Re: [CR]weight-weenie French set up

(Example: Framebuilding:Tubing)

Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2008 18:28:12 -0700 (PDT)
From: Jerome & Elizabeth Moos <jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Re: [CR]weight-weenie French set up
To: marcus.e.helman@gm.com, classicrendezvous@bikelist.org, gholl@optonline.net
In-Reply-To: <OF0BAB169D.6A053266-ON85257471.0072047A-85257471.0072BFCE@gm.com>


CLB made several different light brakesets. I've seen CLB "Compact" brakes offered at very high prices, but never actually seen a set "in the flesh". But I have some much less expensive CLB sidepulls that are quite light. CLB also made "self-energizing" (or some such) CP's which are really cool, though not as light as the CP's.

Another option are Mafac superlight CP's. These had thinner arms and a conventional CP shoe attachment rather than the more complex and heavier Mafac shoe attachment, which is like the typical cantilever brakes. They also had superlight brake levers, with plastic rather than alloy bodies and no hoods. For seatposts, Atax made some that I've seen described as composite or carbon fibre, but I think maybe they are just black plastic. I have at least one, and it hasn't broken yet, but I haven't put all that many miles on it. For cranks, the TA Professional 3-arm crank might save a few grams versus the 5-arm French cranks.

Regards,

Jerry Moos Big Spring, Texas, USA

marcus.e.helman@gm.com wrote: George,

CLB made a set of super light sidepulls. I remember lusting after them in the Palo Alto Catalog. Far more interesting than Weinmanns. You could also add CLB aluminum brake cable to shave off a few more grams.

Yellow Jersey even seems to have them in stock http://www.yellowjersey.org/clb.html

Sounds like a fun project

Best regards, Marcus Helman Detroit, MI

Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:05:42 -0500 From: "Earle Young" To: , Subject: [CR]Vitus build Message-ID: <003901c8d55b$c1dd86c0$0200a8c0@pcearle> References: Content-Type: text/plain;format=flowed;charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Precedence: list Message: 7

George Hollander asked:
> I need help with a period "weight-weenie" project.
> I have a Vitus frameset ( mid 1980's), and would like to outfit it with
> the appropriate lightest weight French parts possible, from shifters, to
> rims, tires, etc.
> Can members provide me with this information, or make reference to period
> catalogues?

George, Here's what I would use from that era to build an all-French, weight-weenie Vitus (remember, some of this will seriously lack durability, and other parts will be phenominally expensive) Bar & Stem: Bellri made a pretty light stem and bar set that was stock on a lot of nice French bikes of that era (besides, stem and bars is not a place to cut weight to the limit) Headset: Nylfor nylon. Lighter than air, and I think Yellow Jersey has them cheap in French thread. Buy a couple. Crankset: Stronglight 105 BIS ... factory drillium and classic French styling Shift set: Huret Jubile. Lightest ever made, and the stuff actually works. Wheels: Maillard 700 pro hubs with Maillard alloy freewheel, and MAVIC OR-7 rims (200 grams!?!), mounted with Clement black label Criterium Seta Extra

(and some other superlative after that, which I forget now) 195-gram silks. Brakes: Weinmann 500 sidepulls with drillium levers. Or Mafac 2000. The Weinmann's are lighter, but not strictly French. Benotto tape Simplex alloy seat post and the lightest saddle you are comfortable on.

You can probably build this out at under 15 pounds, but one good pothole would destroy most of it. I really like the idea of a French weight-weenie

bike because the French did make some ridiculously light stuff, rather than have medium weight stuff drilled, milled and shaved the way Italian stuff is done.

Earle Young, Madison, Wisc. Offering expert wheelbuilding service for classic and modern bikes. http://www.earleyoung.com