CliffordK

Ok, like last year with the Lipstick on a pig thread, here is a place to discuss your bikes projects and to drop a few teasers.

General contest rules can be discussed here. The deadline for entries + mileage will be February 29, 2016.

So, my project for the moment is my Lord have Mercy Mercier.

Here is the as-found photo. It doesn't look like much, but it is in fact lighter than one might otherwise expect.



I finally got the frame stripped.

Frame: 2.45 Kilos
Fork: 867g

Which doesn't seem too bad for ancient steel.

I'm hoping to save a kilo or so by stripping the rust

It isn't going to be a straight restoration, and several parts will get change out. Obviously several components weren't original when I got it.

D1andonlyDman

My entry is going to be based upon a Raleigh Technium frame that I picked up in my size last week for $10, that came with a really nice aftermarket chrome-finished 4130 cro-moly steel fork and a Ritchey Logic headset. I'm planning on building it up as a friction shifting wide range 7x3 geared bike which I plan on leaving at my mom's house, which is on a very steep hill, so I have a bike to ride when I'm at her place, without having to haul one of my good bikes there and back. The vast majority of the parts are going to come out of my existing parts bin.

lord_athlon

Ill post my entry when I get home. Its a basketcase picked up at a swap meet. Good bones.

nlerner

I'm likely starting with this:



It'll have a different fork, however, as that one got sold off attached to a different bike. No ideas on the build yet, but I like starting with a relatively blank canvas.

jetboy 

I have a couple to choose from: but here are the top three:
I think i'll do up the SR just because its actually closer to my size- thought the c30 might be marginally better steel.

Someone modified "Special Racer" to have a rear disk brake. I might see if I can swap that mod onto the SR just to give it some wonkiness. Then I can use the disk brake wheel that came with that bike (all free.. ) and I found a front wheel laying in a ditch the other day. so that will work. half way there.

bmthom.gis

I have no project as of yet, but I do have an 88 Trek 1000 to strip with Suntour Edge groupset (I had the same on a Schwinn I sold, and really liked it). 60 bucks for the entire bike, hoping to sell the frame and fork for 75 if I can.

Currently there is a Nishiki Prestige frame and components (no wheels as far as I can tell) up on the CL, but too $$ for a velo cheap-o.

jetboy 

we city folk (I am on a campus) have an advantage in the free thing. I pull bikes and bike parts out of the trash fairly regularly. I just got a super oversized front rack out. that might go in. My build may end up being a Urban shopper- you know the kind where people bring their bike into the store and use it as their cart/basket.

I actually did pay for the SR ($25) but that was because I wanted the seatpost and stem that was on it (Cinelli!) so I consider whats left after that as free.

Lascauxcaveman 

My entry is a little Araya mixte given to me by a fellow C&Ver. I'm going to paint and build it for my wife. It starts like this:


I have so many extra wheel sets and parts I won't have to buy anything for it except maybe paint.

CliffordK

Oh, don't tell her you went cheap on her bike build.

lotekmod

Here's what I'm working with, a 1980-something Raleigh Marathon:


I picked this up for $50 which was really too much considering it has a bolt-on, steel rimmed rear wheel and lots of paint damage on the frame, but I quickly sold the Suntour bar end shifters for $30 so I'm only into it for $20. My plan is to turn this into a townie grocery-getter that I'll actually use this time. Upright bars, 1x drivetrain with thumbshifter, rear rack, and a new paint job. Lots of work ahead!

lord_athlon

Mizutani Seraph Sport as far as I can tell. Picked up for 40 bucks as a parts bike. FMV on the parts I am using for a different bike is ~100, so I have 60 bucks to build her up.

D1andonlyDman

Spent some serious time building last night and this morning. My goal for this was a rideable road bike, with serious hill gearing, for dirt cheap. Cosmetics is not a concern at all, hence, I did not re-paint the frame (a prior owner did a crappy re-paint, and there are plenty of noticeable scratches on it. If anything, ugly with no brand ID, along with friction shifting may act as a theft deterrent. A prior owner also sawed off the DT shifter bosses, so that necessitated either some add-on DT cable-stop clamps, or use of cable ties. Because the clamp I needed was out of stock at WalMart (who listed it for $7 with store pickup, and anywhere else would have been over $10 after shipping, and my LBS wanted $18 for it, I went with cable ties) I made several other decisions strictly due to cost and part availability in my bin, including going with a 27" rear wheel, and a 700c front, and SunTour Ratchet Stem-mount shifters ($3 at a swap meet, DT shifters would have set me back at least $15, maybe $20). Because of the wide range triple gearing, I ended up getting some brand new Shimano Tourney derailleurs $11 rear, $4 front).

