etsmc

well first off i have to say great forum, love the bikes on here and seems like a nice bunch of people waiting to help.

My goal is to build a bike for road/commuting from parts i have acquired. now there not the best but we all have to start somewhere right.

I have picked up a nice light aluminum hard tail frame as the base and then build up from there.
this is where i need the opinions and help from you people.
i have the choice of 3 rear cassettes i think you call them 2 with 6 gears on and 1 with 5 gears.
i have a choice of 4 rear derailleur's 3 shimano RD-TY16, RD-TY15 and an RD-TZ30 and 1 falcon 3JO, now i am guessing they all suite different gears and all cheaper end of the market but which would be best.

i have the shifters for 3 of them but would prefer to use a set of sram shifters i have which are indexed for 3 on the from 6 on the back.

i have front forks which are just basic spring shocks which will do for now.

any help or advice would be much appreciated and i think i have come to the right place for it..

oh and whats the best way to get the stickers off the frame??

Steev

If you want to use the SRAM 6 speed shifter, use a 6 speed rear cluster. By the way, they are probably freewheels if they are 5 or 6 speed.
I'm unfamiliar with the particular derailleurs you listed, but I would probably choose one of the Shimanos if you want indexed shifting. One point to note is that an aluminum hard tail might well have an integrated derailleur hanger and if that's the case you want to choose a derailleur designed for that.
For the purposes of road/commuting you may want to consider dumping the fork for a rigid one, but that will come with some cost.
The best advise I can give you with building up a bike from old parts is to service all the bearings, hubs, bottom bracket and headset and check your wheels for good spoke tension and being reasonably true, replace all the cables and housing and brake pads.
I peeled all the stickers of an old frame I picked up, not too difficult, but I still haven't got all the residual adhesive off. So far I've only tried isopropyl alcohol as that's all I had around.

jgedwa

First of all, let me say that I applaud your spirit in cobbling together a functional bike. Its lots of fun, and with some luck and smarts, can be cheap. And you might end up with exactly what you want.

Having said that, mixing and matching cassettes (or maybe freewheels, judging from the number of rear gears you mention) and derailleurs and indexed shifters is an advanced art. In addition to issues of spacing on the rear dropouts, you are likely to end up with the indexed shifters placing the derailleur at places that do not line up with the gears of the cassette.

I can't help you with information about the particular parts you mentioned, but here is some general advice:

-If you have a combination of drivetrain parts that came together on one bike (or was intended to work together), then go with that if it all works.

-If you are willing and able to run the bike with friction shifters as opposed to index shifters then there is a far greater chance of getting parts to play well together.

-If you have time to burn, there is no reason why you can't throw things together and see if they work well enough for you. The bike gods are sometimes generous to tinkerers.

-What do you have back there: cassettes or freewheels? Freewheels thread on as a complete unit. Cassettes slide onto splines. Wheel hubs are made to fit one and not the other. Freewheels are an older technology. 6 speeds and below is likely to be a freewheel. 7 and up is likely to be a cassette. You do not mention your wheels, but unless you are willing to replace them, they will dictate which way you go.

-The bike gods do not appreciate our presumption when we skip ahead to cosmetic issues (removing stickers, for example), so leave that to the end. Consider their ugliness to be a ritualistic sacrifice to curry love from them. In other words, worry about that stuff when you have a machine that can be used to move you around.

Good luck. Its fun stuff. And none of it so complicated that a person can't think it through once you get your hands in there.

jim

HillRider

Kerosene or WD-40 (basically Kerosene) should remove the adhesive without damaging the paint.

To the OP: Lose the Falcon rear derailleur. Use any of the Shimano's that will bolt to the frame.

etsmc

well thanks for all the information guys. time is aplenty as i can pull things apart and put them together and try things out.. found some info on the rd-tz30 in another forum "The TZ-30 is Shimanos lowest end rear derailleur with the exception of the TZ-15. It is part of the Tourney gruppo." and also this so looks like it is the better of the 4 rear derailleurs i have and will work with the sram 6 peed shifters i hope.
i have a wheels for each of the cassettes or freewheels i have so that not an issue at the moment but think i will stick with the 6 speed.

i have just put the front forks back together after a clean up and re lube the tubes i will keep my eye out for some rigid forks but both spares i have a spring shocks.

if using the shimano RD-TZ30 should i be using the front derailleur from the same bike?? the reason i as is the crank from the bike with the RD-TZ30 is a single piece where as the crank from the other bike is 3 piece.

i am having a heap of fun with this its the first bike put together from parts but i have rebuild another before and i am learning so much each time.

Steev

So you've collected a bunch of old MTB's and are cherry picking the parts to dress up this Al. hardtail frame. Nice to have the background info laid out.
For the FD, pick the one that best suits the geometry of the frame. Look at the direction the cable will pull from (under the BB or down the seat tube), the diameter of the clamp must be the same as the seat tube (or larger with a shim) and whether the clamp will fit on the downtube when the cage is over the chain rings.
There is another consideration for these rear wheels that Jgedwa mentioned. Have you measured the rear drop-out spacing and compared it to the rear wheels you have. I suspect the old 5 and 6 speed wheels you have will have an over-lock-nut dimension of 120mm or 126mm while your frame will have a 135mm drop-out spacing.
Do you plan to re-use one of the donor bikes chains? You might want to check the elongation. This can be a bit of a minefield if the donor freewheel and chain rings have been used with a worn chain they will have skipping problems with a new chain.
If you're using this bike strictly for road/smooth trail use can I suggest you invest in some smooth tires? This is a very well worthwhile and cost effective upgrade over knobbies.

jgedwa

I will return to civility in a moment, but for now I am trying really, really hard to not say something about the conjunction of these two words together.

