Bottom bracket and STI stuff

HP wrote:


Hi, I've gotten a couple of other bikes from Craigslist the past few weeks
and now am doing some maintenance on them. Some questions:

One bike has Campy Veloce stuff on it (the bike is yr 2000 model), and I
don't have the tool to get the BB lockring off. How do I tell if it's a
sealed cartridge or open-bearing type? From the Campy website, the current
Veloce BB is a cart type.

The other bike has a 6-spd freewheel (Shimano 105). If I want to change to
a 7-spd freewheel, do I also have to replace the (downtube) shifter, or can
the shifter be adjusted for the extra gear? How about the derailleur? In
other words, for STI stuff, are the derailleur/shifter/cluster mated to
each other? I don't know too much about STI stuff, since my only bike(s)
up to now has been the 80'ish friction shifter kind.

How do I know what the capacity of the rear derailleur is in terms of the
largest chainring/rear sprocket it can take? It is a Shimano 105 (I think
the first model). The current freewheel is a 13-24, but I'd like to get a
13-28 or if 13-32 if it can take a 7-spd one. I feel the 28 is a doable
but am not sure about the 32.

Do current rear pannier racks have adapters to mount onto any road bike?
The Team Fuji I had has no eyelets, but it has the triangular "holes" above
the dropouts that I had adapters for. Neither of my "new" bikes has
eyelets or holes for the Eclipse rack I have. The racks Nashbar has are
advertised as fitting any sort of 700c bikes, and I'm curious if adapters
for road bikes exist that will work on these bikes. One of the bikes will
replace the Fuji for commuting, and having a rack would be useful.

The Trek bike has a strange feature in that it threads the rear derailleur
cable through a hole in the chainstay. How would I do this if I replace
the cable?

The Trek also has the Biopace chainring, which is slightly elliptical. I
understand the reasoning behind it, but am curious if this had any
significant functional value, as I don't see any current stuff being
anything but round. If it needs to be replaced, can the Biopace cranks
take regular chainrings?

Interesting tidbit: While browsing the Campy website for info, I stumbled
onto their blurb that Campy equipment aren't meant to be used for riders
over 80kgs (about 176 lbs). Am curious if this was a well-known
limitation, and if it applies to the Shimano stuff as well.

HP

May want to consider posting this to rec.bicycles.tech. /Slightly/
different crowd over there....

Neil Brooks wrote:
{snip}
May want to consider posting this to rec.bicycles.tech. /Slightly/
different crowd over there....

Don't you mean /down/ there?

:-D