FRANKENBIKE! or: how nuts is this?

i've got an old 14-speed (126mm) bike that i just do NOT want to hand over to the LBS for
stretching. because it's a thing of beauty, that's why. and the last time i had a frame stretched
open, i stood in the room and watched and i STILL wake up sweating some nights.

anyway, thanks to some appallingly clear and honest information at sheldon "bicycle god without the
usual attendant personality disorders" brown's site, i discovered that i can get away with 8 cogs on
my 7 speed hub. so i decided to:

*put 8 of 9 9-speed cogs on the freehub *throw a triple on the front *employ my old chorus
9-speed levers

and make myself an instant 8x3 24-speed. but i've got a few qualms about the whole thing. like
f'rinstance:

*do i need the "shimano to campy" spacers to make it shift well? *if i get the new chorus long
cage 10-speed derailleur, do i need to worry about differences in cable throw between it and my
old 9-speed levers? *should i just chuck the whole thing, sell the frame and start from scratch?
(not a possibility: i'm sentimental about this thing.)

any information, links, words of encouragement or even the occasional "what kind of cheese-eating
doofus would try something like that" will be appreciated.

there's a real address in that name somewhere, if you ignore all the negativity.

jmj

 

"John Many Jars" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> i've got an old 14-speed (126mm) bike that i just do NOT want to hand over to the LBS for
> stretching. because it's a thing of beauty, that's why. and the last time i had a frame stretched
> open, i stood in the room and watched and i STILL wake up sweating some nights.
>
> anyway, thanks to some appallingly clear and honest information at sheldon "bicycle god without
> the usual attendant personality disorders" brown's site, i discovered that i can get away with 8
> cogs on my 7 speed hub. so i decided to:
>
> *put 8 of 9 9-speed cogs on the freehub *throw a triple on the front *employ my old chorus
> 9-speed levers
>
> and make myself an instant 8x3 24-speed. but i've got a few qualms about the whole thing. like
> f'rinstance:
>
> *do i need the "shimano to campy" spacers to make it shift well? *if i get the new chorus long
> cage 10-speed derailleur, do i need to worry about differences in cable throw between it and my
> old 9-speed levers? *should i just chuck the whole thing, sell the frame and start from
> scratch? (not a possibility: i'm sentimental about this thing.)
>
> any information, links, words of encouragement or even the occasional "what kind of cheese-eating
> doofus would try something like that" will be appreciated.

Sounds pretty sane to me. I called up the experts at Cycle Smithy in Chicago to ask them about
stretching my beautiful late-80's Columbus SL frame from 120mm to 130mm. They told me to forget it,
unless I wanted to braze-in a new brake bridge and have the frame aligned as well. They said the
last time they tried it, the brake bridge snapped off of the frame.

Your method seems as good as any I've heard of. I seem to recall hearing that you can put
9-speed freehub bodies on a 126mm hub if you respace them. There's not much clearance on the
last cog, though.

-Barry

 

On Tue, 01 Apr 2003 18:12:47 -0500, John Many Jars wrote:

> i've got an old 14-speed (126mm) bike that i just do NOT want to hand over to the LBS for
> stretching. because it's a thing of beauty, that's why. and the last time i had a frame stretched
> open, i stood in the room and watched and i STILL wake up sweating some nights.
>
> anyway, thanks to some appallingly clear and honest information at sheldon "bicycle god without
> the usual attendant personality disorders" brown's site, i discovered that i can get away with 8
> cogs on my 7 speed hub. so i decided to:
>
> *put 8 of 9 9-speed cogs on the freehub *throw a triple on the front *employ my old chorus
> 9-speed levers
>
> and make myself an instant 8x3 24-speed. but i've got a few qualms about the whole thing. like
> f'rinstance:

You've been using it as a 14 speed for all these years, and parts are still available, why do you
want to change? You could use it as a 7x3 21 speed too. Do you really think you're going to win that
much by adding one rear sprocket as to make all that fuss worthwhile?

 

John Many Jars wrote:

>>i've got an old 14-speed (126mm) bike that i just do NOT want to hand over to the LBS for
>>stretching...

