univega-appreciation-blog - Tumblr blog

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Comparing a 2002 Cannondale R700 to a 1986 Univega Gran Sprint (with upgraded Mavic wheels, Tiagra/Sora drivetrain)

I have had the unique opportunity to compare these two bikes over the course of the past 15 years.  The Univega as my trainer/fast club ride and the Cannondale as my fast club ride/racer.  The most recent comparisons have been over the course of climbing up and descending down my local 4,000 ft mountain.  The descent really gives a great opportunity to compare the handling  on various sharp and moderate turns at high speed.  The most apt comparison that continues to come to mind every ride is that the Cannondale is like a full-on race car with a fiber-glass body, built for the track etc. while the Univega feels like a nimble, comfortable German sports-sedan.  The Cannondale carves corners, the Univega glides through them.  The ‘Dale allows for mid-corner corrections at any time. The 'Vega does more sweeping through corners in a fluid motion. The R700 is a scalpel the Gran Sprint is a paintbrush. These are both great bikes in their own way. Cannondale are masters of aluminum and essentially brought it onto the racing and recreational scene. Miyata (maker of Univegas) is a master of steel. They came up with their own in-house steel, Tange, that rivals the top 2 in the business (Reynolds, Columbus) maybe better. It's just that the older I get the more I prefer the smoothe comfort of steel. I have no more pretenses regarding racing and the R700 is mostly built for that. Now and then I do enjoy trying to blow my previous times out of the water and the R700 excels at this as well. But the Gran Sprint is just so darned balanced. Knowing I can keep up with fast club rides with my upgraded Mavic wheelsets makes the R700 almost pointless. The Gran Sprint is so comfortable I have actually had the thought that my Schwinn cruiser could not feel more comfortable while riding Mt. Diablo, and I'm not considering weight or gearing. The Univega is just a fast, swooping, gliding, beautiful steel machine. The Cannondale is a road-gripping, speed demon that is stiff, ultra-fast and nimble. I choose to glide along on steel about 4 out of every 5 rides.

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Heading out before sunrise.

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Artsy shots at Mt. Diablo

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Other than ride my Univega,  I also hike with my family.  I am first and foremost a father and husband.

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A nice piece of ornamental italian jewelry

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“Modern" Upgrades

So I was fortunate enough to have a riding partner that spent more on bikes than I do, around the year 2000. At this time he upgraded his Cannondale to Shimano 105/Ultegra parts and we put the leftovers on my Univega Gran Sprint. We were beginner mechanics and took a bunch of shortcuts but the drivetrain still performs smoothly 16 years later so we focussed on what matters. My bike is a “Frankenbike”, it’s pure utilitarian and I love it for being so. It is not jewelry but it’s utilitarian beauty far surpasses those of ornamental Italian chromed jewelry bikes, in my opinion. Shimano Sora STI Shifters, Tiagra rear derailer. Left the Suntour downtube shifter, the suntour front derailer and the Signature crank (mostly bc we couldn’t get them off).

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Lamplight's Univega. Possibly the King Cool of all bikes. http://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vintage/374185-unofficial-univega-appreciation-thread.html

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Squeazel's 1984 Gran Turismo. Virtually identical to the Miyata 610. This is a great touring bike. http://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vintage/374185-unofficial-univega-appreciation-thread.html

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What’s So Great About A Univega

