Burke Wells

(Please forgive me if I’m posting this in the wrong forum, but I’m guessing the age of this bike to be about 30 yrs old, and I figured this might be the best place to inquire about it.)

This is an old 20” bike that a family member pulled out from under his house, and asked me if I thought I could make it rideable again. I have no idea who made it, but it’s a 10 speed, labeled as “Street Runner” & “SR-10”. I not only believe I can get it back into rideable condition, but I would also like to make it look a whole lot better, too. Not necessarily a full-blown authentic restoration, so to speak, but I’d like to clean up the frame as good as I can, and sand the wheels, bars, etc, and repaint a nice silver, or something similar.

Despite the obvious rust & neglect, closer inspection revealed that the cables still function well, and both derailleurs still work. The only items that I think definitely have to be replaced are the chain, tires, & seat. I inflated the flat tires, just out of curiosity, and was surprised to find that the tubes still hold air just fine. I don’t know of any way to revitalize the tires from their very aged condition, so I will likely just buy a couple of new tires.

I found the frame to be interesting, regarding the lugged construction. I’m curious about who manufactured this bike, and how old it actually is. I’m suspecting mid to late 70’s, but I’m not sure. (There’s some numbers on the bottom of the frame, but I’m not sure what to make of them.)

Can anyone point me towards some good advice regarding sanding, priming, & repainting the wheels, bars, metal bits, etc.? I’d like to do the best I can, within reason, as I’m no professional at this sort of stuff, just a do-it-yourself kinda guy, on a tight budget. I’d rather not repaint the frame, if I can instead, just clean it up really good. I think the paint is still good, if I can just get the 30 yr old dirt off of it without destroying the aged decals (they don’t appear to be peeling at all, but they’re visibly cracked with age).

Any advice & comments are welcome. I’m excited to try and bring this lil’ guy back to life.

(I’ve got bigger pics, but I had to shrink these down substantially to get under the 100kb attachment limit).

Stacey

Photobucket makes for a good image host, so I'm told.

The frame is very interesting with the lugs. Paint may be salvageable. Give it a washing with dish soap, I like Dawn. Check that the seat post and handlebar stem will move freely when loosened... the post looks terrible rusty.

The rims don't look promising. Chromed steel doesn't make for good braking anyhow. Your best bet would be to disassemble the bike completely, clean, lube and adjust everything. You'll be pleasantly surprised how well these things respond to a little attention.

Good luck & welcome to the start of a life long addiction.

awc380

I had one of those a few years ago...an old grey one.
Rode pretty nicely, actually. Then I gave it to my gf and someone stole it from here apartment.

If you have parts, time, and money to throw at this, you could rehab it, for sure.
BUT, if you are at all in the business of collecting parts, keep those shifters and maybe those big ole brake levers and junk the bike.

My 2 cents.

Burke Wells

Update: Ok, it's 3 months later, and after a complete disassembly, cleaning, and reassembly, this little bike is ready to go, once again. If you compare the pics in the original post to these new ones, you'll see that some parts didn't come clean at all, while other areas showed substantial improvement. Nothing was painted, as the frame cleaned up better than I expected it to.

I was very pleased with how well the wheels cleaned up, after a lot of effort with a wire brush and a can of StrongArm Spray. However, the handlebars and especially the seatpost, were just too rusted & pitted to show very much improvement. The derailleurs & other bits lost about half of the amount of rust they had, still not looking super great, but they now work perfectly and do look a bit better than they did. The chain & tires are new, and the seat was replaced, as well.

I took it out for a little test ride, and was surprised at not only how well this thing rides, but also at just how much fun it is. I didn't want to get off of the thing. The gearing climbs like a mountain goat, and the old Falcon derailleurs shift smoothly and perfectly.

Just wanted to share, and show some "After" pics to follow up those previously posted "Before" pics.

Burke

Pompiere

Nice work! Sometimes all it takes is some elbow grease and time to bring an old bike back into riding condition.

1987cp

::bump:: Ancient thread resurrection!!!


Does anyone know much about this bike, like when it was built and who sold it? So far the only connection I've found online was an adult city/MTB hybrid from Miyata in the mid to late '80s called the Street Runner, which appears to be equipped pretty similarly.

Reason for asking, I just bought one of these on eBay - might even be the same one for all I know - and while I'm confident it will be an interesting alternative to a BMX cycle or modern double-boinger model from Wal-Mart, and likely superior for the kind of riding my family does (99.99% in-town, typically with small loads), it'd be fun to know something about it. My guess is that it's one of the inexpensive-but-probably-OK-quality department store brands from 25-30 years ago, kind of like Motiv (if anyone remembers that name).

fantomx11

8 years on, and I discovered this thread while looking for this bike. This is the bike I had as a kid and I rode it from about 1987 or 1988 to around 1994 or so. It was sold by Sears. The one I had came with a white saddle, grips, and tires instead of the black ones in the photos above. I'd kind of like to know a bit more about the components it had since I didn't know anything about those things when I had it, it was the first brand-new bike I ever had, and now I am going off of memories that are 28 years old.

Schweinhund

Something in my distant memories says Spalding