Cutting to the chase here: I have a mish-mashed but good 1988 Schwinn Prelude that does alright at what I need (mostly, a hilly 4 mile commute)...but should I just finish the upgrades and be happy with it, or is the latest stuff (I'm thinking something like a Specialized Diverge, since gravel seems really intriguing) really going to be worth it?
For some more detail...
I got the Prelude off eBay when I was in college about 10 years ago to replace a bike that was just stolen. After getting my flashy bike stolen, my top priority was getting something ugly and rusty but quick for jaunts around campus. This rust bucket did the trick, and felt pretty nice while it was at it. At that time, pretty much all components were stock. ("Stock" parts, for your reference
here)
In the years since, I made a couple admittedly mish-mashed upgrades (basically buying things when they were cheap on eBay) that make it pretty pleasant to ride now, which to me is basically a hilly 4 mile commute:
- Built a wheelset from vintage Dura-Ace 7400 hubs (laced to Mavic Open CDs in front and Matrix ISO C-II "semi-deep" rims)
- Dura-Ace 12-23T 7 speed freewheel
- Ultegra BR-6500 dual pivot brakes
- Shimano 105 rear derailleur RD-1051 (circa 1989)
- Shimano 105 brake levers BL-1051 (circa 1989)
- New bottom bracket
- Removed front derailleur, left 42T chainring
- SPD M520 pedals (not shown in picture below)
- Vittoria Rubino Pro IV (changed from Gatorskins in picture below)
I bathroom-scale weighed this setup (without rear rack) the other day and it checks it around 23.5 lbs. Some of the last things I'd thought about upgrading were better-fitting cranks of the vintage Shimano 600/Ultegra sort, maybe the rear derailleur for vintage Ultegra, and changing out the rear cluster to get 28T.
This setup mostly works well, but some of the bumpy pavement on fast descents into work make me feel like my hands could bounce off the levers, I can feel my hands getting tired trying to brake on fast turns, and on the climbs I can definitely still feel it...that and some not-too-sporty-looking dude on his hybrid bike had me pretty well beat on one of the hills to work, which got me thinking...have bikes really come that far in the last three decades?
Some of the modern alternatives I've been looking into are on the "road-with-some-gravel" types for comfort on my commute, but still fast enough and with options for future bikepacking...Specialized Diverge, Canyon Grail, Giant Revolt Advanced. Depending on the setup, some of these bikes aren't THAT much lighter than my current rig (around 21-22 lbs), which definitely makes me wonder if I'm really missing anything for a $2000+ investment. However, I know braking has gotten much better (esp. disk), frames are stiffer (I guess?), lots more gears, etc.
So am I actually missing out on something?
And will I finally beat that guy on the ride into work?!