Originally Posted by
Cycle Tourist
Damn dude. That's a mighty nice looking bike.
Maybe I've fallen into the trap of underestimating these bikes. Although a "bit" heavy they're still pretty nice. Makes me wish I had more of the original parts.
Say, I think I've got a simplex RD in a box somewhere. Too bad I didn't keep that 3 piece crank I took off an old Stella.
Thanks, Cycle Tourist!
Bikes like these I wouldn't go to the trouble (lots of hours) unless they initially looked appealing in the paint department.
I took a chance with the SEARS and the Steyr Clubman because they looked cool to me and were being offered for just $80 in both cases.
I was quite pleased with the first one (the Clubman), as far as how it's riding qualities turned out. The quality looked iffy, especially the 26mm Austrian headset, but I found that replacements are available from a SF area moped parts dealer.
The Sears model I bought a year later also turned out to be a great rider.
The bb parts on these bikes seem very high quality, good hard metal there, and the 14-ball (!) headset retainers can be re-packed with like 22 or 24 balls for a big improvement in durability there.
I removed my cotters for bb servicing after first using a torch on the ends of the crankarms to spare any damage to the precious original cotters. Heat them till they start issuing some smoke and then the cotters should come out without any damage. This applies to any cottered crankset. After driving the cotters back in, I alternate between nut tightening and moderate blows with a hammer until the nuts don't want to turn any further.
I've ridden my Steyr thousands of miles on quite-sporting rides, it's a comfortable bike that gets down the road pretty good with only a 13-24t 5s freewheel and it's original 52-36t Agrati-style chainset.
The frame tubing on these is "Precision Steel", so is fairly thick-walled straight-gage tubing. So not overly flexy, but like I said very comfortable in use.
No great loss on any missing plastic derailers. They shift fine for me, but less so as you go up toward using a 7s freewheel or a bigger freewheel. I re-badged a short-cage Deore rear derailer after I took the photo above, though I frankly miss the quicker action of the original Simplex. My FD had already been replaced when I got the bike.
