Suggested upgrades

joetronic said:

Hello all. i am a long time lurker, first time poster. I must say I love this site, and everyone seems very helpful.

on to my question. I have a early/mid 80'sNishiki Sport. The 4050 Lugged steel frame. I love the frame, and have been very happy with the purchase (20$ used from LBS.) I have done a few upgrades to it already, like Ultegra shifters, new saddle, and new tires. I ride around 60-70 miles a week for now, but am hoping to do more after a few things in my work life settle down. What do you suggest would be a some good upgrades to get me started. I am on a fixed budget, but have a good relationship with the LBS and get get deals on barley used stuff. Any suggestions would be great.

Currently on bike is Exage (sp?) components, and a Champion handle bar. I know the [censored] where not made to work with these, but I wanted STI shfters/brake levers, and a friend gave me these to try since I am new to road cycling (MTB backround.) they seem to work okay after I adjusted the stops on the derailleurs (9spd shifters, 6 spd cassette)

Thanks for the help.
Joe

I'm still tryin to figure out how you got 9 speed shifters for 4.24mm cog spacing to work with a 6speed cogset with 5.3mm spacing. A mid 80s FD isn't exactly the hot setup with STI either.

yeah, its kinda jerry rigged, and only works okay, not as good and i'd like. I will be upgrading to a better group when the money comes in, but who knows when that will be. If you were to upgrade anything on this frame, what would you do?

joetronic said:

yeah, its kinda jerry rigged, and only works okay, not as good and i'd like. I will be upgrading to a better group when the money comes in, but who knows when that will be. If you were to upgrade anything on this frame, what would you do?

Would have started with somethng better to stick 9 speed on.

joetronic said:

Hello all. i am a long time lurker, first time poster. I must say I love this site, and everyone seems very helpful.

on to my question. I have a early/mid 80'sNishiki Sport. The 4050 Lugged steel frame. I love the frame, and have been very happy with the purchase (20$ used from LBS.) I have done a few upgrades to it already, like Ultegra shifters, new saddle, and new tires. I ride around 60-70 miles a week for now, but am hoping to do more after a few things in my work life settle down. What do you suggest would be a some good upgrades to get me started. I am on a fixed budget, but have a good relationship with the LBS and get get deals on barley used stuff. Any suggestions would be great.

Currently on bike is Exage (sp?) components, and a Champion handle bar. I know the [censored] where not made to work with these, but I wanted STI shfters/brake levers, and a friend gave me these to try since I am new to road cycling (MTB backround.) they seem to work okay after I adjusted the stops on the derailleurs (9spd shifters, 6 spd cassette)

Thanks for the help.
Joe

It really depends on what you have to spend. If you've got a fair bit of cash available, then a nice new wheelset could be good (though I don't know what you curerntly have). If you haven't got a lot, then you could go for new handlebars or crankset??? Carbon seatpost and stem probably aren't your thing given it's a steel frame?

There's another school of thought that would say "if it ain't borke, don't fix it." If you're bike rides well, and the components aren't falling off, why change anything? Maybe save your cash for that new groupset?

If I were you I'd spend as little as possible and enjoy the ride. Spending $ upgrading a 20 year old bike is wasted $ in my opinion and will cost at least as much as simply buying a newer 2nd hand bike that doesn't need upgrading (and which will likely be better than the upgraded older bike).

pod said:

If I were you I'd spend as little as possible and enjoy the ride. Spending $ upgrading a 20 year old bike is wasted $ in my opinion and will cost at least as much as simply buying a newer 2nd hand bike that doesn't need upgrading (and which will likely be better than the upgraded older bike).

I couldn't agree more. Upgrading a 20 year old frame will be costly and when you are all done you still have an old heavy frame. I would take care of what you have and look to get a new bike when the time is right. However if you feel a need to upgrade, the first thing I would replace would be the wheels.

pod said:

If I were you I'd spend as little as possible and enjoy the ride. Spending $ upgrading a 20 year old bike is wasted $ in my opinion and will cost at least as much as simply buying a newer 2nd hand bike that doesn't need upgrading (and which will likely be better than the upgraded older bike).

I definately agree with pod on his entire post. You could find a used bike for the cost of used indexed shifting setup. One more point is the frame at that age us beginning to weaken. It could last another 20 years or it could develop a crack in a year.

Insight Driver said:

One more point is the frame at that age us beginning to weaken. It could last another 20 years or it could develop a crack in a year.

BS! 🙄

Thanks for all the suggestions. What I think I will be doing is Getting anew set of wheels for now, and maybe having the LBS do a good look over to fix some of the shifing and brakign issues. The save and buy a newer used bike. the LBS has a two year old felt that I like, but the frame is too big. If it wasnt I would buy that in a second. Again thanks for al the input.

pod said:

If I were you I'd spend as little as possible and enjoy the ride. Spending $ upgrading a 20 year old bike is wasted $ in my opinion and will cost at least as much as simply buying a newer 2nd hand bike that doesn't need upgrading (and which will likely be better than the upgraded older bike).

Agree 100%. Can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear!

For once, I actually agree with boudreaux. I have an 18 year old 531 frame that rides as well as newer bikes, maybe even better. And more than likely, it'll be here when I have both feet 6 foot under!