>>... i discovered that i can get away with 8 cogs on my 7 speed hub. so i decided to:
>>
>> *put 8 of 9 9-speed cogs on the freehub *throw a triple on the front *employ my old chorus
>> 9-speed levers
>>
>>and make myself an instant 8x3 24-speed. but i've got a few qualms about the whole thing. like
>>f'rinstance:

Someone asked:

> You've been using it as a 14 speed for all these years, and parts are still available, why do you
> want to change? You could use it as a 7x3 21 speed too. Do you really think you're going to win
> that much by adding one rear sprocket as to make all that fuss worthwhile?

He's going to gain the ability to use the Ergo shifters he already owns, that's a pretty good deal,
seems to me. He might have (yuck!) down tube shifters on it now!

Sheldon "Ergo Shifters, Shimano Hubs, Mmm..mm, Doesn't Get Much Better!" Brown
+------------------------------------------------------+
| I'm not a member of any organized political party, | I'm a Democrat! -- Will Rogers (1879-1935) |
+------------------------------------------------------+ Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041 http://harriscyclery.com Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com

 

>Sounds pretty sane to me. I called up the experts at Cycle Smithy in Chicago to ask them about
>stretching my beautiful late-80's Columbus SL frame from 120mm to 130mm. They told me to forget it,
>unless I wanted to braze-in a new brake bridge and have the frame aligned as well.

>They said the last time they tried it, the brake bridge snapped off of the frame.

I think these guys are maybe a bit gun shy. Curious if Andrew Muzi and Sheldon are reluctant to
spread a frame from 126 to 130 mm. Seems to me that if something comes off during such a stretch it
is most likely that there was already a problem there.

Jon Isaacs

 

> >Sounds pretty sane to me. I called up the experts at Cycle Smithy in Chicago to ask them about
> >stretching my beautiful late-80's Columbus SL frame from 120mm to 130mm. They told me to forget
> >it, unless I wanted to braze-in a new brake bridge and have the frame aligned as well.
>
> >They said the last time they tried it, the brake bridge snapped off of the frame.

"Jon Isaacs" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I think these guys are maybe a bit gun shy. Curious if Andrew Muzi and
Sheldon
> are reluctant to spread a frame from 126 to 130 mm. Seems to me that if something comes off during
> such a stretch it is most likely that there was already a problem there.

Has that ever happened? Yes. Often? Should you worry about it? No. I recall spreading a Motobecane
(they used a pathetically cheap seamed brake bridge) whose bridge had not even been brazed on one
side! It was literally painted on!

Sky Yaeger had a custom-built pearl pink Holdsworth 531SL frame which lost its brake bridge on the
way from 126 to 130mm. We used to tell her to "look over there!" when we touched her bike. That time
she peeked. Damn.

I saw a home-mangled Vitus 979 with a decided kink at the brake bridge as one side moved a lot when
the guy yanked it open. I don't know but I'd bet that became a crack sooner or later.

There's three problems I know about out of several hundred frames we have either aligned or were
aware of . Only the Vitus danced with death, the other two were rebrazed with a wider bridge and
minimal paint loss.

So my advice is go for it. That job is much simpler and easier and less destructive if you drop the
crank bearing and mount the BB shell in a vise in aluminum or Corian jaws. Mounting the frame
securely lets you measure and move the frame deliberately without going past and then correcting
back (which is to be avoided for obvious reasons). In fact I think that's a better setup than a
frame plate for a simple rear end alignment.

--
Andrew Muzi http://www.yellowjersey.org Open every day since 1 April 1971

 

On Wed, 02 Apr 2003 00:04:02 -0500, Sheldon Brown wrote:

> He's going to gain the ability to use the Ergo shifters he already owns, that's a pretty good
> deal, seems to me. He might have (yuck!) down tube shifters on it now!
>
> Sheldon "Ergo Shifters, Shimano Hubs, Mmm..mm, Doesn't Get Much Better!" Brown

While I personally don't care for downtube shifters (never met one that wasn't too much of a reach
for me!) I've never met a brifter that I liked either. Gimme barcons, baby, I feel high...