1984 Specialized Expedition

[dawall]

I am thinking about upgrading the drive train and wheel set on this bike. It looks like I will have to to cold set the rear stays to 135mm spacing to get  a current cassette hub on it. I am abit uncomfortable about doing this myself and the bike shop I spoke with did not give me great confidence in them either. Looking for opinons pos. or neg. on this. ....From what I have researched so far it looks like phil wood hubs are the only choice if I want to stay with the stock 126mm and a freewheel.

Another question, anyone have any thoughts on the lifespan for rims, spokes, derailers, chains, sealed bearings etc. etc. I currently have ~12-15000 touring miles on the bike. The front wheel rim has a fair bit of wear on it and for some reason the front hub,  (a Specialized cartridge bearing hub) had a metal fatigue failure the other day while it was simply hanging in the garage, four spokes just let go and distorted the wheel untill I released all the tension in the spokes. Thus the desire to rebuild as needed.

Any parts recomendations?

BTW, this is a extremely capable long distance Loaded touring bike.

Dan W.

[tsteven4]

Nice bike.  I rode a 1984 specialized expedition for many miles, and I still take it out for the occasional retro ride.  But the parts issue eventually motivated me to buy another bicycle for touring.  By the way, the list price in 1984 was $699.  The only problem I had was that the bosses in the forks for mounting a blackburn low rider front rack were in the wrong place!  Specialized eventually came up with some brackets so I could mount the rack.

For advice on cold setting see http://www.sheldonbrown.com/frame-spacing.html.  My preference would be to find a local frame builder to do the work as opposed to a bike shop.  They are used to setting the spacing and alignment.

You might want to consider using a road hub with 130mm spacing and a mountain cogset.
See http://www.sheldonbrown.com/k7.html

With a new cogset I would certainly recommend a new chain.  You may also need some new chainrings, perhaps just the smallest.  Scary story about the front wheel.  You have to wonder about the back wheel after that!

[DaveB]

There is no need to go to 135 mm spacing to use a MTB cassette as they will fit on all 130 mm freehubs too.  Most 126 mm frames will  accept a 130 mm hub with only a modest struggle so cold setting is a convenience, not a necessity.

For a new front wheel, buy a complete one.  These days, a complete wheel will cost less than a new rim, spokes and assembly labor for reusing your current hub.

Parts longevity is highly variable depending on rider weight, strength and riding conditions. 

Upgrading the wheels and drivetrain on your bike could be more costly than a complete new bike so be careful you don't go past the economic "tipping point" if you rehabilitate your current Specialized.   

[tsteven4]

Dan,

I thought of one more thing you should watch out for on your bike.  I had a sudden and total failure of the front brake cable stop on my 84 specialized expedition while descending the Cime de la Bonette.  The cable stop consisted of two parts.  The first is a bracket that is clamped under the headset nut.  It has a hole at the other end slightly larger than the diameter of the brake cable housing.  The second part was a small round piece that the brake cable ran through.  It was seated in the small hole of the first part and prevented (for a number of years) the cable housing from going through the hole.  On this descent the small round part disintegrated causing a total failure of the front brake.  There was no indication this small part was about to fail.  I would recommend replacing the cable stop immediately if you still have the original.

[dawall]

Thanks for the replies!

The expeditions 2nd major overhaul in 24 years has presented me with a lot of options. I have not done any (500 mi.+)long distance loaded touring in 15 yrs. but did use it fairly regularly for long day rides and weekend camping trips until it stated to show its age again, then we bought MTB's. The expedition has sentimental value to me and deserves another rebirth.

After a few false starts at other bike shops I ended up at Rivendell bikes in Walnut Creek, CA. I popped in with my frame in hand and spoke with Grant...very helpful and friendly advice. The bottom line is he simply wrote up a quote for a componet pkg. for one of their bikes. They stocked most of it except the wheel set, Rich built a set of velocity rims (twin hollow) with 105 hubs. I took the frame to a local bike frame builders mechanic who reset it to 130mm and checked alignment. So parts the parts being replaced: new BB,stem, handelbars,chain,crank,cables,chainrings,new cassette hub,tires,tubes, headset repack and total clean up etc. etc. I'm still assembling the bike, hopefully I'll have time to finish it this weekend. The total cost is more than I thought it would be ...of course... and I still have not added all of the costs up, maybe $800 including some tools I needed.

When I think back on the adventures I had with this bike, the $800 would not buy me any comparable new touring bike today. BTW I bought the bike in April of 85'

Dan