BikePower

Well I learned how to inflate a Presta valve with the adapter that was on one of the tires. I wish I would have googled that before I took the front tire off. I could have at least tested the bike out. So my question. Can I put the old tire back on? I dont know how old they are but they seem to be in pretty good shape, no cracks or excessive wear. The back tire is holding 90psi nicely so far. Can I just use contact cement? Must I clean the wheel meticulously first? Must I clean the old glue off the tire? It would be nice to be able to take it for a test drive.

BikePower

I dont see any stickys in the C&V forum on tubular tires or any section on that. Can you post a link please? Thanks. update: I found it. Its called Totally Tubular..
Totally Tubular

Classtime 

That is a nice raceable mid 80s race bike. Nice frame -- digging the stays to rear drop out treatment. See if you can find an ok pair of clinchers on FB or CL or ??? and set your tubulars aside for now. Not worth rebuilding on those hubs unless you do it yourself -- Later. Like you said you got it for little money. What major city in FLA are you in. We'd like to shop for you.

AND sometimes you should buy a whole bike at the right price just for a part or two:
https://fortmyers.craigslist.org/lee...702390943.html

45 bucks for clincher wheels wheels.

BikePower

Sarasota. I would like to keep my rear cluster and go a little wider than the racing tires that are on there. 27 x 1.25 what do you think and thanks.

Classtime 

Your bike is made for 700c wheels so not 27 X anything.
1.25 is 32mm and many 80s race bikes were made for 23s or 25s will take 25s and maybe 28s.

Alan K

As others have already suggested, clean it up, lubricate and the only decision you will have to make is if you want to use tubulars or go with contemporary tires. In case if opt for the latter, you will need new wheels at which point, you could get an 8x cassette which, if memory serves me correctly, you could shift with your current shifters. If they are indexed, you may have to remove a tiny ball that clicks in the indent and they will become simple friction shifter.

It’s a nice bike and should ride well. If you are interested in selling, don’t go by what people are trying to get for it on eBay. You may get some idea by searching for what this bike sold for… but even that gives you only an estimate, with time, supply and demand change.

Good luck!

BikePower

Ok thanks for the lesson. So 32mm is too wide for this bike? So once I find the wheels the tire size I want is 700c x 28mm?

BikePower

I just put the tire back on without glue and they are both holding 90psi no problem. This thing rides like a dream. I only went 10 miles an hour in a straight line. I read in the Totally Tubular thread of a guy who rode his bike like 100 miles and forgot to glue the tires on and he was fine. Of course I will glue them at my earliest opportunity when I get some tire glue. I think ideally I would like the clinchers for peace of mind.

Alan K

Measure the clearance before buying new tires.
We have Tesch from the same era and I wouldn’t put anything larger than 25mm in it. Originally, we were using 23 mm tires in it.
If you leave only a mm on both sides and if anything goes wrong with the wheel when it is out of true, you damage risk damaging the paint and introduce resistance through friction as you ride - both are undesirable,

Alan K

Please do not ride without re-glueing the tires. You will need to throughly clean the rims and tires to a degree you can.

pastorbobnlnh 

My two cents of advice regarding your tubular tires: Use Effeto Mariposa mastic/glue remover to clean the rims of the old glue. And their glueing tape to mount your tires. This is the easiest way to be introduced to tubular mounting. Both tires should probably be remounted for peace of mind, but also consider new tires and starting fresh.

Beautiful bike and congratulations on the great find. First class all around!

dedhed

https://velomine.com/products/sun-m1...age-road-bikes

AdventureManCO 

+1. I'm pretty 'tubular-inept'. I used tape and couldn't be happier. Gotta get those rims and tires clean, but worked out great, and no schedule for glue, wait, glue, etc.

Chombi1 

The perforated white Turbo saddle can go for good money these days. Pretty much close to unobtainium in very good condition and C&Vers are always looking for it......

BikePower

good to know. Thank you!

jdawginsc 

That’s a nice free project! Anything you spend is basically a small investment in a nice little bike (just my two cents).

I don’t think it’s going to become super valuable so replacing parts with your preferred items while maybe funding the “upgrades” via sale of old pieces shouldn’t be an issue.

Paint looks like it should polish up well as is.

It has my favorite go to bars and stem combo, but if changing out you might want to replace the stem as well to something that increases the height...

BikePower

thank you!

Mr. 66

Omg, I am glad you are ok. Riding without the tire glued is nutty.

icemilkcoffee 

Not really. Lots of people do that when they have a flat out on the road and have to put their spare tubular on.

