#1
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Spring Upgrade
My Trek 520 of 1993 vintage got a spring upgrade this past
weekend. -- New, wider (44 cm) bars. -- Conversion from threaded to threadless stem (adapter plus 3 inch riser). 130 mm long stem with 7 degree rise. The bars are now a bit higher than they've ever been. I like it. -- Fourth layer of Cinelli tan cork tape. I think the bars are now a thick as I ever would want to have them, and perhaps a bit too thick. We'll see. -- 37 mm Conti "Contact" tires front and rear replacing my old 32 mm Conti TT. I'm going to do the Nebraska Badlands this summer along with part of RAGBRAI and decided it was time to fatten up the tires. Ride is definitely a bit smoother. -- On order, a new handlebar bag. The old one has a steel support frame that would not fit over the new stem. I was looking at the bike a bit today while at work, admiring it. The black LX cranks have shiny patches around where the pedals attach where shoes have worn off the paint; the dark forest green painted steel frame has a few areas of rust creeping in here and there but mostly just dirty. The small chainring is original and has an "gray aluminum" look to it, while the middle and large rings (Race Face) are dirty, yet polished steel looking. The black Mavic rims have completely polished sides from years of brake pad interaction. (After by rim blowout of a couple weeks ago, I think its time to replace them...next year). I was thinking the wear on the bike is sort of a badge of honor. Years of taking me to work or taking me across the country. Sort of like an old dog that gains sentimental value from all the years of loyal service, heightened by grayness and age. I really love my 520. SMH |
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#2
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Spring Upgrade
Stephen Harding wrote:
My Trek 520 of 1993 vintage got a spring upgrade this past weekend. -- 37 mm Conti "Contact" tires front and rear replacing my old 32 mm Conti TT. I'm going to do the Nebraska Badlands this summer along with part of RAGBRAI and decided it was time to fatten up the tires. Ride is definitely a bit smoother. I'll be interested to hear how these work for you. I bought a Contact for my rear tire, and the tread was barely worn after 3500 miles. However, I had apparently damaged the cords digging the darn thing out of the Sun CR-18 rim so badly that it had a nasty hump, so I replaced the tire. Pat |
#3
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Spring Upgrade
Pat Lamb wrote:
Stephen Harding wrote: My Trek 520 of 1993 vintage got a spring upgrade this past weekend. -- 37 mm Conti "Contact" tires front and rear replacing my old 32 mm Conti TT. I'm going to do the Nebraska Badlands this summer along with part of RAGBRAI and decided it was time to fatten up the tires. Ride is definitely a bit smoother. I'll be interested to hear how these work for you. I bought a Contact for my rear tire, and the tread was barely worn after 3500 miles. However, I had apparently damaged the cords digging the darn thing out of the Sun CR-18 rim so badly that it had a nasty hump, so I replaced the tire. Can't say enough good things about the Conti TTs. Great tire but alas, disappearing from the market. I've *heard* the Contacts are not up to the same standards as the old TTs but I guess I'll find out for myself. They seem a little narrow for 37's but I didn't have to put wider fenders on because of them, so that's good. SMH |
#4
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Spring Upgrade
Stephen Harding wrote:
My Trek 520 of 1993 vintage got a spring upgrade this past weekend. -- New, wider (44 cm) bars. I need to do this to my tandem. But I don't really want to deal with swapping over all the levers and what-not. Plus it's pretty far down my project queue. It might gain precedence if it gets ridden a lot this summer. -- Conversion from threaded to threadless stem (adapter plus 3 inch riser). 130 mm long stem with 7 degree rise. The bars are now a bit higher than they've ever been. I like it. I should keep that in mind for the next time I try and use a frame that's too small for myself. -- Fourth layer of Cinelli tan cork tape. I think the bars are now a thick as I ever would want to have them, and perhaps a bit too thick. We'll see. Err, I don't suppose you'd like to supply a picture? That seems like a *lot* of tape. -- 37 mm Conti "Contact" tires front and rear replacing my old 32 mm Conti TT. I'm going to do the Nebraska Badlands this summer along with part of RAGBRAI and decided it was time to fatten up the tires. Ride is definitely a bit smoother. I'm mainly using Schwalbe Marathon Pluses these days. The ride is good, but they are heavy as hell. OTOH, I've been riding them for months and zero punctures, so they're worth it IMO. -- Dane Buson - "A sportsman is a man who, every now and then, simply has to go out and kill something." -Stephen Leacock |
#5
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Spring Upgrade
Dane Buson wrote:
Stephen Harding wrote: -- Fourth layer of Cinelli tan cork tape. I think the bars are now a thick as I ever would want to have them, and perhaps a bit too thick. We'll see. Err, I don't suppose you'd like to supply a picture? That seems like a *lot* of tape. Yeah I'll try and get a picture up on the web today. So far, it feels OK, but I don't think I'll go any thicker. -- 37 mm Conti "Contact" tires front and rear replacing my old 32 mm Conti TT. I'm going to do the Nebraska Badlands this summer along with part of RAGBRAI and decided it was time to fatten up the tires. Ride is definitely a bit smoother. I'm mainly using Schwalbe Marathon Pluses these days. The ride is good, but they are heavy as hell. OTOH, I've been riding them for months and zero punctures, so they're worth it IMO. I've heard good things about the Schwalbes as well, albeit rather pricey. If these Conti Contacts don't perform to my standards, I think the Schwalbe will be my next test. The weight doesn't really matter on this particular bike. It weighs in around 35-40 pounds in normal commute mode. SMH |
#6
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Spring Upgrade
Dane Buson wrote:
Stephen Harding wrote: -- Fourth layer of Cinelli tan cork tape. I think the bars are now a thick as I ever would want to have them, and perhaps a bit too thick. We'll see. Err, I don't suppose you'd like to supply a picture? That seems like a *lot* of tape. Take a look at http://mysite.verizon.net/smharding/ Doesn't look especially thick from these photos, but if you look closely at the actual metal of the bar near the stem, then compare the thickness of the tape you'll see it's quite thick. Almost like those foam pads from *Mart that lots of people derided but I loved back in the 80's. Of course, Cinelli cork tape was going for $16/per roll at my LBS. I bought two more rolls for my joy bike which I wrap in alternating red and black spirals. I bought almost $50 worth of handlebar tape that day!!! SMH |
#7
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Spring Upgrade
Stephen Harding wrote:
Take a look at http://mysite.verizon.net/smharding/ Seems to want the index.htm at the end. Try http://mysite.verizon.net/smharding/index.htm SMH |
#8
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Spring Upgrade
Stephen Harding wrote:
Seems to want the index.htm at the end. If you'd called it index.html it probably wouldn't. -- Regards Alex The From address above is a spam-trap. The Reply-To address is valid |
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