Denton 531 1986 Shimano 600 8 Speed STI

I picked this frame up last year for about £80. It was fitted with some carbon forks and a Ritchey aheadset - but luckily, it also had the original 531 steel forks. It also had random amounts of reflective tape on every tube. It has cleaned up really nicely and apart from a few chips and corrosion around the dropouts and stays it is solid. Even the blue and yellow colour scheme has grown on me.



This frame will have been built at Bishop Auckland in County Durham. Colin, who owned Dentons had a partnership with Paul Donohue from the early/mid 80s to the early 90s.

I had a donor bike for the parts - the donor bike was rough and the frame was dead but it had a full Shimano 600 groupset. The parts were in a really bad state as the bike had obviously been outside for a long time. Every piece of chrome on every fastening was rusted and each part was covered in several years of muck and grease.



The 8 speed sti levers didn't function at all. But some degreaser has worked and they now have a full set of clicks. The trick I've found with reviving sti levers is to only take them apart as much as needed - don't go full on and take them apart completely. I managed with one lever to just remove the hood and separate the lever unit from the grip; the other needed to have the levers separated completely in order for the degreaser to get in and work. It is normally just dirt and dried grease that sticks up the ratchet mechanisms - fortuantly, nothing is bent so they will be fine.



With a little bit of thread lock, these will go back together. I've also bought some replacement Shimano 600 front caps as you need to damage the originals to get at the bolts to disassemble the levers.

Some replacement chain ring bolts, adjuster screws in the mechs and allen key bolts in the brake blocks have made the parts are look clean and shiny!



I've got some nice Mavic Open SUP CD rims so just need to get measured up for some stainless spokes to complete the wheels. Cinelli bars and stem for the front with a Turbo saddle to complete things.

Cold set the frame this morning to change it from 126mm 7 speed to 130 8 speed. The 8 speed is now a perfect fit without having to force the dropouts apart each time I want to put the wheel in.



Because I've been pulling the back end, it is important to check that the frame is still in track and to make sure each dropout was pulled equally. You can get frame alignment tools for this but you can do a similar job with string fastened from one dropout, around the head tube and back to the other dropout - you are looking for an equal spacing between the seat tube and string.



Both sides read approx 32.5mm so the rear end is still in the middle of the frame. It's not as accurate as a frame alignment tool but it was the way I was taught and works really well.

Finally, a quick check on the alignment of the dropouts to make sure they are still parallel.