Thank you and welcome to the forums.

Upgraded my early ~'82 Ross with a ~'72 Suntour V GT rear derailleur from a Centurion Super Le Mans. Throw in a new cable and she shifts like never before! I also swapped the steel wheelset for an Araya alloy set from a similar vintage Miyata 610. Now I can even stop in the rain!


That Shimano Eagle POS was about as effective as a 40 year-old Simplex Prestige RD... And I'm thinking of referring to my dork disk as a super saucer. I love it in all its chrome glory!

Here she is in all her glory with a recently added frame pump:


Don't know why that didn't work on the desktop, showed up on mobile...

My "allroad" bike. Thanks to @wrk101; for the frame, it's a beaut! This is a rough build that I did for a long ride I had planned that got shortened, then shortened again because of weather. However, it performed nicely, especially the generator hub and light. I did a midnight ride in the full moon on the summer solstice to the top of the continental divide on Going to the Sun Road in GNP with @northbend;. Unfortunately we didn't see much of the moon, but we did see a cool lightning show and had a blast descending 3000 feet over ~10 miles in about 24 minutes in the dark.





Suntour Cyclone shifts beautifully! Thanks to @fender1; for a fantastic set of derailleurs.



Jury-rigged decaleur made out of an old spoke:


This is a bit of a frankenbike, but I prefer the term custom. Top to bottom: Origin8 sealed bearing headset, Weinmann cablestop, Trek headbadge, Mafac RAID brakes, TA Specialites rack.


French brakes naturally go with... Japanese brake levers.


And these Simplex Retrofrictions go so nicely on Shimano Bar End Pods. (Thanks again, Thrifty Bill!)

How do you like the pod mounted Simplex retrofrictions? I think I remember telling you how to accomplish that. How come only Thrifty Bill gets a thank you? I'm just kidding. I'd really like to know how they work for you. I put together a set years ago, but I've never gotten around to trying them out.

Yes you did, @Grand Bois;! (Someday maybe the mention functionality will come back.) I had to do a little modification to the pods, I sanded a tab down that orients the Shimano shift lever. It's not critical to the function of the pod, so I could easily go back to the original Shimano setup (if the levers weren't already shot).

I used a demultiplicator in the cable routing but now realize that was a mistake. The DT retrofrictions have a fairly small barrel and take a lot of throw to pull the rear derailleur. It's not ridiculous, but the full range of a five-speed freewheel is more than 90 degrees. I plan to take it out and replace it with a simple clamp-on cable guide... as soon as I find one.

Coincidentally I just today acquired a set of Simplex bar end retrofrictions for which the demultiplicator is supposedly intended. But we'll see. I'm only going to use the bar ends on a five-speed FW. I may compare the amount pull first. With retrofrictions it's fairly easy to fine tune shifting without needing a demultiplicator. I have DT's coupled to a Simplex Prestige RD on my wife's Gitane and there is a good amount of pull required to shift just five gears. Again, not ridiculous, but more than I am used to.

Recently finished this US National Team GT. Came to me with a full Ultegra 9 speed group and silver Mavic SUP wheels. Re-do consists of SRAM Rival 22 group, Zipp cockpit, Mavic Cosmic Carbone wheelset and new carbon fork from Performance.

WOW - fantastic job! Needs some black/carbon cages... loving the updated build!!

Thank you. I considered carbon cages, but I'm more a fan of the stainless steel variety. I think they work well enough though, with the slight silver accents on the components and I also have my silver Dura-Ace 7700 skewers on the bike now too.

Before, found in a barn

Nice before and after pix and a lot of elbow grease

2005 LeMond Reno before and after. Converted from 9sp to 10sp. Weighs in at 17.5lbs on my luggage scale!

As it arrived in the mail:



Finish was a bit more rough than the photo reveals, both from the factory and the result of use.

The same bike in a previous life:



As she stands today:



64cm frame, Normandy Luxe Competition hubs, 27x1-1/8 Panaracers on Rigida rims.
Stronglight Competition headset and bottom bracket, 180mm Campagnolo crankset, NOS drillium 52/42 chainrings, MKS retro rattraps.
Suntour Ultra 13-30 6-speed freewheel, Simplex SLJ derailleurs and Retrofriction shifters.
Belleri bars with Modolo Speedy brakes, leather bar tape.
Brooks Champion Flyer saddle on a Laprade post.

Loving this build - feels responsive, nimble, and quick.

I picked up this Centurion Ironman 'Miami Vice' earlier this summer for my son. It went through a bit of a transformation. I broke it down completely and rebuilt it with different components.

Nice red accents to match the frames red accents!

Love it too! Did you do a repaint?

Where'd you get the seat?

?



$7 direct from China.

Thank you sir!

[MENTION=131041]mountaindave[/MENTION] is right, they are all over eBay for $6-7 from China... they take about 2-3 weeks so I usually order like 4-5 at once. They are great for flip bikes that I want to look 'racey' and fast...

If you don't want to wait there is usually a couple of eBay shops in California carrying them for $15 or so and you can get them sooner...

[MENTION=131041]mountaindave[/MENTION], I had one of those Vertu saddles. First it shredded my pants. Then it fell apart. Do you have a cover on yours?

I've never put hundreds of miles on one of them but I have put 50-60 on a few of them on different occasions and never had an issue.. I have a buddy that has the real thing, the Tioga, and he rode one of these and said they are not as nice of course, but descent...

Wonder if you got a lemon? Of if I have not put enough miles on one?

At any rate, the look and the price make them great for flip bikes that need the 'racing' look!!

I could do without the holes really, I just want a cheap but not huge saddle for a commuter.

@Gothca38, there are lots on eBay if you search under saddles and then "lowest price + shipping" and you'll get lots of ideas like this one for under $7: riveted saddle

Thanks. I'll give that a try.

I don't, and I haven't actually ridden it. I put it on my daughter's bike and she isn't a big fan. I was going to put it on my Centurion IM, but the Specialized Toupe that I put on it was actually a few grams lighter. I can see how this is a MTB saddle as most guys would wear something more substantial than Lycra shorts.

Cheese grater for your butt.