If not for bad luck… losing my head”set”
Building a vintage bike from the ground up takes some time and money. Hunting on eBay only to get sniped at the buzzer is common. I was therefore quite pleased when I received a Dura Ace HP-7410 headset for my PR-6000 as a Christmas gift from my parents. I’ll admit I had shot them the link to the eBay auction back in November of ’09 but it was just one of those suggestions that I had forgotten about.
Lucky me, I got it for a Christmas gift. It was supposedly NOS (new old stock) and came in the Shimano box taped shut with the Shimano tape. Can you guess where I’m going with this one? 
Since I wasn’t ready to actually build the bike I set the box with my other parts… that was until a few days ago when I opened it up to discover the following…
Yes, that was literally all that was in the box. It was definitely bring your alcohol to work day in Japan on the day the Shimano crew boxed this headset! I wound up with two upper races, no lower race, no lock nut or washer etc. To add salt on the wound, this was $96 worth of parts I couldn’t even use. I discovered that the headset came from a retailer just up the road in Minnesota called Crosslake Sales. At the time of writing this, I’ve sent them an e-mail explaining my saga but since it took so long to discover I don’t really have a leg to stand on unless they have customer service above and beyond anything I’ve seen before. Fingers crossed?
Stay tuned… to be continued?
*** UPDATE: Feb. 10th, 2010 ***
I think I just found an eBay seller with “ROCK STAR” customer service! Not only did I get a response from them in the evening (after biz hours) but they have offered to give me a refund if I return the headset. Keep in mind, I received this as a gift on Dec. 25th but it was purchased on eBay back on Nov. 21st of 2009. The problem wasn’t discovered until early Feb. 2010. The fact that Crosslake Sales is willing to work with me on this one is nothing short of amazing to me. Two big thumbs up to them!
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Project 1983 AR-6000
One of the Panasonics I always liked were the old AR-6000 Aero models. They came about at a time when Aero was a bit of a craze in the cycling world and were fitted with the unique Dura Ace AX part group.
This particular bike was brought to my attention by the mechanic at my old Panasonic dealership in Clear Lake, Iowa. The previous owner (Ryan) really loved the time he spent with the bike although an upcoming move to Florida prompted him to sell it. It has had at least two or three owners prior to it coming into my hands and it will need a little work to be brought back to prime condition.
It has most certainly seen better days but have no doubt it can be saved. I have been wasting no time hunting down a few of the missing parts I need for it as well. I have a NOS drive side crank to replace the scratched original piece, some replacement brake hoods, Panaracer gum wall tires, and a Dura Ace AX rear derailleur.
I also just managed to get a pair of NOS original aero water bottles on ebay. Oddly enough, I had been bidding on another one there that wound up selling for $143.50 plus $9.95 shipping! Unbelievable! Much to my amazement, I just happened to stumble across another pair of NOS bottles just like it with a buy it now price of $25 each. I bought them and then noticed two more with the same buy it now from the same seller so I snapped them up as well. I wanted two for myself and planned on offering the other one to another local AR-6000 owner. The last one would be offered up to someone on bicyclingforums.net in the even someone was in need of that specific bottle for a restoration. Well, as it turns out, the seller (Chris of Alpha Bicycles in Vista, CA) called to inform me he had mistakenly listed four instead of just two. He was apologetic and offered a refund or asked if there was anything else I was in need of. As it turned out, I needed a Dura Ace AX rear derailleur and he just happened to have one which he offered to me in place of the other pair of water bottles. I love it when things work out like that! I’m looking forward to stripping the bike down and getting it ready for paint in the upcoming months.
Project PR-6000
Living here in the U.S. I always wished Panasonic would have continued to be sold here after the 1989 model year. The primary desire for this was that I had become aware of the Panasonic PR-6000 model in the beautiful Team Colors and really wished I could buy one here. With Panasonic out of the picture for me in terms of buying options I moved on to another “P” bike… a Pinarello Paris with Campagnolo Record Carbon.
