Wanted: Reliable touring bike front+rear mech/shifters/wheels

If anyone's been converting a bike to fixed and has a suitable set of decent quality gears going spare, I'd be interested in buying them. I'm looking for something suitable for the below bike (which has a mediocre huret rear mech at the moment), I'm much more interested in quality than historical accuracy, but would prefer to stick with downtube shifters. The bike will be used by my girlfriend for touring so need something that's reliable (because I'll be the one fixing them).

Ideally want a front & rear mech and the shifters. MIght also be interested in a crankset.

I'm also looking to ditch the 27" wheels, so I'd be interested in a pair of 700c wheels - or even just a compatible rear 700c wheel.

Sorry if that's a bit vague. It just seems like they'd be the exact parts going spare if someone was doing a conversion, so thought this was a good place to ask.
Willing to pay anywhere between £10 and a £100 depending on what's on offer.
Cheers

i have a suntour cyclone rear mech and a suntour ARX front mech that i have just taken off a bike. i will try and take some pictures tomorrow.
think the cyclone is first gen.....

Probably a little more vintage than I need really, would be interested to see pictures, but I suspect I'll be better off with something a little more modern (as much as anything with downtube shifters can be).
Not that I'd rule it out, but I assume something like that is likely to be more desirable to someone looking to build up an old bike authentically, whereas I just want something that works well and doesn't look terrible...
(however road bike gears are a bit of a mystery to me - I'm much better with mountain bike ones, so I'm likely to be quite wrong on all sorts of things).

I do have some 7 speed bits of kit to pass on- 170 square drive triple chainset, rear mech, front mech, I have the handlebar end changers too, although I may need to keep the left hand one. I think I have some downtube shifters... may have some 8 speed kit.

The 7 speed stuff is off a Raleigh Audax, well, it still needs to be taken off.

I can probably do some 700 wheels too....

Pm if vaguely interested!

Probably a little more vintage than I need really, would be interested to see pictures, but I suspect I'll be better off with something a little more modern (as much as anything with downtube shifters can be).
Not that I'd rule it out, but I assume something like that is likely to be more desirable to someone looking to build up an old bike authentically, whereas I just want something that works well and doesn't look terrible...
(however road bike gears are a bit of a mystery to me - I'm much better with mountain bike ones, so I'm likely to be quite wrong on all sorts of things).

actually it's short cage so probably won't work as i'm guessing you will have larger sprockets.

actually it's short cage so probably won't work as i'm guessing you will have larger sprockets.

Yes, long cage would definitely be better i'm afraid.

Pm if vaguely interested!
PM'd!

just a thought but if you're fitting 700c you might need deeper drop brakes too....

I know the front one's ok as I tried one of my wheels in the frame. Back one may or may not be... but compared to the gears I'm not too stressed about it. Deep drop brakes seem much easier to pick up cheaply than a suitable gear set.

ad441- if you're gears are working OK right now i'd not bother upgrading unless you want to go to indexed - in which case late 6 - but most likely 7 or 8 speed is in order. but unless you have shimano style braze-ons on the frame you'l have trouble fitting- it's very rare to find a band on that will take indexed downtube shifters. i'd start by looking for the shifters and then get the rest to suit whatever speed shifters you can get hold of. - bar end shifters are good alternative if you can get / afford them (they always seem to going for a lot)

exage, and rx100 (actually un painted 105sc) are usually good value for money 7/8 speed stuff as they're under rated , nothing swanky but very serviceable for get-around / touring bike.

something like exage trail (or exage LX) triple 28/38/48 with front and rear mech to suit should be less than 25 gbp in good nick - early MTB deore is also good. mich do a nice long reach pair of calipers for 19.99 on Eaby -

ad441- if you're gears are working OK right now i'd not bother upgrading unless you want to go to indexed - in which case late 6 - but most likely 7 or 8 speed is in order. but unless you have shimano style braze-ons on the frame you'l have trouble fitting- it's very rare to find a band on that will take indexed downtube shifters. i'd start by looking for the shifters and then get the rest to suit whatever speed shifters you can get hold of. - bar end shifters are good alternative if you can get / afford them (they always seem to going for a lot)

Thanks - that's really helpful - unfortunately the gears aren't working well at the moment - it's a nice quality frame (531c), but the components are pretty horrible & despite a lot of adjustment I've concluded they weren't ever up to much.
However you've just pointed out something I hadn't even thought about - the shifters are band-on, so that complicates things further...
On the other hand, indexed shifting isn't essential I suppose, but maybe bar end shifters are a neater way of doing it.
I'm not against spending some money on it, as it's a nice frame and I got the whole thing for a bargain price.
Sorry this has turned into more of a mechanics thread than a classified... though I am still hoping someone will come along and sell me the whole lot in one go.

no worries - you can get shimano band-on that will take indexed just rare as time gap between indexing and then putting the boses on is small so maybe only year or two they did them. i asked LBS (wills wheels)- he said if i could find none he'd get one in for me - so check the after market supply you might find they're easier to get hold of then i thought. . - i have seen them here (sometime ago) for 7gbp with the shifters - a bargain! - maybe send out a wanted on the classifieds for it?

the long reach calipers i was mentioning are miche performance - i got for 17.99 posted - very recommended.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Miche-Performance-57mm-Deep-Drop-Brake-Calipers-SILVER_W0QQitemZ290408021946QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR?hash=item439daabfba

I ve a lot of this stuff, including some band on shifters and some bar ends.

Let me know what you might need

I d suggest you use friction not indexing . Your choices are wider.

I am in Walthamstow btw .

