Repco Appreciation Society

[gbasile77]

Hi,

I just picked up a red/yellow Repco Victory Tri-A (ebay melbourne) over the weekend and found this great resource of information.
I am really happy with the bike, it's a 5 speed with Shimano light action, SIS downtube shifters, sugino vp crank, Nitto bar and stems.
Unlike all the modern flat black bikes in my garage, this one is bright and shiny and cheers me up whenever I go in there.

As I have just joined the site, I cannot post any pics (yet) but I am sure I have a tonne of questions about parts compatibility as I start to undertake a good overhaul of the bike.

[schuberj]

Welcome to the world of Repcos and, maybe even more importantly, bikes that are not black! It will be no time before you have a pink bike in the garage

I have heard differing opinions as to whether that "7 day, 10 post" image rule actually exists. My advice would be to give it a try, if it doesn't show up someone can quote your message to make it show.

The catalogue says that bike should be a 12 speed too, would be interested to see if the wheels were original if this is not the case.

[gbasile77]

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[schuberj]

Looks very nice. There seem to be a lot of '87 Victorys coming out of the woodwork at the moment, with yellow and red obviously being the popular colour (the other being anthracite and silver).

[gbasile77]

Here is a pic of the rear with five speed hub:
I plan to give her a good service and I'm not sure if I can go 6-speed. My shifters are indexed and I don't think they have 6 shifts in them.
Sorry I'm pretty new to bicycles.

[schuberj]

It is difficult to tell from the pics whether the cluster is a cassette or a freewheel. Either way I don't think fitting a six speed cluster would be an issue (assuming you can find one) as there seems to be plenty of space for the extra cog. I am pretty sure Shimano did not make 5 speed downtube shifters. 5 and 6 speed actually have the same spacing, you would not have the extra click because the limiting screws in the rear derailleur would lock the last gear out.

Perhaps some of the other '87 Victory owners can shed some more light on this?

[gbasile77]

Thanks for your help. It's definitely a freewheel and not a cassette.
When I replace I will probably go for a 13-24 6-speed hub then.
Hundreds more silly questions from me to follow I'm sure.

[schuberj]

Silly questions are better than costly mistakes

[gbasile77]

Ok then, I've got plenty of those... and need no encouragement.
I am thinking of buying a cheap donor with say 9-speed shimano 105 (5500). Nice shiny silver so it still looks period(ish). Ideally keep the down-tube shifters.. so I would need to upgrade those to 9-speed ones (not cheap).
How much of the donor could i feasibly use? I think to make is worthwhile I would need to be able to use the wheels, cassette, f/r derailleur. What about BB?
I am guessing brake calipers from the donor won't have a long enough reach (shame).
Thoughts?
Stick to period?

[singlespeedscott]

Nothing wrong with an updated groupset on an old frame.

However if your going to increase your number of sprockets on the rear you may as well go the whole hog and move to sti levers.

With brakes it depends on what model bike your updating as to which reach caliper your going to require. The older models that use standard reach, 57mm, calipers are usually mounted with a nut and bolt. This can be a problem as modern 57mm reach calipers use an allenkey. It can be done but it's a bit of mucking about.

[gbasile77]

I guess my line of thinking was that if you start looking at getting old parts to service, the cost can start to add up and availability is not that great.
On the other hand a more modern donor bike approach could be more cost effective route.
But if the donor is tha cheap, it'r probably knackered too, then its just more rubbish to overhaul.

Of course this is all just a distraction from what I should really be doing.. getting that seatpost unstuck

[maccayak]

It looks a nice original bike, sometimes its nice to keep them that way, but its your bike and it is up to you. Regardless great bike and I'm sure you will get plenty of admirers when you ride it.

[ldrcycles]

If the seatpost is badly stuck, one of the best methods is to remove the BB and pour a mixture of caustic soda into the seat tube with the frame upside down. I used that on the last frame with a stuck post i had to work on, and it worked very well.

I am thinking of buying a cheap donor with say 9-speed shimano 105 (5500). Nice shiny silver so it still looks period(ish). Ideally keep the down-tube shifters.. so I would need to upgrade those to 9-speed ones (not cheap).
How much of the donor could i feasibly use? I think to make is worthwhile I would need to be able to use the wheels, cassette, f/r derailleur. What about BB?
I am guessing brake calipers from the donor won't have a long enough reach (shame).
Thoughts?
Stick to period?

5500 are my favourite shifters both for the shape of the hood and the feel of the shift, i was lucky enough to nad a pair off a wrecked Cannondale at the tip. At the donor price level you would be unlikely to find a BB that won't fit your Repco, the vast majority would have a threaded BB. From the photo it looks as though your frame already has recessed brake mounts, so modern brakes should fit without any trouble.

I don't think you would have any trouble finding a donor bike with Sora or Tiagra for around $2-300, maybe less. You can also get a brand new 9 speed Sora groupset (the current model which did away with the thumb triggers) on Bike24 for $375. That doesn't include the BB (under $20) or cables ($40ish).

