I have an old gas pipe '88ish Raleigh Banana that my cousin gave me a couple of years ago... on the condition that I never sell it!
No problem thinks I, I'll just hot rod it a bit...
Well, I went a bit over the top with a Charge Spoon saddle, alloy bars, alloy post, aero brake levers pulling dual pivot brakes (which meant drilling out the fork crown hole by c.1mm) plus modern-ish drivetrain (such as all alloy crankset, Vuelta deep rims on 105 9 speed wheels running a 7 speed SIS cassette with hub spacer, matching DT shifters and an SIS mech dangling from an aftermarket hanger that sit behind the rear skewer nut).
Well, yesterday I bought a bargain set of 1986 Weinmann / Maillard QR alloy 700C wheel and, unhappy with the way the Banana is going, I decided to fit them with an old 6 speed Atom 77 freewheel. I used the same 7 speed chain I had been using (very little used) and set the stops on the SIS mech to suit the freewheel, but forgot to switch the levers from from SIS to friction... glad I didn't, as by very carefully tweaking the tension I have managed to get the indexing pretty much perfect.
A happy afternoon's work indeed!
The bike looks far more retro but still shifts cleanly and stops on a dime - yes, the dual pivots are staying! But I might swap from black to silver :?
No problem thinks I, I'll just hot rod it a bit...
Well, I went a bit over the top with a Charge Spoon saddle, alloy bars, alloy post, aero brake levers pulling dual pivot brakes (which meant drilling out the fork crown hole by c.1mm) plus modern-ish drivetrain (such as all alloy crankset, Vuelta deep rims on 105 9 speed wheels running a 7 speed SIS cassette with hub spacer, matching DT shifters and an SIS mech dangling from an aftermarket hanger that sit behind the rear skewer nut).
Well, yesterday I bought a bargain set of 1986 Weinmann / Maillard QR alloy 700C wheel and, unhappy with the way the Banana is going, I decided to fit them with an old 6 speed Atom 77 freewheel. I used the same 7 speed chain I had been using (very little used) and set the stops on the SIS mech to suit the freewheel, but forgot to switch the levers from from SIS to friction... glad I didn't, as by very carefully tweaking the tension I have managed to get the indexing pretty much perfect.
A happy afternoon's work indeed!
The bike looks far more retro but still shifts cleanly and stops on a dime - yes, the dual pivots are staying! But I might swap from black to silver :?
