I would like some help id'ing this bike. The front badge just says ross allentown, pa. the rear derailleur is a shimano lark II. front derailleur says thunderbird gpo. yoshikawa brake levers. the shifter says shimano on it but i have no idea what model and it's a 10 speed with 26x 1 3/8th tires which are new.

from reading some posts it seems like it was a low end bike. any idea what the model is and what kind of upgrades can be done on it?

Don't take this the wrong way, but best to skip upgrades on this one and ride it "as it is". Unless, of course, you have some parts sitting in your parts bin. The 26" steel rims, steel one-piece crank set, steel stem and handlebars, stem mounted shifters, safety levers, and low-end components make it a bike that doesn't warrant the expense of upgrading. However, it is probably the perfect "campus" or "station" bike and has solid utility value. If you did want to do upgrades, the following are a possibility:

alloy stem, possibly alloy bars, Dia Compe side-pull brakes, and that should about do it.

+1

+2 Not worth upgrading. Ride it, enjoy, and when you are ready to upgrade, sell it.

Take it apart and put it back together. You'll learn a lot without doing any important damage.

you lost me at ROSS.


this is a SWELL idea..really..give you practice for when you find something worth upgrading.

LOL! I do need the practice. thanks everyone!

Normally, I tell people that the best bang for the upgrade buck is to upgrade tires. But there are no nice tires for a bike like that.

I would not buy handlebars or anything for that bike. You won't notice a performance improvement at all.

As cycleheimer says, this is a perfectly useful bike, so don't feel bad about it.

Oh, another favor to yourself: get a good pump, and keep the tires inflated well at all times. Learn how quickly your air escapes. You'll find it best to re-inflate every four to seven days. You can get away with overinflating the tires a bit, which will be a performance upgrade FOR FREE!

Here are some ideas, though. Buy one or two pairs of Kool-Stop brake shoes. That will help the braking, which is probably substandard.

Put toe clips and straps on, because these WILL give you a performance improvement, and they will make you stronger at the same time. You may have to change the pedals to do this, and that will be worthwhile. Your pedals have 1/2" threads, which are unique to (mostly) low-end bikes, so be careful when shopping. I have some pedals for you, and I will give them to you for the cost of shipping.

If you want to go really crazy, rebuild the wheels with alloy rims. They are $40 each. This will make the bike noticeably lighter, and it will brake better, too, because aluminum rims give better braking than steel rims do. But this is a mostly crazy idea. It could be fun, though.

Keep your chain clean and well lubricated.