You beauty - let everyone see what you've got!

[ohexploitable]

yay

[jbchybridrider]

^^Color scheme is looking very nice.

[frailer5]

Well, round 1 of the 'upgrade'. Heading in a SunTour direction, trying to stay in a reasonable 'period'. Gallery Link below pic.. Got the guys at Stanmore Cycles to do it; wanted it done right, as was unsure of status of stuff.
List goes something like this:
-Ofmega cranks
-Cinelli stem/bars
-Super Record headset+BB
.... above were on it when I got it.
Have added/swapped:
-SunTour Cyclone calipers
-DiaCompe slotted levers
-SunTour Sprint downtube levers
-SunTour Sprint 9000 RD
-GPM seat
-SunTour pedals
-yellow bar tape (think mug lair, though coming over ANZAC/Pyrmont/SHBridge, was glad of the stand-out colour while mixing it with the I'm-gonna-be-home-before-you commuters.

May go for period FD, at some stage. Maybe SunTour brake levers. Later....

She's twitchy, but beautiful, to ride. This old guy will have to ease in slowly. Frame by Keith Davis, Canberra. Mid-80s AFAIK. 531 Professional tubes 'n stays.



Gallery Link For the closest view, click on X3Large in the pop-in side window, when mousing over each pic.

[hitchhiker]

Very, very nice! Well Done

[seddo]

very very nice, Keith Davis made some good frames

[ldrcycles]

Looks good, i especially like those brakes, very nice.

[BRLVR.v2]

Love that fork bridge, does it flex much, or noticeably compared to a standard fork?

[frailer5]

Love that fork bridge, does it flex much, or noticeably compared to a standard fork?

TBH, no. I commented on the 'delicate design' of it to Bernard, who did the work on it at Stanmore. His comment: "...and strong". The whole frame has a nice taut/springy feel, but the forks no more than the rest.

[BRLVR.v2]

Love that fork bridge, does it flex much, or noticeably compared to a standard fork?

TBH, no. I commented on the 'delicate design' of it to Bernard, who did the work on it at Stanmore. His comment: "...and strong". The whole frame has a nice taut/springy feel, but the forks no more than the rest.

Cool bananas, 'tis a thing of beauty for sure.

[frailer5]

The RX100 hubs are a bit out of kilter, maybe. It was either put together as a bit of a mix'n'match, or it's been done since. I think I'm only the 3rd owner, AFAIK. Not sure when RX100s would have come on the market.

... hadn't looked before, not sure why Number stamp under BB reads '87011'. Reasonable guess would be 11th build for '87. Did single shop builders use this commonly?

[frailer5]

Love that fork bridge, does it flex much, or noticeably compared to a standard fork?

... and this off a random forum; interesting, as comments here caused me to delve a little deeper. I'm not carrying too much around the middle, though could lose some. .. so not so concerned on the weight front.

Of interest to anyone sourcing parts, the RD, Caliper, brake levers, shift levers were from The Bike Recyclery Prices were pretty good, particularly for the NOS Sprint 9000 RD. I doubt I'm allowed to give figures here, but a look in there will give an indication. There's one sitting there now; NIB/NOS. He must have got a few of them. Beautiful. I wanted to use it as a desk ornament, but it's more useful on the bike, I guess.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yes, the frame is, generally, weaker. A frame built with thicker-walled tubing, all else being equal, will be stronger. 531P doesn't "happen" to be thinner, it's thinner for a reason - reduced weight. Steel isn't "durable" at it's material "heart," it's more or less durable depending on how its produced, made into tubing, brazed-up, etc. Pushing it to its limits will make it more prone to failure just like any other material used in making bicycles. That said, I wouldn't treat it gingerly, though it will be more prone to failure than, say, 531C over a long period of hard use. As Neal, says, it's probably not going to crumple under you, and published rider weights for tubesets lean way on the side of appeasing the lawyers. As important as the tubing itself, though this rarely gets said, is how well it is built - i.e. using the right brazing material at the right temperatures. If it's overheated, it's more likely to break. This is true regardless of what tubing type it's made of, but these factors are more critical with tubing, like 531P, that more closely approaches steel's limits. All that said, 531P is likely to be very whippy for someone your size, and may not provide you with the ride quality you desire - though that of course is very subjective. Some people like frames that ride like an overcooked piece of angel hair pasta.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[ldrcycles]

Some people like frames that ride like an overcooked piece of angel hair pasta.

[Joe]

Hi all,

I'm new to this forum and new to the whole idea of vintage / retro biking. I found an old bike in a pile left out for council clean-up, the light weight told me instantantly it was worth bringing home. After a bit of internet research I'm fairly satisfied that it's worth restoring.



