3speedslow

It looks like it was meant to be that way. Are you going to re-wax the bag after the cleaning?

Like the Grandfather connection to it.

AustinFitz

Thanks! I like the family connection to it as well. The initials on the bag are his (Alton Eugene Fitzmorris) and after talking to my mom about it I learned that my grandmother embroidered his initials on it herself. Lucky for me I have the same first and last initials as my grandfather, so that kinda works out! My middle name is actually Alton after him.

I was just thinking about how to care for the bag last night. I currently don't have any experience with vintage canvas bags, and I'm not exactly sure how to go about cleaning and waxing it. I definitely want to do something to protect it from the elements though as I do plan to use it regularly.

I'm going to do some research on the subject today, but if anyone has any tips or tricks I'd love to hear them! So far I was just thinking about hand washing it in the bathtub with a good dish soap, and some soft to medium brushes, and then letting it air dry... I'm not sure if I should get it completely soaked though, so I figured I'd research it before doing anything.

AustinFitz

REALLY glad I decided to keep that "dork disc" on my rear wheel!!! Went for a ride yesterday and rode to the very end of my dead end road. There's a long downhill stretch that dead ends at a gate. I normally turn around before going down the hill, but this time I rode all the way down to the gate coasting down the hill, and forgetting to shift to an easier gear before reaching the gate and having turn around to come back up...

So as I'm turning around and starting to pedal uphill from a near dead stop I instantly realized I needed to shift up to my biggest rear cog (I was on the smallest) to get some momentum going to get up the hill, and quickly!

I grabbed a hand full of shifter and cranked it back (probably too much too fast) while under near full power trying to get moving... Not the best way to shift this thing I know, but that's what I did in a moment of panic

The chain started to jump up the cogs like crazy roughly skipping a few in the process, and right as it was jumping up to the biggest cog I rolled over a fat stick that was laying in the road. I was too busy trying to shift and not fall over to be looking out for it at that moment, and in an event of terrible timing the jolt from running over the stick caused the chain to skate right over the biggest cog and down into the gap between the freewheel and the dork disc.

I was still putting in a good bit of power as this happened and spun the cranks around at least one good time with the chain down in the gap...

I stopped to assess the damage and was happy to see there wasn't any! Thanks to the dork disc nothing was broken, and I easily pulled the chain out of the gap, put it back on the cog, and away I went!

Upon returning home I did decide to check the limit screw on my derailleur just to make sure that wasn't the cause. It seemed to be in proper adjustment, and I couldn't get it to overshift past the biggest cog again like it had out on the road. I went ahead and gave it a tiny little turn anyway though just to be safe and hopefully prevent that from happening again.

I'll definitely be keeping the dork disc on this bike, and after that experience I'll probably put one on any future bikes I build too. I guess that makes me a dork?? Oh well. I've never really concerned myself too much with what anyone else thinks of me anyways

AustinFitz

Since the '84 Elite GT has steadily been putting on weight with all the bags and different accessories I've been adding, I decided that was a good enough excuse to give in to the n+1

Just got home from a 3 hour round trip picking it up. Meet my latest addition, a 1985 Ironman!

Kevindale

Nice! Great looking bike, looks like it was owned by someone who gave a damn about it. Excellent complement to the Elite GT.

AustinFitz

Thank you! It was definitely taken care of. The guy I bought it from was actually the original owner who had purchased it brand new!

AustinFitz

That was good advice!!!

Junkboyjude

welcome !!! cool bike !!! you are just like me !!! im in the middle of restoring my first vintage bike as well. lemme guess ??? you are unmarried ?? your bike is stripped down on a white (whitish) sheet in the living room ? same as mine ! lol

AustinFitz

Haha thanks! I am unmarried, but I do have a live in girlfriend. My bike definitely spent some time on a grease stained sheet on my living room floor, but I got it all put back together and on the road months ago. I started this thread when I found the bike late last year. I've been riding it all over the place, and I've since fallen in love with the Centurion brand. In fact I just picked up my second Centurion project yesterday! Here are a couple of pics. The second one is yesterday's score

jetboy 

I meant the cool pedal stand! you went and got the whole bike...

AustinFitz

Oops! My mistake. I misunderstood you

Oh well! I now have a big cushy Cadillac, and a fast nimble sports car... I couldn't be happier



I still need to give it a proper cleaning, but I removed all of the old computer wiring from the previous owner, rerouted the front brake cable for aesthetic reasons, made some fit adjustments, then did a quick tune up and took her out for a few miles this morning. I absolutely LOVE it! This thing is a rocket!