BikePower

Thank you. I just wanted to feel the geometry of the bike. I went slow and didnt do any cornering or anything wild. It doesnt feel wobbly or unstable at all. I will glue it after I do more research on how to clean all the old glue off the wheel and the tire. I also have to get some glue. Probably will go with the Mastik. I would just use contact cement but I read that if you do that you have to basically cut the tires off if you need to change them.

chain_whipped

Congrats on a very nice find! You're already ahead of the game so move forward on the normal routine of servicing a bicycle. Seems more over reactive and panic comments here.

First, do the very basic check, spray lube and de-crud, verify brakes are functional, inflate tubulars (you've stated done). Adjust seat post. Take a short test ride and determine if the bike fits and suits your riding.

If yes, then do the expected ownership service.

For now stay with the tubulars. Simply remove both of them, clean the rims dry and use a basic scuff / scrubbing pad. The old glue comes off better than chemical dissolvants. If the old tubular looks good, go ahead and use them. Verify the base tape is well. If not, remove that and reapply rubber contact cement.

For the tubulars to rim adhesive, $10 will get you a couple tubes of proper tubular glue and for aluminum rim usage. Apply sparingly using a disposable small brush (dollar store or Harbor Freight multi pack) on both rims. Fully cover the mating surfaces, single coat. Do the same on tubulars. Let all set for a few hours.

Re-install the tubular to rim. Slight inflate, lift in sections as if a rubber band, release and or to center areas. Then inflate to desire. Start at 100psi. At worst, they could flat but won't pop and roll off, causing skating like a clincher.

Find tubulars at $60 pair. Price is reasonable when you compare to a clincher, tube, rim strip. You don't need for now high end. Try Tufo or Panaracer Practice 270.

70sSanO

Nice bike. I would first measure the tire clearance between the chainstays and brakes to get an idea what size tire will fit. If you ride on smooth pavement, 25’s are fine and 28mm tires are great.

If you decide to keep it, spend some quality time doing maintenance first. If it were me, I would pull the crank and remove the bottom bracket, inspect, clean, re-grease and re-install or if trashed, replace with a cartridge bottom bracket.

You’ll most likely want to replace the cable housings and cables. Jagwire makes inexpensive sets in a variety of colors. At this time pull the stem and disassemble the headset. First, check for any notching as you turn the bars. If everything is smooth, take it apart, inspect, clean, te-grease, and put it back together. It is so much easier to service a headset when you replace the housings.

Bottom brackets and headsets can last for decades if maintained and adjusted properly.

As for wheels, good used vintage clincher freewheel wheelsets are everywhere. Keep an eye out if you want to move from tubulars. Beware of new cheap wheels. The hubs/bearings are junk.

If you are enterprising enough, you can figure out the ERD of your current rims and buy rims that will use your existing hubs and spokes and just transfer them over.

If the bike has low miles the value is in the function and not the collectibility, although as mentioned that Turbo saddle can go a ways towards new wheels.

You can always swap out the freewheel for a cheap 6 speed 14-24/28. If you are lucky you might find a 6 speed Sachs Aris (much cheaper than their 7 speed sibling) and run it with Shimano SIS.

It looks like a super fun bike that only lacks the right name on the downtube. If it fits, and you like the way it rides, it will serve you for many years.

John

genejockey 

Nice find! Personally, speaking only for myself, I'd restore it using the current stem and bars. You can find newly made, reproduction hoods on Ebay (I recently discovered). It's a perfect winter project. I really like that era of 600 series components!

One thing to be wary of - the rear shifter. If it's a 6208 SIS shifter, then likely all the little tangs will have broken off inside the shifter, AND there are issues with the frictions setting. I discovered this with a bike I bought that had those - turned out someone had long ago upgraded the bike (which came with friction shifters) to the first generation SIS shifters (which were rather fragile, so I just swapped the shifters and RD out for the correct 6207 ones.

Also, if you want to ride this much and you want it to be relatively problem free, I would find a nice used clincher wheelset. Sew-ups aren't cheap, and they're a PITA to glue on, and if you get a puncture on the road they're not so easy to deal with. This is what I did with one bike that originally came with sew-ups. I generally ride that bike with the clinchers, but sometimes for fun I run the sew-ups, with the spare bundled up and secured to the seat rails with an old toe strap.

Now, fix it up how you like it and ride the hell out of it!

3alarmer

...mostly, nowadays, people use the tape.

BikePower

I have been advised that the tires are the original Panaracers from 1986 as shown in the Nashbar catalog. The panaracer emblem is worn off but on the sidewall says National Tire Co LTD which I have learned was one and tge same as Panaracer.

This bike is a time capsule. The tires are holding 110psi and the ride is amazing. 1986. Incredible. It still has a little assenbly line sticker from 1986. I wonder if this bike was ever even ridden?