It's an Avanti Strada Ten, which I think is circa 1985, but originally a ten speed. I'm guessing it's been upgraded sometime in the late 80's to a 21speed. The parts are:

Shimano 600 derailers (7 speed)
Shimano 600 downtube shifters
Shimano 600 hubs
Sugino maxy triple crank
Suntour Superbe brakes
Dia-compe levers
Mavic 27'' wheels

The seat and seatpole were horrid (wrong size cheap taiwan stuff held on with a rusty bolt) so they're gone. I'm after some advice on what to replace them with that will be in keeping with the look, light and not too pricy. Basically at present I've spent nothing on it and I'm now trying to work out what sort of budget is justified.

Also the brakes seem to be an upgrade, as the arms seem a little short (the pads are right at the bottom yet are barely on the top of the rim).

I've got used to the idea of having a road bike for riding around the Sydney CBD or the occasional full-blown commute (I live 30kms+ from work, only done it once on my heavy mountain-bike commuter). I'm not sure whether to go fully retro or put on functional stuff like pedals with cleats and a modern saddle (I can guess what you guys will say, but I'm not a purist). I don't want to spend a fortune on it, but the whole 80's thing is sucking me in a bit (in the 80's I rode a fairly cheap Repco 10 speed to school).

Any advice is welcome.

Thanks

Joe

[frailer5]

Hi all,

but the whole 80's thing is sucking me in a bit

Thanks

Joe

The disease is basically untreatable. Best to roll with it, and undergo a regimen of symptomatic treatment, involving occasional purchases, even if only parts. An 80s fan here too.
Speaking of parts, and depending on advice from those more knowledgeable here, I could defray your costs, as I 'need' SunTour brake levers to align stuff on the one above. Looking at that wheel/fork crown gap, those calipers sound like they're only just reaching.
Can you post up, or link, some closer shots of stuff, including the badge near the top of the seat tube (on the frame)?

[Joe]

Thanks frailer5,

I will take some more picks and post. Your comment about the fork gap has me thinking - perhaps the brakes are original and the wheels were changed. Could this have had 28 inch wheels originally?

Joe

[cray-]

Your comment about the fork gap has me thinking - perhaps the brakes are original and the wheels were changed. Could this have had 28 inch wheels originally?

Are you sure the current wheels are 27"? If it originally had 27" wheels and the current wheels are actually 700c, that would explain the gap and the brake reach issue. Just a possibility.

[Dan]

Newest addition. Has its own baby blue thread, too. 56cm tamari with 8 spd campag mirage.

[frailer5]

Beautiful... eye-catching, classy. The peg bag adds perspective, too.

[Dan]

Beautiful... eye-catching, classy. The peg bag adds perspective, too.

Thanks! Peg bag/beach bag/repurposed hessian sack - waste not want no, I suppose. Bench in background is old floor joists. I'm surprised I didn't recycle brake cables....

[Joe]

Your comment about the fork gap has me thinking - perhaps the brakes are original and the wheels were changed. Could this have had 28 inch wheels originally?

Are you sure the current wheels are 27"? If it originally had 27" wheels and the current wheels are actually 700c, that would explain the gap and the brake reach issue. Just a possibility.

Yes, quite sure. I've also added a pic of the gap and the alignment.



Joe

[Joe]

The disease is basically untreatable. Best to roll with it, and undergo a regimen of symptomatic treatment, involving occasional purchases, even if only parts. An 80s fan here too.
Speaking of parts, and depending on advice from those more knowledgeable here, I could defray your costs, as I 'need' SunTour brake levers to align stuff on the one above. Looking at that wheel/fork crown gap, those calipers sound like they're only just reaching.
Can you post up, or link, some closer shots of stuff, including the badge near the top of the seat tube (on the frame)?

As requested, here are a few pics of the bike (some more on earlier post). Note that the levers are Dia-Compe, it's the calipers that are Suntour.







Thanks
Joe

[cray-]

Are you sure the current wheels are 27"? If it originally had 27" wheels and the current wheels are actually 700c, that would explain the gap and the brake reach issue. Just a possibility.

Yes, quite sure. I've also added a pic of the gap and the alignment.

Fair enough, I'm not familiar with wheel sizes outside of 27" and 700C so I'll leave further sleuthing up to the more knowledgeable experts. Interesting bike.

[ldrcycles]

It's a weird one, the gaps to me look like 700c wheels on a 27" frame, but the wheels already are 27". It definitely wouldn't have been made for bigger wheels (the only thing bigger is 28 x 1-3/8 and there's no way it would have had those) so it begs the question why there is such a big gap, maybe to fit 27 x 1-3/8 with mudguards? No idea.
The parts are good though, especially the cranks.

[frailer5]

Am guessing the tubing is a 4130-style (manganese) steel.

[grantw]

Strada 10's weren't known for their lightness and were pretty ordinary bikes for the time. As I remember they did have a huge gap around between the wheels and frame - they shipped with those silly small mudguards - and had head stem mounted gear levers and suicide brake levers with wobbly and weak sidepull brakes. I would be taking the nicer parts off it and looking for another frame. As it stands the superbe brakes, the arabesque levers and the sugino triple crank are a good start.