Originally Posted by
Charles Wahl
Does Campy or that other stuff work with the Maillard/Stronglight/GB vibe you have going? It's true that the English were preternaturally eclectic about outfitting bikes, especially before the "gruppo" era.
Well, my thoughts were, what would I have upgraded first? The only thing I do know is that it had a Stronglight crank, and six speed Shimano.
If you're leaning to Campy, the Victory line was introduced in 1985 or 1986, I think -- to me that would be the perfect set for a "club racer" bike. The pieces I've seen or own have a finish equal to NR or SR. White brake hoods, and I think that the stuff is reasonable on eBay, compared to NR/SR.
I just remembered, I have a new set of Victory shifters. so thats one point for at least a partial Victory build.
Other choices you might consider, that a lot of mid-80s "English" bikes seem to have on them, are Suntour Cyclone, or Shimano 600 New EX. Like Bob Jacksons. A fair number of these seem to have Sugino Mighty cranksets, rather than the usual Campy NR.
Think, as much as I love Suntour, I'm going to avoid any non Euro parts on this one.