Vintage road bike find!

[mickeyt69]

My mate and I recently got into biking on our old mountain bikes since then the call for a road bike has been strong for me and i recently got myself a Giant Defy 1 after taking it for a ride my mate also liked the idea of road bikes, so later that day he was having a conversation with his dad about it and out of the blue "oh i have an old road bike son you can have it if you want" ! so the next day i am greeted by a pleased looking friend stood at the door step with a very nice old bike gears not working that well (wont engage on the top ring) I have sorted that out for him now

here it is

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As you can see from the frame its a Hardisty cycles bike i think they were a Gateshead shop and i think they used to custom build frames to fit customers. it is incredibly light (not much difference between it and my 2011 defy1!) i am guessing it was quite an expensive bike in its day. i like the funky 80's handlebar tape it looks like its made out of one of Timmy Mallots shirts!

here are some more photos

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the main problem i have with this bike is the seat post wont come out of the frame i am afraid to force it as i don't want to damage the frame. The post is aluminum and i think the frame is steel so over the years a bit of galvanic corrosion from the dissimilar metals me thinks. anyone got a way round this as its about 1" too high for my mate to ride (i suggested big wooden blocks on the pedals)

Anyway what do you think or know about this bike?

Cheers

Mick

 

[fossyant]

It's all Dura Ace 7400 except the brakes and brake Levers which look like Modolo. It's got a Cinelli XA stem.

Frame is steel and nice 731. The CXP 30's are a little newer - DA 7400 was available from 1990 - 96 ish where it 'evolved' into 7410 where the cranks became more aero.

It's a very nice bike (I have something similar).

Soaking with plus-gas may help remove the post (BB needs to come out, invert bike and spray the stuff down the seat tube and leave to soak), or get it into your LBS.

I'd change the bar tape - black for that bike !

 

[Scilly Suffolk]

Love it.

Want it.

Need it.

 

[Herzog]

Gateshead...I thought Hardisty were a Newcastle company. Though, what's a river between friends...

 

[henshaw11]

>I'd change the bar tape - black for that bike !

At least it's about right, year-wise - pretty sure I used some bar tape like that when I built up my ('dale) road bike in the early 90's

Nice ! - there's some info on sheldon brown for removing stuck seatposts but the paint looks in good condition, it'd be a shame to mess it up *too* much violence or heating (cooling - ice or freezer spray - may work, ally contracts/expands more than the steel). LBS might be your best bet if they've got a decent record of getting them out without damaging the finish.

I'd initially hold off on the plus-gas if you try the LBS route in case they have a better option (works with rust because it's permeable, ally oxide isn't - see SB) but it seems to work in some cases. In the case of a mate we spent about 3hrs cutting slits in the seatpost with a hand-held hacksaw blade, it was all ally oxide holding it in and wd40 etc made absolutely no difference. Another mate's bike took an hour or so of assorted twisting/movement to get it free..

 

[mickeyt69]

ah your probably right their just going off memory

 

[mickeyt69]

>I'd change the bar tape - black for that bike !

At least it's about right, year-wise - pretty sure I used some bar tape like that when I built up my ('dale) road bike in the early 90's

Nice ! - there's some info on sheldon brown for removing stuck seatposts but the paint looks in good condition, it'd be a shame to mess it up *too* much violence or heating (cooling - ice or freezer spray - may work, ally contracts/expands more than the steel). LBS might be your best bet if they've got a decent record of getting them out without damaging the finish.

I'd initially hold off on the plus-gas if you try the LBS route in case they have a better option (works with rust because it's permeable, ally oxide isn't - see SB) but it seems to work in some cases. In the case of a mate we spent about 3hrs cutting slits in the seatpost with a hand-held hacksaw blade, it was all ally oxide holding it in and wd40 etc made absolutely no difference. Another mate's bike took an hour or so of assorted twisting/movement to get it free..

Thanks for the advice as soon as he heard i had fixed the gears and freed the calipers up he was back round and bug***d off with it again ! lovely bike though once the seat post is free. No doubt it'll be back round here soon though

 

[Seigi]

Looks really nice, I've never been too fond of older road bikes, but I really like the look of that.

 

[mickeyt69]

Yeh me neither but their is something about this one it rides like a dream although i dont like the shifters being down on the frame. I just found out that it was bought second hand around 1995 for 2k !! you could buy a house for that then and have change

 

[PapaZita]

Gateshead...I thought Hardisty were a Newcastle company. Though, what's a river between friends...

That's right. I remember the radio adverts: "Hardisty Cycles - the home of the mountain bike. Top of Shields Rd Byker". It was a good bike shop. There's an Edinburgh Bicycle Coop on the site now.

 

[Herzog]

That's right. I remember the radio adverts: "Hardisty Cycles - the home of the mountain bike. Top of Shields Rd Byker". It was a good bike shop. There's an Edinburgh Bicycle Coop on the site now.

That's how I remembered too, on Metro Radio I think?

 

[mickeyt69]

Yeh when I first seen it I thought "Hmm Hardisty where do I remember that from?" then the tune came back in to my head now it wont leave

 

[v7victor]

My mate and I recently got into biking on our old mountain bikes since then the call for a road bike has been strong for me and i recently got myself a Giant Defy 1 after taking it for a ride my mate also liked the idea of road bikes, so later that day he was having a conversation with his dad about it and out of the blue "oh i have an old road bike son you can have it if you want" ! so the next day i am greeted by a pleased looking friend stood at the door step with a very nice old bike gears not working that well (wont engage on the top ring) I have sorted that out for him now

here it is

">

As you can see from the frame its a Hardisty cycles bike i think they were a Gateshead shop and i think they used to custom build frames to fit customers. it is incredibly light (not much difference between it and my 2011 defy1!) i am guessing it was quite an expensive bike in its day. i like the funky 80's handlebar tape it looks like its made out of one of Timmy Mallots shirts!

here are some more photos

">

">

">

">

the main problem i have with this bike is the seat post wont come out of the frame i am afraid to force it as i don't want to damage the frame. The post is aluminum and i think the frame is steel so over the years a bit of galvanic corrosion from the dissimilar metals me thinks. anyone got a way round this as its about 1" too high for my mate to ride (i suggested big wooden blocks on the pedals)

Anyway what do you think or know about this bike?

Cheers

Mick

 

[v7victor]

must of put on to early!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Alembicbassman]

Nice bike. The Strike Through Reynolds logos were used 1989-1994

http://reynoldstechn...cal_history.pdf

Shedlon Brown has a whole article about stuck posts, it's a common problem

http://www.sheldonbr...-seatposts.html

Some more info:

quote from the Reynolds brochure " This brand new racing tube set introduced in 1992 features double butted , oversized main frame tubes , with laterally aligned stiffening ribs on the butt sections to maximise stiffness and tortional rigidity , as with the Classic set 731OS race is approximately 10% lighter than comparable competitive tube sets ,and is
suitable for road , track and time trial frames at professional level ".Material Mn Mo , T/T 0.7/0.5 , D/T 0.7/0.5 , S/T.08/0.5 (single butt) , H/T 0.9 , S/Stay 0.5 , C/Stay 0.8/0.6 , steering column 25.4x22.31
Diameters 28.6 , 31.75 , 28.6 , 31.75 , 16.00 , 22.2 , 25.4 , Fork oval