Originally Posted by
UCSD1989
I thought I'd start this with a bit of background.
In late 88 I was on the cycling team during my sophomore year of college at UCSD. When I joined the team I was riding an 85 Peugeot touring bike that I had bought new while I was living as a military brat in Germany. While the Peugeot was a nice bike, it wasn't really up to the job of being a racing bike. I started looking at a local bike shop in San Diego. Most of my friends then were riding Cannondales. I test rode one in my price range, but it felt soft and didn't seem to handle well. It could have been the frame geometry but I attributed it at the time to the aluminum frame. I then test rode the Ironman and was immediately impressed. It helped that with the Ironman I got Shimano 600 Ultegra instead of 105 series hardware.
Anyway, I rode it for my one season on the team, and while the bike was good I was still slow! :-) I continued to ride it after leaving the team, and rode it almost daily back and forth from my Dad's house to my law school campus downtown. After graduating law school, I immediately got married and moved to Hawaii and didn't bring the bike with me. It gathered dust in my in-laws' garage until I finally got it back about 5 years later when I moved to Arizona. Once I got to Arizona, I brought it out about once. The rest of the time it hung in my garage, suffering through year after year of 100+ garage temps during the Arizona summers.
A couple years ago I got the idea to get back on my bike as a means to get in shape. By then I had moved to a new house. The bike was dusty and tired and I knew it would need to be cleaned, lubricated and to have new tires, at the least, to make it road worthy again. Meanwhile, though I thought I had kept my Shimano hard soled racing shoes, I couldn't find them. Also, I had gotten used to the SPD pedals on my Yokota Twin Peaks, and decided that I wanted to get new shoes and "Look" style pedals that would be period correct, rather than continue to use the original "clipless" pedals with the Shimano cleats and toe straps.
I finally started to clean and look at the bike closely. After buying new tires and tubes I put the wheels back and and pedaled it. I could feel some drag and figured it was the bottom bracket. So began the idea of doing a mechanical restoration. I got a work bench mounted bike stand and mounted and started to tear it down, assess what I needed and hunt for parts. The seat was worn and dried out, and the handlebar tape worn as well. I managed to find OEM versions of both (the tape is NOS).
While the paint is mostly good, after pulling off the front derailleur, it became apparent that the pearl white paint was no longer truly white. From my research it appears that the paint used on these bikes was high quality, and presumably car paint. I have a friend that runs a production body repair shop who offered to repaint it, but (a) it's only original once, and (b) I'm not sure how or whether I could recreate the decals. Beyond the yellowing, there are numerous chips, particularly along the bottom of the frame in the white areas. My current thinking (and I'm open to suggestions) is to find some pearl paint and see if I can fill the chips, and then hit the rest with polishing compound to see if I can get the yellow out.
During my tear down I discovered the bottom bracket wasn't dragging, after all. Instead it was one of the jockey wheels. Apparently 600 Ultegra specific jockey wheels are unobtanium now, so I ordered some expensive Teflon replacements. The BB uses un-caged bearings, which apparently are preferred. So I ordered a kit of bearings off of Amazon that has both the sizes for the BB and for the headset.
At some point in the process I took apart the crankset, and didn't take a pic ahead of time. Now I'm not entirely sure how the small and large chainrings go in relation to each other. This being a biopace, I believe there is a specific right way they go together, and how the align with the crankarm. I am looking for help here, too.
I also bought new white cable sheaths and new cables.
The aero hoods are NLA and I have yet to find any NOS OEM versions. There are similar Shimano styles available new, but apparently they aren't a good fit. Mine are a bit oily and ugly, and they're also gummy. I've read that you can clean them up well and then put talc or the like on them to take away the gummy feel.
Beyond all of that, I cannot seem to get the pedals off of the crank arms. I just cannot seem to get them to break loose. So, I'm looking for help on this, too.
I will post photos once I figure out how to get them uploaded in a way that this forum will accept.
I'll work my way up, as it's easier when viewing the original post.
1-The leverage provided by a pedal wrench cannot be discounted. Most shops have them, and they can be bought for $15-$20. The key to them is a sharp, accurate 15mm opening (too big rounds off the pedal part), and a long arm, for leverage. Remember, they unscrew in the opposite manner of the pedal rotation, so on the R side, counterclockwise, and on the L side, clockwise.
2-The hoods are available, eBay has them quite often, the search is just a bit tedious. A lot depends on whether you want black or white, but the 6400 SLR hoods that were on the bike as OEM are out there. Another suggestion is to find a set of levers with hoods, and swap over the hoods, or just use the other set of levers/hoods. On white, mild soap (like bar soap) and a Magic Eraser or generic equivalent will be fine. If they get gummy, that's a pretty much "set" situation, but can be alleviated with Armor-All protectant, talc, and other stuff that doesn't deteriorate the rubber compound in the hood.
3-Ok, you're set on the cables/housings. Sheath is a little creepy.
4-There should be a small "spike" on the large chainring that goes under the R crank arm. If not, look for markings or an indicator tab on the chainring, like a pointer. There should be one on the inner chainring. Since this is a friction L shifter, you can mount the inner ring any way you want, as long as it lines up correctly. There is no inside out. We used to wear out the teeth a bit, then turn them inside out.
5-Bearings, if the right size, are bearings, so clean the BB cups, use good fresh grease, and simply repack and adjust them.
6-As far as the jockey wheels, they're not "generic," but close. The "wobbly" wheel should be on the bottom of the RD. (I think). Slick 50's "1-Lube" is a good lube for those brass/plastic sleeves. It is a lube, not a solvent, so be careful, you'll have to really clean your hands after using it. I use it for all pivot points on components, and inside my cable housings. For shifter cable, I spray some on a rag and run the cable through it. Messy but works.
7-You won't get a lot of the yellowing out of that pearl clear coat. Rubbing compound will not do it. Wash the frame with soap and water, but remember, detergents are hard on good finish. I often spend at least an hour on a bare frame and fork, liberally applying WD40 and then rubbing the frame hard. You'd be surprised that what appear to be paint defects are just stuck foreign materials.
8-VeloCals has the decals for your model. The frame stickers are separate, on top of the clear coat. The decals are under the clear coat.
8-Saddles, like their contact with you, are personal. While the brand spec'd a Turbo, ride what is comfortable and works.
Lastly, but firstly, in the order I'm doing this...Welcome to Bike Forums. There is a particular kind of crazy here.