Rain bike??
 

I was thinking about building up a rain bike for when spring comes around. It's going to be somewhat of a budget build because I already have a road bike for nice weather. I was thinking a steel frame with an older 9 speed group.

I can get my hands on an older Gitane Tour de France for a pretty decent price, and was thinking of using an older Chorus or Record group.

Does this group look pretty good?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Campagnolo-Campy...item415619c9d5

I'm thinking that I'd have to replace the chain, but 9 sp stuff is pretty cheap so I'm not worried about that.

The group looks good. The Giant is my winter/rain/commuter bike. It's fine for what it is (heavy and slow).

I thought rain bikes were bikes that used to be a primary bike but were replaced by a better bike. I wouldn't bother building one...but that's me.

Depends how many you have.

anything works.... it doesn't matter all that much.

I ride a steel frame/steel fork, ultegra9s in good condition w/ dt shifters -
your links looks just fine.

I'm building one right now with a 6600/7800 group that I got for far too cheap.

That's a rather limiting philosophy

I built a rain bike recently but decided to make it 10 speed so it's interchangeable with my other bikes. Might come in handy later for swapping parts or future "hand-me-down" parts from good bike to rain bike.

I've always wondered why people use steel frames for their rain bikes, seems kinda counter-intuitive to me.

Everything rusts, except for Ti and carbon. Not all of us are like pcad and have a ti beater. Steel is amazing value and won't rust any worse than aluminum will.

Around these parts, most of our bikes tend to be "rain bikes." Regarding your planned steed: Does it have plenty of clearance for fenders? That's the most important design consideration. I'd want to make sure there was plenty of clearance for fenders and 23mm tires as a minimum.

I had my last long distance event bike built to use medium reach brakes and 30+mm clearance.

No need to worry about having a steel rain bike.

In a perfect world.

I just rebuilt up my old carbon Trek 5200 as a rain bike. I used DA downtube shifters because they were retro, inexpensive, and different.

That was important to me, as well as fender/rack eyelets. The OCR2 is one of the few non-touring-specific road bikes that has a carbon fork and rack/fender eyelets that I could afford. I have 35mm fenders and 26mm tires on it.

Do I wish it was a 10-speed, sure. Would I give up the triple? Not now. I don't know if I'll ever need it in the future, and it works. What I do need are 172.5mm cranks, as it has 170's. Sooner or later I'll find a decent 9spd triple crank that I can swap out.

I have an old Bridgestone 550 with downtube shifters I take out on rainy days. It help me remember how much I enjoy riding 80`s steel bikes.

Unless you live in a corrosive environment (i.e. salt spray), concerns about steel frames rusting are overblown.

Hence unless living in a corrosive environment, why have a rain bike at all? Can't the primary bike handle a few drops of water?

It's not about corrosion, it's about dirt.

Wy not enjoy riding your best bike. I ride my best bike in all conditions. It's why I bought it-to ride. My only other is an Italian framed Steel bike I purchased in 1976 and still in fabulous condition. The only reason I ride the older bike is when the other is in the shop. Bikes are tough, they can withstand rain, salt, sand and snow with no problems that are not easily fixed.

Depending on how old the Gitane is, some of those newer Campy parts might not fit the TdF's frame.

Right. BB & HS could be French.

May also need long reach brakes and the RD hanger might be for Simplex. That said, the 70's TdF is a very nice, all French, high end bike that is coveted by C&Vers.

My rain bike is built up on a PedalForce RS frameset that I bought used. I figure it's a frame I don't mind crashing and breaking so much.