I ve a lot of this stuff, including some band on shifters and some bar ends.

Let me know what you might need

I d suggest you use friction not indexing . Your choices are wider.

I am in Walthamstow btw .

Ideally I'm after getting everything in one go - front/rear mech, shifters (and possibly rear wheel and (triple) chainset at the same time). Definite preference for indexed bar-end shifters at the moment, though I'm not ruling out anything. Beyond that I'm really pretty vague - quality/reliability over authentic retro-ness though... she's going to use this bike for touring so I just want it to work.
Inconveniently I'm in Brixton... though obviously I'm willing to travel/pay postage on parts.

None of my stuff is completely authentic

If you really want indexing then I suspect you are going to need to respace the rear drop outs to 135mm or 130.

As a tourer indexing is nice but not necessary and a good set up with the right levers is just as good.

I ve 700 c wheels, shifters, a stronglight double (48 32 ish ) and front and rear mechs. All will make for a reliable tourer. They will all have just come off one!

Walthamstow is at the other end of the Victoria line....

you can easily stick 130mm oln (and proabably 135mm)in a 531c frame - don't bend frame so it's the right size when there is no wheel in (i.e. beyond elastic limit - ) just prise it aprt enough to get the hub in (so the frame springs back in when you remove - 100 % safe for rider and frame)

also there are early shimano 6 speed that are indexed but the 7 speed rear hub should be 126mm anyway really. but if you have the choice get an 8 speed hub (you can run 7 speed block with a spacer - just pull out of out cassette and whack in behind the block when fitting) but of course you can run 8 speed too so you can get that in before the shifters and still be able to pcik up whatever speed shifters you can find. 7 or 8 speed mechs, chains, cassettes, cranks, will all work fine with each other

hyperglide hub is better choci than uniglide hub - if only for cassette availability and ease of changing cassette.

if you have the choice pick the shifters that will switch from indexing to friction (you'll find shimano only - it was their patent)- to give extra flexibility on the road for damage / replacements you might need to do on the go. - tourers set up of choice

check pic - put together for less than 200 gbp - deore rear mech and crankset, new deore hubs, tiagra triple on front 105 7 speed shifters (with friction option). shimano aero levers (sante in this case)

48/38/28 on front 11t to 28t on rear (copy that ratio set up if you can it's perfect for tourer / audax) - go higher than 48t on front and you severely limit your front mech options. going smaller on rear sprockets is better for the high gear than higher on front - saves chain wrap - for bigger range overall.

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I agree

I had a set up just like that.

So something I'm really confused about - I know Deore as the lower end of mountain bike gearing - how does that translate to road/touring type bikes? Is it just the older Deore stuff that's suitable for this kind of thing?
I should point out that I'm considering gentle touring here - pottering around France for a few weeks most likely, rather than anywhere with bad roads/few bike shops.
Thankyou again for all the advice.

new deore is fine - lx is a bit better, kt better and xtr best

dx is old anme for LX really

any will do - exage and even gs 200 sort of thing will work fine.

the new deore is likely to be 9/10 speed - but you CAN use 7/8/9/10 speed chain on a 7 or speed set up.

it's likely that the new deores will still take 8 speed chains - so go for it with any of the stuff really.

there is no 'touring' groups as such now it's all called MTB - it'll all be fine for touring

all the road groups have triples and mehc to suit - they're all fine too.

take the first / best cheapest mech you can - any bottom pull triple will be fine for front. any (i'm talking shimano here) long cage rear mech made after c. 1988 will work fine.

i'm only talking old stuff as it's cheaper - and i had it hangin aorund -

you could run compact on front - 48/34

with 11-32 or 11-34 rear - also very good.

i've been through the garage to try to find some bits that might help you.

aero levers

l deore 175mm lx crank with 42/32/22 rings - good

exage 300 lx cranks 48/36/ 28 - 36 not so good - but i think usable - laos you'll need double chaining bolts to complete

r500 rear wheel rim quite worn but still usable for a bit, hub is very nice and smooth - this is the good 28h 3 cross design - don't confuse with the later flat spoke radial 42h that has rep for unreliability

cassette - 12 - 34

or 12- 28

range of front mech - nothing swanky but all will perfom, - same goes for the altus rear mech.

range of 7 (maybe the odd 8) speed shifter - there are no band-ons to take these i can give - also the bar end shifters aren't available. mix of 105, exage, rx100, 600

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oh yes - mavic sport on sora hub -

both wheels are 130 oln - no probs for your steel frame, and are 8/9 speed freehub - i can use spacer to set up with the 7 speed cassette

no front wheel to offer i'm afraid but 700c front wheel is easy to get hold of - not OLN or gear compatibility issues

did you get that Galaxy i sent link for? bargain!

did you get that Galaxy i sent link for? bargain!

Not until now... got overwhelmed with work and postponed thinking about the bike for the rest of the week - sorry for not being in touch.
That was a bargain.
Now I'm back to thinking about it, I'm contemplating whether I'd be better to just get her some cheap integrated shifters. I know they'll look a bit weird on that bike, but it seems like it might be a relatively easy option.
However I would probably like that sora wheel you had. Will give it a little more thought and then PM you.
Cheers

If you don't mind my saying so, 531c is a very poor choice for a touring bike, unless your girlfriend is very light and doesn't carry much luggage.

I have a few bits that would sort this bike, though. Exage, Deore or LX, depending on how much you want to pay.

yes i was meaning to ask this is it touring - full on cyclo-camping - or 'credit card' touring - i.e. how much stuff are you loading them with ?

531c - probably the frame is likely to be wrong geometry etc for loaded touring - for very light touring - fine.