Originally Posted by Rabid Koala
Kurt, I did a little experimenting today. I switched wheels with attached freewheels on the Gitane today and the skipping was worse than ever. I took a chain off another bike that I am taking apart and put it on the Gitane and no skipping at all. I think the Sachs chain is perhaps manufactured to too tight a tolerance and needs to be broken in a bit somewhere else. The substituted chain is also a Sachs, but with about 600 miles on it. Maybe a worn freewheel needs a slightly worn chain. I do know the Simplex Criterium isn't so good about chain wrap.
I got a suitable set of clincher wheels on the Paramount and took a quick run up and down the block. It shifted perfectly and felt great. The 1971 vintage Weinmann pads were about as good as nothing at all. When I get my Kool Stop Continentals I will ride it a bit more. Still need to clean everything and overhaul headset and BB. I took the original sew ups off the Weinmann wood filled rims and noticed that there was no tread wear at all. Both tires matched and appeared to be original, so I think this one didn't get out very much.
Well, it looks as if I'll probably switch everything to Regina Oro when I get a chance. Looks as if the Sachs chain isn't as compatible with Suntour freewheels as Sedis chains are.
Weinmann pads easily become nothing if they're allowed to dry. I've tried NOS Weinmann pads before with impressive results though - even on steel rims when using Weinmann 999s.
Originally Posted by sykerocker
Back in 1972, I was buying Campagnolo because it was the best, but my understanding of that was more on snob value than actual mechanical appreciation. Riding my Raleigh has shown me just how much better Campagnolo was over anything else, until the Japanese stuff started showing up on the market.
In the past month, putting just shy of 400 miles on my Gitane Tour de France (Simplex Criterium) has: a. reiterated the superiority of period Campagnolo, b. snatched the rose-colored glasses from my memory regarding Simplex, and c. had me really aghast as to what crap we considered not only acceptable, but good, 35 years ago.
I couldn't agree with you more. Since I got my hands on that Triomphe gruppo, I won't ride anything but Campagnolo - not for the snob factor, but because it truly is superior.
I still have my doubts about Suntour or Shimano surpassing Campagnolo though. Perhaps in the field of index shifting VS. Syncro, but I've yet to use a rear mech by either of these companies that beats Campanolo's friction systems.
True, Suntour was one of the first to manufacture quality drivetrains for entry level machines, but these parts are pretty much on the same level as Simplex Prestige - with the difference being that Suntour doesn't explode/disentigrate/tear off/fall apart/crack/you-name-it after 1500 miles or 6 months, whichever comes first. (Anything to rile up the Francophiles!)
Oh, I wouldn't say that the "crap-considered-good" syndrome hasn't been eliminated. Don't get me started on Shimano's current low-to-mid-range gruppos.
For that matter, their high-end stuff isn't too hot either - I wasted about three hours trying to make the 8-speed Shimano 600 (the tri-color gruppo) derailer and brand-new Shimano barcons on my Peugeot PSV-10 shift properly on a nearly new 8-speed HG cassette I just bought off of eBay. This Hyperglide stuff is too precise to be practical - it either doesn't shift up on one specific cog, or it doesn't shift down on another. No amount of fine tuning the adjuster barrel helps, and the spacing between each cog on the cassette measures exactly 3mm by my caliper. Junk under the disguise of "technology."
-Kurt