wolf_walker

$25 swap meet rotted-tire crudster..



An Asian, I'm assuming, cheap-o, YSB brakes, Shimano 333 hub(which works perfectly after lube).

Tires, tubes, total teardown and clean/lube and 30 hours of polishing.
Rides pretty good, need better wheels and less cheap crappy brake pads than what I had laying around.
I think I managed to preserve the "patina" but arrest any serious further decay. This one wasn't really worth any
more effort, but it was worth saving. If I'm lucky it will get Wife off her Peugeot long enough for me to give it
some love.

orangeology

nice job on a unique bike! loving the vivid yellow!

wolf_walker

Thanks, it's about that bright in person after lots of rubbing and polishing compound. Wish the paint had been thicker and/or better quality, but what can one ask of a 30+ year old econobike.

dddd

Did the bike have any silkscreen-paint graphics? I thought you might have polished them off.

I've got an orange Concord ten-speed with "Deluxe" lightly painted on the downtube.

Some Varsities also have that wispy graphics paint, it's not a decal it appears to be silkscreened or something.

Good job making that bike look better than new!

wolf_walker

I'm not convinced that someone didn't repaint the thing, it's really honestly a decidedly un-good paintjob, with a few runs and a few obviously thin places, even before I went at it with rubbing and polishing compound.
But there was no overspray on any components. Who's to say after all this time I guess. It had been sitting long enough for the tires to rot off it when I took it home.
The chainguard I believe said New Yorker on it, I'd not have noticed till I saw a photo online of such and got it in the right light and was just able to make out a difference
in the shade of yellow left on there. But yes there were some graphics or txt of some sort that were already missing. I think the only thing left is Concord on the downtube
and the BMA sticker below that.

Another comically interesting feature is the rear dropout is attached by crimping it to the tubes. I banged on it, lightly, and it didn't wiggle so I left it be, but I had a good chuckle over it.

Component quality might be low on modern bikes, but even a cheap bikes frame is very well made today compared to a cheap bike of years ago.

dddd

Today's automated welding methods are much more sophisticated, and the materials (tubes, dropouts) are designed for the particular fabr process.

This bike looks lugged, but are the "crimped" stay ends brazed or spot-welded in addition to the crimping? I suppose it could be either, but suspect electric welding in this area.
Lots of bikes have lasted many years with similar looking attachments, but I believe heavier materials are likely used.

This dropout's attachment to squashed tubing appears to be butt-welded in some proprietary process, much like a Schwinn electroforged frame, but with the weld here done where the squashed tubing is flat (not on an arc that follows the outside contour of the chainstay, a-la Schwinn).
No doubt it's thickwalled tubing. See also the opposite-side stay ends for a reverse-view of the flattening.

dddd

Here's a part-view of a Concord that I sold and have since bought back. Found it originally at the drive-thru recycling center, as someone had dumped it there without permission. I would have loved to find it in a larger size that I could ride comfortably, but the longer/taller stem allowed me to at least give it a whirl on a few club rides. Basic Suntour parts and a steel seatpin with quilted saddle, but came with odd, early Dura-Ace brakeset.

wolf_walker

Not the most aesthetically pleasing thing, but it's interesting.
May well be welded in some fashion.

DiegoFrogs

An old roommate of mine had a Huffy road bike with the same dropout attachment. It was fine enough when he got it, 20 or so years into its life, and was still okay when it was inexplicably stolen from our West Philadelphia apartment building's porch with the aid of a tree branch in its cable lock.

FWIW, the only bicycle frame I've ever broken (that I'm aware of) was a 1978 Schwinn Varsity that started squeaking not long after I got it ~ 2003. The non-drive side derailleur hanger had actually sheared within the "arms" of the hanger.

zukahn1 

Most of the early 70's Japanese 3speeds while fairly lowley in there origin are just great riders. The couple I have owned road 2x better than they should have. These are just some very nicely built bikes for the most part yours being a Concorde import brand was most likeley built buy Kuwahara limted a fairly well respected company frame builder.

dddd

Certainly the crimped stays are also electric-resistance-welded or brazed to the dropout tabs, so should be reliable.

DiegoFrogs, what you called (derailer hanger) sounds like just the dropout(?).

And yeah, the entire dropout, top and bottom of the slot, are highly stressed in use, so sometimes fail anywhere along the load paths from the axle to the stays.

DiegoFrogs

D'oh!

wolf_walker

It really is a good rider, I'm a very much novice to bicycles the last few years, haven't been on one since I was a kid, and have a strict budget I adhere to (by force of will alone), but I'm enjoying it after my life long car hobby.
I think I have $50 in this one. It'll get new wheels and better brake pads. Not sure if I should re-use the not well thought of 333 hub or spring for a used SA off ebay. The latter is probobly the smarter thing.