[gbasile77]

Thanks for all your ideas guys, much appreciated.
Started stripping it down last night..
Yep brake calipers use modern style mount so that is nice.

At the moment the only 6-speed shimano free-wheel hub i can find seems to be 14-28, not sure if my derailleur (sport lx) would even have sufficient reach for a cog that big. Probably should count the teeth on what I have.
Only other options seem to be 14-24 Sunrace but I am not sure if quality on those is any good (read mixed comments).

Side topic - My brother-in-law god the vintage bike bug too and picked up a nice Europa. Italian "tecnotrat cuneo" italian frame and mix of campy/modolo bits on it.. Man that thing is light as a feather and its a largish frame. Very nice and a bit jealous

[schuberj]

Shimano rear derailleurs from the era can handle 28t unless you were using a Dura Ace (26) or Santé (24!). I would suggest that if you are unsure about what you want to do with it just fit a new freewheel, polish up the parts, put it back together and ride it. You can then enjoy whilst still keeping an eye out for a donor, or maybe you will decide to keep it how it is. It is amazing how quickly a cheap bike can become expensive, which again is how much you want to spend.

As someone who has done a modern component conversion on a Eurosport, I can tell you that everything pretty much bolts on, even the current style Hollowtech cranks with outboard bearings! The only real issues I had were the front derailleur (those shims aren't as readily available as you would think) and the rear derailleur cable that needs a step down ferrule to fit the old style braze-on on the chain stay. I ended up not bothering with any resetting of the rear stays as there is easily enough flex to accommodate the 4mm wider hubs.

As for my stuck seatpost (on this same bike) I tried a number of suggestions, all of which did not work. In the end I decided I could do without the post and attacked it directly with a hammer (seat removed, rest of the bike built) and found it actually came out quite easily once the bond with the frame had been broken. Hardly a mark on the post and this was covered up by the seat clamp anyway, so I am still using the same one (Note: I would only do this with the bike on its wheels and tyres to absorb the shock and definitely not on a bike stand.) I always apply plenty of grease to posts (um... that is seat posts, not forum posts ) to save myself or possibly the next owner of the bike the same hassle!

[gbasile77]

Thanks for the great advice. At the moment I am going to to exactly what you say, throw on a new cassette, chain, bb maybe, fresh tyres and clean and polish everything and enjoy it.
I can then see what I want to do, and maybe slowly pick up some upgrade parts here and there.
In fact I hesitated to touch anything, because I really just want to ride it.

Thanks for the seat-post advice.. I am hoping to get out into the garage for a bit this weekend, so I'll let you know how I get on with it.

[munga]

was it probikekit that had 10s 105 for under $400 last week?

[barefoot]

Started fiddling with my '89 Eurosport Tri-A, and soon found that the seatpost was stuck fast.

A bit of WD40, leverage in a vise and a bit of body warmth on the affected area and it's out; no real drama, just a trashed seatpost (the clamp started turning in the post before the post turned in the frame).

What size post should this frame use?

The stuck one was a 27.2mm. I assumed it was original, just corroded in, but I just went to install another 27.2 post, and it's a horribly tight fit. Don't want to risk a perfectly good post that's probably worth more I paid for this Tri-A, so I aborted.

I pulled the post out of my (similar vintage) Malvern Star Triathlete, but it's a 26.8, and flops around in the Repco like a proverbial in a sock.

My immense powers of deduction lead me to conclude that the Repco would probably go okay with a 27.0mm post.

Strangely, that's about the only size missing from my spare seatpost collection. So I'm looking for a reality check from you guys before I go shopping.

Does 27.0mm sound reasonable for a Kuwahara-built Tange Infinity '89 Tri-A?

tim

[schuberj]

27.0mm is correct. The original seatpost would have been a Strong unit (that is its brand, not its durability). The second time I have required a picture of the seat/seatpost of my Eurosport and seems to be the only photo I did not take!

Note: I am not suggesting Strong are bad, they are actually great seatposts

[singlespeedscott]

Agree on the 27.0

[barefoot]

So I wasn't completely wrong. The stuck post was a Strong, so it was period appropriate and looked like it belonged there.

But it is definitely a 27.2, so it didn't belong there.

Luckily, 0.2 diameter shouldn't be enough to have damaged the seat tube.

Thanks gents,

tim

[gbasile77]

Hi guys,

Still keeping myself occupied with Operation Seat Post Removal, Stage 1,345

Any ideas on what size my victory tri-a seatpost would be? At this stage I am not going to have much left to measure but the rough measurement I did get (eye-balled with ruler) put it at 26mm. Sound right? or maybe 25.4mm

[schuberj]

Also 27.0. All the Tange Infinity frames are the same (seatpost diameter), in the Repco range at least.

[maccayak]

When I started tinkering with frames and bikes, one of the first tools I bought was a cheap digital micrometer (think that's what's its called) from a tool shop. 0.2 mm is a big amount in a seat post. I have used it plenty of times.

[schuberj]

Yes, I have recently bought myself some "digital calipers", not very accurate to 2 decimal places but plenty good enough to .2 of a millimetre.