Now, just because my modern day wheels happen to be Italian doesn’t mean I stopped wanting that PR-6000 or something like it. Luckily for me, the creation of this web site led to some international friendships. One such friend is Melvin from the Netherlands.
While checking my email one afternoon I saw a message from Melvin. To my surprise he had sent me a link to what looked to be a nearly new-old-stock PR-6000 frame and fork being offered on a Dutch classified site. I did the math and found the asking price to be surprisingly affordable. I wanted it.
I wouldn’t have this frame and fork today if not for Melvin’s assistance. He not only helped me out with language translation, but he even contacted the seller on my behalf. The seller didn’t want to mess with shipping to America so Melvin went above and beyond… he purchased the frame and had it shipped to his home then performed an incredible packing job before sending it to me. He didn’t even ask for payment from me until the frame was ready to ship. Yes, there truly are some great people left in this world. Thank you Melvin!
So I now own a frame I have wanted for many years thanks to a little help from the Panasonic enthusiast community. The odd thing about my particular frame is that it appears to be made from Tange 1 tubing rather than the Tange Prestige tubing usually found on PR-6000 models. This is in fact the first time I have seen one without Prestige tubing. Very peculiar but I still love it.
I intend to build it up as close to factory original as possible so it will likely be a long term build as I hunt around the internet for the proper components. I’ll post progress updates here on the site from time to time.
Finally, I know you’d all rather see pictures than read my babble… so here they are!
Project: 1986 Team America… The Missing Link
OK, so this isn’t really a project but it was a bit of a missing link. The Team America was in need of a proper NOS Dura Ace chain and thanks to the wonders of ebay, the missing link has been found. Yeah, I apologize for the horrible puns there!
Here it is in its shiny Boron plated glory…
1986 Team America Brakes
When the Team America first arrived it was apparent that it had been well cared for by the previous (original) owner. I spent some time cleaning, but for the most part everything about the bike was very nice. Naturally, there were a couple small exceptions.
1. The brake hoods. The brake hoods that came on the bike were old and crusty. They had seen better times and it was clear that they would need to be replaced.
A friendly BikeForums.net user offered to send me a pair of NOS hoods at no charge and I was thinking my problems were solved. Unfortunately, the replacement hoods arrived and turned out to be for a later model Dura Ace brake lever. (see below)
The hunt was on for the correct hoods. After some hunting online, I was somewhat horrified to learn that the brake hoods I needed were none other than the old Dura Ace AX brake hoods. Finding a pair of them in good condition is likely harder than finding Paris Hilton within 10 miles of a church on a Sunday morning. If you are lucky enough to find them, you have a decision to make… Do I buy these NOS Dura Ace AX brake hoods, or do I go ahead and overthrow that small island nation that I’ve had my eye on? Decisions, decisions.
The brake hoods have arrived and I’m somewhat ashamed to admit that the price tag on these is indeed very real. They are still a bit crusty and will require some careful reconditioning before I install them.
Speaking of brakes, another small project involved swapping out the later model Dura Ace brake shoes that came on the bike with the older “period correct” brake shoes..
Out with the new(er)…
And in with the old(er)…
That’s it for now, I am sure there will be more to come…
Selle Italia Super Turbo saddle refurb
My Team America has a Selle Italia Super Turbo saddle. I found it a bit odd that the saddle was devoid of the usual turbo graphics found on the Super Turbo saddle on my DX-5000.
What to do? Well, I had an original to work from so I took it apart and removed the rear logo graphic. The graphic was scanned into my computer and I went to work using some basic photo editing software. Once I was reasonably satisfied I did a test page print. Cut it out, insert it into the saddle missing the logo, step back and look. So far so good!
I’m now turning my attention to the nose portion of the saddle. Once I am satisfied with both pieces, I will post a JPG file here for anyone else looking to fix this part of their saddle.