brdavis

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Digital Gallery: Each of the following thumbnails will open a 300x225 ~200KB pix by clicking in the upper LH corner, or a 640x480 ~300KB pix by clicking the image in the lower RH corner …Firefox will open the image in a small popup window, a new tab, or a new window (it depends upon your settings and extensions), and you can leave the popup open to view other detail photos (of the same size) …IE will usually open a popup window, or it may just open the link (and you’ll have to to manually return to this page). As usual, popup windows have to be closed manually. I’ve no idea how the links might work (or not) in other browsers (or earlier versions of IE than 5.5SP2), but if you notice something weird, let me know (in the post Comments) and I’ll try to fix it.

Click top LH or bottom RH corners to open

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Description: This is an early-1980’s Japanese manufactured Nashbar frame & fork, that I purchased for only $9.95 (from an iBOB list member). And as it was shipped within the same box as a Panasonic PT-3500 touring F&F (purchased at the same time, and which frameset is also in the Photo Gallery), there was no additional cost for its shipping. (Yep: $10 total. Cool.)

The frame has DT braze-ons for the levers, and DT cage braze-ons. TT rear cable guides and BB derailleur cable guides, but no mudguard mounting eyes on the Suntour forged fr & rr dropouts. Semi-sloping fork crown. DB Champion No. 2 tubing; simple, classic forged lugs & bottom bracket. Pretty sparse on the cosmetics — pretty standard on the specs — for the era.

Wheels are built on rather narrow Super Champion (Gentleman) 36H rims w/eyelets (fr & rr), 3-cross laced, and mated to vintage 1970’s era Campagnolo Record hubs. The front hub is a small flange Record with 15-16ga Torrington db galvanized spokes with the long brass plated nipples (with a Shimano skewer, as I’ve been unable to procure a suitable Campy straight lever one). The rear hub is a large flange Record with 15-16ga Torrington db galvanized spokes with the long brass plated nipples on the off-drive side, and 15ga straight (non-butted) stainless spokes on the drive side (and it does have the correct vintage straight lever Campy skewer).

This was a project bike that ended up turning into my favoured choice for fast day rides …one of those rare occasions when everything fit me to a “T”, and the parts all worked exceptionally well together (though I’m quite opinionated about this subject area …oddly enough, these same parts — mostly — did not “work well” on the Mercian). It’s a real pleasure to ride.

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Components: I built-up the frameset with vintage components primarily from the Campy Nouvo Record group (though its your typical bike geek’s parts-drawer mish-mash of stuff):

Record brakes Record SF fr hub, Shimano QR Record LF rr hub & QR NR 47/42 165mm chainset NR bottom bracket SL pedals Record fr & NR rr derailleurs Sakae fluted seatpost

Super Champion 20mm 700C rims YST alloy headset Shimano 600 “arabesque” levers Planetbike narrow mudguards Cinelli alloy clips w/Binda straps Ambrosio bars & stem Rhode Gear saddle KMC chain

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Dimensions: Note that standover height is measured from the ground to top of top tube with fully inflated (100psi) 622x19 (700C) tyres. Disclaimer — all dimensions are to the “best of my ability” measurements and so you should consider them at best only “approximately accurate” (I try, but I have to “eyeball” some things). If you require more — or other — details, let me know.

Table 1:   Nashbar Specifications

TT (c-c):		21½", 55cm		Standover:		30¼", 77cm
ST (c-c):		20½", 52cm		Width fr:		100mm
ST (c-t):		21¼", 54cm		Width rr:		122mm
Wheelbase:		38¾", 99cm		BB width:		68mm
BB to DO:		161/8", 41cm		BB thread:		BSC
Trail:		1¾", 4.5cm		BB height:		10", 25.4cm
ST angle:		73°		Bar width:		15", 38cm
HT angle:		74°		Bar drop:		6¼", 16cm
SP:		27.0mm		Stem:		8cm

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Gears: My preference for determining optimal shifting is to use an inch gearing chart of the chainwheels and cogs …the name “inch gear” is based upon the size of the front wheel of the old “ordinary” bicycles of the 1890’s: each number in the chart corresponds to the diameter of a wheel of that size (a 72 inch gear would correspond to a 72 inch diameter wheel size).

The top row of the chart is the number of teeth in the chainrings (inner across to outer, or smallest chainring across to largest chainring); the left column of the chart is the number of teeth of the rear cog (also inner down to outer, or largest cog down to smallest cog) …it may seem counter-intuitive, but the small front ring coupled to the large rear cog results in the lowest gear of a multi-speed derailleur bicycle; while the large front and small rear results in the largest gear. You can determine the distance traveled in a single turn of the cranks by multiplying the inch gear times π (π=3.1416).

The suggested (half-step) shifting pattern is indicated in the table. Notes — you can shift this just about anywhere, due to the close chainring & cog spacing (well, not “close” compared to a “corncob,” but its a pretty tight pattern for these old bones) …stay on one ring through its range, and then shift to the other for that “little bit more.”

Gear Chart —
Nashbar 

	42	47
25	45	51
21	54	59
17	67	75
15	76	85
14	81	91

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Impressions: The finish is far from pristine; but though the frameset has obviously seen lots of use through the years, it hasn’t suffered any visible damage or abuse. Plenty of paint chips (rather noticeably touched-up), but no dents, and no rust. Straight. Exceptionally stable; steers well hands-off for as long as you’d probably care to ride it sans hands. The narrow leather-covered alloy gel saddle is surprisingly comfortable for less then 40 mile day rides. The criterium style bars are deep drop, and allow for the low riding positions so handy for boring into a direct or quartering wind. Umm, the brakes are typical vintage Records (oh y’know, euphemistically “gentle” stoppers …they do work, eventually …by exerting rather more lever pressure then is fashionable these days …I s’pose I really should rewrap the bars and change the lever position …it might help). For vintage NR derailleurs, shifting is quite crisp, though of course dependent upon the degree of your remaining skills with friction gear; the reward is the gratifying snick-click of a well-executed shift that is such music to the ears of us retro-grouches.The tyres are 19’s …and with the mudguards, I don’t think it would be such a great idea to go more then 23’s (which is okay with me for this bike, as the its purpose is for day-long sport-touring rides of less then 100KM). And due to the gearing, the lighter the tyre, the better!

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Search Terms: Nashbar, vintage bicycle, classic bicycle, Campagnolo, Campy, NR, Nouvo Record, Ambrosio, Super Champion, Shimano, Planet Bike, Sakae, SR, Suntour, Sun Tour, lugs, lugged, doublebutted, double butted, cromoly, chrome molybdenum, sport touring