Bicycle Addict

[QUOTE=AustinFitz;19606146]REALLY glad I decided to keep that "dork disc" on my rear wheel!!! Went for a ride yesterday and rode to the very end of my dead end road. There's a long downhill stretch that dead ends at a gate. I normally turn around before going down the hill, but this time I rode all the way down to the gate coasting down the hill, and forgetting to shift to an easier gear before reaching the gate and having turn around to come back up...

So as I'm turning around and starting to pedal uphill from a near dead stop I instantly realized I needed to shift up to my biggest rear cog (I was on the smallest) to get some momentum going to get up the hill, and quickly!

I grabbed a hand full of shifter and cranked it back (probably too much too fast) while under near full power trying to get moving... Not the best way to shift this thing I know, but that's what I did in a moment of panic

The chain started to jump up the cogs like crazy roughly skipping a few in the process, and right as it was jumping up to the biggest cog I rolled over a fat stick that was laying in the road. I was too busy trying to shift and not fall over to be looking out for it at that moment, and in an event of terrible timing the jolt from running over the stick caused the chain to skate right over the biggest cog and down into the gap between the freewheel and the dork disc.

I was still putting in a good bit of power as this happened and spun the cranks around at least one good time with the chain down in the gap...

I stopped to assess the damage and was happy to see there wasn't any! Thanks to the dork disc nothing was broken, and I easily pulled the chain out of the gap, put it back on the cog, and away I went!

Upon returning home I did decide to check the limit screw on my derailleur just to make sure that wasn't the cause. It seemed to be in proper adjustment, and I couldn't get it to overshift past the biggest cog again like it had out on the road. I went ahead and gave it a tiny little turn anyway though just to be safe and hopefully prevent that from happening again.

I'll definitely be keeping the dork disc on this bike, and after that experience I'll probably put one on any future bikes I build too. I guess that makes me a dork?? Oh well. I've never really concerned myself too much with what anyone else thinks of me anyways [/QUOTE


Thought I recognised this bike, then I realised you came over to my FB page from the D21 page!
Small world man.

Loving the bike and it's bags, cool that you have something of your Grandfathers to go with your hobby.

AustinFitz

Thanks man! Small world indeed lol. I often wonder how many people from my minitruck and vintage bmx groups are also into C&V road bikes, and frequent this forum. I just got into them late last year and haven't been a member here too long, but I don't see myself burning out on them anytime soon!

AustinFitz

Few small updates on my beloved Elite GT. Finally got around to ordering some new bar tape!!! I decided to give this Fizik Honey Brown tape a try. I'm hoping it matches my saddle ok. I like a big cushy handlebar, so I may even just tightly wrap it over the existing foam. I thought about going with the Brooks microfiber, but I've heard that the blue padding they use on the back shows through the perforations once wrapped (I've also heard it doesn't), and it was a bit more expensive too. I figured I'd play it cheap and safe with the Fizik.



I also switched out the stamped steel CT-P5E seat post clamp on my SR Laprade in favor of the nicer aluminum CT-P5 version. I didn't get a chance to snap an "after" pic, but I scrubbed off the oxidation and hit it with a little Mother's polish until it matched the post nicely.



I found this cool little battery powered 3 function tail light/reflector in my parts bin. Put it on and liked the result. Need to see about a headlight now!



And last but not least I swapped freewheel bodies with another '84 stamped Suntour Pro Compe freewheel I had. My original freewheel was frozen when I got the bike, and although I cleaned and lubed it to no end once it was freed up, it was always still kinda loud and rough feeling. I'm assuming the bearings and races are probably just badly pitted. The donor freewheel had a really smooth spinning body, but badly worn cogs... My solution was to make myself a freewheel vice, take both freewheels apart, then swap all of my original cogs and spacers onto the new better spinning body, and voila!!! The bike coasts sooo much quieter now

AustinFitz

Well making little changes and upgrades on this bike again lately after a while of focusing on other projects has gotten me all excited to continue the progress. Although I do ride all of my bikes, the Elite GT is pretty much my go-to bike for anything and everything, and it definitely sees the most miles.

Since I finally ordered some bar tape for it I figured now would be the time to go ahead and order some new brake hoods as well. The old original Dia-Compe gum hoods were a tad bit sticky when I first got the bike, but they're getting worse now with every ride.

