theblackbullet

Well, Just when I had began to lose hope for finding a nice vintage bike for a decent price, this sucker pops up on craigslist last night! I LOVE the paint on the bike. It really screams late 80's early 90's to me, and it reminds me of my old '87 Panasonic DX4000 that I got rid of. (still regret doing that ) It has the full Sante group, levers, shifters, derailers, hubs, brakes, etc which really sweetened the deal. I'm unsure right now if I was keep the Sante or not. I'd really like to do a "resto-mod" thing for the bike and go with brifters and a 9 or 10 speed drivetrain. The wheels are really cool. Araya CTL-370 rims laced up with a semi-bladed spoke. Never seen these spokes before. The bike does need a thorough cleaning. I'm open for suggestions on removing surface rust from polished and painted surfaces. No worries about rust of on the frame with it being aluminum.

Well, here's a crappy picture.

devinfan

I love it. In my opinion you'd be crazy to take the Sante off this bike, it looks like it was made for it. I wouldn't change a thing - except for maybe throwing a white Turbo saddle on there. Looks fantastic the way it is, anyway.

Alan Edwards

White saddle, peddles, grease and go, go, go. Nice bike, nice fade, and Sante is like fashionista 600.

NukeouT

Woah! Nice find dude.

I have never even seen a stock Sante equipped bike before.

BentLink

Very pretty frame and group. Those bars look like an extremely deep bend...comfy for you?

Capecodder

Clean, grease. lube and ride...... Don't change a thing! For surface rust on the chrome use 0000 steel wool soaked with WD-40..

realestvin7

How good of condition is your saddle in?

Nice find for sure. I had one in the Partridge Family paint scheme.

Bianchigirll 

I agree leave it alone! a good cleaning and fresh tape and maybe a white seat is all you need.

af for a 9+spd drive, with that Aluminium frame you won't be able to easily use wider spaced wheels than the stock ones. you can't coldset that Alloy frame and riding with the dropouts not properly aligned to the hubs can cause issues. in short don't mess with success.

theblackbullet

The Sante definitely belongs with bike, but I prefer brifters. I think it'd be cool to have this bike as my main ride instead of the nashbar frame I've been riding around the last month.
Thanks!

thanks!

haven't actually had the chance to go out for a real ride on it. The tires were flat and I didnt have a pump when I went to go check it out. The rear wheels could use a truing and probably new tubes and tires before I would even feel good rolling around on it. Thank goodness I have tomorrow off.

Ill try it! As for the stuff on the painted sections, I'm assuming any type of degreaser ought to be fine? purple power, simple green, etc.?

It's rideable. The rear is scuffed and has a small tear.

I'm not too familiar with them, got any pictures?

We'll see. 9spd isn't in my budget at the moment. I'm definitely looking forward to riding around a dt shifter bike for awhile at least. As far as it not working, idk. I've seen a few posts from people with older cannondales and kleins that don't seem to be having any issues.

realestvin7

Here you go.

theblackbullet

also, the crank doesn't spin freely. I'm assuming the bottom bracket is probably toast?

theblackbullet

beautiful ride, sir!

frantik

sweet.. keep the sante for sure. the other paint job is one of my favorites

theblackbullet

also, should it be safe to soak the pearl white sante components in degreaser? or am I just asking to ruin the finish?

mapleleafs-13 

nishiki has awesome paint jobs that i've seen, including the ones on these forums...

here's one i dealt with a little while ago not as nice as yours... i gotta post it in the recovered seat topic...

realestvin7

I would never soak any components in degreaser, personally. I wash everything by hand with Dawn dish soap and a nylon bristle brush.

theblackbullet

bristle brush seems to be working.

went to the lbs this morning to get a new bottom bracket swapped in, the mechanic wanted to buy the sante off of me. haha even offered to trade 9/10 speed parts. It's tempting but after a short ride, I'm really enjoying the bike as is. It's stiff and harsh, but man does this thing feel like a rocket!

Unfortunately the nipples on the rear wheel won't stay tight. I may try some loctite, or I may just rebuild the wheel with brand new spokes and nipples. hmmmm...

theblackbullet

solved the issue with the spokes coming loose by swapping my 8spd wheelset. just adjust the upper limit screw on the rear derailer switch to friction shifting and go! also, the 130mm spaced rear wheels slid right in without any issues. Perhaps this bike has a 128.5mm spacing. Ahh, well here she is as I rode her today. This bike has taken over as my main ride for the time being.


100_0177 by theblackbullet, on Flickr

brockd15 

Looks awesome. Those wheels give it a whole new attitude.

frantik

normally i dont like the "deep v" look but it works on that bike