ppg677

Subject says it all-- love my vintage steel frames but not a fan of vintage component setups. Levers aren't comfortable to me since "riding the hoods" didn't seem to be as popular as it is today (??). Brake calipers don't stop as quickly as a modern cheapo Tektro double-pivot set. I'm not a fan of downtube shifters. Double + 12-21 cassette? Not a chance.

Yet here I have a chance to buy an early 80s Campy Super Record groupset for < $400 to outfit an early 80s Gios frame I already have, but I think I'm going to pass in favor of a modern groupset...so am I crazy?

agmetal

Check out the "retro roadies" thread

RobbieTunes

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...i-s-ergos.html

There are only 143 pages, but definitely worth looking at the hundreds of examples. My favorite thread here.

No, you are not crazy. Check this out: Campagnolo full Groupset: Mirage & Veloce

rhm

Certainly not crazy. If everyone preferred 1980 style gear, they'd still make it, right?

Seriously, I do prefer downtube shifters over the alternatives, don't mind the shape of the hoods, can live with the compromises in braking, etc; as many of us do. If you're not one of us, that's fine too.

bicyclelove

You aren't crazy. A vintage frame set up with brifters etc is really fun. My "vintage" 1990 CT3000 has much more modern RSX group on it and I love riding it.
I do still like my old stuff too. It's just a different experience depending on the bike I choose.

Dave Cutter

I mostly ride modern bikes. But I love the real-steel old bicycles!

I enjoy owning some of the old classic 10 speeds I couldn't afford and didn't have time for anyway when in my youth. Now I can enjoy having the old bikes and taking them out for an occasional bike path ride... and a simultaneous trip down memory lane.

gioscinelli 

Wrapped in carbon components.


Wrapped in Aluminum components.


Wrapped in French with DT shifting.


Can't beat the feel of steel!

ppg677

Awesome. Yeah, I saw that "retro roadie" thread. I tend to avoid 140-page threads :-P And a meta-point is whether people actually ride their retro Super Record equipped bikes. I'm not sure how to actually ride a 39/53 bike since I wouldn't survive any hills around here.

cbresciani

I updated my mid 90ish De Rosa Primato with modern Carbon Record Campy Components and I love it!

D1andonlyDman

I really ride my older steel Tommasini and Trek - they are my two main bikes - and I live on a steep hill and am a former Clyde. The Trek has always had wide range gearing, with a triple having a 34 small ring, and a 32 big cog - it's set up for touring including mountain climbing. But before I got into decent shape and put a bigger rear freewheel (up from 22 to 28 on the big cog, with a 42 as the small ring on my Campy SR Cranks) on my Tommasini, I couldn't ride it up my hill, so it sat unused for 2 decades. When I got back on the bikes for the first time in many years, I really couldn't ride the Tommasini but for a small fairly flat 1.2 mile loop at the very top of the hill I live on. Anyways, now that I can get up my hill on that bike, courtesy of better conditioning and the bigger cog in the back, it opened up a whole world for me as far as riding that bike is concerned.

I don't mind the friction downtube Campy shifters at all, but I can certainly see the allure of a modern drivetrain on a classic steel frame. There's a local seller on CL selling a Serotta Colorado III with a modern Ultegra drivetrain at a great price ($600 for a hand-built steel frame bike that was over $3000 new maybe 7-8 years ago) which I would have bought for sure except it's just too small for me.

4Rings6Stars

Better yet... Ribble Cycles Groupset Creator

Salubrious

If you want to stop as well on vintage brakes the GB Coureur 66s and Dynamic 88s are some of the most powerful from the classic era. They are certainly as powerful as any dual-pivot sidepulls. But they don't come cheap...

RobbieTunes

Well, we pointed you to a thread where people actually enact and discuss your topic, and show the results. Not much more we can do for you in that regard.

And yes, people actually ride their retro Super Record equipped bikes. Uh, that's kind of what C&V is about, riding the old ones, generally how they were.

39/53 has been around a long time, and people rode the hills on them, and also rode different chain rings, like compacts, etc. Don't let any of that stop you.

You have a wide range of options, from the older stuff, which requires you have to actually know how to anticipate, shift, etc to new stuff, click'n'pic shifting.

It's all affordable. If the 143 pages gets to you, start at the end and slowly go back. In my opinion, modern components make great frames better at their jobs.

gomango

It's the best thread on the forum.

@op Treat yourself in small doses and you'll get into the groove.

BTW I don't ride older SR equipped bikes so much. Just occasionally and they are just fine.

Now DA 7400 equipped is another story.

randyjawa 

I really liked the ride quality of my Cyclops...




So, I installed all modern components, dramatically improving the user friendliness of the bicycle and enhancing my enjoyment of every ride on the bicycle...



