I have been trying to find a good place to take photos of my bicycles around my new house, but haven't been quite successful. So the bicycles in the next few posts have been ready-to-ride for as long as a few months ago. I am not too pleased with these photos, but they've been accumulating on my hard-drive so I thought I would post some.
I've made some small changes to the Univega Alpina Ultima to make it more suitable for my commute to work (and HOPEFULLY very short tours someday):
First, I got rid of the drop bar and put on its original Nitto flat bar and slingshot stem. The bike is already a bit big for me, and the riding position with the drop bar gave me back aches when I ride with my backpack. The flat bar gives me a much more up-right riding position. Plus, the the stem is pretty cool looking.
With the new bar set-up, I put on Shimano BL-M730 brake levers (it has rubber hoods) and the original grips. The bike originally had Suntour Power thumb shifters , but I over-tightened and broke the left shifter's clamp (I was very disappointed at myself), so I put on Shimano Unishift thumb shifters. The the Unishift thumb shifters' got the ratcheting mechanism, and they work quite well.
I got rid of the SR MTE-100 since it weighed more and I wasn't really take advantage of the lateral adjustments feature anyhow. I replaced it with a SR TCO (supposed stands for "Tall Cool One") Sport seatpost taken off from a Trek 930. You can tell that the bike is big for me when you see how little of the seatpost sticks out.
I also replaced the saddle with the Avocet Touring saddle. I rode the bike to work in rain once, and the San Marco Anatomica saddle started falling apart too much for me to ignore it any longer. And lucky, the Avocet saddle has been very comfortable.
Couple other small changes were in the inner tubes and the chain. The previous tubes were super thick and were quite heavy. I kept them on because I thought it would protect against all the debris on the road, but I think they really added to the rotational weight of the wheels (this may all be psychological). But it feels like climbing hills got a tiny bit easier after I replaced them with regular inner tubes. I took off the old Dura-Ace chain since it was stretched, but I didn't have any chains long enough in my used parts bin for the bike's lengthy chainstay. So right now, the chain is an inch shorter than the calculated chain length. However, I never do big chainring to big cog gear combination, so I haven't had any trouble shifting.
The latest change has been the Bushwacker panniers. I just got them off ebay about a week ago for $9.99 + $12.95 shipping. I haven't put them into real action yet, but I hope they'll be a nice addition for my commute.
I also put the Blackburn Mtn Rack back on. I re-tapped the rear dropour braze-ons as suggested to me Erodstrom (by the way, you should also check out his blogs:
Lugs & Bugs and
Rebuild-Re-Cycle), and got some stainless steel bolts to fasten the rack. The only concern is that the panniers look a bit too close to the brakes.
What I need to get now are bigger toe clips for the pedals, and fenders. I'm still kicking myself for passing on a huge sale Velo-Orange had on a 650b/26" fenders a few months ago. I didn't realize how important fenders can be on a wet day.
So, here are some pictures:
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| 1984 Univega Ultima - Drive-side. No rack/panniers yet (1/20/12) |
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| 1984 Univega Ultima - Drive-side. No rack/panniers yet (1/20/12) |
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| 1984 Univega Alpina Ultima - Front view (1/30/12) |
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| 1984 Univega Alpina Ultima (1/30/12) |
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| 1984 Univega Alpina Ultima - Look at that clean fork crown (1/30/12) |
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| 1984 Univega Alpina Ultima - Waiting for the Metro on my commute to work (2/1/12) |
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| 1984 Univega Alpina Ultima - Waiting for the Metro on my commute to work (2/1/12) |
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| 1984 Univega Alpina Ultima - Metro in the background (2/1/12) |
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| 1984 Univega Alpina - Drive-side; with rack/panniers (2/3/12) |
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| 1984 Univega Alpina (2/3/12) |
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| 1984 Univega Alpina - Cockpit (2/3/12) |
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| 1984 Univega Alpina - Nitto slingshot stem (2/3/12) |
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| 1984 Univega Alpina - Shimano racheting thumb shifters (2/3/12) |
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| 1984 Univega Alpina - Univega grip (2/3/12) |
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| 1984 Univega Alpina - Look at that angle/rake! (2/3/12) |
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| 1984 Univega Alpina - Joytech hub (2/3/12) |
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| 1984 Univega Alpina - Seat cluster; Avocet Touring saddle; SR TCO seatpost (2/3/12) |
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| 1984 Univega Alpina - Bushwhacker panniers; side view (2/3/12) |
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| 1984 Univega Alpina - Bushwhacker panniers; top view (2/3/12) |
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| 1984 Univega Alpina - Bushwhacker panniers; rear view (2/3/12) |
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| 1984 Univega Alpina - Stainless steel bolt (2/3/12) |
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| 1984 Univega Alpina - Not too much clearance between the pannier and brakes (2/3/12) |
The bike looks great!
ReplyDeleteThere's something about these old Univegas that just stands out. There are so many frame details that make them nicer than comparable bikes from other makers.
That stem looks like it might be leaning you out a bit far too - I had a similar preference to get my riding position up higher - swapping out the stem for a taller stem with less horizontal reach made a HUGE difference, and might even let you use road bars again, assuming you want to.
Rivendell-type people often mention the Nitto technomic stems, which are very nice, but I usually see them costing about $50 on ebay - that's too high for me! However, searching for "high-rise" stems on ebay did end up finding an alloy, no-name high rise stem for about $10 and free shipping on there.
Can't wait to see the progress!
I actually did not consider using the super high-rise stem. I will definitely check out the ebay option the next time I rebuild the bike. Thanks!
ReplyDeletegreat bike!! i am building an 83 or 84, black with silver lettering, original Suntour group...what type of tire is that ...they look like they would be suitable for both road and off road.
ReplyDelete