canklecat

Try some good 700x23 tires. That's the sweet spot on my '89 Ironman Expert with the original Araya CTL-370 rims. So far the best I've ridden are old stock Schwalbe One V-Guards in 700x23. Sweet tires for the money, fast and tough without going overboard into lead filled garden hose tires like Gatorskins. If you shop around you can still find new unsold old stock Schwalbe One V-Guards for around $30.

After one of those Schwalbes was sliced up by razor sharp shards of broken slate I tried 700x25 Continental Ultra Sport 2. Not bad tires for the money but the 700x25 size ruined the handling. They felt squirmy on fast turns no matter what pressure I tried. I kept the 700x25 Conti on the rear but swapped the front back to the 700x23 Schwalbe One V-Guard since it was still in good shape (only the rear was sliced up by the slate). Perfect combo. Just a bit more cushy in the rear, while the front tracks like it's on rails again, very stable and secure feeling.

While the Conti Ultra Sport 2 lack any puncture shield they've been remarkably tough. Only one puncture so far, last week when I couldn't avoid a mess of freshly broken glass (common around here with drunks leaving the many roadside bars and strip joints). Just barely punctured the tire and tube, no real damage. Not bad tires for around $15 each. However they're a beast to mount the first time so buy a Kool Stop tire bead jack to go with any new Continental road bike tires -- the Kool Stop bead jack costs about $12 and is well worth it. I stash it in my jersey pocket on every ride, including group rides just to make tire changes quicker for everyone. It's just rigid, lightweight plastic and works really well. However I noticed the second or third time I remounted the Conti Ultra Sport 2 I could almost do it with just my hands, so maybe with a little wear the excess rubber over the folding bead scrubs down just enough to make it less of a PITA to mount. I doubt the folding bead actually stretches, so I'm just guessing the excess rubber over the bead wears down just a bit.

Incidentally, a few months ago I wrote about feeling some excess drive train tension in my '89 Ironman Expert with the Suntour GPX group. I did lots of experimenting and finally tracked it down to the rear derailleur. Way too much tension in the cage housing pivot spring. I disassembled the RD to switch the spring to the secondary locating hole... and there wasn't one! Most RDs I've disassembled had either two locating holes for pivot springs, or a sort of ratcheted interface with multiple positions available. But not the GPX RD.

So I bought a good used old style Shimano 600 rear derailleur (probably originally on a 5 or 6 speed freewheel, but worked on my 7-speed with only a few adjustments). Since I had to disassemble that Shimano 600 for cleaning and lubing anyway I went ahead and set the pivot spring to the lesser tension locating hole. Now it's perfect. Shifts smoothly, pedals far more smoothly and doesn't feel like I'm fighting the bike. Before it felt like riding with the brake pads rubbing on the rims, or something dragged against the rear wheel. Now it's smooth and my overall speed has improved on routes I ride often enough to feel the difference in various conditions. On one particular 20 mile roller coaster segment where I'd struggled all last year to average 16 mph, I could now average a little faster than 17 mph even on windy days.

To make the Shimano 600 compatible I switched from indexed to friction shifting. Took a few rides to get comfortable with it again but now I prefer the friction shifting mode. Less noisy (index shifting with the GPX RD emits a loud clunk) too.

Eventually I'll drill a second hole for the cage pivot spring for reduced tension and try the GPX RD again.

BTW, that also looks like the original Suntour chain on your bike. When you decide to replace it the KMC Z-72 works fine. I rotate a pair of identical Z-72 chains with KMC Missing Link quick links, both waxed using a little crock pot filled with Gulf wax/paraffin. I swap 'em about once a month or every 400 miles or so. Much cleaner since I keep the bikes inside and the cats rub against them. And I've been experimenting with Boeshield T-9, which seems compatible with the waxed chains (I think T-9 uses naptha as a solvent with paraffin). Takes very little T-9 and still runs cleaner than other wet lubes. But T-9 doesn't last long per treatment so I'll need to refresh it every week or two weeks.

Boeshield T-9 is also a great cable lube. I'm still using the original cables and housings that came with my Ironman. Drizzling in some T-9 and working the cables back and forth inside the housings restored the smoothness.

But after getting clobbered by a car last week which dislocated my shoulder I'll be off the bike for awhile, so this may be my best chance at redoing the entire bike. So far I've only redone the hubs but not the bottom bracket and headset. And I probably should replace all the cables and housings, although they seem to be in good shape and work fine after using T-9. And I've partially trued the rear rim but there's still a little hop, so I should do that while I'm recovering from the shoulder injury. Right now I can barely use my right arm, though.