Shimano 600?

On Sep 9, 2:45 pm, dabac <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Hi guys,

I'm tinkering around with an old road bike equipped with Shimano 600
parts, and I'm absolutely clueless about old road stuff. Should I treat
it with some sort of reverence, hand it on to a collector, or is it a
good candidate for some modifications? (I'm not planning anything
irreversible to the frame, but the shifters, bar, and perhaps brake
levers are at risk)

It's not precious, by any means, but if it's an old Arabesque group,
and you hurt it, you'll feel the smart of my chain whip! If it's to be
a rider, and the derailleur has play, by all means replace it with
something. Sora is fine. Upgrading to a modern ramped freewheel and
hyperglide chain will greatly improve shifting. I just sold a 7 speed
bike with a 30 year old Suntour Super-7 doing shifting duties--it
shifted the modern cogs and chain very crisply. Old brake levers can
go. I like the Tektro campy rip offs, but they do throw you forward
more than classic stuff due to the long hood.

On Sep 9, 2:45 pm, dabac <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Hi guys,

I'm tinkering around with an old road bike equipped with Shimano 600
parts, and I'm absolutely clueless about old road stuff. Should I treat
it with some sort of reverence, hand it on to a collector, or is it a
good candidate for some modifications? (I'm not planning anything
irreversible to the frame, but the shifters, bar, and perhaps brake
levers are at risk)

Shimano 600 is the antecedent to Ultegra, so pretty high up on the
Shimano totem. There will be some numbers in the inside of the
crankarms (e.g., FC-6207), RD (RD-xxxx), etc. That will narrow things
down further.

Ozark Bicycle said:

On Sep 9, 2:45 pm, dabac <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Hi guys,

Quoted message said:

I'm tinkering around with an old road bike equipped with Shimano 600
parts, and I'm absolutely clueless about old road stuff. Should I treat
it with some sort of reverence, hand it on to a collector, or is it a
good candidate for some modifications? (I'm not planning anything
irreversible to the frame, but the shifters, bar, and perhaps brake
levers are at risk)

Shimano 600 is the antecedent to Ultegra, so pretty high up on the
Shimano totem.

But wear is wear. The original mech I swapped for the Super-7 on that
bike I mentioned was a 1st generation 600. Looked class, but shifted
like garbage due to the titsup parallelogram bushings. The friction
levers looked ready to go another 30...

landotter said:

On Sep 9, 3:10 pm, Ozark Bicycle

Quoted message said:

On Sep 9, 2:45 pm, dabac <[email hidden]>
wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Hi guys,

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I'm tinkering around with an old road bike equipped with Shimano 600
parts, and I'm absolutely clueless about old road stuff. Should I treat
it with some sort of reverence, hand it on to a collector, or is it a
good candidate for some modifications? (I'm not planning anything
irreversible to the frame, but the shifters, bar, and perhaps brake
levers are at risk)

Quoted message said:

Shimano 600 is the antecedent to Ultegra, so pretty high up on the
Shimano totem.

But wear is wear. The original mech I swapped for the Super-7 on that
bike I mentioned was a 1st generation 600. Looked class, but shifted
like garbage due to the titsup parallelogram bushings. The friction
levers looked ready to go another 30...

Seemed to me the OP was asking about the quality of Shimano 600 parts;
that's the question I was answering. Speculation about wear is another
subject.

Also, any 600 RD from the ca. 1986 "600 SIS" onward will index shift a
6/7/8/9/10SP freewheel or cassette with the appropriate shifter;
that's why I asked about determing vintage.

Quoth dabac:

Quoted message said:

I'm tinkering around with an old road bike equipped with Shimano 600
parts, and I'm absolutely clueless about old road stuff. Should I treat
it with some sort of reverence, hand it on to a collector, or is it a
good candidate for some modifications? (I'm not planning anything
irreversible to the frame, but the shifters, bar, and perhaps brake
levers are at risk)

"Shimano 600" covers a LOT of ground, depending on its vintage.

If it is 6-speed indexed, beware the defect shifter design, as
explained at:

http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_aa-l.html#600

It is good stuff, but generally Japanese stuff is not highly
"collectible" at present.

