Originally Posted by nomadmax

Update to my thread.

I rode this bike toward the end of the season and it became apparent that it needed some mechanical attention. I completely disassembled it, down the last nut, bolt and bearing, sprayed the frame with frame saver (on the inside) and gently took off what little surface rust that was starting in a few places and touched up/clear coated them. Late in my racing career I took a bad tumble in a race and damaged two of my lower vertebra; consequently, I can't tolerate much of a saddle/bar drop ratio. That means I had to make some changes to the bike if I wanted to do more than look at it. Combine that with the fact that I'm getting old, I needed to do something about the gearing as well.

Things I changed:

Shifters. I always used Simplex/Mavic retro-friction shifters in lieu of the stock SR units. I liked them better because they held while climbing and sprinting. I had these in the way-back box.

Quill adapter. Velo Orange that was machined down in length. I like the VO adapter best because of the "shelf" the stem sits on. It was too long ( wouldn't go down in the steerer tube any deeper) so I had a machinist friend take some length off but we re-marked the same length for minimum insertion. Currently it's at 25mm showing, I can go up to 35mm from there if need be.

Stem. Velo Orange 110mm =/- 6 degree 31.8 stem. The older you get, the more you realize you gotta do what you gotta do.

Bars. Specialized Hover bars, aluminum; Reach 75mm, Drop 125mm and 15mm rise. Not period correct but I can't even ride Cinelli 64-42s anymore.

Saddle. Specialized Power Expert saddle. When I tried one of these I immediately when out and bought two more. For me, they're that good.

Pedals. I haven't ridden with toe clips and straps since Look pedals came out; I never will again.

Freewheel. That 13-28 pie plate is what it takes for me to get up hills where I live. They aren't long, but they are steep.

Big chain ring. I had a 49T laying around, I'll probably eventually look for a 50T. This allows me to ride in the big ring longer as opposed to the 53 that came on it. I'm sure I've duplicated some gears and frankly I've never needed anything north of a 50x13.

Tires. The Conti 700x23s are what I had in stock. When they're gone I might get the retro gumwall ones.

I'll tell you now I'm the worst handlebar wrapper on the face of the earth. When spring comes, I'll have a friend wrap them with Cinelli cork. The pics aren't great but that's only because I'm a worse photographer than I am a bar wrapper. So there it is, my 2019 "new" bike that I intend to ride the dickens out of. Does it hurt that it doesn't look like my old race bikes? Yeah, but I won't see it when I'm going down the road slower than I once was but pretending I'm not

Originally Posted by nomadmax

I agree on both counts [MENTION=250977]Giacomo 1[/MENTION] and [MENTION=108582]RobbieTunes[/MENTION].

Originally Posted by jjhabbs

WE love the master...PIUUUUUU

Originally Posted by nomadmax

THAT'S ^ a beautiful bike. I'd have a hard time riding that.

Originally Posted by Wileyone

I think a Cinelli Quill stem would set that off rather nicely.

Originally Posted by Giacomo 1

I agree, but I think the OP is looking for rideability, not aesthetics...

Originally Posted by Wileyone

That's interesting. I didn't think there was anything wrong with the "rideability" of Quill stems.

Originally Posted by Giacomo 1

Go back to page 1 and you'll see the OP couldn't get the quill stem right, so he went with this stem in order to be able to ride the bike.

At a certain age, rideability takes precedence over aesthetics...

Originally Posted by Paul J

I run the Simplex shifters on my Merckx too. In the day many of the pros had these shifters on their bike because of the dependability of them. I had the Campy shifters taped to the seat rails so I didn't loose them when I had the bike stored for a couple of seasons. :-)

Originally Posted by Giacomo 1

I agree, but I think the OP is looking for rideability, not aesthetics...