bike wank, part 5

[kirkcudbright]

Mid-80's Trek 520 touring bike. This is a beauty, all Campangolo parts, lugged steel, in pristine condition, a real collector's piece. In fact, it appears to have been in a collection for the last 20 years, and never ridden. At any rate, I've never ridden it.

See, Dan bought it off eBay for his wife. But she didn't want it, and he didn't need another touring bike of his own. So when they broke up, he gave it to me. In pieces. There was the frame, the wheels, and a body bag duffel bag with everything else - fork, handlebar, cranks, etc. I assembled it in one evening in the winter, but I never rode it.

It's a beautiful bike, but I don't have a niche for it; it doesn't fill a need for me.Touring bike? Already got one. 80's bike with downtube shifters? Already got two.

And it's got a couple odd mis-features that don't encourage me to use it as a touring bike. It only has fittings for one water bottle cage. My other bikes, even the racing bike, can take two water bottles, and modern touring bikes (including the 520) have fittings for 3 bottles (the third is underneath the down tube).

Secondly, the gearing is kind of martian - the front chainrings are 48-44-28. Normal gearing would be more like 48-38-28, which gives you a range of high, medium, and low gears. This is more like an extended range of high gears, with a big step down to the low gears.

Ultimately, I'll either figure out a use for it, or I'll sell it, or I'll give it back to Dan, and let him sell it.

Comments

[petre.livejournal.com]

i was scanning the recent lj images and saw this.
i've got an '81 510. it was built up with the campy gruppo [so say the trek files], but the previous owner had shifted a lot of the components back in the early 90s. now it's got suntour bar end shifters and shimano 600 derailleurs and freewheel. it had the original campy hubs [hi-low flange on the rear], but the rims were the 2nd or 3rd set. i've got a rack and fenders on it and use it for commuting in the rain.
oh, the trek decals have been removed, the ishiwata remain.

[totient]

48-44-28 is how I'd gear a touring bike. And the shifters are easy enough to convert. But putting strap-on bottle cages on would pretty quickly ruin the paint, which would be a shame to do to a museum piece like that. I wonder if there's another way? With an aluminum bike you'd punch new bosses in; I wonder if you could drill for them on a steel bike?

the rest of the gearing

[totient]

a Martian front end like that demands a Martian back end to go with it: 12-14-15-16-17-20-24-30.

Then again, I'm enough of a Martian that the next bike I build will be 48/12-13-14-15-16-18-21-24-28. No front derailleur.

Re: the rest of the gearing

[kirkcudbright.livejournal.com]

My fingertips are grimy now, but I had to go and count gears. This one has 14-15-17-20-24-28, which seems reasonable for a 6-speed freewheel, though I might substitute a 13 for the 14. At least the lowest gear combination is 1:1 for climbing, but I still don't understand the advantage of 48-44-28.

I just put a 13-15-17-19-21-24-32 7-speed freewheel on the Raleigh, to replace the 13-15-17-19-21-24 6-speed that was on there originally. It's a huge jump down to the climbing gear, but I'm glad I have it now.

I'm afraid I don't understand the attraction of the 48/12-13-14-15-16-18-21-24-28. It seems like a lot of go-fast gears with not enough low gears, given that you're talking about a 9-speed cartridge and no front derailleur.

Re: the rest of the gearing

[totient]

I already have a touring bike. The next bike will be a medium-distance day rider; I might do a supported century on it, but it won't have rack bosses, or even a third bottle cage.