RonSonic wrote:


Then you'll stay heavy by cycling standards and there's no reason to feel bad
about it. You can still crush them if they give you any crap.

I don't anticipate having to crush any skinny bike fellows who give me
crap. I mean they can just ride away if I look threatening




I definitely do not want to put money into this bike and then give it
back to my buddy who won't care for my changes. So we'll both lose.
That's why I posted - I need to make a decison or two here. For example,
my buddy said the wheels stink so do I put $300 (used) to $600 wheels on
this bike? If so, I'm committed to riding it if you also add in altering
the shifters. I don't want to build a house on a poor foundation
(frameset).


Why on earth spend that much for a wheelset. You aren't racing and a decent $250
set of built up wheels will run forever and be only trivially heavier than the
higher priced ones.

Well, you see I didn't know until you answered what the extra money
would buy me. At my level, paying double to reduce my wheelset's mass
200 g is silly, I agree, but I thought maybe the cheaper ones wore out
their bearings.

After riding some, I got a flat. I took a wheel into an LBS to make sure
I got the right size tire because in taking it off, it just came apart
in my hands. I still had the tire tube there & the wrench said I wore
out the tube. I didn't know you COULD wear out a tube just as I don't
know what you get for more money in a wheelset.

Maybe I'm dopey here, but I figure the wheel is the main part & limiter
of a bike like a speaker system is for a hi fi. No matter how good the
bike, crummy wheels make for a crummy bike experience. I figured you put
in your big money in a wheelset for a bike like you put your big money
in speakers for a hi fi.

So I"m wrong?




Or for someone living in flatter terrain. I'm old, fat and slow and have no
trouble living with a 13-23 cogset, but I live on a sandbar, aka Florida.

We can get into specifics, just what are your wheels, how bad are they, is the
frame worth building up and so on. But ya know, I'm thinking maybe the best
thing at this point is to put on a cogset you can manage on the hills you ride.
Deal with the downtube shifters. Get used to the road bike vibe. Then with more
time, experience and exposure get a better feel for what you really need and
want in a bike.

The rear cassette or freewheel will cost you 25-35 bucks and be fair rent
whenever you give the bike back to your buddy or give you many good miles if you
keep. Nothing wrong with riding retro style, especially with a cool old italian
bike.

Clearly the right move here, suggested by you and at least one other, is
for me to go for a new cogset. Currently I have a 45 / 52 up front.
One day I rode along with a bunch of experts for a while. They were
courteous enough to let me join their group for about 8 miles when our
courses converged. We were going 21-24 mph and I was still in the 45
chainring. That's what made me wonder what sort of superman rode this
bike in the high gears!

Here I'm in the mountains so we have some flats, but also some very
difficult hills.




Pretty much - not quite as bad. Like I said, they don't make anything that rides
nicer than a good steel frame. Good titanium and graphite can ride about as well
I'm told. Cost a bunch too.

Graphite? Is that carbon fiber? Yeah, if I get good at this and really
get serious, I hope someday to get a Ti framed bike. Well, that's
tomorrow's problem. -paul