Hi Jim,

My winter project this year has been to build up a road bike with a Premium 8-speed Shimano Nexus hub. Having discovered a 1988ish Norco Monterey which features a nice cromoly, double butted Tange frame, I ordered a new Nexus premium 8-speed hub. Whilst awaiting its arrival, I stripped the Norco down, overhauled the b/b and headset and then rebuilt it up replacing the Òheavy metalÓ components with some light weight stuff I had lying around, weighing the difference between the original and replacement.

The replacement 1980 Campy Record brakes and crank, aluminum bars and seat post for steel, a single-speed rear wheel with CXP21 rims for the original 6-speed and a matching CXP21 front wheel gave total savings of no less than 4lb! With the quoted weight of the 8 speed Nexus unit being about 3 pounds, the final configuration is 2lb lighter than the original Monterey.

Finally, as per Grant Peterson, I fitted Nitto Moustache bars to improve the braking effectiveness of the old Campy sidepulls. Butchering an old T/T Profile bar I made up a bar-end attachment to make the road bars compatible with the 7/8ÕÕ Revoshifter. The 3/4Ó silver inner portion is secured to the inside of the moustache bar by the taper nut and the black outer section screwed to it by two self-tappers. It works perfectly and was so simple to make that -as shown in the picture, I made up a second unit! The most time consuming part of the conversion was the setting up of the bar/brake-lever relationship.

I may get a matching Mavic Open Sport front wheel to match the rear but am too busy riding at the moment! IÕm amazed at how well it has turned out and can understand the much-lamented Sheldon BrownÕs enthusiasm for the hub. The 42/19 sprockets give 8 reasonably spaced ratios between 30 and 100 gear inches, the shifting is excellent and certainly at speeds less than 30kph, there is no noticeable loss in transmission efficiency.

Regards,

Roy

araby@rogers.com