I took a early 70's Concord Pacer SS with a cottered crank, steel wheels,Suntour Honor RD,FD & shifters, steel seat post & stem and installed a square tapered BB, SR Double crankset, Araya aluminum wheels, aluminum seat post and stem and Suntour BL RD,FD & shifters plus other small bits to make it lighter and faster.
Glenn
From this.

To this.

brockd15 

I put 105 9 speed on a Free Spirit.
I don't have a picture of the finished bike, but you get the idea.

triplebutted

That's sweeeeet. Bet it rides awesome.

javal

Yeah!!!!!!! Nices frames certainly makes it happen!

brockd15 

Yup, silky smooth gas pipe.

noglider 

I put tubular tires on my 1975 Raleigh Gran Sport, but that's not terribly extreme.

The most extreme I've seen is brockd15's Free Spirit above.

ozneddy

The pic,s here just prove --- it aint wot ya got ,its wot ya do wiv it !

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

Sun Rhyno Lite rims, New modern Drum Brakes, Deore XT Drivetrain, 7 speed SIS, threadless stem adapter...only things that are original are the Ashtabula cranks and the Seatpin/Saddle.
Weight: approx 800 pounds (give or take a few)
The bike was put out for free at the end of someone's driveway...

Sure I spent some money on ok components...it rides like it too...but if I ever tire of the frame it I'll just move it all the parts over to something else.

Henry III

I think my Schwinn World Sport will fit this bill. I already had canti and dt shift lever bosses brazed on so that says more then what most World Sports have ever seen. Then it'll be getting powder coated Molteni Merckx orange next month. It's getting a CX type of build. Now just to find a rear older Phil Wood 36 hub to match the front wheel.
Otherwise my Hercules fixed gear I did last year would fit into this thread also. It didn't get much love from the folks here but I liked it.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

YES that's what's up!