Oh, man there is so much it’s hard to know where to begin.  Triple-butted Tange steel, Miyata-made in Japan, Full chromoly frame. If you don’t know what any of this means there will doubtless be more blogs where I expand on this info but here’s some key points. 1) Miyata built some of the best bikes EVER. The great Sheldon Brown ranks the Miyata 1000 the best touring bike to come out at it’s time and the 610 right behind it. (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/japan.html). Well, the Univega Gran Turismo is the virtual identical bike to the 610. 2) Steel is the strongest, most useful and comfortable material for a bike. Chromoly is the best type of steel and triple-butted is the most advanced type of design, where it is thinner in the middle of the tubes where less weight is carried and thicker on the ends. Lugged means it’s the best looking where the tubes meet. External butting is another name for lugged. 3) Tange is Miyata’s patented tubing and one of the best brands of steel ever made. Columbus and Reynolds are more well-known and much costlier. Tange is the best buy per dollar for sure. And now to my specific model the Gran Sprint. Univega absolutely had some top of the line stuff because they were built by Miyata in the 80’s. Univega was more a group of salesmen then a bike company and they essentially sold Miyata’s with more Suntour components vs. the Shimano ones Miyata favored. Both components are solid and I’ve actually heard more preference for Suntour than Shimano until after the mid 80’s. The Gran Sprint is a mid-range road bike. It ranks solidly in the enthusiast, not professional, category which is essentially appropriate for everyone. This bike is not particularly light but it is bulletproof as shown by the Lifetime guarantee in the picture. For these reasons it is the ideal trainer. Tough, comfortable, fast, reliable and also not bad to look at. Isn’t it heavy? By current carbon standards it weighs more but it is useful weight which provides strength. Does that make it slow? Up mountains it takes a bit longer but it is by no means slow. Isn’t steel too flexible to be fast? You mean to provide the ideal balance of comfort and speed. If I can only outpace myself by 6 minutes up a 2,000 ft climb over the course of 45 minutes on a stiff aluminum bike that is 16 years newer and 7 lbs lighter I don’t think “flex” is slowing me down. I wouldn’t enter a race with this bike but I have held more than my own on upper level intermediate club rides with elite clubs. The difference between my 2002 Cannondale and my 1986 Univega was only noticeable on the steepest climbs. The Univega Gran Sprint is the perfect trainer. Meaning for the pure joy of riding, when you’re not trying to beat someone else, it is the perfect bike. An extremely comfortable , smooth, great handling, beautifully lugged road bike that is still racy enough to go on really fast club rides. All for about $150. One small-ish note: I did inherit Mavic wheels, STI Sora shifters and a Tiagra rear derailer, all from the late 90’s that probably help increase pace nicely.  These items probably increase the worth of my bike to $300-$400 range.

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Summit of Mt. Diablo

I’m proud to say I rode my Univega to the top of my local 3,842 foot mountain.  All 26.5 lbs, (fully loaded with water bottles and seat bag [not pictured])of beautiful classic 80′s lugged steel! It may have taken around 20 minutes more than my aliminum Cannondale, which weighs about 7 lbs less, but the ride down was well worth it. Like riding on a cloud!

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Test Ride: New stem angle and height 

 Here’s a pic of the new stem setting without shadows. (By popular demand 😂). Well, rivendell bikes know what’s up! Higher stem height shortened the reach and made it feel ideal. Getting the angle back to 90 degrees as opposed to 25 greatly decreased the twitchiness. My ride just keeps getting more stable yet today was also a thrill on the descent. I think I’m getting over “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.” Also of note was how much more stable it was when I was out of the saddle on climbs. The stem angle really helped even out front/rear weight distribution.  It also seemed to add increased shock absorption over bumps which was a nice surprise.

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Rockin the New Balance AND a Univega!Is it the 80’s again!? Only in my mind. Only in my mind.

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Long Shadows

I raised the stem and reduced the angle after reading about it at Rivbike.com. So much good info at that site for a beginner-intermediate mechanic tinkering around. The reach had felt a bit stretched out while riding on the hoods which is what led to me installing the adjustable stem and angling it up. This had allowed me to have a perfect feeling reach however it created a pretty twitchy ride at times. After reading Rivendell’s recommendations to raise the stem higher in order to be more comfortable, and reduce reach, I decided this would be a good way to reduce the angle of my stem as well and create more stability/less twitchiness. Still waiting to test it on a real ride but it felt good around the block.

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The Unofficial Univega Appreciation Thread

Just a quick shout-out to the thread that inspired this blog and increased my appreciation.  Lots of great Univegas on this thread.

http://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vintage/374185-unofficial-univega-appreciation-thread.html

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25mm tires

So my new (to me) tires ride incredibly smooth and grip incredibly well around corners. It really feels like riding on butter, minus the oily, greasiness in the nether regions…Yet, I will say this. On my 2,000+ foot descent (over the course of about 7 miles) of my local mountain it has also become slightly less exciting. I have to admit that while changing my tires I also sanded my 30 year old break pads with the fine side of a metal file (sandpaper should also work great) and now I suddenly have some actual stopping power. I realize now that I had been flying down the mountain on something akin to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. It was thrilling, maniacal and always right on the edge of control. Now I have stopping power, grip and smoothness. And while all of these are obviously great improvements I kind of miss that old death trap! Just as I was pondering how my ride has become slightly more…boring, a local ranger began frantically motioning for me to slow down as I rode past him. It was just the reminder I needed to realize “this is still a heck of a thrill and most people would be terrified of it.”

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Andrew, 11 AND 12. The fallacy here is the idea that a Univega could not also be your dream bike. What could possibly exclude a Miyata-built, triple-butted, full chromoly, Tange-tubed steel road bike from dreambike consideration?

