rgver

My Gitane Criterium, built for Velo Cheapo 2015 for $87. Shimano Ultegra 6500 9spd group from a wrecked Trek 5200

1938 Autocycle

$87!!!! Killing it. Great job. Should be a great riding bike.

armstrong101

So... what's your favorite Ergo/STI groupset for a vintage build?

Although it would be cool to put modern 6800 on an 80s frame, I have a 6600 group saved up for my build. So my pick is 6600/7800 (I don't list 7800 as my favorite simply because I don't have it - I would rank this ahead of 6600, but call it a push since it's also quite more expensive). I like this era of Shimano because:

1. Unlike 6800, I can use my 8-10 speed wheels with 6600.
2. I like the shiny finish of the set. I think in terms of looks, 6600 > 6500 and 6700.
3. 6600 is now 10 years old, which, while modern in terms of efficiency (STI), it was (is) very well regarded in its day, and I think is now classic in its own right, which makes it an appropriate choice for a classic build.

What's your reasoning for your favorite group to put on old frames? Not as experienced with Campy stuff, but I do have a 9 speed Chorus group I can use from a donor bicycle. If I do a second Ergo/STI build, it'll be with that, and hopefully I'll be able to use my C-Record hubs with Ambrosio rims.

Henry III

Campy in a heartbeat. I just don't like the use of the brake levers to shift and just found the throws heavy and long. Plus the shift cables just sticking out the sides doesn't help either.

The early Ergo was easy on the eye and the curve of the levers followed most non Ergo bars quite nicely. It's not just a oooh a aah Campag factor for me but a function followed by form that solidifies my choice. I don't have a single road bike with Shimano on it. Modern Shimano has finally made their levers an adequate size but the lines are too hard for me.

Chrome Molly

For me the perfect groupset is still elusive.

-I like campy ergo's, but hate power torque cranks
-I love SRAM shifting, but don't like their R2D2 type styling for cranks (the old rival stuff in silver was nice if you can find any), and their chainrings suffer from unreasonable amounts of chain suck
-Shimano has the mentioned dual lever issue that really is just poor design, but can be lived with as long as you never need to brake and downshift at the same time (not that you can't, but it's kind of vague to do two things at once with one lever). 6600 also has the side exit issue that only looks OK on some bikes

The campy 9 speed stuff would be the better of your choices IMHO.

My favorite bashed up "groups" used SRAM 10 speed shifters, hubbubbed to a 6600 RD, to run with an 8 speed cassette. I also liked 10 speed veloce shifters hubbubbed to a 6600 RD running a 9 speed cassette. There's also using 10 speed veloce shifters with a 6600 RD to run an 8 speed cassette (that combo is plug and play).

RobbieTunes

Centaur 10-sp with the square taper crankset, whatever that is.
Simple. Clean. Elegant. Polished. Variety of wheels available.

I tend to like the variety of Mavic wheels that can be found, mainly because you can swap out the freehubs to change between Shimano/Campy, and if you need the cash, the Shimano/SRAM freehubs are wide enough to sell to the guys who are now running 11-sp.

After that, regardless of looks, 6500. Last nice spider Shimano made, and holds up twice as good as the 7700 crankset

Italuminium

Just got my first road bike with STI's, (600/Ultegra 6400) and lever feel is far worse than my Campagnolo equiped bikes. That said, set up is a doddle, the shifting is fine and the brakes work well, but I think that that moving brake lever is a fundamentally flawed concept.

LazyLegs

For me it depends on how much you are going to ride the bike, I have two late 80's frames made up with STIs, A Batavus Professional that I used for most of my training late in the year and even raced once so it makes sense to have the brifters and and a Moser Leader Pro (Pics Below) that I was going to do up vintage but decided to use it for a two week cycling holiday I was taking so put a modern Campag set on it. Have two older steel frames with downtube shifters, these are fun but not for everyday cycling as when I get tired I can't help trying to use the brake leaver as a shifter

dicktill

wow!!!!!

rgver

I like the Shimano STIs shifting and set up, I like the ergos cable routing. Overall I would have to go with the Shimano set up

rgver

@1938 Autocycle thank you, it does ride beautifully, I had it out on a quick 20 miles yesterday.