I knew the real deal Dia-Compe gum hoods weren't made anymore, and I wasn't into dropping $50+ on NOS ones, so those were out... The cheap brown Cane Creek replacements didn't seem to have a whole lot of positive reviews, and I'm not a fan of the big "Cane Creek" logos on the sides anyway, so those were out too... I then got to looking at the Campy style Rustines hoods in actual gum rubber that VO sells, but wasn't sure how well they would fit my levers. They were also still a bit more money than I really wanted to pay for brake hoods, and they looked a little thin in my opinion too. I was hoping to find something more anatomical with some cushion to them...

All that research finally led me to the Dia-Compe replacement hoods that seem widely available in Europe, but not so often seen here in the US for some reason. I found them in 2 different styles. The thinner looking older style with the cutouts for extension levers:



And the slightly more modern style that looks to be a bit thicker, and more anatomically shaped:



I read good reviews on the newer style, and they are readily available from VO at a reasonable $15 shipped. They should fit my levers correctly, and they're actually Dia-Compe branded, so I pulled the trigger on a pair of them today in the gum color.

The VO website lists the color options as white, black, or gum, and while I know they won't actually be the old school gum rubber, I'm not entirely sure what color they'll be. Looking around online I've seen examples in a light brown, and a dark brown too. Might just be the pictures, but I would be fine with either color really. The bike has lots of both light, and dark browns elsewhere on it, so either one should match nicely.

3speedslow

Sometimes it seems like we're really never done! I like the Fizik tape you have for the ProTour, I have it for a build I am working on. Looking forward to see which shade of brown VO sends you. I think the darker one looks better. That blinks on the back is a good one. I wanted to put it on the rack I have on the Le Tour II but it hits the fender. I would have to mount it on the topside.

AustinFitz

Thanks! Bummer your light doesn't fit where you want it, but that's a really cool rack you have! Maybe you could make a small bracket that attaches to the rack mount and has a mounting hole for the light a little higher up?

The new 204 hoods from VO came in the mail today. The color is really close to the original gum hoods which is cool. They seem nice and soft, and fit my hand MUCH better than the old hoods! Looking at them side by side though I'm not sure how well they're going to fit... The 204s look to be a little bit longer. I'm going to wrap the bars pretty thick and I'm worried that's going to push the hoods forward too much. I may end up having to trim them some. The hand fitment is so much better than my old ones though that I'd rather try to modify these to fit over getting the exact replacements of the originals.

AustinFitz

The more I thought about it I got worried about the new 204 hoods not fitting right, and then having to order the correct hoods and wait for shipping. I'm still going to attempt to fit them, but I went ahead and ordered a pair of the correct replacements to have on hand just in case it doesn't work out. I found them from a shop in the UK for $13 USD shipped.

AustinFitz

The correct hoods came in the mail yesterday, and after comparing them side by side with the 204 hoods they're entirely different lol. I'm just going to save the 204s for another bike and use the correct replacements.

BocaJr

Thanks for the pictures, they're a big help to me. Looking for some new brake hoods for a recent acquisition, an '85 Univega Gran Rally with Shimano 600 levers. I think the 204's are the ones that I need.

AustinFitz

Glad I could help! I'm pretty sure the 204s are indeed what you would want for Shimano 600 levers. I do have some 600 levers on my '85 Ironman with the original hoods still on them (although they need replacing). Let me know if you would like a pic of the replacement 204s next to the original 600 hoods for comparison.

AustinFitz

I started playing around with the new bar tape I got in the other day, and decided that I wasn't going to use the little black plastic bar end plugs that came with the tape. I was going to just use wine bottle corks again like usual, but then suddenly I decided that I wanted to make some nice wooden ones for myself instead. I just happened to find some perfect little turning blanks in my shed from back when my grandfather had a lathe. They were little figurine blanks that just so happened to contain the right dimensions and taper for a nice bar end plug right in the middle of them!

Here's 1 of the figurine blanks I started with:


And here are the finished end plugs next to the plastic one that came with the tape. I really like how they came out! They match up very nicely with my favorite wooden valve stem caps

mountaindave 

You could start a business!

AustinFitz

Well the bar tape, brake hood, and bar-end plug project got put on hold for a while... Life tends to get in the way of things sometimes...

Finally today though I was able to install everything and go out for a ride on it for the first time in a long time! I had removed the brake cables to wrap the bars months ago, but that's as far as I got with it. There it sat until today when I was able to return to the project, and to riding daily!

I was so excited to ride after finishing it up that I didn't bother cleaning it up at all, so please excuse all of the accumulated dust from sitting idle lol.

Every time I ride this bike all I can think to myself is "Damn, I LOVE this bike!!!" It is THE most pleasurable bicycle I have ever ridden!

AustinFitz

Few more pics of it just because. I can't wait to continue the progress with fenders, upgraded tires, and a headlight soon!