gamby
gamby PowerDork
4/26/12 10:19 a.m.

I've been gathering parts for a few months in order to re-do my main road bike. It's a Decathlon Sport 7.2 (Decathlon is a French big box sporting goods retailer that had a failed attempt in the States). It's an entry-level bike--aluminum frame, steel fork, Sora 8-speed triple and I switched the rear derailleur to a Tiagra.

I've been upgrading slowly along the way. The Shimano R500 wheels were bought in the Fall and the Ultegra brakes came off of the bike that will also provide the derailleurs here. I bought that one on CL to part out and flip. In the end, I re-built it with most of the parts that came off of the Decathlon bike and re-sold it.

I did this about a month ago--I just never got around to posting it here.

Anyway--before: (still wearing its trainer tire on the rear)

Stripped down of anything I wasn't re-using (BTW--saddle is a WTB Speed V with a lycra cover--not as bulky as it looks, but still a cush saddle)

Bars with the 10-speed 105 levers (lightly used, ebay) mounted and one side wrapped

My Chinese knockoff Ritchey WCS stem is visible here. Instead of full carbon, it's aluminum w/ a carbon "wrap". Whatever--cheap stem with nice cosmetics.

I have 2 layers of bar tape and some Cinelli gels in between the layers. I hate achey hands.

Got these trick little aluminum pullies off of ebay (more Chinese stuff) mounted on the Ultegra rear derailleur. The stock pullies were a bit worn.

...and all done:

Seat cover removed:

Derailleurs and brakes are 6500 Ultegra. Cranks were upgraded to SRAM Apex compact double 50/34(I dig the look of the external hollowtech bottom bracket). Fresh set of M520 SPD pedals. Tires are some cheapie Kenda Kadences that I used on my singlespeed for a short time. I'll use these for awhile and then put my lighter Michelin Axial Carbons on there.

SRAM 10-speed chain and Tiagra 12-28 10-speed cassette (I deal with some serious hills around here). Bars are Forte compact ergonomic (can't remember the model)

The bike lost a pound in the process, but it's still chunky at 23lbs. I'll probably get a carbon fork next season.

It's a great ride now. The compact bars and the 10mm shorter stem make this bike fit like a glove. It's also way more comfortable to ride down in the drops now. It's going to be a great long-distance bike for the MS150 and hopefully, my first century.

Luke
Luke UberDork
4/26/12 11:44 a.m.

Nice! That camo bar tape rocks .

I'm a big fan of Sram Apex, especially the crankset. I love the thin/spindly/old-school look of it, (as opposed to the comparatively chunky Shimano range).

Also, your saddle bag is more of a saddle rucksack

gamby
gamby PowerDork
4/26/12 12:08 p.m.
Luke wrote: Nice! That camo bar tape rocks . I'm a big fan of Sram Apex, especially the crankset. I love the thin/spindly/old-school look of it, (as opposed to the comparatively chunky Shimano range). Also, your saddle bag is more of a saddle rucksack

It expands more from that!!! It's great because I have room for pretty much anything I need in there.

You've got e-mail, BTW.

mad_machine
mad_machine MegaDork
4/26/12 12:14 p.m.

very nice... little heavy for a serious road bike.. but looks like it will take you many troublefree miles

gamby
gamby PowerDork
4/26/12 12:20 p.m.

In reply to mad_machine:

Oh, it's a pig. If I were a more impressive rider, that might matter more.

There's a bit of sentimentality attached to that frame, but who knows--it could get torn down and a new frame/fork could take its place at some point. I'm in no rush.

motomoron
motomoron Dork
4/26/12 2:46 p.m.

The aftermarket jockey wheels can be problematic - Shimano, at least in the past engineered some amount of float into the top pulley, accomplished through the use of ceramic bushings. People would buy nice, expensive anodized aluminum ones and wonder their bikes no longer shifted quickly and ran silently. But if yours run fine, obviously you're OK.

mad_machine
mad_machine MegaDork
4/26/12 3:54 p.m.

see, I didn't know that Moto... I always wondered why those pulleys.. even when on a new derailer, seemed sloppy

gamby
gamby PowerDork
4/26/12 7:02 p.m.

So far, so good. I'll know the culprit if things start to head south in the shifting dept...

Thanks for the info.

bluej
bluej Dork
5/17/12 12:15 p.m.

Found my way over here from your MS150 thread and I have a few thoughts:

1)Continental gatorskins! IMHO best all around tire there is. Mixes a great outer compound with a very flat and cut resistant core at a weight that's less than most puncture resistant road tires.

2) If you wear tight bike shorts (looked like not in the pic from your ride page), be carefull with the big under saddle bag. My fiancee wore holes in a few sets of bike shorts from a large bag like that. Depends on bike fit/setup/etc.. of course.

2a) if you don't have them, get tight bike shorts! sure it's incredibly dorky and very un-sexy but a good pair of bib-shorts will hold the chamois in place better and the compression helps me on longer rides. I have a few pairs and the newer/tighter one helps keep the fatigue in my quads away longer. I like the sugoi RS because it' has a fantastic chamois but isn't the most expensive.

I dig the colors you've got going with your bike.

gamby
gamby PowerDork
5/18/12 12:33 a.m.

In reply to bluej:

Just saw this reply.

Yeah, I've heard good things about the gatorskins. I have an older lightly-used set of Michelin Axial Carbons that I might use on the 150, just for the sake of saving some grams of rotating weight. Knock on wood, I don't flat out that often.

Thanks for the props on the color scheme. I've been accused of being stuck in the 90's. If anything, my love of ugly bar tape is more of an 80's thing.

I do wear "proper" bike shorts under those MTB shorts. The MTB shorts are made of some stout nylon and have shown no signs of wear from the seat bag (which is HUGE!!!).

I plan on going full-geek on the MS150, though. That'll be the first time I wear only the bike shorts with no MTB shorts over them. If anything, I'll cheat the wind a bit more. Less heat, too, I suppose.

I use Canari Gels, Castelli Scorpions and VO2 Max, all with a liberal amount of Chamois Butt'r in the crotch.

BTW--it turns out my derailleur hanger was a bit out of whack. I improvised a ghetto hanger straightener with a torrque wrench, an allen socket and an old derailleur mounting screw and got it pretty true. The wonkiness that was going on in a couple of cogs is now gone--the thing shifts like a proper Ultegra bike now.

bluej
bluej Dork
5/18/12 6:21 a.m.

that's definitely one of the things to love about a metal frame, you can tweak stuff like that.

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