Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - My Project/First SSFG

I bought an old Motobecane Super Mirage that im still not sure of the year yet. This is what it looked like a few days after having it.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b224/c_benzzz/IMAGE_050.jpg
This is it currently hanging to dry while i wait to get money to buy the rest of the parts i need to put it back together. Im gunna paint the fork a dark grey and cant decide if i want to paint between the lugs of the headtube grey too, paint the lugs grey, or just leave the whole frame green.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b224/c_benzzz/Picture295.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b224/c_benzzz/Picture296.jpg

I bought a used but pretty much new IRO wheelset with tires that im going to use. And for right now im going to just use the stock cranks and everything else. I plan to chop and flop the bars and install a bmx style brake lever for the front brake.

Im still alittle confused on the whole bottom bracket thing but im trying to figure it out. Should have it reassembled in a week or two so ill be sure to post up some pictures. Thanks for looking.

instead of painting the lugs and since you have to wait for parts to put it together do some pinstriping around the lugs

Grey pinstripe or i have this honey color that could look good too but that might be to many colors going on then. I dunno thats a good suggestion though

You just ruined it.

true.

did u mask off inside the BB and headset?

did u mask off inside the BB and headset?

It looks to me like there is paint inside the races, but it's hard to be sure. It looks to me like NOTHING was masked, however.

That poor headbadge...

You just ruined it.

Sadly, I have to agree.

All the races/threads are going to need to be stripped of paint.

Poor headbadge. It takes about 30 seconds to properly remove it before painting.

As for a rattlecan job, why not spend the extra $10 and get quality paint and put the effort into masking and prepping?

I didnt care about masking off the headbadge and i plan to clean up the bb and the what do you mean the race, isnt that on the fork?

i dont really see how its "ruined" for not masking off the bb barely any paint ended up in there anyway. As far as the headset cups being painted what does that matter its not like the paint is anywhere near thick enough to mess up the the alignment of the bearing or anything

yeah but once your put grease and rolling metal in it your paint is going to strip away and leave you needing to strip the paint from the headset cups and repack the bearing.

It's not totally ruined I would just make sure to get some stripper and start cleaning the inside of the BB shell and the facing around it. Take those headset cups out and strip them, clean and shine them.

You'll thank me in the long run.

It's a cool green. If it were me, I'd paint the fork white, and pinstripe the lugs yellow.

i planned to wire wheel the bottom bracket along with the insides of the headset cups to avoid the paint stripping off or messing up the threading of the bottom bracket cups. Ill take your advice and take out the cups i just dont want to mess them up seeing as how much french headsets and things are. Thanks for being a lot nicer then the rest of the people though.

I thought about using white lettering and putting motobecane back on the downtube but im not sure yet. A white fork would look nice but im not sure if it would end up being to bright then. The grey will dule it down alittle.

After looking at my bb cups i noticed that it says japan-is on them, does this mean that maybe possibly they arent french threaded?

Not sure.

If your fixed cup (drive side) loosens when you turn it clockwise, then it's french. Just repack the bearings really well. Clean the inside out, and take your time with it. BB spindles are a lot easier to find than a french threaded cartridge BB for a decent price. It looks like you have a square taper bb spindle in there already, just make sure it isn't bent or pitted, meassure it and find a crankset that will fit and you'd be good to go.

Don't use a wire wheel on the BB. Those things can thrash your threads if you aren't careful. Use some thinner and a rag. It takes more work, but this way you don't run the risk of thrashing the threads.

you should paint the lugs gold, that would be some dope ****

You can take a Dremel tool and clean the paint out of the headset races, leaving the outside green but the inside nice and fresh for the bearings. That paint will take weeks to fully harden; you may want to build a mini greenhouse to "bake" it outside.

I like the idea of yellow pinstripes but I'd paint the fork black.

If your bb is French, Velo-Orange.com has new Edco bottom bracket cartridges but the axle is 121mm.

After looking at my bb cups i noticed that it says japan-is on them, does this mean that maybe possibly they arent french threaded?

that frame should have english threadings. late 70's, 80's motobecanes used english threadings.

http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/columns/bobgarage/indexb.htm

this video might help, i think he is converting the same frame.

