Originally Posted by
pirate
do yourself a favor and take those wheels to a reputable shop and have a mechanic give them a once-over to make sure they are properly tensioned, it will probably save you some trouble down the line.
pirate; good advice... I've done some basic wheel truing so I can do a sanity check when I get them, but just like with any "new" bike you have to tune it up after a couple hundred miles and I plan to have a real mechanic do it.
Originally Posted by
Landgolier
I have one of those bikes, they're great frames and the paint is wonderful.
Part of the reason the bike is still very heavy is that they equipped them with steel cranks and huge pedals with basically as much unnecessary metal on them as possible. The cranks are kind of hilarious, I always try to make people from the Sugino 75 mafia who think any crank under $200 has too much flex ride them around for a while and then reconsider their opinion. Swapping them out for Al cranks and sane pedals will drop a ton of weight. An Al seat post and bars will also drop a lot of weight off of the bike. I don't remember what size seatpost it takes, but it's probably something pretty standard. Also can't remember if stem is for 25.4 or 26.0 bars, but keep that in mind when you replace them. The saddle is not really that valuable even in good shape, but it's not terrible and it's not excessively heavy, it would be fine for a beater if you like how it feels. You could drop a little weight there, but I think when you get those rebar cranks and brick pedals off you won't be as worried about counting ounces.
Landgolier: You aren't kidding about those cranks! GEEZ! I took them off the other day and I couldn't believe how heavy they were.. (they are already on my other beater bike whose cranks conveniently kicked it just the other day)
I just took a ride on the bike; the first decently long ride, and let me tell you I hate that seat. Comfort wise it isn't bad, but every time I hit a bump the thing creaks like the dickens.