1938 Autocycle

5800 all the way. Ugly as sin but 100% worth it. Shifts so incredibly nice. Like you really can not understand how nice it shifts till you ride it. I am putting 5800 on every bike I own (Wifes bikes also)

revchuck 

While I'm not planning on putting it on a vintage build, I can vouch for 5800. My new race bike (2015 Specialized Allez Comp Race) comes stock with 5800, and it is sweet. It's at least as nice as the DA 7900 on my Look. It comes in silver, too.

TimmyT 

Do you mean the crankarms or the bottom bracket? There's a lot of hate for the 7700 bottom bracket. The 7710 replacement is apparently superior. I have not tried it.

rms13

Latest incarnation of my Ironman. Removed horrible stickers from wheels, added threadless stem adapter and stem, Easton aluminium bars and velo orange skewers.

Stev8del8

Greetings all

Here is Peggy, the perky Paganini. I thought to post her here because this is the thread that I turn to the most.

She is built with mostly Record 8-speed components, a shortened Sachs crankarm and 40-50 Miche Supertype 9-10s chainrings. Seems to work well with an 8-speed Sachs chain.

The saddle needs to be replaced with a black Brooks. The seat bag (an old camera bag) needs to be replaced with a proper, more usable one, with greater volume.

Italuminium

How much did you leave on? It seems uncomfortably short to me.

Stev8del8

I had to shorten it to 4-1/8in to achieve full rotation from my injured right leg. I couldn't bear to cut up a good Campy crank-arm so I found an old Sachs (Chorus) on E-bay).

As my leg improves I will have to modify others until I can fully rotate a 170 or longer right crank-arm. I bought several beat-up right crank-arms, cheap, so I can work it out in stages.

At least, I can ride again.

Italuminium

all the best with the recovery I'm sure that nice Paganini frame helps a lot.

livelikegold

Pretty Much finished with this one. By far my favorite bike I will ever own. I just need to finish building up the wheels and cut the steer tube then its pretty much 100% I'm truly loving this build.

tamaso206

Looks great! 105 5700 shifting, with an older Shimano crank? Got any closer glamour shots? [By the way, the images work better if you upload them to an online hosting platform like flickr, etc. then just link the URL]

RobbieTunes

The 7700 crank arm logos fall disappear if the shoe gets close at all, and the BB is a lightweight toss-away. When I ran 7700, I used FSA or other aftermarket cranks with a 5500 or 6500 BB. I'm about to put a 6500 BB in a new cross/gravel bike with an FSA crankset. Maybe, as I've got one with an external BB also. I just like the center of gravity "effect" I feel with a BB stuck inside the shell with some weight to it.

GravelGuy

I’m newish to these forums and just learning my way around them, but I thought I would contribute this:



It’s a 72-73 Colnago Super, among the first 100 or so brought into the country by Ten Speed Drive back in the early 70’s. I bought it used in 1975. Raced it, used it as my daily rider, always liked its ride.

I guess it might qualify as a “grail” bike to some. For years I kept it in it’s original Campy NR leaning against the wall of where ever I was living. Having six or seven bikes in an apartment I found impressed very few people.

A couple of years ago, when the time came to reduce the number of bikes hanging in the garage, It was one of the three that I wouldn’t or couldn’t sell. So I thought maybe I should start riding it again. It still rode great, but I wasn’t happy with riding the old components after riding so many years on modern stuff.

But not knowing how much I would really like putting miles on a 40-plus year old bike, I didn’t want to put too much into it. So the upgrade was done by buying cheap as possible through Ebay.

It’s Ultegra 9 speed with something like a $20 rear derailleur, $35 crank, and about 80 buck levers, original Record seatpost and brake calipers, a seat out of the parts bin.

Most of the time it rolls on Vittoria Pave tubular tires and weighs in at about 18.5 pounds.

But one of the great and fun things I like about this bike over many of the others I have owned is it is incredibly versatile in the tire width it can handle. I can put on a set of Challenge Eroica’s at 30mm wide for a wonderfully plush ride or a pair of 35mm wide Kendas for a day on gravel roads.

gomango

A loved and well ridden bike!

Amazed you can stuff that much tire into those stays and fork.

We'll likely have a Spring Valley ride in southern Minnesota this late spring.

Feel free to join us when it comes up and bring that Colnago along.

GravelGuy

I might be interested if it'll work in my schedule. Send me a message with details, I tried to message you but I'm too new for that to be allowed.