Thanks for being a lot nicer then[sic] the rest of the people though.

Oh, I'm sorry. I meant, "That rattle-can green looks so much better than the original 2 tone with gold piping, headtube badge, and half-chrome forks! You're a true craftsman."

Oh, I'm sorry. I meant, "That rattle-can green looks so much better than the original 2 tone with gold piping, headtube badge, and half-chrome forks! You're a true craftsman."

I was more refering to the fact that you were pretty much a long with everyone else saying im a complete idiot and i just ruined a perfectly fine road frame. In which was no where near the case since the only two "mistakes" that were made could be corrected in a matter of minutes with no harm to the frame at all. I might agree that the black red and gold color combo looked awesome and i would have kept it that was if paint wasnt chipping off and the frame wasnt rusting. Sorry i dont want actually ruin my frame by letting it rust just so i can have the original paint on it. And its only a bike im not going to spend 100+ dollars on a real paint job or powder coating or anything a long those lines. Its just going to get scratched and chip anyway so id rather be able to touch it up for 3 dollars then whatever the price it would be for the other paint.

that frame should have english threadings. late 70's, 80's motobecanes used english threadings.

http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/columns/bobgarage/indexb.htm

this video might help, i think he is converting the same frame.

Yea im pretty sure thats the same bike too, is that bike english threaded?

It's still rusting under the paint, unless you sanded the rust off.

I wire wheeled the whole bike down to the bare metal then sanded the bare metal with 220 grit. I prepped it right just bc i didnt mask off anything doesnt mean i was an idiot about prepping the metal.

keeping the cable guides eh?

OK. I'm finished abusing you. :D

sounds like you did a good prep job, just maybe you should've masked off those areas to save some time and effort later on. thats all

good luck on the build either way

Yea I decided to keep the cable guides just incase haha

The prep work is the worst part but I'd rather do it right than not and I know I know I didn't do it totAlly right bc I didn't mask that stuff off but it's all fixed now so it's good.

I got it put together this afternoon and its so fun to ride.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b224/c_benzzz/photo4.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b224/c_benzzz/photo2.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b224/c_benzzz/photo3.jpg

I have MKS GR-9's on order at the LBS along with some steel cages and straps. I still have to flop and chop the bars i just have to get a pipe cutter first. I plan to run brakes just have to get a set of long reach brakes and a new cable. I like it a lot.

That is a nice colour, and looks good.

It should be OK if it was prepped properly, should've just masked off the races and BB.

Hacksaw works for chopping and flopping btw, measure twice, cut once.

Everytime i cut bars with a hacksaw i end up cutting them at a slant so then the bar ends dont fit in right

If that is a TA crank, that dumb outer guard unscrews. And the frame I would say is anywhere from '76 to '80. I think the only reason anyone mentioned the cable guides, is because they tend to snag onto things that you wouldn't imagine until it happens... I think you did a passable job, though. I am just really anal about shaving things like cable guides, derailleur hangers, chain pegs and the like off before I paint. Is that rear axle straight? As for chopping the bars, like mentioned prior, measure twice, cut once. Use a bench vise as sort of a poor man's miter box. I've never had failures that way.

Just make sure you grease everything properly when you put it all together for good. It can be hard to resist the urge to throw it all together and have a look-see, and then get sidetracked and just forget to ever grease everything... You're on the right track hombre, keep us posted.

I made sure to greaE it good there was grease oozing from everything haha but I figured to much is better than not enough. I might file the brake guides off if I find the time I'm just so siked to ride it. The other guard doesn't come off it's actually the spider for thecrank unfortanetly. I plan to get new cranks soon so it's cool. Thanks for all the kind words I'll update this when I get new stuff and whatnot.

I have a few questions reguardling bottom brackets and such. I want to get new cranks and from reading all i can read im under the impression that if the stock cubs arent pitted and are in good shape i can get a new spindle thats the appropriate length for the new cranks. But ive read that old french cups arent as thick are the Japanese ones which causes problems. The cups i have now have japan stamped on them so im assuming that they are japanese cups with the thicker walls and not the old french with thin walls. Im also really not sure as to whether its french,swiss,or english threaded. The fixed cup spins counter clockwise and the adjustable spins clockwise. Which ive read means that its english. But the cups say 35x1P on them which means that its french according to sheldon browns website. If i were able to get my hands on a set of english cups or sealed bottom bracket can i try to screw them in to help me figure out what it is. I would take it the LBS but i went there to get a cog and the guy that sold it to me pretty much laughed in my face that i was converting an old ride bike instead of spending $$$$ on a new fixed gear bike. So i dont plan to go there anymore, not to mention the guy said he never knew motobecanes were french theaded.

