Friday, April 18, 2008

1970?-something Ross Eurosport.

Update: To help save you some time, before you read this post go read this one.

And this is the Ross I picked up with the rest.

Despite it's having a nicely lugged frame I think I'm just going to part this one out since it has full Shimano kit from the brakes to the dérailleurs and use it on my primary beater bike that I refuse to ever part with.



Though you can't see it here, there's both an inner and outer pieplate on the front chainwheels.

I do like that bashguard on the rear dérailleur, that's part of why I want to put it on the beater.

Update - 4/22/08: I discovered today that this bike has what Shimano called their "Front Freewheel" system, where the rear gearing was fixed to the wheel and the freewheel was part of the bottom bracket.

The freewheel was built into the bottom bracket so that the chain would turn even when the rider was coasting. This was to allow shifting while coasting.

I'm hoping this will fit my old Huffy beater, mainly because it's weird.

3 comments:

  1. Yup, I had one years ago until it got stolen. I loved the free wheel shifting. No pedaling to shift was unique and cool back in the day.

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  2. These are kick-ass bikes! I am tired of people complaining that these Ross bikes, just becuse they aren't the "best" quality out there, are worthless. Not true. The fact is, when the following is considered, it's a great bike.

    1. It's a 25+ year old bike.
    2. The frame is lugged steel, so it is heavy, but it's also the strongest and most durable frame I have ever seen on a bike.
    3. The front freewheel system is better than the conventional rear freewheel (as long as you aren't wearing jeans).

    So, my final verdict is that for a mid-range bicycle built over 20 years ago, these bikes are actually pretty nice. What people need to understand is that it isn't fair to comparethis bike with a new $1500 road bike-it's biased and does not do the bicycle justice.

    Long live Ross bicycles!

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  3. Waaah. Another one who had her Ross Eurosport stolen back in the day. When I spent ALL my 13th birthday money on it, my parents said I'd have it through adulthood. Well, it lasted 'til grad school, and here I am at 40, looking for another one.

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