It's snowing areto tubed decathlon's... Rockrider 640

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The last few months, I've been getting pains in both my legs on and off riding. Giving some thought , my Kona explosive and Cannondale m600 were probably the cause :( .. too small. So then I turned to this frame that I'd stripped for parts a few months back, and chucked what I had to get it going. Turns out I like it. Theres also a higher end version that used Dedacciai zero tubing with ritchey drop outs :) on the lookout for that in my size too.

Tonight it was snowing so went out to enjoy the lush snow.
It's a Decathlon rockrider from 96/7 (attached below is the advertising that I've borrowed from a french site). The tubing is Areto triple butted, same as the 1996 Marin team issue. I haven't found anything else about this tubing.

For now:
- I've used a cheap suntour crankset
-Some lovely euclid campy pedals
-LX hub wheelset with michelin wildgrip comp tyres
-Deore rf and avid 1.0 levers.
-Uno CNC'D style stem.
- XT vbrakes bk deore front
I could slap on all xt M737/39 thats spare however not a big fan of these groups or go M730. Would like something different such as Sachs wavey grips and quarz derailleur, it being french. Anyone know if the waveys can be used with shimano? unable to find info to confirm. I know the sachs dirt group is compatible but they are rather gastly.




This version in the advert was equipped all LX, mine was nearly all xt except for the wheels.
 

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Nice!

I had the quad butted Rockrider from around 1997 with full LX, it was a nice bike to ride and came with good equipment.
 
Didn't Know they made quad butted versions. Really like the geometry, feels like pre brodie geo but with the advantage of threadless/vbrake and made of steel. Lovely
 
Re:

Very cool, another example of a decent machine with an unfashionable brand name.

Funnily enough I was speaking to a chap only yesterday who owned a Decathlon road bike of a similar age. He mentioned how the bike performed even better once he had upgraded the wheels and drivetrain.

Nice job :cool:
 
Re: Re:

mynchiboy":2pl2vi53 said:
Very cool, another example of a decent machine with an unfashionable brand name.

Funnily enough I was speaking to a chap only yesterday who owned a Decathlon road bike of a similar age. He mentioned how the bike performed even better once he had upgraded the wheels and drivetrain.

Nice job :cool:

Yeh I think they were the decathlon cobras that had columbus tubing, campag groupset.
 
Ok so little update. It looks like I'm going to try and go near full french parts. At least where possible...

So although I don't have the frame I'd like yet (french made), I'll stick all parts on this one until one becomes available. It will probably become 2 projects. Canti period and post canti period.

Updates:
1. Mars 9000 rear derailleur/sachs quarz (made by Ircos france)
2. Thanks to john in cornwall; quarz front derailleur
3. Front vbrakes made by ABC system; cnc'd in france
4. NK concept bar france. Wanted a silver xc1 starbar but unable to find at the mo
5. Thanks to Ibbz quarz wavey 8 speed shifters
Not all pictures for the moment. Below is an article found in velovert 1998 if I remember on abc.







I've still got the crankset to find. Seat post. Saddle. Levers for vbrakes won't be possible. Chain is on it's way (sedis sachs). Rear abc vbrakes (probably will never find). Sachs/brubz hubs. QR'S.
 

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Coming along nicely and thanks as it gives me ideas too - is the UNO stem French too?
And didn’t ABC do levers ?
 
ibbz":17c0nthd said:
Coming along nicely and thanks as it gives me ideas too - is the UNO stem French too?
And didn’t ABC do levers ?

Unfortunately they didn't make levers. UNO is just there for now. I'm in search of a better frame actually made in france, specifically the routens, which may take a while to obtain.
 
Did Routens make any stems too? And I do like those - I’ll have a look on the web see if I can find more info
 
ibbz":dxurkaol said:
Did Routens make any stems too? And I do like those - I’ll have a look on the web see if I can find more info

Jo Routens made beautiful bike frames but was also a distributeur for bike parts(his touring frames seem to be quite popular) . Probably the reason why they had a mixture of parts on their bikes unlike the competition.
 
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