Re: [CR]Soliciting Zeus Comments

(Example: Books:Ron Kitching)

Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2003 11:32:49 +0200
From: "Renaissance-Cycles" <info@renaissance-cycles.com>
Subject: Re: [CR]Soliciting Zeus Comments
To: jerrymoos <jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net>, Eric Elman <tr4play@cox.net>, Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
References: <20030816021809.KHXB23972.imf20aec.mail.bellsouth.net@mail.bellsouth.net> <000c01c3639d$caa03c60$41e50044@elman1> <013901c365eb$9a2287a0$efddfea9@mooshome>


Hi Guys!..................Just had a very long night, slept a few hours and now back at it again! I want to go back to sleep but I can't because this bug keeps on telling me ''THERE'S WORK TO BE DONE!'' Oh well!.................What the hell!...........Get up and have a cup of Dutch coffee! Funny thing though the Dutch do not grow their own coffee beans but the call it Dutch coffee?!?! I really get on their nerves when I asked ''Why do you call it Dutch coffee, when you don't grow your own beans!'' Boy they do get all huffy and puffy!

Zeus has been a hard go just because not much of it has surfaced, and Thanks to Roland Darboucabe of Southern France we are now well on the tracks of many former Zeus dealers o France and Spain...........He said you must come and see and buy these stocks, it sleeps for many years. So what he hell a short time after I'm on my way. Never met Roland nor do I know where I'm going, as like many other trips and blind buys. I get contact, blah! blah this and blah blah that!.............And I'm off into the unknown. Well I arrive into Bordeaux, as like a few of my other trips I clear customs without seeing or talking to anyone. Meet up with Roland and we are on the Highway in the pouring rain, boy that was the longest hour drive I ever had!....The French do drive as like in the movies, at least Roland does.................And the talk was good as well...........All in all a hair raising ride! But an eye opener as to what can be found.

As for Zeus, I've always liked the stuff as like some would say the overall finish is not as like Campagnolo..........Campagnolo was sueing Zeus for saying ''YOU GET CAMPAGNOLO FOR LESS!'' Well, at least this is what Mr Labadie was telling me, the former inporters of Zeus for France.............I was told this went on for 16 years.............Up until the day Zeus cycling closed it's doors for goods.

Nuff of the small talk and on with few small takes on Zeus.

Brakes, brake bolts on the '2000 series are threaded all the way down, this makes it easy to cut down the bolts if needed to be used for recessed. '2000 CP, there was a shorter bolt made available for that of the Gepiemme rear brake bridge which is found on some Gios and Viner framesets, for what reason this bridge was made, I have no idea?? But Zeus came to the plate to offer a bolt to work with this bridge...........And of course the '2000 CP were very nice. There is also instructions available for modfycation of the stem in order to accept the cable for center pulls, meaning no need for the cable hanger...............Very cool and clean looking.

Front bz-on derailleur bodies had replaceable pivot pins..................Rear '2000, drilled cages back plate and some Ti parts. Kind of rough but it works well.

Pedal key washers seems to be made of a harder material than that of Campagnolo, I 've overhauled many Campagnolo pedals and quite a few of the keyed washers ended coming off with no key............Zeus, so far so good. But a special sized dust cap tool is needed.

Headset and BBs, bearing were loose, we all know the Pros and cons of this. Loose balls falls out easier leaving you with a headach at times trying to track them all down. But seems as if the life span is increased with loose balls. But the '2000 BBs are very cool with the Ti cups and crank arm bolts...............Many of the headset cups and races are interchangable with each other, meaning if your in a pinch and really need to ride...........Well hell a criterium or Gran Sport part can be used for a '2000. Spindles are also interchangable as well, '2000 units gets pitted cups are good! Toss a Criterium in there and your off to the races............They both use 1/4'' balls.

Hubs......................If you want to ''HOP UP!'' a Gigantic HF hub!................Slam in some '2000 Ti axles in there and some perhaps some after market alloy QR and you are happening of course the '2000 Ti QRs with it's Ti end nuts would be cooler but these are hard to come by. But if you want to stay with Zeus then the endless QR nut with a down sized milled lever will do as well. Ti axles, you need to find these first. Axle parts are the same less the axles, so mix and match as you like.

Cranksets, polished ones looks great after you hit them up with the polishing paste..........And of course the drilled rings looks very cool as well. But not as strong as Campy but whos going to put it though it paces.

'2000 pedals, needle bearings Ti parts and all that fun stuff.

Freewheel....................Body is right on,.......too bad about the cogs being on the soft side, but a very simple and bomb proof system to build up a freewheel.

For sure it's not Campagnolo.................But then again, nor is the price...................At least not back then.........And is still is somewhat less of today.................Back up Zeus small spare parts are somewhat available as like Campagnolo.

Something different than the norm......Maybe a cult type thing?!?!.....For sure one of the hardest things to find will be Zeus labled tires, what the hell it's a hobby thing right...........Did I forget anything, probably so.....Later!

BC Baron and the gang!!......................Not selling a sale pitch...............Just the way we see it. Renaissance cycles Eindhoven Holland.


----- Original Message -----
From: jerrymoos
To: Eric Elman
Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2003 2:48 AM
Subject: Re: [CR]Soliciting Zeus Comments



> Well, having always been a contrarian, I've never really had many all-Campy
> bikes, since that was what "everyone" had in the 70's. Always preferred
> French stuff or Zeus, just to be different. I've always considered Zeus as
> good as Campy and a little more innovative in design, although maybe they
> went a little too far with the drilling and slotting of the 2000 stuff in
> the late 70's/early 80's. I have 5 all-Zeus or nearly all-Zeus bikes: An
> Alan Competition, an Alan Super Record, an Austro-Daimler Superleicht, a
> Romic track bike, and a late 60's/early 70's Zeus bike. Except for the Zeus
> bike, I could have built any of these with Campy, but didn't. In may
> opinion, Zeus Criterium was every bit as good as Campy NR, Zeus 2000 as good
> or better than Campy SR, and Zeus New Racer as good as Campy Nuovo Grand
> Sport. In many ways, the designs were very similar, causing some to regard
> Zeus as Campy clones, which I consider untrue. Two significant differences
> were that Zeus, unlike Campy, made CP brakes, several different models, in
> fact; and Zeus used a much smaller bolt circle, 120mm, on the
> 2000/Criterium/New Racer. This allowed a 36T small chainring, giving much
> better choice of gears. However, I always wished they had gone 2mm larger
> to 122mm for campatibility with Stronglight, which would have made
> replacement chainrings a whole lot easier to find. As it is, the Zeus
> chainrings aren't interchangeable with anything I know of.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jerry Moos
> Houston, TX
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Eric Elman" <tr4play@cox.net>
> To: <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> Sent: Friday, August 15, 2003 9:26 PM
> Subject: [CR]Soliciting Zeus Comments
>
>
> > BC's recent acquisition of all things Zeus has piqued my interest in a
> brand
> > that I never paid any attention too. That's changing now as I've
> purchased
> > one of his NOS framesets and will slowly accumulate Zeus goodies to hang
> on
> > her.
> >
> > My question is, this list hasn't had much to say about Zeus framesets nor
> > components (except the recent thread on their 2000 centerpulls). I'm
> > looking to learn from this lists experience with their stuff: framesets
> and
> > the various component groups.
> >
> > Comments, experience, stories, whatever - please pass it on and let's get
> a
> > new and worthy thread going.
> >
> > Eric Elman
> > Somers, CT