1995 Dyna-Tech 755 Ti — Almost Immaculate!

[WandsworthRouleur]

At nearly 80 and with a heart condition, my father has finally reconciled himself with the fact he’s not going to get on his Dyna-Tech 755 Ti racing bike anymore (he still uses his steel Thorn tourer), so hooked it out of the garage for me to add to my retro MTBs.

it‘s a little tired, covered in dust, mouldy bar tape and all the grease has solidified. Apart from that, it’s nearly immaculate. No paintwork damage, barely a scratch to the Ultegra 600 Tricolour group set, and mostly original. One of the resin stickers is missing (I’ve sourced some apparently NOS ones from Italy) and the tyres are fairly new Vittoria Rubino (in 25c — originally came with hard as steel 20c Michelin Hi-Lite Comps).

Here are some photos of it ‘as arrived’:



Original ITM quill stem and skinny bars:



Rear mech. Pretty sure that’s just dirt:


Front shifter minus the badge. Just needs a service and polish (all the internal grease has solidified):

Decals (above the lacquer) still in great condition:




Original Mavic Open 4CD rims showing barely any wear to the (ceramic?) coating:


According to the frame sticker, this was bought from Williams Cycles in Cheltenham, who seem to be still there, and still at the same address.

The original sofa-like Rolls saddle has been replaced by a Flite Titanium (good!), and the pedals are Ti spindle OnZa HOs. Not a typical choice for a road bike, but better for walking to the country pub bar and back! Apart from that, I could do with replacing the no brand crappy nylon bidon cage (Elite Ciussos have arrived), sorting out the bar tape, and finding some suitable tyres.

First step though… a proper clean.

 

[WandsworthRouleur]

Been pretty busy with work, ferrying children around, various events and, well, just riding my bikes. However, I’ve been making progress...

Stripped everything down and gave it a thorough degrease and clean. Really everything was in great condition underneath it all. Pretty much all the grease had solidified into brownish lumps, so all that’s been cleaned out and replaced (incidentally, the front hub was missing a couple of ball bearings, so that has been sorted too).

Both sets of STI levers were essentially non-functioning. From memory, all the internals were cast or machined metal, so I figured nothing was likely to be broken. More a case of the brown goo. Opening them up (not the easiest thing — felt like a watchmaker!) showed this to be true.



And this was after I’d wiped off some of the grease (sorry, kept forgetting to take photos).

Here‘s a photo of the LH shifter partially disassembled. I forgot to take any more photos, including of the slightly more complex RH (rear) shifter. These old STIs are so solidly built compared to the modern stuff. All cast/forged or machined metal. Not a hint of plastic in there. Patience and regular tools are all you need. Well, except for a bolt on the backside of the shifters that holds a smaller bolt inside it. I managed to unscrew it by modifying a chainring driver — basically I ground down the centre ‘pin’ of the tool, leaving the two outer elements to mesh with the bolt. Mine looked something like this.

Anyway, a partially disassembled LH STI shifter looks like this:



I gave everything (on both shifters) a thorough clean and degrease. A few dabs of light grease (I used Pace RC-7 suspension fork grease — time will tell how long it works). Everything clicks nicely now.

So, the next step, once I’ve got some spare time, is to start putting things together. I’ve some new grey Jagwire cables and outers, so I’ll hopefully get the drivetrain up and running this weekend.

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

That is a survivor, nice of your Dad to give it to you

 

[bagpuss]

Braver chap than me taking an sti apart .Once stripped down an old Bayliss Wiley rear hub [which was years ahead of its competitors).took pictures as I did it ,balls everywhere.

 

[WandsworthRouleur]

Yeah, the RH shifter is even more complex This one took a bit more disassembly to get all the solid brown grease out. Careful laying out of the parts is key to being able to put it all back together again in the right order No parts left over!

 

[Gtpulse]

That’s more than my sausage fingered hands would be able to cope with! I’ve had a couple of sets of 600 stis that were sticky, nothing a couple of cans of Wd-40 couldn’t sort.

 

[WandsworthRouleur]

Fingers were okay, it’s more my eyesight these days. Think I’m going to need one of those big light/magnifying glass combo things you see old people use!

I did consider the WD40 route, but figured Shimano used a light grease on the internals for a reason. Not that they’re going to get too much use, but I don’t want to wear down the ratchets to the point where shifting is a little vague. Disassembly and reassembly only took a couple of hours. Probably spent the most time grinding down the chainring bolt tool!

 

[WandsworthRouleur]

Bars now wrapped and NOS STI stickers attached. Bit of fettling to the headset and front hub and the bike is ready to ride. Just a shame is tipping it down outside right now!

i‘ve used Cinelli black & white camo cork tape. It’s as close as I could get to the original black, white and grey cami tape (also Cinelli, I think). Looks pretty good and keeps it looking retro. I’ll get a full photo once it’s stopped raining. Whenever that is

 

[manchesthair]

That looks like it will come up lovely!! Is it a Ti main tube bonded into steel tube type frame?

 

[WandsworthRouleur]

It has. I might even get out on it this weekend. Yes, it’s Ti main tubes bonded into lugs — pretty sure they’re aluminium though (thick walls anyway). The rear triangle is steel, FWIW. Hoping the noodly Ti tubes and steel rear offsets the bone shaking ride from 100psi 23c tyres!