I have begun to restore my circa 1989 Park Pre. I'm bound to benefit from feedback along the way, so I'm starting this thread to track my progress and pose the occasional question.
A set of matching Park Pre bikes were provided to the junior Conejo Velo Club team (based in Thousand Oaks, CA) when Park Pre began its sponsorship of the team. Each rider had a chance to provide measurements and input to the framebuilder before the frames were built. The frame is fairly light, and has nice quick geometry. The frame is made of Tange Prestige II tubing. The seatcluster is interesting in that is appears to be a combination of traditional lug with filed, TIG'd seatstays(?). It was originally equiped with a Shimano 105 group--though, at the time, I replaced most of the 105 parts with various Mavic & Campy parts I already owned (with confessed Euro-snobbery). I traded or gave away most of the original 105 parts to my teamates, and subsequently stripped many of the Campy & Mavic parts off the Park Pre in the process of
restoring my LOOK. So now I've decided to clean up the stripped Park Pre frame and rebuild with a 7-speed Dura Ace 74XX group that I have cobbled together.
Let me be the first to say that I dislike the paint job. I prefer classic, elegant aesthetics--say, of a vintage chrome-lugged Cinelli with nice patina--but this frame does hold a lot of nostalgia for me and I prefer to keep it in it's original form to preserve the history I associate with my racing years (I stopped racing/riding when I went away to college). Its flamboyancy may also serve to scare away prospective bike thieves. So, I will not be offended if you don't care for the flashy 80s neon pink splatter/fade paint job either.
So, without further ado, here are a few before photos:
(WTB note: I am still on the lookout for a nice wheelset with DA 7400 hubs, ideally with 7-speed DA freewheel, if anyone has a set they care to sell. Open to either clinchers or tubulars. I know it's a long shot, but, as with garage sales, you have to ask...EDIT: FOUND.)