Latest Reviews and Articles
Will your next bike be Intelligent? ABS and Smart Bike Tech
Vitus Vitesse EVO Disc Review – Speed Machine indeed!
A noobs guide to upgrading a steely
-
- Posts: 50
- Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2012 6:46 pm
- Location: Narrabeen, Sydney
A noobs guide to upgrading a steely
Postby sled » Wed Dec 19, 2012 8:02 am
First i would like to say thanks for a great forum, there are some great posts in here. I have just gotten into road cycling nothing hard core like some of you, but i intend to start commuting one to two time per week into city (50 - 60km rtn). I got the bug riding my wifes new road advanti around. I am not really into the new stuff i seem to be stuck in the 60s and 70s early 80s whether its cars, motorcycles or bicycles.
I ended up buying two bikes one i still need to pick up. The forum has been a great help in guiding me on what i should look for over the last 3 months. I ended up buying a royal star circa early 70s and pascoe circa early 80s. Excuse my ignorance but i am told by bates cycles whos grandfather built the bike that he used columbus tubing? i don't have the knowledge to tell if this is true or not, the bike also has campagnolo strada cranks from what i can tell from velo base, suntour shifters and super olimpic brakes and levers. The pascoe from memory had 600 running gear and im told but again not sure reynolds tubing.
So i have been riding the royal star on weekends around 50km trips and i am finding that i am really needing some additional gears for the steep hills, which has got me a little concerned with some of the hills going to the city. I have also been inspired and sometime drooling over the steel frame bikes on this site with modern running gear I have been reading sheldon browns site to get some ideas but have some questions for you gurus. Any help is appreciated.
1) Can i use a modern rear derailer (ultegra / durace) with my suntour friction shifters?
2) Will a modern 700cc wheel set work? i have lined up the front wheel with wifeys and the spacing looks right for the front hub/ forks at least
3) Will a modern cassette 9 -10 speed work with the campagnolo crank set strada?
4) Can i change the existing crank to a modern crank set i imagine tubing diameters and widths are different how is this done.
5) How do you put modern brakes on these frames i notices that the mounting bolts on modern frames a recessed any tricks?
6) How do you put a non threaded fork such as 1" carbon on these bikes is it difficult to change head sets?
Initially i would like to get my hands on a good set of second hand modern wheels with 9 or 10 speed cassette, purchase a modern derailer and use existing cranks and possibly brakes if they will reach. then swap over to more modern brakes at stage 2.
I am also looking for a 54 steel frame if anyone has any?
Thanks for looking and have a great christmas
Jason
- munga
- Posts: 6996
- Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2008 3:17 pm
- Location: wowe
- Contact:
Re: A noobs guide to upgrading a steely
Postby munga » Wed Dec 19, 2012 8:30 am
1.37 x 24 is english
36 x 24 is italian.
your bike is probably english threading.
if you want to fit modern shimano cranks, get a new bottom bracket in english (or italian - confirm) threading when you buy the cranks. as for spindle width, do some research on how to determine what spindle width you need. sounds tricky. isn't.
rear spacing - measure between the rear dropouts. will be 126mm or if it's older, 120mm. if it's 126mm, fitting a modern 130mm wide hub in there will be a piece of cake. you can cold-set the rear, or just spread it and shove it in.


friction shifters should work. unlikely that they won't but someone who's done it will tell us for sure.
-
- Posts: 1640
- Joined: Sat Nov 08, 2008 10:46 am
- Location: Southeast Tasmania
Re: A noobs guide to upgrading a steely
Postby LG » Wed Dec 19, 2012 8:35 am
2. If the brake calipers reach ok, and the rear hub fits the frame then yes.
3. 9 speed should work, for 10 speed the chain might be a tad narrow and catch on the chainring teeth.
4. Yes, pull the cranks off and replace the bottom bracket, install new bottom bracket & crank. Your bikes are likely standard english thread bottom bracket (edit - see Munga's comment above).
5. You need bolt through brakes, not the brakes with recessed bolts. You should still be able to find some.
6. 1" threadless fork should fit, I've done this with an old steel giant frame. I just needed to buy a pretty standard 1" threadless headset. Need to ask why you would want to do this if your oringinal for is ok though?
- bychosis
- Posts: 5411
- Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2012 1:10 pm
- Location: Lake Macquarie
Re: A noobs guide to upgrading a steely
Postby bychosis » Wed Dec 19, 2012 1:01 pm
I'm running a 7spd cassette on a 9spd hub so had to use a spacer behind the cassette to get it to the correct width. The old derailleur I am using does not reach the 7th gear so it's only running 6spd. A newer derailleur would solve this problem but I like the style of the old one so it's staying and I'll have to harden up.
I bought a square taper BB to replace the loose bearing one, but got the wrong size so have replaced the old loose bearing setup and it's fine.
I was under the impression that a 10spd chain has the same inner width as the older chhains, just the outer width is narrower so it should work with the existing chainrings, but take a little more selector movement to engage.
-
- Posts: 50
- Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2012 6:46 pm
- Location: Narrabeen, Sydney
Re: A noobs guide to upgrading a steely
Postby sled » Wed Dec 19, 2012 9:22 pm
thanks for the replies
Had a quick look tonight, munga think you are on the money it was dark but i couldn't see any number but i did see a made in england on what i am assuming is the cups (ends of bottom bracket) upside down on the tubing has numbers like 65 / 64.
