Mechanicjay

This could probably also be in the saved from the Dump thread.

Hi, I'm new here. From the time I was 10 through 17 I went everywhere on my bike, I got my Driver's Licence and hadn't really been on a bike in the last 16 years. Having just moved to Seattle, a pretty bike friendly place, unlike the suburbs of NJ, I decided to get back on a bike. A couple summers ago, while cleaning out the Barn on my Wife's Grandma's Farm, I found a mid-70's 10 Speed. Rusty, neglected and left for dead. I threw it in the back of the '81 Ford Pickup (also on the farm, which was incidentally in a similar state) and took it all home. While I've been DDing the truck for 3 years now (not bad for free!), I finally got around to getting the bike together.

This thing looks like a knock-off of a Fuji Touring c. 1975, but it's proudly stamped made in Taiwan. Most of the running gear is SunTour, the rest of it no name knock-offs of good parts. I threw some tubes and tires on it, lubed everything up, found a old style mechanical speed/odo on Amazon, and started riding it. I quickly replaced the brake pads. I put about 100 miles on it and the chain broke. I got a new chain, new Shimano 6 speed freewheel, bearings, all new cables and housings and it rides like a new bike. I understand from reading around the internet that this bike is basically worth scrap, but that's okay, this is for fun not profit.

I have just under $200 into it and an additional 150 miles on it, doing my 10 mile commute twice / week, I'm hoping to ramp that up to 3-4 times a week over the coming month. Taking something that's been left for dead and making it useful again is one of the things that make me tick, so this has been a really fun way for me to get back on a bike. I figure if I can get 1000 miles on it by the end of the season, it will have cost me $0.05/mile. Perhaps l rehab my FIL's Raleigh 10-speed of similar vintage for next year .

*The backstory of the bike from my Mother In-Law, who turns out has this bike's twin in FANTASTIC condition hanging in her garage, "The John Deere dealer in town gave Dad a good deal on these about '76 or so to make room for the new models." The joke, of course is that I think the John Deere dealer just needed to get rid of them because there were no new models .

jgscisum 

I too am always excited to bring a bike back to a useful and functional life. No.... they don't need to be the best or even middle line bikes. There is always someone looking for a bike to start riding again. I usually sell it for the cost of the parts. FREE labor! GOOD FOR YOU!

Murray Missile 

My cousin and a couple friends worked at the John Deere Parts Distribution Center in Milan, IL. when Deere quit selling bikes. Deere smashed brand new bikes by the thousands and hauled them off for scrap.

Bikes and Jeeps

Nice Jeep TJ

jgscisum 

I'm always amazed at what big companies are capable of doing!! Ever priced JD parts??? Triple the price of what they should be. Needed a starter for my lawn mower. $278 bucks. Utterly ridiculous!

peugeot mongrel

Welcome & good job on bringing that bike back to life. I don't know which I like better, old bikes or old tractors.

Murray Missile 

JD had actually considered donating the bikes to orphanages, etc. IIRC. Their lawyers said NO, if somebody got hurt on one JD could be held liable.

Ever priced what it would cost to build a bicycle if you bought all the parts new at retail prices? Or worse yet, been foolhardy enough to build one with all new parts even at Ebay and clearance prices? You have to remember you aren't really paying for the materials, you are paying for all the warehouse workers, administrative people, transportation, taxes, dealership personnel and so on, and so on AND the name. The more pieces of the pie getting doled out means the pie has to be bigger....... Doesn't make it hurt any less for the end user though.

Mechanicjay

Thanks! Unlimited, Long wheel base, I almost like it better than my old XJ

This is great, this is more information about John Deere's 70's bikes than I've been able to dig up so far, thanks!

As you can see from the pictures below, the Suntour stuff cleaned up quite well and I found some shine in the Kinlin wheels, though the chrome is just pitted and gone in a few spots. You can also see the rust/missing paint. The BB area is the worst, but the paint is in generally poor condition. Once the weather turns wet in the fall, I'm thinking about pulling everything off the bike, either repainting it or just hitting it with a clearcoat just to keep the corrosion at bay (and preserve the patina?). Nothing is rotten through, its just surface stuff, but it sure is ugly.

I'm of course faced with a problem. Now that I have a few hundred miles behind me, and seeing how well it rides after the maintenance was caught up on, I want more. I'm looking at different crank sets on ebay, different chain rings (this has a 3-bolt 106mm BCD setup), aluminum wheels, a new saddle etc. That however, seems like throwing good money after bad. I'm trying to keep the Justification Engine idled, which is difficult.

StephenH

I think John Deere has sold their name to everyone that was ever interested. I've seen a number of JD bikes through the years, all completely different, all typical department-store bikes with John Deere logos slapped on it. If they had actually made any bikes, it might have been an interesting variation on what was out there at the time.

peugeot mongrel

That's the easy first step. The only advice I can give is try to temper the need for more, better etc... with a little patience so you can accumulate your bike stash at better prices. You will really like the alloy wheels and better tires , by the way.

