Hello, I have this road bike that I got for 150€ 7-8 years ago. I like it and it gets the job done. It needs some new tires, probably a new chain(don’t have a tool to check) and new brake pads. Is there something else I should change ? Can the BB be replaced with more modern one ? Does anyone happens to know what brand it might be ?
I know that it’s dirty as hell, I’ll clean it as soon as I get better.
I’d like to commute to work with it(10km each way) until I find a newer bike that I like. I’d like to spend 15-200€ with new tyres and inner tubes
Is it worth it ?
by christ0v
12 Comments
It’s a cool vintage bike with high end parts for the time. I wouldn’t spend any money upgrading anything other than cables/housing/chain/period correct brake pads and tires.
Have a bike shop tune it up and enjoy.
Also, does the head tube have a badge?
Look under the bottom bracket and see if there’s a serial number. I have a frame that may be the same brand but I don’t know what it is because it’s super sun faded. The frame I have has the same exact brake bridge and the fork crown looks similar too.
I love old bikes. You no NOT want to try upgrading this. You are going to run into one compatibility issue after another. This bike is late 60’s-early 70’s
Looks like it has new brake cables already, so get yourself new shift cables and housing, and new tires and tubes
Something from the 70s/80s.
Why would you change the BB to modern? I wouldn’t do it, unless you want to change the crankset for some reason and can‘t find a compatible one.
It may be worthwhile to test the BB for any problems though and overhaul if necessary. Do the cranks spin freely and smoothly with no chain on them? Does anything wobble? These classic style BBs are adjustable which in itself is a good thing, but also means they should be maintained (cleaned, regreased, properly adjusted on reassembly).
Similar applies to the headset and hub bearings.
It really looks like a Favorit or Diamant race bike, one of those racing bikes from the Eastern block. The stem for example is typical.
Shit what i personally would do is change the wheels crank set brakes front and rear mech into generic modern shimano and bontrager parts
I would to a cheap 700c rim set generic shit like anything on amazon for less than 200 get a 7 or 8 or 9 speed cog and matching crank set have the bike shop put the new crank set and bottom bracket cuz they know wtf they are doing. And also mount the front deraulur for me please thanks… i could do the rest.
And then lastly change these 1000lbs cantilever breaks that have shitty stopping power for some tektro brake callipers. The generic 40 dollar ones.
I rode old gear like that for years and i just couldnt see myself riding those steel alloy clunkers anymore but the frame we will keep and also the shifting levers because i love those..
The rims drive train and brake sets can all be replaced for modern generic components that are lighter faster and more relatable to modern times
Be mindful of rim size, some older road bikes use 28 1 1/4 which is not the same as a 28 (700c, 622) and you may have compatibility issues. Still possible to find the 28 1 1/4 but not nearly as common.
A fully zoomed-out photo of the whole frame might help, because components like cranksets and cassettes and derailleurs are rarely reliable in identifying a bike model… all of those are easily swapped on most mass-production bicycles, and none of these may have been originals.
But it does look like there are no logos on the frame, which would have been the most help.
It looks a lot like my 1983 Trek 360; it is decidedly NOT that frame because the rear dropout is different. It’s really close to it in shape/construction, though. Mine has a lot of Suntour parts on it and not Campagnolo. Your **cassette** and **cranks** look fine. **New tires** are doable for cheap and you can do that at home. You may not have to replace the **chain**, but if you’re unsure it’s in decent shape then it’s a lot easier to buy a new one than pick up a hobby cleaning dirty ones. But in any case, try lightly cleaning & relubricating the chain first. The **brake calipers** are fine, I don’t know why the **pads** need replacing unless they’re dried out (that is cheap), and a shop can re-adjust the brake cables if there’s a lot of play in the front grips. **Bar tape** is fine, good job on that. I don’t know why you picked up on the **bottom bracket** as a repair need, are you getting some sort of bad grinding or resistance from your pedals? But just from the perspective of servicing a bottom bracket… most of the older non-cartridge ones can be cleaned and regreased unless they’re pitted. If you have to order a restored part from eBay to replace your BB, it’s not going to be expensive. If you’re absolutely sure the bike needs love in the bottom bracket due to age, the other bearing-driven parts of the bike are the **headset/fork** and the **wheel hubs** – a bike shop could help with those as well.
The thing with these older bikes is that it’s a lot of little parts needing help, and the labor can add up. The absolute cheapest solution is when you set on doing the labor all yourself, you can get the parts from cheap sources, and you have a local bike co-op to go to for borrowing the (now exotic) tools. Buying all the specialty tools you need to get into hubs and bottom brackets/cranks and cassettes can start adding up, but much of it can be done with hex keys and standard adjustable wrenches. If you’re on a budget, you definitely want new tires to start + brake pads & maybe nothing else is needed to purchase.
The chainrings look fine to me so I wouldn’t change the bottom bracket but just clean everything and readjust. Many times on the old bikes I worked, the bearing ball cages are in very bad shape so you just replace it with new and more bearing balls and don’t use the cage. I myself have an old French Peugeot from the 70’s. It’s impossible I think to get a modern Shimano Hollowtech 2 in it because the thread is different from BSA. I replaced my french axel with a square tapered one and used slightly smaller bearing balls on one side.
Majority of these components are very high end for their time and still well valued today. Not sure what condition the frame is in but if you are handy or know of a LBS that specializes in older gear, I would take there. Ask them to remove all the parks and give a good cleaning too (would be a good idea to strip all old grease and reapply new) but mainly if you can give those components a polish you will have a very sharp bike that’s still worth some decent coin
This is a Favorit, yours is a Favorit Super Special because of the campy parts on it. Czechoslovak bike from sometime in the 80s. I rebuilt my dads favorit about a month ago
https://preview.redd.it/hxxx18x90rqc1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7e8b4c29fd2d74b8c9bcf236ab54d39c81b3224d