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purplegitane

Hi- I just realized that after selling off a couple of bikes I no longer will have a bike to commute on in the spring.

It dawned on me though that my Criterium Violet 1970 Tour de France would be an elegant way to cycle to work until I retire in 2.5 years.

The only issue is with the wheels. I wouldn't want to cycle to work on the mavic motherly tubs (too elegant of a ride-lol). I have a spare set of wheels with a 6 speed freewheel on it.
The problem is that the simplex rear dropout adjustment bolt hits the 14 tooth or the chain (forget which). What's the best soln?

1/go without the dropout bolts? (easiest/cheapest?)
2/add a spacer I don't have to the rear wheel so 14 doesn't hit the bolt?
3/switch to a 5 speed fw that I don't have?
4/flip flop the bolt?
5/sand the bolt?
ps-don't want to bother respacing the frame and I'd like to use my mavic motherly's on the weekends.

edit- just checked and these particular 6 speed wheels to clear the rear dropout adjustment bolt in 52/14. The only issue now is that I am not sure if the simplex RD (one that came stock on the 70 t de f-simplex criterium I think) will handle a 6 speed freewheel. I am also not sure if the RD will handle a 26 tooth cog. I am not going to bother resetting the derailleur limit screws until I hear back about this. The screws were set for a 14-21 cyclo freewheel.

ps-It looks like the derailleur cage hits the 26 cog when in 42-23 -could just be that I haven't reset the adjustment screws yet.

Also the idea of using my vetta rear rack might be out the window because the bracket mounts on the brake bolt, but I forgot that the centerpulls will probably get in the way.

Is Chas out there?

verktyg

The nut on the inside looks more intuitive...

But... the nut on Simplex axle stops needs to be on the outside for adequate freewheel clearance

If that doesn't work, a 1mm spacer on the freewheel side of the axle is an easy fix.

While the industry standard for 5 speed freewheels was 120mm OLN (Over Lock Nut) wide. Old French rear hubs were 122mm OLN width

Standard 6 speed freewheels required 126mm OLN wide hubs.

A 122mm wide hub may have enough room for a standard 6 speed but...

There were also "narrow" 6 speed freewheels designed to fit on 120mm hubs.

Simplex Criterium derailleurs should be able to handle a 13 or 14-26T freewheel with 42-52 chainrings. You may have to add a link to the chain.

purplegitane

Thanks Chas- great reminder about the chain. I didn't want to lengthen it until I found out about the simplex criterium tooth capacity (my criterium is the one without the red dots.).

The chain/14 tooth cog clear the dropout bolt just find with this 6 speed wheel for some reason (spacing I guess).

ps- now my only issue is that I had been looking forward to using the rear frame eyelets to mount my nice old Italian vetta rack, but then it dawned me that the rear brake bolt mount might not work due to the mafac competition center pulls. Wonder how reliable the rack would be with a hole drilled for the cable in the center brake bolt rack support (guess the calilpers might even hit the rack support). I don't want to clamp to the top of the rear stays.

purplegitane

Hey Chas-turns out the vetta rack should fit/work perfectly. I'm guessing there must have still been center pulls in use back when this rack was designed because the center brake bolt mount bracket fits perfectly under the cable saddle/harness and just above the calipers themselves. The brazed on lower eyelets help to make the t de f a great commuter and tourer perhaps.

verktyg

purplegitane

Thanks Chas...of course the French didn't thread those eyelets...lol,

Ps...new manly, man plan. I put the mavic motherly rims (doesn't sound too manly..lol) / normandy delux hi- flange hubs/ double-butted robergel spokes/ 13 (or 14) to 21 manly cyclo competition freewheel/ conti giro tubs back on the manly purple t de f. You've got to be a real man to commute on tubs...lol

Ps...it dawned on me that I commuted all of last year on the 35 year old clincher tires that came on on a bike I bought from a neighbour with no flats (one of the tubes was original too). It was a manly pink bike..lol

I will put one of my sets of flint catchers on for good luck though (no flints here...for glass)

purplegitane

Rode to work today and it was great! Took 5 minutes to stick on the rear tire in the morning (velox tape) Loved the simplex shifting and mafac competition center pulls. I've got 6 campy super record bikes (no commuting on those) so the t de f is a cool change of pace!

Long live derlin!

The smooth-riding tubs sure seemed to make the pot holed bumpy sections almost disappear with no worry of pinch flats. I've only had 2 flats (pinch ) on clinchers in 4 years (knock-on-wood) anyway.

Classy way to get to work. A few years ago I used to drive a convertible to work, but biking on a purple t de f is even more fun!

Thanks again Chas!!!!

verktyg

Two suggestions:

Get rid of the Velox rim tape for tubulars. Back in the 70's a lot of bikes with sewups came with Velox rim tape. We immediately threw it away!

Get some Tufo tape. It's double sided plastic tape that is easy to install and works great!

