IthaDan 

Yeah, seriously, seems like anything but a sora shifter (with the thumb paddle) would be a much better option. Please report back, I'm curious as well.

Edit: I guess he did report back, I'd lost it in the wall of text.

neo_pop_71

IthaDan, believe me when I tell you that I was right there with you initially. My buddy has been running this set up ever since Campy Chorus Ergo 10 came out, quite some time by now, he had a custom bend put in a Nitto Noodle bar and he loves the set up.



I was certainly skeptical at first but I borrowed his bike for one of our group rides and I found it to be different but cool. From that day on it's been in the back of my head. When some Sora brifters came up locally on Craigslist I figured the time had come. The paddle shift of the Campy Ergo and the Sora do not appear to be the right choice and maybe for some it wouldn't be but I've grown to enjoy it. I was hesitant to drop the coin for the Campy shifters, so the Sora would have to do. If it works out after a few months, then I'll probably pick up a set of Chorus Ergo 10 if I can find them for a decent price... but that means I'm on the hook for a rear Campy hub wheel, a rear 10 speed derailleur, and a 10 speed cassette and chain. That's why the Sora was the way to go, even though the paddles are smaller, I didn't have to buy anything besides the shifters since I had a bunch of 8 and 9 speed Shimano stuff just sittin' in the bin.

hairnet

Does anybody here have experience with Araya RM-20 rims? I see they were spec'ed on some top bikes back in the day. While good quality and easy to built into wheels, they seem overly heavy duty and sluggish for long rides and off road. I havent tried other tires though

frantik

in the late 80s RM-20 was Arayas top 26" wheel but by the early 90s had moved down their line up as lighter wheels were introduced. there are a bunch of old araya catalogs online here https://www.araya-kk.co.jp/rim/archive.htm

wrk101

I'm still figuring someone will come in below the 25 pound mark. I limited myself to parts bin only, and kept the original drivetrain (pretty much).

I may have to take another crack at it, to get it below that mark. The problem is my bin of MTB stuff is pretty limited.

mainstreetexile 

It definitely is! It's a great time of year to get out to the desert. We got a fair amount of rain earlier in the year and everything is green and in bloom now.

Thanks! It performed great. I think I may upgrade the wheelset at some point to cut a little weight and to get a few more gears at the top end. It's a 14-32 freewheel and it would be nice to have an 11-30 or 11-32 cassette since I've been spinning out a few times on downhills lately. It's 130mm spacing so I should be able to just shoe-horn a modern 135 hub in there without cold setting.

You're welcome to come along sometime. We did a loop from uptown / North Park -> La Mesa/Spring Valley -> Jamul -> Bonita -> back up through downtown. We might do a ride up to Alpine next time. I'm looking forward to seeing that Alpina Pro built up!

RFC

Now that I have an appropriate scale, I have been weighing the collection.

Most disappointed except for the Fisher Procaliber, which came in at 26.4, which is great for a 22" frame. I may have to revisit this one. Dump the puncture resistant tubes and steel handle bar and I might be able to hit the 25's.

RFC

Now that I have an appropriate scale, I have been weighing the collection.

Most disappointed except for the Fisher Procaliber, which came in at 26.4, which is great for a 22" frame. I may have to revisit this one. Dump the puncture resistant tubes and steel handle bar and I might be able to hit the 25's.

Sirrus Rider

I guess this counts as the ends of the bars are lower than the top end of the stem. Flipped SOMA Oxford bars.

frantik

digging it.. does it weighs 26.4 with all those accessories?

RFC

No, without accessories.

Taxi Rob

I gotta work up to that long of a ride, but I do have a van

Anyway, here is the Alpina Pro. I wish I could have kept the original brown metallic, but I think it was too far gone. I started out with the election as inspiration, and ended up with something that reminds me of one of my 70's childhood heroes, can you guess who I'm talking about?