Murray Missile 

Keep it functional and enjoy it but I wouldn't do any upgrading to it and I've upgraded some pretty low end bikes in my time. If you want a better bike pick one up and keep that one for nostalgia, when the good one starts feeling "not quite good enough" drag the Deere out for a ride and you'll realize the other one is still pretty nice.
.

Mechanicjay

50 miles later, this may be an unrealistic goal. The vinyl on the seat split today, so a seat is now a necessity, lest I continue to shoot plumes of disintegrated foam rubber into the air.

This morning, on the way to work, I noticed that at sufficient speed and load, there is now a slight grinding in the pedals -- I'm guessing bearings in the bottom bracket. So, I guess I'm in for a BB rebuild this weekend.

My wife asked me if I should just get a different bike.

Juha

Awesome.

This whole JD bike project is beginning to look like a cunning plan to get a brand new bicycle.

--J

Murray Missile 

When the wife says that, don't think about it, just DO IT!!!

old's'cool

Hopfully the cones and cups are OK, and only the BBs are disintegrating. But STOP riding it immediately!


N+1, obviously!

uncle uncle

Hey Jay... I have an interest in the very bottom of the bicycle barrel. If you're willing, I would like a part by part breakdown of your bike, any serial number(s) that might appear on it, and pictures of all the lugs, logos, and braze on's. Any idea who might have built these for John Deere?

Mechanicjay

I have no idea who made it for John Deere. I was thinking of posting a parts breakdown here anyway for posterity.

The SN is stamped on the rear dropout: 2455356
RD: Suntour GT (Second Generation)
FD: Suntour Sport
Shifters: Suntour Stem shifters
Stem: SR
Handlebars: Unknown
Wheels: Kinlin 27x1 1/4
Brakes: San Kuang center pull
Suntour Brake Levers
Crank Arms: Unknown, but are chome and stamped Made in Japan
Pedals: Unknown, rusty, haven't been able to find a name
Chainrings: Unknown manufacturer, 106mm BCD. 40/50 (I think), chromed steel?
Freewheel: OEM was 5 speed Suntour, ranging from 28-14
Rear hub: Sunshine (made in Japan).

I will get some detail shots of the lugs and stuff soon.

Anything else or further details you'd like?

uncle uncle

What you listed is great, but I wouldn't turn down the pictures either. Just saying. Thanks

Mechanicjay

As requested.

Mechanicjay

I pulled the BB apart this afternoon. It was pretty bad in there. Lots of rust, almost no grease left. After cleaning it up, the axle looks okay, but the races are scored. I threw the new bearings in there for now so the bike isn't in pieces while I figure out what to do. It rolls smooth, but makes some noise.

Pompiere

Another hobby that I dabble in is old tractors, so I have seen a few John Deere bikes at tractor shows and auctions. They only had one model of each style, and each style had its own color. I have seen black, white, light blue, green, and yellow. My memory is a bit fuzzy on which model each color was associated with, but I think the green one was a 5 speed, yellow was a kids' banana bike, blue was a 3 speed, black was the better 10 speed, and white was a lower equipped 10 speed. I have also seen a mixte in white. The ladies bikes of the other models were not mixte frames.

John Deere dealerships try to be a one stop shop for the farmer, so he doesn't have to spend time going around to other places to buy his tools, lubricants, lawn mower, snow blower, barbeque grill, coat, gloves, etc. While the prices may seem high to us, if down time is costing you money, paying more to get back in production sooner is worth it.

cb400bill

Here is a web site for a shop the specializes in Deere bikes.

John Bogan Restoration Services, Specializing in John Deere Bicycles

Pic from their site.

big chainring 

Nothing runs like a Deere.

Back in '77 there was a biken club out Burlington Iowa I think it was, that was sponsored by John Deere. Several of the riders had their bikes painted in the green and yellow of JD. I really thought it was pretty cool. Even made me wonder, "wait, it Deere making high end race bikes?"

Pompiere

With the current interest in antique tractor restoration, this would be pretty easy to replicate. JD decals are readily available from many different eras, as well as paint. A good project for one of those unidentifiable frames. I picture this looking better on a MTB than a road bike.

Mechanicjay

My MIL dropped off her copy of this bike off this weekend and I was able to pull some more part names off of non-corroded pieces.

Pedals: KKT RT-SF
OE Tires: Li HSin LHR 27x 1 1/4
OE Seat: Hsiang FA
Sunshine front hub

Correction to above. The break levers are San Kuang as well.

Now I have two of these.....

Maybe I should start a John Deere bike rescue.