Next get some Tufo Tire Sealant. The yellow label sealant can be put in before hand. It will seal punctures up to 3mm (YMWV).

It's great for goathead thorns and small glass cuts. It doesn't work on sidewall cuts or clincher tubes.

Goatheads

smilingroadrunner

G' day. I have to admit I was also a bit confused in the use of Velox tape--I didn't realize that they manufacture a double sided Tubular tape. As most folks, I use the Velox rim tape on all my clinchers for protection from the rim spoke heads.

I'm still pretty much old school ---tedious --- time consuming; but use Continental glue for my sew up mounting. Frugal as I may be, my daily riders all have Vittoria "Rally" tubulars. (True, often they seem to have an annoying "BUMP" somewhere usually related to the valve stem area). If I do damage beyond repair then I don't feel too guilty, and over the decades I have gotten between 3/8 of a mile to more than 2600 miles on these sew-ups.

I have used 'Tubasti' and ' Clement' as those were the products my local bike shop owner stocked back in the early 70's ----but for the last 25+ years the 'Continental' glue has been my choice. I use 3M product "General Purpose Adhesive Cleaner" part # 051135---"08984" Use common sense precautions and use outside . But I find it an effective solvent for removing the mastice gutta type adhesives such as the Continental product. Removing old "red-Clement" hard dry rim cement just is a pain in the ass and a lot of elbow grease & scrapping.

All of my sew-up rims are alloy of course---If I had a set of Carbon rims a different mounting and/or clean up technique would probably be necessary as I am sure the 3M product would not be good on the Carbon fiber resins.

About 6-7 years ago, I was tuning up " adjusting derailleur, saddle height & position " after rebuilding the blue '70 T de F. I picked up a sharp piece of road aggregate about 2-3min in my first ride on the new sew ups. That is when Chas shared the info about the Tufo sealant.

I have used the "Extreme" product with excellent results on many occasions since. I don't have experience with the regular "yellow" ---the extreme is added roadside when you have a flat. The only negative thing I would comment is that the 'Tufo Extreme' does have a "shelf and/or saddle bag life". It will self -polymerize---setting up into an unusable "blob". I always ride with a spare tubular, but the Tufo product has extended my sew-up life spans on many occasions.

I do like the "feel & ride" of tubulars, but I have accumulated 5 and 6 speed clincher -and- tubular wheelsets for the Gitanes in my stable that I change wheelsets as needed. Longer 40-60 + mi rides out into neighboring counties-I more likely will put the clinchers on for the convenience of repair if necessary.

Tax preparations for my accountant are completed Cool

, I'm not sure what the results will be Rolling Eyes

BUT I AM going to start working on the green '86 Performance this weekend. I've been meaning to complete this clean-up and repair for the last 3 years. Then onto one of the Super-Corsa frames.

I Like Steel !!!
_________________
C.A.
Salina Ks

'70 T de F
'71 Interclub
'72 Interclub x 2
'72 T de F
'73 T de F
'72 (possibly '73) Super Corsa
2- (probably early '71 --'73 Super Corsa (Frameset & parts) for future project
'86 Performance
'87 Victoire
and hopefully an '85 Professionel in the near future !! (still working on the local owner)

verktyg

smilingroadrunner

Thanks Chas for the info ---I did a more appropriate search and now understand that Velox does make a tubular tape. So my apology. I will try the Tufo Tape, my local bike shop owner has used it also and spoke of its' convenience.

I've always felt the Criterium Violet was one of the more attractive colors of the early 70's paint schemes. You don't see too many frames in that scheme. So to steal a line from my friends over at "The Carversite"

"We like to see Pictures" So Purplegitane how about some images in the future to show off the purple scheme on a T de F frame??? Wink

I Like Steel !!!!
_________________
C.A. Ritter
Salina, Ks

verktyg

Frenchbuilt

For really thick "sewup" glue I use paint stripper which just sits for awhile and then hose off. (on plastic tarp to catch mess)

I recently tried patrotic Velox rim tape and found it has changed and is better (also cheap in France).

purplegitane

Hi....I'll get the photos posted very soon. I just have a couple of spots to touch up. I see Chas mentioned that they are easy to touch up, but I just haven't found the right paint. I did find some nail polish that was close, but it goes all sparkly after a few days...lol. I find the tub talk very interesting especially since I just bought a 72 Raleigh Pro that has a very nice pair of Campy Nuovo Record high flange hubs/ Ava tubular rims with double-butted spokes.
Ps...the purple paint on the t de f is really amazing outside in the sun (as opposed to when I Was getting it ready in the basement.

purplegitane

five years have gone by and when i googled criterium violet i got my own old thread. haven't ridden my gitane in a few years but rode over 16 000 km on my italian bikes this year alone..out today in canada! I barely got a 6 speed rear clincher wheel in the gitane last month and i am hoping it has spread the dropout a bit...was going to put all the parts on a px 10 frame but my son loves the pearlescent purple gitane more ...chas will be pleased...will really try for picks within a week