IMPORTANT consideration: Do not alter anything that cannot be undone. You just might change your mind, one day, and want to go back to the original configuration.

PhilPub

Modern components enable you to ride in comfort, brake sharply, and choose between a larger range of gears in smaller increments, with easier changes.
Classic steel frames look the business.
You can fit one on to the other.
It's a win-win all round.

D1andonlyDman

Except none of these modern cranks has anywhere near the good looks of the iconic Campy SR crankset - as the Cyclops above makes so vividly clear. I wouldn't have an issue with any of the enhancements to modern componentry other than that one.

And if you keep the original SR 53-42 chainrings, the SR rear derailleur will handle up to a 13-32 in the back, so you can still get some wider gearing even without changing that out.

Italuminium

Yep, pretty happy with my Steel+STI bike I just finished over the holidays.

But I love the feel of riding DT equiped bikes that shift with a nice chunky movement.

And I like bikes without gears, too.

PhilPub

True. I had to completely discount Shimano groups when I updated my Ron Cooper three years ago solely because all the cranks at the time were so ugly. (They've got better since, i.e. less ugly...) In the end I went with SRAM Force, which as a whole I found more aesthetically pleasing than modern Campag; even if the cranks are carbon the 5-arm spider and rings have a reasonably classic-friendly traditional shape to them.

randyjawa 

This is a preference issue, not a fact, in my opinion. Again, in my opinion, this cottered crank smokes the appearance of the (iconic?) Campy SR crank set...



I like the FSA crank set appearance a lot, even as much as the Campy one mentioned...



To that, add this... Newer nine and ten speed crank rings, require nine or ten speed chains, do they not?

mokala

Thanks for inspiring me to get my own Cyclops Randy, I also when with an upgrade to 9 speed dura ace and fancy wheels, not finished yet but it is coming along. Cyclops has to be my favorite manufacture of bicycle ever.

davester

You can do whatever you want, but you won't have a C&V bike and it won't look as good as a C&V bike, despite it being an old frame (which will aesthetically be no different from a new steel lugged frame). I think many of us like C&V because we have witnessed the downfall of aesthetics in modern bikes and wish to keep that alive.

Personally, i like some of the new stuff, but the differences in real life utility and convenience between new and old are very small (unless you're racing). Today I commuted back and forth to work on my modern brifter and dual pivot equipped Trek. The shifting is definitely a little more convenient than my down tube shifter equipped bike, but not a lot more convenient. My old Campy rear derailleur needs a bit of over shifting in certain gears but that is pretty much automatic to me now...I don't give it a second thought. I see that you've been sucked into the old wives tale of "brake calipers don't stop as quickly as a modern cheapo Tektro double-pivot set" but that's certainly not true...they just feel different due to the higher mechanical advantage. The DP brakes on my Trek are actually worse than the Superbe single pivot brakes on my Cooper, but that's because they have 2 year old Shimano pads and original cables, not high end cables and kool stop pads. Bottom line is that modern components do slightly improve on the old ones, and if you're racing then using old components would clearly make you uncompetitive in a situation where seconds count. Other than that, new components make no real life difference for the average non-racing cyclist.

Also, your comment on using a double + 12-21 makes no sense. That's a criterium gear set...vastly wider range gearing was available back in the day. A Super Record gruppo can handle a 32 tooth freewheel at least and you could always go with a Super Record triple or either get the crank arms drilled or get a triplizer to make it into a triple (that's my setup).

Camilo

I compromised by using 9 speed indexed downtube shifters on my older italian frame. I really like the change of pace using the DT shifters, I like the feel, handling and looks of the '80s Sannino frame, but I really like the range and steps of my 9 speed/compact crank set up. And I really prefer indexed shifting over friction (and I rode friction shifters from about 1972 until the mid-90s.)

The bike, aesthetically, looks suitably handsome to me in the C&V aesthetic, but enjoys what I feel are true and worthwhile modern improvements.

Barchettaman

+1, although I have enjoyed riding my Velo Cheapo entry with its DT shifters over the last month or two.

one important point is that even cheap modern components perform absolutely superbly. There's no need to go up the groupset food chain, modern Sora - particularly with a cable and housing upgrade to teflon coated inners, Kevlar outers - shifts wonderfully. 9-speed Sora is on my Merckx grail bike.

Having said that, the prices of 11-speed Shimano 105 groupsets mean that is probably isn't going to stay 9-speed for very long. That stuff is absolutely insane value from the UK sellers (Merlin).

I'm a mess of contradictions this morning.

72Paramount

If you change brake pads and cables those that's fine. If you start throwing 105, sora, Altus etc on a vintage frame, you are definitely not C&V. Would you rather be the guy at the lowrider car show on new big rims and a matching chain steering wheel, or the guy at the concourse show with a 100% correct example of what his vehicle was meant to be. #timelessvsfrankenbike