Hole In The Head -Epilogue
 

I built up a LeMond Zurich frame last Summer, using a 7410 Dura Ace groupset I had that was just sitting in a box, unused. It took me a while to get it right - mostly the saddle fore-aft, because somehow, the saddle rails were creeping in the seatpost cradle and I'd end up farther and farther back the longer I rode. I finally have that problem licked!

Normally, when I finish a build to my satisfaction, I take the bike for one of my Sunday rides - 59 miles, 3300 feet of climbing. I hadn't done this with the LeMond yet, because of the slipping saddle rails issue, plus illnesses, injuries, etc. I figured with the saddle problem solved it was time. Whenever I do these "initiation into the herd" rides, I stop at Frenchman's Tower on Old Page Mill in Palo Alto for a picture. See below...

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1d426fb7b.jpeg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9908927c2.jpeg

The whole "initiation ride" thing reminded me of this Far Side cartoon -

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9c59576f98.jpg
So, how was it? Well, I built it to exemplify bikes of the mid 90s, and it does that, right down to every hill >4% being a low-cadence slog! Apart from that, the 30 year old Dura Ace kit still works a treat, and is beautiful to boot. Another rider actually complimented me on the crankset!

You know, they did have triples and long-cage rear derailleurs in the 1990s. Just sayin' . . . . :D

Beautiful bike. I don't doubt that it's a lot of fun to ride.

Hell, Giovanni Battaglin used a triple to win the Giro back in 1981.

But 7410 Dura Ace didn't come with triples, so......

Tripleizer would take care of that nicely, plus a 5mm wider BB and maybe a hanger extender for the RD to use cogs larger than 30t.

Didn't we just see @merziac's Dura-Ace cranks modified to be triples in a recent thread?

Yes, the 7200 Dura Ace EX with the off center spider. A dream build in my head has the black first gen Dura Ace crank drilled for a triple (maybe on a nice early AD Vent Noir).

I really don't like the looks of the 7400 Crankset. The 7410 is vastly superior to my eye, maybe my favorite DA Crankset.

That’s a great looking build! Yeah that crankset is pretty, I put the same one on my Paramount.
Tim


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...11334a542.jpeg

Indeed, it is the prettiest crankset ever made. So, it will NOT be triplized!

The "tripleizer" doesn't change the cranks themselves. It's a chainring that mounts in hte inner position of a double-ring crankset, that then itself allows you to mount another small chainring inside of it:
https://www.redclovercomponents.com/...riplizers.html

... or do what I have done on four occasions: use extra-long chainring bolts. This won't give you as small a granny ring as a tripleizer would, but it can work extremely well when coupled with larger cogs in back.
On 144mm BCD cranks, I have done 49-46-43 / 13-16-19-23-26, for a very nice 1/3-step progression.
On 110mm BCD cranks, I was very happy with my 48-45-34 / 13-15-17-19-21-24.
All of these were done with standard short-cage derailleurs, but could easily be extended to 7 or 8 speeds with additional larger cogs in back and a long-cage. I am strongly considering this for the Carlton.

Thanks for the ideas, guys, but the whole point of this bike is to be what it is. I wanted those specific components, just as they are. I have other bikes for climbing.