I was at a friends house today and his neighbor had a bike laying on there front lawn... As I was leaving I walked by to see what it was...... Laying there full of dust was a yellow 1998 LeMond Tourmalet..... I went back and told my friend that if they want to sell it I would be interested.... He went and got his neighbor and his neighbor got his girl friend. I asked her if she would like to sell it and she offered it to me for a very nice price ... I said I would take it. The frame is to small for me but it has all Shimano RSX parts on it. I am not familiar with Shimano RSX.... I know the bike is 1998 I would like to keep the groupo and sell the frame.

Can anyone tell me what they know about Shimano RXS parts?

Thank you

ARed

Low end, basically SORA of that era. Nothing wrong with it. And the shifters have the two levers, rather than the thumb switch of the SORA.

i need to move out of indiana, all i see is huffys laying in front yards..

Low end.... I am not interested in building a C&V bike with low end equipment. Should I just flip the bike whole?

Probably.

I rode the yeoman RSX group hard for years then went back to barcon shifters in retro grouch fashion. I ebayed the brifters for a pretty penny to an Italian buyer. It was and is a really a solid performing 7 speed group in spite of the entry level label.

I think my Tourmalet is a '96. I like it, lots.

Perhaps just moving out of the trailer park will do the trick

oh man you are funny bianchigirl. by the way i would but we lost the wheels.......

I have RSX on my Volpe and I'm very happy w it. I pulled them apart and flushed them w wd-40 and regreased the stis and they work great so far. When they fail, I'm going indexed barcons. The cranks are bloody heavy though. I swapped them out for some Deore LX cranks I swiped off a mountain bike I stripped down

I have RSX on my 1998 touring bike. The levers work well with cantilever brakes. 7 speed cassette on mine. They were on a bike that was retail $600 in 1998.
My bike was $500 on sale in 1999. Mine will be turning 10,000 miles in a few rides. I did have to clean out the old stiff grease from the shifters a couple of years ago. That's typical for any level group. My shifters now work fine. Same rings, chain, and cogs since 1999.

I had RSX on my Lemond Tourmalet, which was not a LOW END bike. It had RSX PARTS ON IT********************?

No reason to call it low-end, which conjures up something like from a department store.

Entry Level is the term I would use, and the RSX gruppo was excellent but for the gearing, which oddly enough often teamed up a 46t big ring with a 13-26t cassette. Others came with 11-24t I think.

I've used these brifters for many hard training miles and they were fine after I dunked the hoodless levers in 175-degree motor oil for a couple of hours and then flung the oil from the hot levers at the end of a stiff rubber bungee cord. This was 5-6 years ago and they're still working fine after several thousand additional miles (I bought them used, of course).

Sora levers are quite a bit lighter, but I just don't like them for the most part. If they were on an only bike, I would quickly get used to them, but I ride bikes with better shifters, so the difference bothers me.

I find rsx STIs to be of better quality and function than soras. Not to mention they look a lot better. The downshift lever behind the brake lever is a lot better than sora's thumb button. I have a set on my trek 1100 and they shift beautifully. Every shift is solid and crisp. 7 speed RSX levers also bring a higher premium over 7 sp Sora level shifters so others out there must agree.

The compatability with cantilever bikes and the low gear ratios, make me think they were aimed at touring bikes and cyclocross bikes. And, the fact that they came on my touring bike. I also don't see them as entry level quality.

RSX was a step down from 105 but the levers were solid units. Nothing wrong with them at all. Quality parts just heavy if you are worried about it. They have far out lasted a Set of 9 Speed 105s and Ultegra's I have.
98 those are probably 8 speed. They are fairly well servicable if they start hanging.

RSX 7-sp was as good as there was at the time.
Metal, smooth, and worked well, dual paddle design. They go for a pretty penny on eBay.
The 3x7 RSX STI group often used a compact triple and long-cage RD that was very smooth.
Excellent C&V group for those in the hills.

RSX 8-sp was not bad, still the dual-paddle design, manyparts interchangeable with the 8-sp 105 and 600.
The finish was painted, not polished, but well lubed and adjusted, few could tell them from 8-sp 105 as far as performance.

RSX is decent but it's nothing special. I don't think it's comparable to sora, more like tiagra IMO

RSX is what the upper tier Exgage OEM groups morphed into. With the exception of the brifters it's a lot like 105.

Top

ARed, Nothing wrong with the RSX group except it's heavier than those higher up the food chain. Otherwise very comparable in operation to the RX100 and 105 groups of the period. Like the Sora group of modern times there was a unique aspect to RSX and that was the chainring sizing at 38-48 for the double, unusual at the time.

As the RX100 group was identical to the 105 group except for color, I suspect that the RSX evolved into the Tiagra and the thumb shifting Sora added. As it is, if you're looking for prestige you need to look elsewhere.

Brad

man i feel like pretty much all of shimano's stuff is good unless you're a weight weenie who loves index shifting. keep the rsx its perfectly functional

+1

Even though it was two steps down from 105, only the crankset was really cheap-looking, more like Altus or Tourney-looking arms, but with removeable, albeit steel chainring(s). The RSX brake calipers also appear to be a big step down from the RX100's 105-clone shape.

RSX 7-speed STI levers have plain alloy bodies, and take well to polishing. They look rather upscale to me.

I have RSX on my Volpe, too. What a coincidence!

I bought the bike in December and only recently started riding it. I'm falling in love. I love it when I get a mid-range bike which looks boring and barely acceptable and it turns out to be the best thing around.

The shifters didn't work at all until I poured lots of lubricant in. The previous owner of the bike never lubricated anything. Now that I mention that, I should probably overhaul the bearings!

I purchased a Cannondale a couple of years back as a donor bike. It had the RSX group. I was building a bike for a friend, he wanted upright bars so I bought some indexed twist shifters, I saved the brifters for future use and sold the frame.

I liked RSX, while I didn't ride it much I was impressed with how well it shifted. My friend has been happy with the bike, although he wouldn't know RSX from 105, Sora, Tiagra or Ultegra.

RX-100 was a step down from 105 and RSX was below that.