Wheel Time

 I've had a few projects on the back burner for quite a while that I recently got to, all involving rear wheels for special, 1980s and '90s bikes. The first was a late-'80s Bianchi Giro which, based on the fact that it has the first generation of the Campagnolo Athena group, must date somewhere between 1989 and 1992. When I first got the bike, several years ago, it looked a bit rough. It was as if the last owner had been a college student who kept the bike on an outside porch for extended periods. I was able to restore the paint and replaced rusty bits on the parts, but there was no fix for the rear rim. The originals were FIR 700C, anodized a light gray. I've been watching for years and have never found the same rim available for anything approaching a reasonable price, so I had been riding it with a pair of wheels that had the earlier Record hubs and Mavic rims. I decided to give up on finding the "correct" rim and settled for an Ambrosio Durex that I had and which is reasonably close to the same color as the original FIR that remains on the front. The wheel built up quite well, and now the bike is once again matched up with its original hubs for the first time since I bought it, 17 years ago.

What prompted me to finally get around to finishing the wheel was a Regina freewheel that broke apart, leaving me stranded. I have heard of this happening with the early Regina CX bodies, so I moved the cogs over to a later body that I had, in the hopes of avoiding a repeat. The original freewheel would likely have been a Regina Syncro, but I wanted a wider range on this bike.

Part of the freewheel body is still on the hub!

The second bike to get attention was a very special, mystery bike for which I have been able to uncover exactly zero information. It is an unusual track bike with aerodynamic tubing, bearing the paint and decals of a Raleigh Team Professional in a graphics scheme that was used in the mid-1980s. The frames that were built of Reynolds 753 tubing and sold in the US during those years had a small 753 logo in the middle of the top tube graphic, and this frame shares this feature, but there were only two small batches of aerodynamic 753 tubing ever made and the tubing in this frame seems to be similar to the cross-section of the batch from 1981. The frames that are known to have been built from this batch at the Raleigh SBDU workshop in England used special lugs, but this frame is fillet brazed, which was considered a no-no for 753. 

It's my uninformed belief that the bike was specially built for Raleigh USA by some small-time builder, or even by Mike Melton, who was leading up the technical side of Raleigh USA for Huffy at the time. Though their own bikes were gaspipe toys, Huffy owned the Raleigh brand name in the US at the time. Top Raleighs that were used by sponsored teams were made by Serotta or Marinoni in Canada. I think it most likely this bike was built for some special event. The seatpost had to be cut to length for the rider, as there is almost no adjustment possible. How much, if any, actual 753 that it contains is anyone's guess--perhaps only the round top tube. Other 753 bikes sold by Raleigh USA in the mid-80s bore a similar paint and decal scheme, but were brazed in England and painted on this side of the Atlantic. 

The bike came with an almost complete 7500 series Dura Ace track component group, which was produced from around 1977 until at least 1984 (though most parts appear identical to those in the first track group, introduced in the early 1970s). The date code on the front hub indicates January, 1977, but the frame could have been made years later. The rear wheel had a rim that matched the front, but a later Suntour Superbe hub, which was one of the finest track hubs ever made. The rear wheel used 28 spokes, to match the front, but the spokes were a different make and style. I wanted to have the wheels match, so after long searching I was able to find a 28-hole, 7500-series Dura Ace track hub and, separately, the very rare Wheelsmith 15-guage, aero spokes in the correct lengths, in spite of their being out of production for decades. I transplanted the rim with the new spokes and it built up beautifully. I haven't had a chance to test it yet, but eventually will take it to pavement and go for a shake-down ride. Without any provision for a brake, it's not a bike that gets much use, nor is that likely to change as I have other track bikes I can use when I get the urge to ride fixed.

The third rear wheel was for the 1984 Campagnolo Neutral Support bike that was part of the actual fleet that was provided to the 1984 racing season and the LA Olympics, that year. This bike wears Murray decals, as that manufacturer of department store children's bikes was an Olympic sponsor that year. The frame was actually built by Serotta, and does not appear to be any different than the production racing frames Serotta was making at the time. The specifications of these bikes were published by Campagnolo in their promotional literature, and included the then-new 7-speed alloy freewheel. The bike was complete except that the rear wheel had been replaced, leading me to believe that someone lifted the entire wheel at some point to get that freewheel. It had the correct Mavic CX 18 rim and spoke count, but a large-flange Campy hub and different spokes. I relaced the rim onto a small-flange hub from 1983, but the rim cracked in multiple places, due to a manufacturing defect that was common to this model. I was able to track down the correct 15-ga Wheelsmith spokes (the company has changed hands and no longer manufactures 15-ga spokes) for the drive side and had the correct length for the non-drive side, brand new on my spoke shelf, where they had sat since about the time this bike was new. I had found a complete wheel  with the correct CX 18 rim several years ago so I pulled the rim from it and built it up. Although I have also obtained a correct Campagnolo 7-speed freewheel, I would like to put some miles on the bike and am going to stick with a steel freewheel for actual riding.

Later versions of my bike on the Campagnolo Neutral Support Buick.

The last wheel I tackled was the rear of the Rodriguez tandem, which had split at a spoke hole. It had been wearing a mismatched set, so this gave me the opportunity to correct the imbalance.

 

I think I will next update the rims on my 1970s Raleigh track bike. I had installed wooden hoops several decades ago and they looked and rode very nice, but over the years they have become warped to the point where they can no longer be trued. It's just a matter of deciding what to use, as I have never been a fan of the AVA rims that it originally came with in 1973. I rode the bike extensively on the road and in those days the rims were so soft they often didn't outlast the tires, so I think I will see if I have a pair of Fiamme red labels, as that is what I kept on the bike through most of the 1970s. I also need to replace the wooden rims I had laced onto Jeanne's P15 Touring Paramount, for the same reason. I had done this to soften the ride, but she didn't like the way it increased the required braking effort. She hasn't ridden the bike in decades, and these days she would probably prefer to ride her 1973 P60 Ladies Deluxe Paramount. It is flexy, to be sure, but still a very fun ride.

On the Stowe recreation path (2006?).