Currently weighing in at 30.5 lbs, I think a lot of it is in the wheels. I might be able to break 26 lbs with this bike, but not with those Vuelta Airlines and Kenda Kwests on RM40 hubs. They were a great deal altogether, and the color scheme was just too perfect to break it up. Just the same, I'd put this up against a Specialissima any day.

It's super stable and even though the steering is a bit slow, you get used to it quickly. The Sunrace S80's work quite well and are pretty lightweight compared to a low end Sora or higher end vintage, like 600's. I don't know about shifting from the drops, but this was meant for riding on the hoods and tops. I can hit the paddles from both of those positions easily and comfortably.

I think I might clean up the seat cluster with a black post and possibly migrate my all black Brooks from the frankencross, Origin8 has a 26.6 zero offset post which will bring the reach back into non-NBA range (this frame has a 23" top tube.) I'm really jazzed about the Nitto stem I got on Saturday along with the 48cm bars. Super comfy and easy breathing, plenty wide enough to keep it stable when climbing, and offering up enough flex for a smoother ride than I could get with the 42's on my other road bikes.

ThermionicScott 

I dig how this one turned out!

Aluminum handlebars and lighter tubes/tires would be a great place to start. The triple-with-tight-cassette is nice, but you could probably free up a couple ounces by going to some kind of compact double and a short-cage rear derailleur...

Ultimately, I think the lightest "road" conversions would have to be the single-speed ones, but mine has too heavy a frame to compete.

wrk101

FWIW: I cut well over 1 pound with just a tire change. That and alloy stem/bar combo, and I think you will be in the 24s.

Taxi Rob

Is that a front loading stem or did you modify it to accept drops? Also, what kind of u-brake are you running? Might you be able to save some weight there with a modern CNC unit?

frantik

^ yeah ubrakes are heavy

IthaDan 

I might have the bike to do it. Went Craigslistin' again. Found this today. This is how I got it- post a mile high and the seat all wonky. Debating swapping on cantis and the pair of 6500 brifters I have kicking around.











This is *NOT* a heavy bicycle.

wrk101

No fair starting with a Ti frame Litespeed.

frantik

^ nice I need some Titanium (and XTR) in my stable...

IthaDan 

awww. Crap. Guess I'll have to build up the fat chance after all. Onea these days I'll get to it. It's just hanging there right now.

Ti frame AND fork and stem and bars. I did well with this one.

Chrome Molly 

Just weighed the Croll. I'm at 25 with pedals, so once I get the lighter wheelset then I'm expecting to shave another lb off that. It seems very possible that someone could go sub 23 if they came up with the right frameset and went with a modern double MTB crankset (something like a 44/26 with an 11/28 would be true enough to the MTB roots). I think that the key is finding the earliest nice butted steel frame in a smaller size that sports a 1 1/8 head tube. My 1 inch tube really limited the lower weight options in forks. Of course I cheated and did a somewhat more modern build with a threadless headset.

Chrome Molly 

Or a litespeed ti frame...

neo_pop_71

Damn! That fork is awesome... whatta' beauty!!!

IthaDan, you have an awesome stable of bikes... I saw the pic where you'd pulled a few bikes out, I'd love to see a full stable photo... just for drooling sake!

Thanks for sharing!

-D-

p.s. I'd like to see a pic of your Fat Chance and if you do build it, please take some pics for the "Before & After" thread. Thanks!

IthaDan 

I don't think I have a lens wide enough to get them all. :/

Edit: fat chance is the black to purple fade single speed in the album my sig links to. FWIW, just cleaned that album up a little.

neo_pop_71

Right on RFC, thanks for bringing that to my attention... my 26 pound Cimarron was a fairly large frame, possibly why I couldn't hit the 25's. Say "Thrifty Bill" (wrk101) that's got me thinking, what size frame is your Cimarron? Either way, RFC, your Fisher looks great and turned out really well, congrats!

-D-