At the same swap meet where I got the $3 shifters, I also got a $3 SR Laprade seat post, a $5 Nitto quill stem, and $5 TTT bars, the latter two components being significantly better than I expected to source, but I couldn't quibble about those prices. Everything else came from my existing parts bin. Other than the wheels, which both are over 25 years old, and I'd say fully depreciated, and certainly not worth more than $15-20 each on the used market excluding rubber. I was originally going to put a new Shimano or IRD 7-speed 13-28 freewheel on it, but I couldn't get the existing SunTour 6 speed 13-28 off of the 27" wheel, so my planned 7x3 is now a 6x3 with the same gearing range. The 27" rear wheel, in addition to the freewheel, has a Campy Nuovo Tipo Large flange hub, and an Ambrosio rim. Rubber is a new Kenda K36 27 x 1 1/8 tire, that I picked up two of last year for $18 for the pair including shipping. The front wheel is a Matrix rim and hub that came off of my Trek that I rode across the U.S. on in the summer of 1979, and had been retired for around 20 years. Rubber is a Nashbar Prima 2 Plus 700x25 that cost me about $8-9 on clearance. Brakes are a very nice set of Tektro R740s that I picked up in a swap meet last year for $10 and subsequently didn't use and Dia-Compe levers gotten for $8 at the same time. The BB was a used Shimano 121mm BB55 that I picked up for $2 at the same swap meet last year and the crank is a Sakae 28-38-48 MTB triple that I pulled off of ebay for $17 including shipping last year. The saddle is an Orbea Velo saddle that I got on ebay last year for $8 inclusive of shipping, and hadn't had any bike to mount it on. I was pleasantly surprised how comfortable it is.

Including everything except the wheels which I value somewhere between $0-35 for the pair excluding rubber, the whole build set me back about $130. I took it on it's shakedown ride earlier today, got the gearing adjusted, and put about 8 miles on it.

The verdict is, it's ugly, but it is an eminently rideable bike, fits me perfectly, and is more responsive than I ever expected it would be. It weighs in at a tad under 25 lbs. Mission accomplished. All it needs now is bar tape, which will go on this afternoon.

Edit: The final touches are done now: a double wrapping of bright green gel bar tape (which, BTW, I got from China via ebay for $1.30 per set) and a Raleigh USA head tube badge that came off of a junker M20 MTB frame I scavenge for parts.

uncle uncle

uhh, you lost me on the math there... you paid $40 clams for the whole bike, you transferred parts over to another bike to the tune of $100, which doesn't leave you $60 clams.... per my math, that's more like $160 to play with. Maybe I missed something in the fine print. Super cool bike though... that would have been hard for me to pass on for $40.

CliffordK

I think lord_athlon is depositing parts into the parts bin and crediting himself "full market value" for those parts. Then deducting from the cost of the build.

It is always a bit complex to determine the value of the old unused parts. I think I put in the rules that one could SELL parts, but I'm running into the same problem. My bike is donating a 165 crankset, I think, which is too short for my needs, but the set may be used on a different build.

lord_athlon

I bought the bike to put the cranks and a few other parts on a different bike. It wasnt until the thread was posted that I thought I had a decent entry.

Early Mighty Comp cranks with Metal Sugino dustcaps are typically ~60 on ebay, especially half step vs the typical 10 tooth spread.
High Flange Shimano Hubs and Araya Tubulars are coming off the bike for another project of mine as well, and I see similar wheels go for 60-80 on ebay, so I was fairly conservative in my FMV valuation as well. I was trying to go for "I got a deal" prices.

If its against the rules, let me know.

D1andonlyDman

This is just my opinion about the rules here, as far as valuation is concerned. In real life, this is fine to do what lord_athlon did. But, IMHO, for the purpose of valuing a bike at the start of the project, I'm of the opinion that, even after donor parts are considered, the value of the starting point should not be considered to be less than Zero. So, for example, if you start with a bike plus parts that you got for $60, and you part out some or most of those donor parts for $100, I believe that it's appropriate to say that your starting point for what you kept was Zero, but not -$40.

We all know that there are bikes that can be bought and parted out for greater than what they cost to acquire. But when re-building the bike, you shouldn't get credit for the profit you made on the donor parts - beyond zeroing out the cost of the acquired starting point. The profit you made from the donor parts ought to be a separate entity, outside of this contest.

So, IMHO, for the purpose of this contest, the beginning point for lord_athlon's frame and whatever parts he kept from the acquisition for his build could be zero, but not a negative number.

degan

My entry, a Univega Viva Sport.


Do I get extra credit for having to deal with this first? Also, has anyone seen a seatpost with such a narrow urethra? I can't even get the standard hacksaw blade in there.

uncle uncle

You get bonus points for using "urethra" in a bike post. Well, at least in my book you do.

CliffordK

I usually remove my seatposts without first cutting the top off.

It would be easy enough to drill that post out to something larger. 1/2", 5/8", or 3/4".

degan

I didn't intend to cut it off at all, but the post was stuck and as I was working on it the top sheared off. I cut it as close to where it sheared just so I had a smooth surface to work with.

CliffordK

You've got quite a bit of seatpost to work with. How tapered is it? What about threading it so you can put a bolt in. Then, maybe with lots of penetrating oil you could get it to turn.

Insidious C. 

I'm considering entering this ugly duckling here:
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jetboy 

oil does nothing for corrosion- pretty much nothing does. you are gonna have to get a thin hacksaw blade to start and then work up. its a real pain -- probably about 3 hours of cursing.. and you can get it out. i've done it.. its not fun.

degan

Unfortunately it sheared at an angle and I think pulling is no longer an option. Also, I soaked it before it sheared off and got no movement whatsoever.

I might have a guy with a drill press and some bits so hopefully the 3 hours of cursing can be reduced to 1 or 2 hours of cursing.

nlerner

Here's another possibility for me: a made in Mexico Winchester:



It has chromed faux Nervex lugs, lots of flaking white paint, and parts that are a mix of nationalities. The stem was stuck, but yesterday morning after lots of penetrating lubricant, I managed to move it slightly, so it should be out soon. The main issue is that it's too big for me, so I'm unlikely to ride it much before the deadline.