You might also find this useful: http://sheldonbrown.com/japan

Sheldon "Oldies" Brown
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| The people who live in a Golden Age usually go around |
| complaining how yellow everything looks. |
| -- Randall Jarrell |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com
Useful articles about bicycles and cycling
http://sheldonbrown.com

Ozark Bicycle said:

landotter said:

On Sep 9, 3:10 pm, Ozark Bicycle

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

On Sep 9, 2:45 pm, dabac <[email hidden]>
wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> Hi guys,

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> I'm tinkering around with an old road bike equipped with Shimano 600
> parts, and I'm absolutely clueless about old road stuff. Should I treat
> it with some sort of reverence, hand it on to a collector, or is it a
> good candidate for some modifications? (I'm not planning anything
> irreversible to the frame, but the shifters, bar, and perhaps brake
> levers are at risk)

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Shimano 600 is the antecedent to Ultegra, so pretty high up on the
Shimano totem.

Quoted message said:

But wear is wear. The original mech I swapped for the Super-7 on that
bike I mentioned was a 1st generation 600. Looked class, but shifted
like garbage due to the titsup parallelogram bushings. The friction
levers looked ready to go another 30...

Seemed to me the OP was asking about the quality of Shimano 600 parts;
that's the question I was answering. Speculation about wear is another
subject.

I just mention it, because I have myself been guilty of running an old
mech because it looked right on an old ride, but cursing it upon use--
then repeating the stupidity the next day.

Quoted message said:

Also, any 600 RD from the ca. 1986 "600 SIS" onward will index shift a
6/7/8/9/10SP freewheel or cassette with the appropriate shifter;
that's why I asked about determing vintage.

Ah, it's that far back? Had one of that vintage on a friction bike.
Probably an '85. Going from Frenchy plastic kit to a 600 was
revelatory back then. Even with the friction "Light Action" shifters I
moved it with.

ahhhh beeeyouteafull for spacious roads and waves of....cheap custom
supreme and dunkin donuts.

yeah! nice CR designs-graceful. What's done hereabouts is simpatico
ie, remove the old equiopment well before terminal wear and shelve it
for future use when yawl appreciate it once more.

old SR wears like steel. 600's are ok but not as hard as SR's but
harder than most modern "alloy" replacements
try deore octalink touring for around town. the deore's are wearing
fairly and acceptably well.

in rec.bicycles.tech dabac said:

Should I treat
it with some sort of reverence, hand it on to a collector, or is it a
good candidate for some modifications?

That qiestion always goes to when and to whom. I used to have a
Corvair and thought it was a gwaddamn piece of junk... still do.
Collecters are paying big bucks for 'em, though... go figure!

Jones

then, a good lugged japanese (custom steel) steel frame cost $100 and
today costs $300? from China but $1500 in SF. So where's low end?

Just use it, it works fine with doubles. I've run 8 and 9 speed groups
with the rear derailleur, smallest gear it will take is a 12 so don't use 11.
Probably best to use a standard (none compact crank). It has no
special value as shown by used prices on Ebay but its good reliable stuff.

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Hi guys,

I'm tinkering around with an old road bike equipped with Shimano 600
parts, and I'm absolutely clueless about old road stuff. Should I treat
it with some sort of reverence, hand it on to a collector, or is it a
good candidate for some modifications? (I'm not planning anything
irreversible to the frame, but the shifters, bar, and perhaps brake
levers are at risk)

--
dabac

I really like the old Shimano 600 components--they look classy, are
lighter than modern gear and work very well. I had an old french club
bike with 600 EX components that I paid 70 Euros for. To go touring I
built up a sturdy wheelset to replace the tin-foil Mavic tubulars,
which I didn't think were quite up to the task. The rear mech handled
the eight-speed 12-32 cluster flawlessly, especially once I had the
chain replaced.

No, it's not worth much, but savour the ride.

On Sep 9, 9:45 pm, dabac <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Hi guys,

I'm tinkering around with an old road bike equipped with Shimano 600
parts, and I'm absolutely clueless about old road stuff. Should I treat
it with some sort of reverence, hand it on to a collector, or is it a
good candidate for some modifications? (I'm not planning anything
irreversible to the frame, but the shifters, bar, and perhaps brake
levers are at risk)

--
dabac

Thank you all for your replies. Next stop - bullhorn bar and DIY barcons!