I'm very mechanically inclined, I would say I actually as much fun building and modifying bikes as I do riding. I'm more of a commuter and occaisional alleycat racer (if you've never heard of alleycats, they're more informal and more like games than straight up races). My girlfriend's dad is a bit of a weekend warrior, but continues to ride his early 80's chro-moly steel Raleigh. He would like to get a new bike, but he's looking at a full Dura-Ace, full carbon fiber rig. It seems he's never going to get it, however, because of the cost (he's self employed and moving into a new house soon).

Now, I'm well aware of cost vs. return on piecing together a bike, let alone upgrading. However, I feel that I can create a fun project for the two of us to do together, as well as have an excellent, relatively inexpensive, and only several pounds overweight ride. I know that if you spend about $1000, you can get a nice mix of parts for a well functioning, reasonably lightweight bike. The more you spend, the bike mostly only gets progressively lighter, with higher quality and tolerances. If I manage to score relatively lightweight wheels, the bike will accelerate quicker and feel lighter than it actually is. If I can find some good shifters, well that will be significantly better than non-index shifters anyway.

My ideas:

1) Medium weight 8 or 9 speed, 24 or 32 spoke wheelset. Used of course, and bought locally, I could find something fairly light, not too expensive, and bombproof (he's a tall and strong rider). I'm thinking something like Mavic CXP33s, with decent hubs. Probably around $150. I've seen some lighter weight wheels go for very cheap because they are for an 8 or 9 speed cassette, and the owner has upgraded.

2) Used double crankset. Either square taper (I'll overhaul the existing BB) or buy a new BB. Maybe Tiagra, 105, or something from Travativ or SRAM. $50 max.

3) Used brifters, Tiagra, 105 or equivalent. Not sure the going prices, but it should be about $100 or less.

4) A basic Tektro-made brakeset, or some kind of Shimano one on sale at Performance. About $30.

5) Derailers...I actually have some laying around that could be put to use, or I could find some used.

Then I just need cables, bar wrap, and to overhaul the headset. I could even give him my white Selle Italia Turbo, he'd probably love it.

I think I'm going to look for the wheels first, because if I can get a decent deal there then it will let everything else simply fall into place.

Any comments or criticisms?

I rode and raced on just such a rig. You can buy brand new Vuelta or Reynolds Comp wheels for your $100-150 range, and if the current crankset and derailleurs are in decent shape, leave 'em alone; odds are good they'll work fine with indexed shifters.

My suggestion is to keep your eyes open for a complete used bike. Don't worry about the size, color or anything else.

Strip it and sell the frame to get some of your money back. Put the components on the old frame and be happy. Otherwise be very very patient and hope you get lucky.

Sound advice, though I think the greatest benefit would be moving to STI. I would still upgrade the brakes and brake levers if we ended up keeping the cranks and derailers, so there wouldn't be too much money savings.

It would be possible to use the existing crankset with 8 speed shifters and derailers, I believe, though the lack of ramping and pinning might make the shifting less crisp. Not really a big deal, hell, I actually run my road bike as a single.

That's an excellent idea! Whichever comes first, the road bike or the wheelset, I suppose will determine the build. Thanks.

Might as well ask directly: What are some decent, inexpensive wheelsets out there for road cycling? I'm mostly familiar with track wheelsets.

3) Used brifters, Tiagra, 105 or equivalent. Not sure the going prices, but it should be about $100 or less.

Dream on, have you looked at scambay recently. 105 9 speed stuff is going for more than the 10 speed.

I have done this with 2 bikes, it is fun and the minimum cost is about $450 unless you are getting some free stuff. Good luck.

How is the Forte Titan wheelset? It's going for dirt cheap right now, and I've been pretty happy with everything house brand I've bought from Performance.

https://www.performancebike.com/shop/...TOKEN=18645921

Worse comes to worse, I buy the wheelset, throw on a pair of my Suntour GPX aero levers, buy the new brakes, and leave the bike with the original shifters.

Keep in mind that if you pick up a bike that has a 6- or 7-speed freewheel / cassette, you probably can't upgrade it to 8 or 9 speed. Very common in 80s bikes iirc.

By the way, you may be glad to know that "a few pounds overweight" means pretty much squat in terms of performance. The impact of frame weight is almost negligible and absurdly overrated.

My advice is to think it completely through before spending the first dime. The hardest part is being honest with yourself. If he's dreaming about a carbon fiber Dura-Ace bike is an upgraded version of what he has going to satisfy him?

Once you start down the upgrade road it's hard to stop. Every dollar that you spend makes it harder to turn back. Ultimately, you'll end up with an old frame that hash some new parts and probably came closer to the cost of a new bike than you had anticipated. If that's what you want, fine. If somebody really wants a new styling bike, however, it's probably not going to cut it.

Respacing a steel frame from 126mm to 130 or 135mm isn't a big deal, I've respaced down when installing track wheelsets. All it needs is a new chain and a new RD. If the friction shifters aren't giving enough pull to shift the whole range of the cassette, then it's just more impetus to try to find some 8 or 9 speed brifters.

I am well aware of that. It's all about the wheels, really. Even my steel Panasonic with relatively heavy CXP22's, weighing at about 20 lbs total, is an excellent ride.

aren't these 20% off today?

https://www.performancebike.com/shop/...TOKEN=67560838

https://www.performancebike.com/perfo...oupon_code.cfm


What parts are currently on the bike? Some older 6 or 7 speed wheels can actually sell for $50 to $100 pair (or more if Campy with tubulars...).

I'm thinking about converting my old custom into a fixie or having it retrofitted with S&S couplings to make a travel bike.

They're some garbage steel rims, I really don't know more than that. I doubt I could get more than $15 for the set.

I talked to him about the idea, first we're going to start off small. I'm going to give him some Suntour aero levers, new bar wrap, and a new chain. Maybe some new cables too. We'll see how that goes, meanwhile I'll be on the lookout for cheap wheels or a complete.

He's still interested in buying a new complete, full carbon, however. I think he should go for it, but it might be a ways off.