I’m very close to selling my tarck and getting gears just cause I’ve had nothing else but a track bike to ride for 2 years. I fucking hate track bikes.
I really want an old Cannondale Crit frame, but for everyday riding, I really don’t wanna risk my 220lbs on 20 year old alu.
I know a couple of you have some 80’s/early 90’s steel road bikes. I really, really would like something with crit geo. I don’t plan on doing any centuries on it, but even if I did, I’m sure it wouldn’t kill me if I’ve done 80 miles on the Affinity.
What could/should I look for? I probably couldn’t get more than $800 (face palm) from my bike. Weight isn’t a huge issue to me,but no boat anchors. Nom ore than 22lbs built would be awesome.
I love my Davidson Impulse. They pop up from time to time on ebay. Pretty steep and lots of fun to ride. This is an old pic. It’s sporting a Thomson/Flite combo now. I sold a steel Merckx after I found this and I have zero regrets.
That’s my problem, I don’t know what to search for on ebay. All I know are the well known names, but i know there were tons of smaller companies that had good bikes that I have no knowledge of.
There are a lot of good names out there. Browse through the vintage price guide on Sheldon’s page. It should at least familiarize you with a lot of the names. Look for good quality, forged droputs.
Let me know if you want intend to bid on it. It’s hot fucking sex. The angles are steep as fuck, it’s stiff as hell and built like a fucking tank. It’s a “3.0” series, but it weighs 3.2Lbs and is seriously built to take the abuse of crit racing.
22Lbs is easily achievable with a steel frame and fork and reasonably nice parts. That Cannondale would probably be sub-20Lbs.
I’ve been looking for road bikes with >73 degree head tubes lately and haven’t had much luck finding them.
I’ve owned 2 'dales and both were amazing. For reference, my CAAD 8 was 105 9 speed and sub 18lbs. My new CAAD 9 is Red 10 speed and sub 15lbs.
To throw a lesser (maybe) known name out there “Cilo”
My gf found one of these lying in a dumpster (no joke) in Bend, OR. She’s telling me about it over the phone and I had no idea what it was, so I’m thinking POS. Turns out it has campy dropouts on it and its built with a full shimano 600 group. Handmade in switzerland, nice lugged steel.
Only thing u gotta watch out for with some of those “rarer” framesets… hers has a swiss bb. So… if it eats it, new ones are mad expensive.
Also Sekai… dunno how “good” they are, but I have one and love it.
Sheldon has an interesting writeup about how regarding the stiffness of a frame materials matter relatively little when compared to geometry. I’m not sure how far I buy into it, but its a good read.
[quote=tarckeemoon]I love my Davidson Impulse. They pop up from time to time on ebay. Pretty steep and lots of fun to ride. This is an old pic. It’s sporting a Thomson/Flite combo now. I sold a steel Merckx after I found this and I have zero regrets.
i like your davidson alot.
i almost bought one about 6 months ago. it just popped up on ebay with all dura ace 7 speed or 8 speed…sold for like 775.
i want the frame and fork but i doubt that one is gonna pop back up.
davidson made a steeper frame than the impulse. called it the stilletto.
and speaking of davidson. there was discussion i found in achives about this video. one guy saying that they are overheating the tubes and another that was head custom builder at davidson at the time saying bill came up with the idea of brazing as fast as possible so the tubing was less affected by the heat.
