upgrading

loadabollocks

so my brakes are banjaxed, literally hanging off my bike. my gears are quite broken too. in fact my bike is in ribbons to be honest. thus i would like to improve it. there is absolutely nothing wrong with the frame, and even if there was i don't think i could bring myself to get a different one as ive become quite attached to it. i am thinking of doing it gradually, maybe spending a couple of hundred on some decent brakes, another couple of hundred a few months down the road on gears when i save up more money, and so on until i have a half-decent bike again.
its a racer by the way. if anyone has any recommendations as to decent sets and parts i could get for this kind of budget i would really appreciate it.
also, is it possible for someone with little knowledge of bike maintenance etc to install these things, or would i be better to pay someone to do it?
thank you in advance.
good day.

Chips Lovell

You can get a new groupset, which includes brakes, gears etc. for a little over €200 for entry level equipment. It's possible to install it yourself as long as you read up on it and get yourself a few tools. I don't know how old your bike is, but if its a bit on the ancient side, you might need to check to see if your wheel hubs can take the newer gear cassettes.

loadabollocks

hmmm....its old enough...an auld columbus frame and the like. i got it 2nd hand about 12 years ago so i'd hazard a guess at 15 years old. how can i tell whether they are too old? maybe if i post a pic could you tell me?
also, i'd like to paint me bike cos its kinda rusty atm. spraypaint the way to do this?
thanks for your help.

Ghost Rider

I've been wondering how people go about respraying frames too. I see quite a lot of fixed wheel/singlespeeds that I suspect are older racing bikes with resprayed frames...

loadabollocks wrote:

hmmm....its old enough...an auld columbus frame and the like. i got it 2nd hand about 12 years ago so i'd hazard a guess at 15 years old. how can i tell whether they are too old? maybe if i post a pic could you tell me?
also, i'd like to paint me bike cos its kinda rusty atm. spraypaint the way to do this?
thanks for your help.

Chips Lovell

loadabollocks wrote:

how can i tell whether they are too old? maybe if i post a pic could you tell me?

I don't have an encylopedic knowledge of hub designs so I probably wouldn't be able to give a definite answer. Someone else here may have more experience with older bikes or the quickest route may be to just drag it into a bikeshop and ask. What I do know is that hubs went from a freewheel design to freehub design sometime in the eighties and freehubs have undergone a few changes since then to accomodate the ever increasing number of cogs in gear cassettes.

loadabollocks wrote:

also, i'd like to paint me bike cos its kinda rusty atm. spraypaint the way to do this?

Can't help you on that one. Don't have a clue about painting bikes.

rubadub

It can be cheaper to get a new bike. I remember costing up the individual parts on my bike from an online store that seemed cheap, I think by the time I totted up the parts -excluding the frame, rims and tyres and a few other bits- it was the same price.

And at least with a new bike you should be confident the parts will suit each other, sort of like a ready built pc.

loadabollocks

rubadub wrote:

It can be cheaper to get a new bike. I remember costing up the individual parts on my bike from an online store that seemed cheap, I think by the time I totted up the parts -excluding the frame, rims and tyres and a few other bits- it was the same price.

And at least with a new bike you should be confident the parts will suit each other, sort of like a ready built pc.

true enough, but i don't really have the lump sum to spend on a new bike, plus as i said i'm quite attached to the one i have. it really only needs a new groupset i suppose as someone said above.
thanks for the suggestions lads.

el tel

New Groupsets are most likely to be 9 or 10 speed which will necessitate new hubs and wheels too. It could cost you a few bob to do the upgrade but if you put good components on they'll do for an age, during which you could eventually upgrade the frame too.

Hungrycol

Here's what I think loadabollocks!

New groupsets comes with a cassette (rear sprockets) without the freewheel (bit that ticks). Older models, which I'm sure your bike falls into, will most likely have a sprocket block that will have the freewheel attached to it. Now-a-days they come attached to the wheel hub not the sprockets. You should be able to pick up yourself a set of Tiagra wheels for about 100 euros that will be absolutely fine if you marry it with a new groupset.

Then there also the matter of the new 9 (or 10) speed cassette fitting the space between your rear wheel dropouts. See SheldonBrown.com (or likewise address) for his suggestions on "Cold Setting" your frame. I did it with my old Raleigh 531 and it's fine if a little misaligned (my fault stretching one side too much). Follow his advice to the word and you'll be fine.

Install the groupset yourself if you can. But tell the bike shop you get it from that you're putting it on an old Columbus frame because you may require more cable covers or whatnot. Also check to see if the fitting of the brake levers to the frame is the same as what you're buying. Also see if the front derailleur is a "band on" or "braze-on". Braze-on is attached to frame where the frame has a front derailleur fitting, band-on is fairly obvious - it "bands" around your down tube. There are other things to consider like crank length but 172.5 or 175 depending on your inside leg should be fine (there was a link on this topic in here before).

I'd go for the repaying but have it professionally done if you're no artist yourself. I really don't know much on this. I normally don't advocate doing up an old bike as sometimes saving your dosh for a new bike would be better...but... Columbus tubing is a really great and I'd relish a refit and respray. I'd love to get my hands on a 80s Concorde.

loadabollocks

nice post Hungry. thanks for the advice, and to all many thanks.

Yeah its a case of getting stuff to fit my frame, i won't mind if it turns out to be more expensive if i can keep my frame and upgrade to having a half decent bike.

Installing the groupset sounds tricky but i think i will give it a shot, and if i have difficulty i can always drag the remains down to the bike shop. i'll have a look at that website and see what i can manage.

I haven't upgraded the bike since i got it around 95' i think. quite excited about doing it up.

Thanks a lot.