Putting a digital dial caliper on your personal riding happiness (kind of a downer).

Approx. number of words and reading time: 890 / 4:25.

Qualifier: I understand that in the bigger picture there are more important things than riding a bike, and even mobiity. I am not saying (and don’t mean to suggest) that mobility-challenged people can’t easily live happy and satisfying lives; but this is specifically a bike-riding scale, with a couple of non-riding options thrown in to make those with mere chronic pain or illness see an even bigger picture.—G

You know how billionaires get bummed when they lose $5 million in the stock market? I guess they do. Pro athletes who make $15 million a year run out their contracts and get bummed because now they’re only the fifth-highest paid player on the team, so they try to negotiate a $10 million per year increase as “a matter of respect”—and then if they don’t get it, they’ll upend their families and move to the other coast or way up north or the deep south, screw the kids or the family’s wishes? I guess they do. Kanye West recently asked Mark Zuckerberg for $53 million, to aid his mission to beautify the world with his music and clothing line. Oh, all those people up there.

Sometime in the last two years I used the word “Hobo” in a post or on the site, something, and got scolded for it. The scolder went into the history and etymology of “hobo” and scholastically shamed me out of using one of my favorite all-time words. A financially super-strapped person, hobo or not, might be thrilled to find a dollar in a park or be rid of the toothache, or get new used shoes without holes and that fit.

This all relates to riding bikes and ability and pain. Moving along a made-up pity/happiness scale (worst to best) it goes something like this:

1. You’re alive and suffering intolerable pain with no way to communicate to those caring for you, so you can’t beg for death or drugs. Maybe even nobody is caring for you. Maybe nobody even knows. Or maybe no pain, but you’re paralyzed.

2.  Wheelchair-bound & bikeless. Tolerable pain, with medication.

3.  Crutches or a walker. No bike riding. The doctor says it’ll be this way for years and maybe forever, but you’re not in any pain.

4. Stroke victim, only one leg working. You could ride as a stoker on a tandem, but it’s not like riding your own bike, and it’s also not like you have tons of tandem-owning friends who want to ride with you all the time.

5.  Temporary injury that keeps you off the bike for weeks to months, but not permanently.

6.  Chronic injury that allows you to ride, but limits you to certain kinds of riding. Maybe no hills, maybe nothing adventurous…forever.

7. Temporary injury that limits your riding but doesn’t nix it entirely. There’s hope for better, again or for the first time.

 8. General unfitness that limits your riding, but no actual injury or pain. But you’re getting there.

 9. No fitness problems, but a lifestyle or location that curbs your riding and keeps you from the adventures you see others on the internet having seemingly all the time. You’re busy making deals and a living.

 10. Good health and fitness and location, but lousy weather and no riding community to ride with. All the riders in your area are weekend racers who see you as prey, even on club rides.

 11.  Good everything, but you can’t afford the bike you want. You’ve spiffed up your old, trusty Univega.

 12.  Good everything and you’ve got the bike of your dreams.

 13.  Good all, and with internet fame that comes with posting your adventures and writing about them in a way that unintentionally makes others jealous and wins you a good fan base.

 14. A major bike company pays you well and supplies all of your gear needs and you fly business class all over the world to ride your bike in great places, make great friendships that last a lifetime. You make enough money to set some aside for the future; not to mention a book deal that pays you an advance of $100,000. On your book tour, a team of experts creates a PowerPoint presentation for you that goes viral and doesn’t require any rehearsal or anxiety before every presentation. Your website becomes a money-machine, and you make enough to employ many friends who remain friends, and a dozen or more hard luck cases who become friends and turn their lives around in your not-too-small, not-too-big empire.

Everybody’s somewhere on this spectrum, right? My circle of friends includes people from 2 to 14. It doesn’t have to be indexed. It can be mostly 7 but some of 12, or something.

Poll: Figure out your number and send

Your name / your number

in the subject field. For instance:

CLEM SMITH / 9.

On August 8 I’ll tally them and post the average, the high, the low, maybe even the mean. OK? Tally ho!

Grant

OH, this isn’t worth a post all by itself, but here—from about a month ago:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/24/sports/cycling/power-meters-speak-truth-to-professional-cyclists-but-can-mislead.html?_r=0

I think it’s true, the line in there, the quote about how in a few years, when you buy a bike above “a certain level,” it will come with a power (wattage) meter.

The second-round of bicycles dealing with their inferiority complex by adopting motor technology has unofficially begun. Last time was in the early 1900s.

The big year was 1903: Harley-Davidson formed. First Model T. The Wright Bros. flight. Bikes seemed ancient.