bitt3n

I'm taking a trip to France this summer and figured I'd pick up a used bike locally and do the Pyrenees. I've done the same thing with the French Alps (90's Colnago Decor) and the Italian Alps (early 2000's De Rosa) on prior summers, but never with a bike this old. The trip would be about 800km with 16km vertical climbing from Cerbere to Hendaye. This is a San Cristobal frame with Mavic rims and I think Victory(?) cranks. I don't know enough about classic bikes to identify the other parts. It's only got 5 sprockets on the freewheel (so I'm told, I can't count them in that pic), which strikes me as suboptimal for this much climbing. I suppose technically I could bring my own freewheel... FWIW I am 165 pounds and I'd be swapping out the pedals for clipless. Is this purest folly?

Chrome Molly

The bike would probably be fine. I don't think I'd try to pull that gearing up those hills myself though.

bitt3n

Is there any major benefit to swapping out the freewheel over just putting on a smaller small chainring? Given I can do the latter with just an allen key and it would be lighter, that would save a bit of hassle. Also I'm wondering if it's possible to ID the rest of the groupset... I've read that Victory brakes aren't that great, but I've never used them myself.

repechage

Depending on your fitness level and the gearing you are used to, that crank will accept a 38t inner ring, they are available as reproductions, I might do that and otherwise just look at the typical stuff.

cb400bill

Even though you are riding in the Pyrenees, I believe the term "Alpine Gearing" is what you're going to need. I know it is what I would need.

And, I would need an oxygen tank.

repechage

I think Victory is fine. The brakes are not as good as dual pivots, I am sure could benefit from fresh brake pads. Look at a gear chart to consider what you need. I have two bikes with a 40t inner and the reduction of just 2 teeth I think makes a nice difference. It's not a triple, but it helps.

Sir_Name 

The bike will make it - sure is pretty. Whether or not you will depends on fitness and gearing as all have said.

One benefit to changing out the freewheel would be to jump from 5 to Ultra 6 or Ultra 7 depending on spacing. If it were me I'd change chainrings as well. Sounds like a great trip, enjoy.

D1andonlyDman

It's a perfectly good older bike, but it does not have gearing that is optimized for mountain riding. If I were riding the Pyrenees, I'd want something with a small chainring in front (36 T or smaller), and a big cog in the back (something like a 32T biggest cog). And that would probably also require a longer cage rear derailleur than the one that's on there now. But that's me, and I'm 55 years old.

Also, can we assume you're talking about a supported ride - with a car/van to carry your luggage?

jimmuller 

Would "5 sprockets" really be suboptimal? Not necessarily of you lowered the gearing. You don't actually need to spin away when you are flying downhill.

Were it me going, I'd shrink the chainrings as far as the crank would let me (which still wouldn't be far enough) and swap FW too. It is less weight than leaving everything big and you can go as low as you like within the RD's range.

I believe I could do that trip but it would take me a looooong time.

TickDoc

No, but that gearing (and bike) would work great for me where I live :-)

davester

The bike'll be fine. The gearing not. That Campy Victory can take a 30T max cog size so I'd get at least a 13-28 freewheel to take with me and perhaps drop by a bike shop and have it changed out shortly after arriving. I would also pick up some new brake pads. When I was younger I did loaded touring all through the Alps with a 52-42 and 14-28. I wouldn't do that now (I'm over 60), but if you're younger and in decent shape and are not carrying all of your camping gear on the bike it should be perfectly doable to ride that bike.

Henry III

There's a couple NOS 135 BCD triplizer setups on ebay for extremely cheap. I would honestly go that route because that gearing looks pretty low to be doing much climbing without getting an anuerizium. Lol. Besides that the rest of the bikes looks worthy.

CMAW 

You know what gearing you need, since you done this before. The Pyrennees tend to present slightly higher percentages than the French Alps, depending on the route you choose of course. It usually gets hotter there as well, might be a factor to reckon with. I'd go for 6 or even 7 sprockets, if you can fit them in. For what it's worth, I just returned from a week of cycling in the Vaucluse, where I had to settle for a compact 34/26 on a 8 speed 90ies bike. I very much wanted to bring my early 80ies Peugeot (with a 7 speed cluster), more or less the same vintage as your Ciöcc I suppose, but the 42/28 combination would have killed me uphill.

John Nolan 

I'm not clear: is there a reason it has to be this bike? It sure looks like a nice one, just not, perhaps, ideal for this purpose. You might want to get something you don't have to futz with.