I'd really like to find a "nice" bike cheap with the same ergonomics, they suit my back and wrists. I turned down a similar condition and era J.C. Higgins the other week, the guy wanted $75 for it and it had been sitting and coroading
for at least twenty years, needing a total resto. Kinda regretting it.

juvela

dddd,

are those bullseye pulleys you have on the stern mech of the clubman?

dddd

The "stern mech"(???), uh, ahh, the "rear derailer".

No, these are the Canadian/China Ebay pullies that I and Diegofrogs used.
They are only .340 wide at the hub, so work with modern chain, and with a washer under each bolt head, since they bring the cage plates 1.5mm closer together.

I chose them because they are 10t, have no etched text on them and were available in many colors, plus were only $20 or so for a pair including shipping iir.

There are other suppliers hawking the same design though, where the aluminum hub caps can be drilled to match any needed bolt diameter, and all of these should be about the same .340" thick.

I put another 25 hilly miles on them today, it runs spooky-quiet with the PC-970 chain.

juvela

thanks very much dddd. when i saw that azurene hue i knew they could not be juy. ;^)

dddd

You're welcome, and I just noticed that the hi-limit screw on that rer derailer, along with the plastic boss it screws into, both parted company with the bike today.

I didn't notice it, because I keep the cable snugly tensioned, and it causes no problem. Probably lost another gram!

40-year-old derailers, still in the game after many thousands of miles. The front mech has little stress cracks in the clamp, but still gripping.
I am developing an ever-more-delicate touch with the shift levers, which the smooth cabling sort of encourages. I never notice even a hint of flex in the solid-white-plastic shift levers.
The bike itself still gets ridden hard.

juvela

thanks very much for your patient and thorough answers.

that clubman prolly is in finer shape today than when she was ex-works.

dddd

The bike came to me with broken black stem shifters, and the deceased previous owner had obviously ridden it a whole lot of miles like that, given that the smallest sprocket was heavily worn.
I bought the bike from his son, who said his dad used the bike over a very long span of years, riding along the American river trail.

So I found white stem shifters on Ebay, being sold new, but with rusted clamps and cables.
Turns out the clamps were for 1" tubing, and that the white ribbed housings were fine. I got 4 sets for only $15, and used the white levers and wing nuts on a standard 1970's Simplex downtube clamp.
I liked the way that the white plastic further sets off the sort of "unlikely" theme for a bike being used on today's more-sporting recreational rides.
And I think that these levers might have been destined for children's bikes, possibly into the '70's.

The molded-plastic friction surfaces need a few hundred miles of break-in time before the friction feels crisp. Up until then, it felt somehow vaguely "hydraulic", with no feel for when the shift lever cracked loose from it's existing position, and very little grip to resist it then moving too far.
I think that the metal washers eventually burnish some metal into the plastic friction surfaces.

I would have liked to use a chromed clamp, but I just had this one handy. I left the adjusters in place just because they added to the look.
Originally I had lined the shifter clamp with clear tape, but the shifters kept slipping down the downtube so I removed it. No more slipping:

juvela

thanks very much dddd!

wrt the 1" clamp: have had one or two frames comes through built with metric juvenile dimension tubesets so this would make sense. iirc, for example a metric juvenile steerer is 22.0 mm.

"American River trail": you must be in Sac-O-Tomates

have a Gitane Hosteler from about 1963 hanging in my rack with the full white delrin ensemble.

dddd

Would love to see a photo shoot of the Delrin-clad Hostelier whenever you might get the chance. I'd likely be afraid to ride it!

Yeah, I bought the Clubman in "Sac-O-Tomatoes", which is 30mi down the hill from here.
Their riding population hits the river trail often, but they also come up here to ride in great numbers.
So many of the training rides and club rides start there and head up, so I ride down to do as many of them as I can.
I usually peel off the group when the route nears my home, having near-fully expended all of my fireworks on the climbs on the way back up.

juvela

not able to accomodate at this time. no digital camera. bike not much to look at. found it at a junkyard/dump type venue. it was originally antique gold but received a rattle can blue redo. it is about 80% complete. has a verot 55 chainset, braze-ons for racks, dynamo, guards. presently buried fairly deep due to having to move things about in basement and garage to accomodate a gasline reparation. job completed but have yet to move everything back to its erstwhile locus.

the white delrin stern mech has the knurled wheel limit adjusters and the built-in amber reflector.