I got a Shogun at a garage sale a few months ago for $15. I figure, at that price, how could I go wrong?

I just spent an entire day fixing it up. I'm getting $260 for it, and I've put in few materials, so I guess it's a win. But it's a big lesson.

I had a panic and thought the fork was bent, so I took it out to examine it. No, it's straight. OK, so customer gets a free headset overhaul.

Actually, I started working on this bike months ago and put it aside. Now I had to find all the parts. My shop is a disgraceful mess all the time. I don't know where the tires went or even the freewheel.

I think I found the right freewheel. It's a nice old gold Shimano.

I started working on the wheels. The front is good, but the hub makes a creaking sound. Overhaul it, and it's good. I guess there was some dust in there or something.

The rear isn't good. The rim is bent. Let's see, do I want to replace the rim, or can I fix it? I've bent rims back into shape. I removed the spokes at the bent part, put a 2x4 in there, and smack the 2x4 with a hammer. OK, that looks better. But I tension the spoke and suddenly the wheel is a taco. Poop. This wheel is toast.

This rear wheel is weird. It's a Sovos(?) hub and a Weinmann rim. Someone clearly replaced the rear wheel at some point. The hub is made in Taiwan. Not as nice as Shimano but definitely good enough.

Meanwhile, I do a string test and ascertain that the rear triangle of the frame is straight.

I know a bit about the history of the bike. Someone came into my shop some time ago and recognized it as his former bike. He commuted on it for many years and had calculated that he put 60,000 miles on it! He gave it up when he realized that the bike no longer owed him anything. There's rust all over, but it looks worth fixing.

My customer is a woman who is competing in her first triathlon next month. It's a tiny one with a 12 mile bike portion. She doesn't need a pretty bike. She might buy my Hercules 3-speed for nostalgia's sake. That will be her pretty bike.

The bike has 27" wheels. Look around. Do I have a 27" rim? As a matter of fact, I have a brand new one, but it's built onto a front wheel. Well, it will be a lot of work, but I can do this.

I could use the old spokes, if the rim is the same size. The spokes appear to be in good shape, but a few have been replaced, and I don't feel like doing this much work with questionable spokes. It's more pleasant to use new spokes.

I don't have a spoke gauge, and I don't feel like measuring the rim or spokes or finding a spoke calculator. I decided to do it like my first boss would build wheels. He'd just guess at spoke sizes and if he was wrong, he'd start over again. The new spokes are about the same size as the old ones, except, of course, they're all the same size, i.e. the rights are not shorter than the lefts, and they should be.

So I built the wheel. I timed myself at 15 minutes to lace the wheel. Not bad, huh? Ah, but the spokes are too long. It's a 36-spoke wheel, and I did it 3-cross, which is how it was. So I tried 4-cross. I really like 4-cross. It looks cool. This is what my first boss did; he'd start with 3-cross, and if the spokes were too long, he'd go to 4-cross before trying another spoke size. And I don't have a whole lot of spoke sizes sitting around. Well, waddya know, 4-cross works. It's a nice wheel.

Well, guess what. That wasn't the wheel that came with the bike. As I'm walking around, I notice the real original wheel. So maybe I gave this customer more time and materials than I should have. But I'll be darned if I'm going to take a look at that filthy wheel. It might be good, but it could be bad, too.

Everything else on the bike needs work, too, except for the bottom bracket. I see it's been replaced with a cartridge bearing BB. I tried taking the crank dustcaps off to make sure the fixing bolts are tight, but the dust caps are rusted on, and my allen key spins in the dust caps. I could fix that, but I won't.

The shifters are stiff with rust. So are the derailleurs. Got that fixed.

The rear brake pads were worn, so I moved the fronts to the rear. They're Shimano. I put Kool Stops in the front. I don't normally put Kool Stops on bikes I sell, but I'm treating this woman well, and I'm only giving her one pair. If she twists my arm, I'll even give her a second pair.

The shifters are really tricky. They have a spring in them. It took me a while to figure them out. When I'm done, they feel just like Simplex Retrofriction shifters. Extra cool. Anyone ever heard of these, made by Shimano? I think this is a late 80's bike, made just before index shifting.

OK, everything is on the bike and tuned up and adjusted. I've had to oil or grease absolutely everything. It's weird, because everything was rusty, yet everything let me fix it.

I found some nice old Specialized Turbo II tires from the early 80's. They're not dry rotted, and they're the best 27" tires I have at the moment. I could put on some worse ones, but I want this woman to have a good bike.

Time to grease the seatpost, just for good measure. Oh crap. It's stuck. I should be checking that first, not last.

Oh man. I'm screwed. This bike is useless if I can't move the seatpost. It's a Laprade type of seatpost. The brand says Strong. Who ever heard of a Strong brand seatpost? I bang on the seat with a mallet. Aha, it's moving. Oh, no, it's not. That's just the seat bracket mechanism giving way. OK, so I have to take the bracket apart. Oh uh. That's rusted shut, too. Well, with a lot of turning force, I get it free, but the bolt is heavily rusted. I get it all apart and brush the threads with a brass brush. OK, it works. Put it back together. Bang the seat again with a mallet. No good. I'm just taking apart the bracket again.

Take the wheels off. Luckily, the seatpost has a nice top to it that I can clamp in my vise. Clamp the seatpost in the vice and use the frame as the lever. I have been using WD40 every few minutes. Turn like hell, bracing my foot against the workbench. Hallelujah. It starts to turn, making very loud creaking noises. Holy crap, the frame is getting hot.

Well, I did get it out. I brushed the seatpost off with a brass wheel brush in my drill. I ran a half round file up and down the seatpost, too, using oil. I clean it out. I pushed the seatpost in and cleaned it off several times until it came out clean. Add lots of grease. It goes in and out very well now.

Test ride it.

Excellent!

Lessons learned?

Test things in order of value if it can't be fixed. As wrk101 says, check the seatpost before you even acquire the bike. Do that with the stem, too.

Check the straightness of the frame and fork early on.

See if the wheels can be trued easily. I don't know of an easy way to do this, but I'd love to develop one.

Also, while I don't regret this project, it's pretty silly. I think I get an ego boost doing mechanical fixes that other mechanics can't or won't do. It's proof of my machismo or something. But it's not actually worth it. I could be flipping racing bikes which are easier to work on and are not generally as neglected as this one was. And the profit would be much higher.

My customer already appreciates what I did. I called her before I found out about the seatpost but after I built the wheel. She feels I've done too much for her.

I will post pictures soon. I think I have "before" pictures of the bike. It was a super-wreck when I got it. It only looks half bad now. But it rides great.