Okay, I feel better now, on to business:

"if using the shimano RD-TZ30 should i be using the front [COLOR=Red][COLOR=Black]derailleur from the same bike?? the reason i as is the crank from the bike with the RD-TZ30 is a single piece where as the crank from the other bike is 3 piece"

-Until one gets to super-narrow chains, the crank/chainrings you use up front have no bearing on what you do with the rear.

-Do you really mean a one piece (made of steel, same as found on a child's bike, or an old Varsity, or many BMX) crank? If so, then it takes a different BB housing on the bike to fit this. The bearings are much larger in diameter. Or do you mean "one piece" in the sense that the rings are riveted to the crank? If so, then there should be compatability problems. Cranks with removeable rings are usually higher quality, so I would rather use them though.

Maybe I didn't read the OP closely enough, but what the reason for wanting to re-do the drivetrain on the bike? Is it not complete now? Worn out? Want a different gearing set-up? I guess what I am wondering is why you are facing these kinds of questions. If the state of the bike forces you to re-think the drivetrain, then so be it, it has to be figured out. If the original components are present, then they would probably be just fine for use within any normal range of use.

Kimmo

What Jim said first.

Also, Steev is onto something - your frame is almost certainly 135mm between the dropouts, and won't take kindly to being squeezed down onto a 5 or 6spd wheel.

You'll prolly need to get a half-decent rear wheel happening to fit that frame, ie something with at least a 7spd cassette hub. Which means friction shifting or new shifters... and BTW, I'd be surprised if any of those cheap derailleurs were meant for a decent frame with an integrated hanger.

Bare minimum you'll prolly need a nicer rear derailleur to start with, just so you can fit it, and you could put a wider spindle in your crappy old wheel, but it's hardly worth the trouble... I'd only do it if I was so broke I had no choice.

etsmc

Thanks for the replies guys..
Certainly is 135mm between the rear dropouts after a quick measure. one of the wheels with the 6 speed on fits just right and the mounts for the rear derailleur are the same for all the shimano rear derailleur�s.
yeah peddles and crank shaft are one bit and yeah the bottom bracket (is that the bit the crank goes in) is larger on the single so won�t be using that.

Just finished putting the forks back in to the frame, cleaned all the bearings and regreased before reassembling. Turning quite smooth but if I spin it round it only goes round once before stopping is ok??

This is the main reason for picking the best of what i have and build a sort of reliable bike till i can afford better gear.
The complete bike was a steel frame and the spares I had were from other bike and the aluminium frame so I want to just build something light.

will get some pics up soon and find some of my other bike.
also anyone got a link to a good guide on truing (SP??) a rim?? one of the rims as a slight kink in it not much but about 1" of the rim rubs on one of the brake pads.

Steev

Here's one.
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/tooltips/truing.html

etsmc

great site loads of good stuff on there will have a go tomorrow night if i get the drivetrain on and setup

etsmc

well quick update got the crank and that pulled out last night and tonight cleaned it all up and re greased it all. peddles now spin around freely with no grinding sound.
went to put the rear derailleur on but the hole through it where it mounts to the bike is about 1mm to small so will get the drill on that but it looks as though it will move through all the gears and lines up nice.
got a couple of cheap MTB tires to go on it at the moment till i can get some road tires.

just weighed it in and its is 12kg or 26lb and only got handlebars, front derailleur and chain to go on so i don't think thats too bad is it??

Steev

Whoa there on that drill!
Derailleur mounts are usually threaded. Look again before drilling.

etsmc

this isn't an expensive Derailleur it is fixed on by the wheel nut and a bolt that goes through the Derailleur and into a D-shaped nut thing that sits in the frame where the wheel goes

Kimmo

Get a proper derailleur. Ones without that stupid hanger start pretty cheap.

dabac

So what is it that you're proposing to drill out exactly? The D-shaped thing?
I don't think there'd be space enough for a nut on the inside of that, it's likely to foul the chain. If you want to use a thicker screw for the retainer you'll have to thread the hole.

Also, you don't really need the retainer. It's there to hold the RD aligned and in place when you pop the wheel out, but it's be bit that clamps beneath the axle nut that does the real job.

Steev

It isn't the cost of the derailleur, its that I've never seen a derailleur that needed modifying to fit. Makes me think that you're doing something wrong and making things a lot harder than they need to be, and possibly destroying any chance of mounting it correctly.

etsmc

all mounted now it was just the pint/powdercote that was a bit thick in the hole.. probably could have used a smaller bolt but the one i had needed the hole to be larger. got the chain mounted as well but noticed that when spinning the back wheel the gears look as though there going round an oval instead of a circle so think something might be up with the back wheel.

jgedwa

Any chance this is an old circus bike?

I think, at this point, we have to ask to see pictures.

When you say the gears are going around in an oval, what do you mean? I am not able to imagine what you are describing.

jim

etsmc

na not a circus bike..

its hard to explain but the gears wobble about when the wheel is spinning, is it possible that the axle in the hub could be bent?? although it doesn't seem as though the wheel wobbles about.. i will have to pull the gears off and see i think..

got the brakes and shifters off the handlebars today to give them a clean up and lube, seat post and crappy seat are in.
will try and get some pics up tomorrow.

Steev

A small amount of eccentricity on freewheels is normal as is a small amount of side to side wobble. It comes from the freewheel threading not being perfectly concentric to the axle axis and is nothing to worry about.

etsmc

well puled he shaft and bearings out the hub and got the freewheel cassette off, cleaned it all up and the bearings and regressed it all before putting it back together. all a bit smoother now.