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08-16-05, 07:48 AM
Look! It's my first post! Yay.
I'm just getting back into bicycling, and I figured instead of going out and spending $500 on a mediocre mountain bike, I would find someone's old trash and restore it. I'm just that kind of a guy; I restore old cars and phones, too.
So I bought a pair of somewhat neglected Ross mountain bikes for $40 off a dude at work. One is a 21" Mt. Hood, the other a 17" with no model labels. I'll be consolidating the parts into one good bike, using the Mt. Hood frame and fork, since I'm a big dude. Almost everything on the Mt. Hood is in good shape except the rear derailleur (will swap from the other) and the bottom bracket (badly worn bearings).
It should be pretty straightforward stuff, but I face a few challenges. For one, the Mt. Hood is currently set up with all Suntour stuff, down to the freewheel, while the other is all Shimano Deore stuff (you know, the kind with just the deer head label). Obviously, I'm going to move all the Deore stuff to the Mt. Hood. Oh, except I'm going to keep those wicked Suntour XC rolling cam brakes.
So one challenge is this: all of the specialty tools I need are specific to one brand or the other; that means I'll need to buy two each of the freewheel extractor and BB locknut tool. Being a cheapskate, that galls me a little.
Here's my checklist of things to do, front to back. Let me know if you think I'm missing anything.
Non-drivetrain:
* Open up the head tube and repack steering bearings. While this is open, give a fresh coat of paint to the reflector holder and replace reflector.
* Repack front wheel bearings.
* True front wheel. New tube and tire.
* Clean, lubricate and repair front brake. (It's missing one of the curved washers that holds the brake pad in; I'll probably just use something from the hardware store.)
* Replace brake pads.
* Lube seat QR mechanism.
* Clean and lubricate rear brake.
* Repack rear wheel bearings.
* True rear wheel. New tube and tire.
Drivetrain:
* Swap shifters. Clean and lubricate.
* Replace all cables and housings (shift and brake)
* Swap bottom bracket. Replace if absolutely necessary. Grease up. May swap cranks too.
* Swap chainrings. Clean.
* Swap front derailleur. Clean and lubricate.
* Replace pedal reflectors.
* Replace chain.
* Swap cogs. Clean and lubricate.
* Swap rear derailleur. Clean and lubricate.
Whew, that sounds like a lot more work than I initially thought! Well, it'll be worth it; even if I don't like this bike, I'll at least have had a nice refresher course in bike repair!
Hal
I'm just getting back into bicycling, and I figured instead of going out and spending $500 on a mediocre mountain bike, I would find someone's old trash and restore it. I'm just that kind of a guy; I restore old cars and phones, too.
So I bought a pair of somewhat neglected Ross mountain bikes for $40 off a dude at work. One is a 21" Mt. Hood, the other a 17" with no model labels. I'll be consolidating the parts into one good bike, using the Mt. Hood frame and fork, since I'm a big dude. Almost everything on the Mt. Hood is in good shape except the rear derailleur (will swap from the other) and the bottom bracket (badly worn bearings).
It should be pretty straightforward stuff, but I face a few challenges. For one, the Mt. Hood is currently set up with all Suntour stuff, down to the freewheel, while the other is all Shimano Deore stuff (you know, the kind with just the deer head label). Obviously, I'm going to move all the Deore stuff to the Mt. Hood. Oh, except I'm going to keep those wicked Suntour XC rolling cam brakes.
So one challenge is this: all of the specialty tools I need are specific to one brand or the other; that means I'll need to buy two each of the freewheel extractor and BB locknut tool. Being a cheapskate, that galls me a little.
Here's my checklist of things to do, front to back. Let me know if you think I'm missing anything.
Non-drivetrain:
* Open up the head tube and repack steering bearings. While this is open, give a fresh coat of paint to the reflector holder and replace reflector.
* Repack front wheel bearings.
* True front wheel. New tube and tire.
* Clean, lubricate and repair front brake. (It's missing one of the curved washers that holds the brake pad in; I'll probably just use something from the hardware store.)
* Replace brake pads.
* Lube seat QR mechanism.
* Clean and lubricate rear brake.
* Repack rear wheel bearings.
* True rear wheel. New tube and tire.
Drivetrain:
* Swap shifters. Clean and lubricate.
* Replace all cables and housings (shift and brake)
* Swap bottom bracket. Replace if absolutely necessary. Grease up. May swap cranks too.
* Swap chainrings. Clean.
* Swap front derailleur. Clean and lubricate.
* Replace pedal reflectors.
* Replace chain.
* Swap cogs. Clean and lubricate.
* Swap rear derailleur. Clean and lubricate.
Whew, that sounds like a lot more work than I initially thought! Well, it'll be worth it; even if I don't like this bike, I'll at least have had a nice refresher course in bike repair!
Hal