Of course, and Cmaw suggests, if you know that this will work for you...

randyjawa 

I recently rode a little under 3000 km on this early eighties Canadian made Peugeot Course...



The riding took place in Jamaica, which offered horrible potholed roads, nothing but hills (some pretty darn steep) and, of course, a host of moving obstacles (cows, dogs, goats, chickens, young Jamaican men driving anything, etc). The results...

At first, the bicycle, wheels in particular, suffered badly. But I learned how to ride the conditions and then, with the exception of two flat tires, not one other mechanical problem. So...

Yes the bike the OP is suggesting will work for the intended function. It is not the best choice, in my opinion, but done right, it will offer the best bang for the buck(I loved the challenge of learning how to use my vintage road bicycle in trying terraine - and I got fit even though I did not spend a lot of time going fast). I would, however, seek out a wider range cog set, even if you are fit. But there is another question that should be addressed, in this instance...

Is the rider capable of maintaining a fragile bike, like the one he has, on a long journey?



This is an important question to ask and answer! In my case, the closest bike shop was over twenty miles away, and not exactly what most of us would be used to...

Giacomo 1 

I'm guessing that your in pretty good shape to take on a ride like this, and at 165lbs., your probably a good climber to, so I think you would do well with that pretty Ciocc. To be safe though, moving it up to a 7 speed would be the ticket to be on the safe side.

But when you think about it, bikes like this were all we had back in the day, and guys did rides like this all the time on them. Goodness, when I look at the bike guys like Coppi and Bartali dueled up the Alps and Pyranees with, this CIOCC is downright extravagant with all those gears!

Blue Belly

If in solid mechanical condition you should only need to bring your fitness.

jyl

Bring a smaller chainring and a wide range Ultra 6 freewheel, have them and new brake pads installed by a local bike shop, mail the original parts home, and have a great ride!

Spaghetti Legs 

I think the Victory crank can take as small as a 35 or 36 tooth chainring. I would bring that and a 6 speed 28 tooth freewheel. I would feel confident hauling my 165# around the mountains with that.

Nice looking bike.

bitt3n

When I did the Italian and French Alps I just brought tools and food in a messenger bag and stayed in hostels/hotels, so I figured I'll just do that again. I'm going to be traveling elsewhere in Europe prior to this on a sailboat, which will mean I won't be able to bring much luggage anyway. I was thinking maybe I'll bring a super-light tent, but I wasn't planning on it.

It doesn't have to be this bike necessarily, but it has to be something I can afford, that I can resell at not much loss (since shipping home is quite expensive), that can be delivered to my starting point by July 3rd, and that is the right size. From prior experience, renting a fairly low-end road bike for a couple of weeks costs roughly the same as buying a used bike (which can then be resold on eBay, although the De Rosa I bought turned out to be a catastrophe as you can see in pics in this thread). Bringing a new inner chainring and a different freewheel wouldn't be optimal but it's doable if I don't find a better option. This bike just happens to be available and fit the criteria (and it looks cool). It might be that a better option comes up but I don't want to wait too long and risk not finding something in time.

I can do simple maintenance like fix a chain, but if something goes wrong with the bottom bracket or hubs I will not be able to fix this on the road, you are right.

Slash5

I'd take a compact crank and BB, 13-28 freewheel with me to have installed.

bitt3n

looks like I can take it for $600 USD plus shipping from Austria to France.. supposedly the rubber is all new, so after I swap out a few drivetrain parts total cost is maybe $675... Looks like there are no braze ons for a second water bottle so I'd have to kludge something together. I think maybe I'm overpaying a bit but I've only got about a week to shop around... Any last minute advice or words of warning before I go through with it?

a couple of other options I could do:

Colnago C94 Road Race Bike Campagnolo | eBay

or, a bit pricier, but with somewhat more modern Dura Ace

Pinarello Paris Rennrad Racebike Shimano Dura Ace Gruppe Mavic CXP 30 Laufräder | eBay

bikecrate

Your question reminds me of this book review I just read where the author retraces the 1914 Giro de Italia on an 1914 bike.

Gironimo! Riding The Very Terrible 1914 Tour Of Italy

https://www.amazon.com/Gironimo-Ridin.../dp/0224092073

bitt3n

My goal is to ride the Alps/Pyrenees every year on successively older bikes until I'm 100 years old and assaulting the Alpe d'Huez on a penny farthing.

bikecrate