qcpmsame 

Apologies, indeed it is the wrong thread.

AustinFitz

The Le Tech showed up in the mail today! Surprisingly it was a day earlier than the tracking had suggested. It was packaged great, and the derailleur itself is absolutely gorgeous! The seller said it was on a display model that I guess never sold? It looks like it may have a few test rides on it, but it can't be much more than that. I really wasn't expecting to find one this nice!

ollo_ollo

Wow! Really nice condition. Will look great on your bike. Don

AustinFitz

Thanks! I think so too. I really wanted to buy some fenders as my next upgrade, but I just couldn't pass up the Le Tech. According to everyone I've talked to the Mountech may explode at any moment anyway, so I guess it's for the best that I go ahead and swap it out.

I have to say after owning and riding this Elite GT for over a year now I had no idea I could love a bike this much! I can't even look at it without grinning from ear to ear. I say the same thing every time I get off of it after a ride. "Damn! That is a NICE bike!".

AustinFitz

Well the seller came through and I received the cable anchor nut and bolt in the mail today, so now I finally have my complete Le Tech! Took a little bit of fiddling to get the bolt in, but it wasn't too big of a pain. First time I've ever seen a cable anchor like that.

jetboy 

i have some rd envy. I want one of those for my 84 stumpjumper sport.

AustinFitz

It would be sweet on an old stumpjumper! I'm always on the lookout for cool touring/ATB parts, so I'll keep my eyes out for another one. If I come across one I'll let you know! I'm looking for 2 Le Tech FDs now. One for my Elite GT, and one for the '84 Pro Tour I'm getting. It's missing it's original one.

There is a front and rear for sale as a pair on eBay right now for $120 shipped, but I couldn't afford them.

https://m.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Rare-...8AAOSwVtZaC4zb

AustinFitz

Since I finally found a nice rear Le Tech, I decided I might as well find myself a matching front too! Didn't take too long either. Just snagged this off of the bay this evening.

mountaindave 

You’ve drunk the Kool aide - this thread has been fun to follow as you become a true C/V acolyte!

Fahrenheit531 

^^ Indeed.

AustinFitz

Thanks! I'm definitely hooked! I've almost completely lost interest in BMX bikes after getting into C&V road bikes. I think a big part of that was starting out with such a nice bike as a first project. I really didn't realize what a gem I had found when I first brought it home. I'm still madly in love with this thing!

AustinFitz

Got the Le Tech front derailleur in today! Looks to be in great condition under the dirt that's on it. I doubt it's seen very many miles. It will make a nice pair with the rear being that their production dates are only one month apart. The front is July of 1983 and the rear is August of 1983.

AustinFitz

This thread is long overdue for an update, so I think I'm finally going to man up, and take apart my SunTour Symmetric shifter. I've had this beautiful pair of SunTour Le Tech derailleurs waiting to go on the Elite GT for quite some time now. Unlike the original Mountech front derailleur though, the Le Tech FD is a "high-normal" derailleur, and so in order for it to work correctly with the original Symmetric shifter, I'll have to take the right side of the shifter apart to turn the boss around 180°. I've been a bit hesitant to dig into it, but I think it's finally time. Wish me luck!

AustinFitz

Finally got around to installing the front and rear Le Tech derailleurs on my 1984 Centurion Elite GT!

Being that this bike was originally equipped with regular pull Mountech derailleurs and a Symmetric shifter, I had to partially disassemble the shifters in order to flip the cam around. That way the Symmetric's auto-trim feature still works as intended with the new "reverse pull" Le Tech front derailleur.

It still needs a little fine tuning, but I'm really happy that everything went back together nicely, and the Symmetric shifter is auto-trimming correctly with the new reverse pull FD.

Man, I love this bike! 😍

mountaindave 

Love that drivetrain!

AustinFitz

Thanks! I do too! I have been considering making some more changes though.

While I do love the twisted look of the original Sugino RT cranks, I haven't yet been able to find a matching twisted 50t chainring to complete the look like I want... Then I also have this 180mm Sugino AT triple in need of some TLC, and I can't decide if I want to clean them up and put them on the Elite GT, or not.

I was also thinking about cleaning up this Sugino?? sealed bearing bottom bracket, and using it on the Elite GT too. I'm not actually sure what it is, but despite it's rusty appearance it still spins as smooth as buttered silk!!! Does anyone else recognize it? It originally came off of an '83/'84 Diamond Back Ridge Runner along with the AT cranks.

mountaindave 

You have an adjustable chain line AT bottom bracket. There is a thread somewhere on how to refurbish it, but for the life of me I can’t find it. I got one with a used AT crankset, used it on my RT triple and needed every mm of adjustment.



And as you can see, I found a chainring that echos the RT crank’s angles, knocked off the remaining teeth (some lowrider fan had already turned it into a skiptooth so it was useless) and turned it into a bash guard.

I have a 52 Sugino if you are interested.

tyler_fred

I thought you had fallen off the face of the earth... hadn’t seen anything from you in a while.

AustinFitz

Nope, I'm still around! Just haven't been too active on the forums because I haven't really had much going on concerning bikes. I've been a lot more focused on my drums, and playing music lately, so bikes have been kind of moved to the back burner for a little while.

I do still have all of my bikes, and projects I've posted about in varying degrees of completion, with my two Centurions still being my favorites! I've done a few things here and there that I don't know if I've posted about though.

If anyone remembers the hideous '87 Ross Centaur I found dubbed "The Plague Rat", I did put a bit of work into restoring it's dignity some.






I also built a big BMX cruiser out of a busted up 700c department store fixie that someone had given me. I already had everything I needed laying around, and thought it might be fun to see how it would turn out. It actually rides pretty nice!





And most recently I've started playing around with this 100th anniversary edition 1995 Schwinn Searcher Express. I've had it hanging around here for years now with the intention of building something cool out of it. I've been mocking up different configurations of parts, and I'm thinking I want to do a slightly more modern-ish style touring rig with drop bars and fenders.

AustinFitz

Thanks for the info. That custom bash guard is AWESOME by the way!!! Really looks great on there! I love creative and unique little things like that. Things you can't just buy online and bolt on in 5 minutes. Sure is a beautiful bike too!

I have the twisted 52t Sugino already myself, and may just end up using that until I find the 50t. Thank you though! Unfortunately the 52s seem to be way more common than the 50s. I've come across many of them in my search for the elusive 50t.

AustinFitz

Well as much as my OCD wanted matching derailleurs, I just didn't care for the Le Tech FD. I switched back to the original Mountech FD which is almost the same thing, but with less parts. I decided to play around with the gearing some too. Currently trying out a 50-46-26 half-step plus granny setup.

mountaindave 

There’s a half step thread around there somewhere - just too lazy to find it.

After many hours spent pouring over gain ratio charts (I’m obsessive and have a spreadsheet) I have found the ultimate road combo to be 50/45/26 x 14-32 (14-17-21-26-32 is a hard freewheel to find, but they’re out there). It gives nearly perfectly equivalent gain ratios over the entire range. In the low granny you’ll walk up a hill faster than you’ll ride. I get a 22”-92” spread with only one gear overlapping in the granny (not that I’d ever cross chain, but low-low is a unique gear).