Unfortunately i think the width in the rear seams more on 120 then spread to about 125 for the wheel are there any other options for this scenario or is it back to looking for a later frame. The lugs on this look really nice almost gothic, tried to take some photos but my daughter has stuffed our camera taking photos of sand!!
From what im reading IF i could fit modern wheel with 8 or 9 speed hub, it is possible to retain the original campagnolo crank, and suntour shifters and add like a new durace in the rear?
Ill take in for spin tomorrow to the city though i think some ill run out of puf on the hills
- hitchhiker
- Posts: 248
- Joined: Mon Jan 31, 2011 7:18 pm
- Location: on the border
Re: A noobs guide to upgrading a steely
Postby hitchhiker » Wed Dec 19, 2012 9:52 pm
If it's an '80s bike it may be a better candidate for an upgrade to modern running gear. It could have 700c wheels, 126mm rear spacing and take recessed brakes (or at least some of these options)
- munga
- Posts: 6996
- Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2008 3:17 pm
- Location: wowe
- Contact:
Re: A noobs guide to upgrading a steely
Postby munga » Wed Dec 19, 2012 9:52 pm
count how many sprockets (probably 5), then count the teeth on the smallest, then the largest. (13/21 etc)
find something a bit bigger on ebay (eg 13-25), buy the correct tools for removing and installing the cluster, and you're done!
you could probably get out of it for about $50 and an afternoon of your time.
- WestcoastPete
- Posts: 901
- Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2009 5:59 pm
- Location: Peoples Republic of Coburg, Victoria
Re: A noobs guide to upgrading a steely
Postby WestcoastPete » Thu Dec 20, 2012 12:41 am
Here's a link to a thread outlining some cold setting I did. It seems quite rudimentary, but seemed to work well. 120 to 130 is pushing it a bit and can put your dropouts too far out of parallel, but I've not heard of it not working at all.
Tektro R559 long reach brakes are excellent in my opinion, and may be required if swapping out to 700c from 27". I did that with my Nishiki and I'm very happy with it. Try to measure first to make sure they'll fit.

-
- Posts: 180
- Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2009 10:30 pm
Re: A noobs guide to upgrading a steely
Postby jaffaman » Thu Dec 20, 2012 1:07 am
-
- Posts: 1219
- Joined: Sat Mar 08, 2008 10:12 pm
- Location: Seaforth
Re: A noobs guide to upgrading a steely
Postby rogerrabbit » Thu Dec 20, 2012 8:27 am
Fitting new gears to the old frame will be challenging and I would recommend fitting an entire modern groupset at the same time, but your frame is probably not really suitable due to the rear spacing.
- spirito
- Posts: 1393
- Joined: Fri Nov 28, 2008 2:03 pm
Re: A noobs guide to upgrading a steely
Postby spirito » Thu Dec 20, 2012 7:12 pm
rogerrabbit wrote:
Fitting new gears to the old frame will be challenging and I would recommend fitting an entire modern groupset at the same time, but your frame is probably not really suitable due to the rear spacing.
Wise advice.
Cranky Jim wrote: God did not invent gears. Men invented gears ... because we are not gods.
-
- Posts: 211
- Joined: Fri Jul 30, 2010 10:32 pm
Re: A noobs guide to upgrading a steely
Postby Stepr » Wed Dec 26, 2012 8:33 pm
- General Australian Cycling Topics
- Info / announcements
- Buying a bike / parts
- General Cycling Discussion
- The Bike Shed
- Cycling Health
- Cycling Safety and Advocacy
- Women's Cycling
- Bike & Gear Reviews
- Cycling Trade
- Stolen Bikes
- Bicycle FAQs
- Serious Biking
- Audax / Randonneuring
- Retro biking
- Commuting
- MTB
- Recumbents
- Fixed Gear/ Single Speed
- Track
- Electric Bicycles
- Cyclocross
- Dragsters / Lowriders / Cruisers
- Children's Bikes
- Road Racing
- Road Biking
- Training
- Time Trial
- Triathlon
- International and National Tours and Events
- Cycle Touring
- Touring Australia
- Touring Overseas
- Touring Bikes and Equipment
- Australia
- Western Australia
- New South Wales
- Queensland
- South Australia
- Victoria
- ACT
- Tasmania
- Northern Territory
- Country & Regional
- The Market Place
- Member to Member Bike and Gear Sales
- Want to Buy, Group Buy, Swap
- My Bikes or Gear Elsewhere
- Cycling Brands
- Azzurri
- Bianchi
- BMC
- Campagnolo
- Cannondale
- Cervélo
- Colnago
- Focus
- Fuji
- Garmin
- Giant
- Malvern Star
- Merida
- Scott
- Shimano
- Specialized
- SRAM
- Surly
- Trek
- Custom Builders
- Generic Carbon
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users
- All times are UTC+10:00
- Top
- Delete all board cookies
About the Australian Cycling Forums
The largest cycling discussion forum in Australia for all things bike; from new riders to seasoned bike nuts, the Australian Cycling Forums are a welcoming community where you can ask questions and talk about the type of bikes and cycling topics you like.