Originally Posted by
chrisleusa
Any of you are riding a vintage bike full time? I am restoring a Peugeot bike and plan to use it for the long rides on the weekend but not sure if I'll be able to keep up with the group just because it's an older bike and heavier.
I am currently riding a Cervelo carbon bike and my rides are around 50 miles with 2k elevation gain.
I don't think older and heavier is gonna matter.
If you've got nice wheels, good bearings, and $$ tires you're gonna roll as fast.
Imo the major potential drawback is that fitting the bike can be more difficult. If you can work out a comfortable fit for the distance you ride then perfect.
The other major two drawbacks on vintage bikes are brakes and gearing. I prefer a 12-32 7 speed sram cassette on classic bikes with std chainsets, or, a triple. Modern road gearing is very wide. You will suffer on hills if you don't have nice low gears, especially as a carbon roadie is better to throw around.
I did some big hill rides with a roadie a while ago who had Sram Red but with only a 11-25 cassette, and std rings, and he was suffering. His bike being light/stiff didn't really matter cos he ran out of gears.
Nothing stopping you putting a set of shiny silver ultegra dual pivots on and having good brakes. Good pads and careful setup is enough but I would just go full pragmatic. If your brakes are marginal you're gonna freak out anyone you ride with.
Also be realistic. Is it a high spec peugeot? If it's just some basic thing with cool paint like 99% then I wouldn't put it in the fire to keep you up there on group rides.