I know this topic has been beat to death and everything but im really just trying to figure out if im understanding things correctly. Thanks for any help.

35mm x 1mm is definitely not English/ISO. So you're stuck with having to use those cups, it would seem. As I see it there are three options, one of which is likely out of the question (finding a new frame to convert, don't blame ya there) and the other two being, grind that crap off the current crank you have, or follow up with your pretty decent idea of swapping the spindle. In the case of the latter idea, be wary of JIS/ISO differences in the square taper to ensure a tight fit. I don't see why this would be a big hangup in any event - you could obviously just ride it as it is, too. Isn't it more fun to tinker, though? :thumb:

it's Much more fun tinkering with it haha. I'd leave it how it was if it didn't force me to run such a low gearing. 40x17 is pretty rough doing downhills. I could probably run 40x15 which would be better but I don't wanna buy a new cog since I just got this one. As far as ISO/JIS tape sugino falls under which one? And where online could I get spindles?

Getting the spindles is the hard part. That is more hunting through bike shop parts bins or finding complete old BBs on ebay for (hopefully) cheap and all that. Not really something anyone sells anymore, at least alone. Sugino would be JIS as far as I recall, most Japanese products are. Sheldon has a page about it, might contain info on how to measure or determine what you have. What about the bigger ring, a 50 or 52? You could always run a 20 in the back, I think Soma makes one. It would throw your chainline off a little though, you'd probably have to install a few spacers out back to compensate. You'd be at almost the same ratio... I run 48x16 since day one and that is much taller. It is pretty flat here in Wisconsin. This is why it is hard to tell if using old Frenchy bikes is going to work out in the conversion process... I have a couple '80 and earlier Motobecane bikes, but they're all ISO threaded, go figure.

You mentioned downhills... sadly, it is going to always be the case, make it easier to go up those hills, it is going to spin you going down, and vice versa. I do hope you are running a brake... There is nothing pu55y about not busting your head open and/or knocking out all your teeth. Are those Weinmann rims with formula 32 hole hubs? I notice the rear is flipflop. Have you thought about a freewheel for a singlespeed? As long as you stay within a couple teeth you don't need to add links to your chain and can flip between say, 19free/17fixed. You have to obviously pull it tight, but you have to do that anyway. Just a thought. Where are you exactly, let's gauge your hill factor son!

Its an IRO wheelset, im pretty sure they are Deep V's rims that are laced to IRO hubs. I would run a freewheel and a cog but honestly taking it off and flipping it and vice versa isnt really what i want to do. I just wanna get on and ride you know. I could run the bigger ring its a 52 but messing with the chainline and redishing and all that isnt really something i want to experiment with as of right now seeing as how im not exactly sure how to figure out the chainline or true/tension wheels. Im sure once i finally do get a new crank then ill have to mess with all that but im trying to avoid it for now. I dont mind having to struggle to get up hills its more of a pain imo spinning like crazy down a hill. I have a 42t chainring that im gunna try and put on there to bring the gear inches up alittle bit and see how that is. Im gunna get a brake as soon as i get money so around friday. I have one now but i cant figure out how to run it. Its a center pull brake. The old setup ran through the metal piece the front reflector was attached to and i cant figure out away to get around it.

I live in North Eastern PA in a valley. I cant really get out of my city without going up a hill and same with getting back in so its something im accepting haha. My legs are pretty strong ive riding bikes for the majority of my life so my legs are in good enough shape to handle some hard pedaling up a hill or two.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b224/c_benzzz/Picture296.jpg


This makes me sad. If you don't want the headbadge, take it off and fill the holes. Otherwise, take it off before you paint. Run a drill through the rivets and it will come off. Not hard.

But don't paint over it.