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old road bike with simplex derailleur(sorry about spelling)

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old road bike with simplex derailleur(sorry about spelling)

Old 10-17-10, 02:22 PM
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old road bike with simplex derailleur(sorry about spelling)

i have a old simplex derailleur. one of the little plastic wheels is broken. i see them on ebay for 50. haha. is there a cheaper way to do it? here is a pic.
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Old 10-17-10, 02:30 PM
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Assume the quest is go somewhere , transportation, and not an as new collector ensemble.
seek out a replacement derailleur, entirely fresh stuff, those plastic Simplex were a low priced part even when new.

any 10 tooth pulley will do if you want to leave the derailler on., probably metal shift levers will be an improvement too.
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Old 10-17-10, 02:55 PM
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the pulleys are similar to modern standard ones, ie, with a 5mm hole for 5x.8mm mounting screw. Buy a pair of basic stock pulleys anywhere, or scavanve a pair from a dear derailleur in a junk box. Note that you'll probably need to replace the pair, since even though the inner hole is the same, the overall width may not be. If your new pulleys are much narrower, either add washers to take up the width, or file off the bit of mounting bolt extending through the cage.
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Old 10-17-10, 03:43 PM
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thank you for the quick response. i am somewhat new to bikes. i've ridden them all of my life, but just recently got into working on them myself and just got my first road bike of someone. not sure what it is. i have some pics i would like to post up to see if anyone could identify it. as far as the derailleur, ill post some pics so you can see what i have. not sure which one i would need. i would want something quality. not cheesy junk. don't wanna spend a ton of money. something in-between. for now I might just stay with what i got till i get some money. no money right now if you know what i mean. is this considered a 10 speed?
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Old 10-17-10, 06:29 PM
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Yeah, it's a 10 speed. Got some rust on chainring bolts, brakes and seatpost bolts -- both the frame looks fine provided the inside of the tubes are rust free.

Just go into a bike shop and ask for a cheap, replacment derailleur for a friction-shifting old 10 speed....and that you don't have the derailleur mount attached to the frame -- you'll need a derailleur with it's own claw, like your old on there. Most shops carry extremely cheap, but functional derailleurs for exactly this situation. We used to sell some old simplex ones the shop had bought like 200 of for about $5.

All you'd have to do is clamp it onto your bike, put a chain on, install the cables housing from your downtube shifters to the derailleurs, and adjust the derailleur.

None of this is hard, but it might be confusing if you've never done it. A shop will certainly do it, and it might be worthwhile to have them do it and just watch how they work. Otherwise, find a friend who knows how and save some $.

Try a search on Sheldon Brown's website for derailleur adjustment, or the Park Tools website -- which covers all of this.

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/derailer-adjustment.html

https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-...owto.asp?id=25


HTH
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Old 10-17-10, 09:27 PM
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thanks. im going to try to make the simplex one work for now. as far as tires, are these continental ultra gatorskin worth the money? i need something for urban riding, and frequently riding fast. i've ordered some cinelli cork gel tape. hopefully that is good. i bought some park tools to remove the cranks and bottom bracket so i can grease it all up. same with the campagnolo record hubs. bought the cone wrenches and going to grease the bearings up. on harris website i see they recommend a SRAM PC-870 (Formerly "PC-58") CH1030 $21.95 chain. is this the correct one? am i going to need the park tool cable cutter to redo my brake and shifter lines? which tool is best? the park one looks nice.

also, i am missing the rear quick release. i found some dt swiss rws mtb steel ones on ebay. they would work correct? i dont see any diff between the mtb and road ones other than asthetics. either the dt swiss or i need to find a matching campagnolo rear quick release which they seem to go pretty high. here is a link to the dt swiss QR's on ebay. will these work? the lengths look right.
https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ht_1387wt_1141

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Old 10-18-10, 12:44 AM
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5 spd hub likely to be 126mm, so the MTB skewers will have close to a cm longer than necessary thread
protruding. Also seems a bit incongrous to put $50 skewers on a $20 bike. As to the wheels check
to see if 27" and if so whether steel or aluminum and whether 'hook bead' or not. If NOT hook bead
they will need to be changed to hook bead rims. Tires for non hook bead rims are very hard to find
and easy to blow off the rims. Shimano rear skewers are in the $12-15 range. PC 58 is an 8spd
chain and will work but you really should use a 5-6 spd chain. Ultra Gatorskins are nice tires, with
the proviso about the rim. If unsure about the rim consult the LBS wrench.
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Old 10-18-10, 12:46 AM
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how do you know it is a $20 bike?
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Old 10-18-10, 12:49 AM
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on harriscyclery website, sheldon claims the newer hook type tire will work on a non hook rim. just cant be filled with same amount of pressure.
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Old 10-18-10, 12:58 AM
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Originally Posted by sch
5 spd hub likely to be 126mm, so the MTB skewers will have close to a cm longer than necessary thread
protruding. Also seems a bit incongrous to put $50 skewers on a $20 bike. As to the wheels check
to see if 27" and if so whether steel or aluminum and whether 'hook bead' or not. If NOT hook bead
they will need to be changed to hook bead rims. Tires for non hook bead rims are very hard to find
and easy to blow off the rims. Shimano rear skewers are in the $12-15 range. PC 58 is an 8spd
chain and will work but you really should use a 5-6 spd chain. Ultra Gatorskins are nice tires, with
the proviso about the rim. If unsure about the rim consult the LBS wrench.
who is LBS wrench?
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Old 10-18-10, 02:12 AM
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LBS = local bike shop
Wrench = mechanic

It might not be worth $20, but what they mean is that it's not something that's worth putting a lot of $ into unless the bike is sentimental or something.

If you use the simplex, you'll have to find a spare jockey wheel somewhere...which may cost you nothing, or maybe a couple of bucks or something. Even the better Simplex derailleurs of the day don't shift nearly as well as a super-cheap modern one -- so it's a false economy to try to save $5 by reusing it when you can just throw a new one on there--I probably wouldn't replace a jockey wheel on a derailleur unless it was on an extremely nice one (with sealed bearings) but it's up to you.
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Old 10-18-10, 11:42 AM
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You should post this in Classic & Vintage.
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Old 10-18-10, 01:38 PM
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As already asked in the first reply is this going to be a daily rider or are you trying to do a restoration on the cheap? Given that you say you don't have much money I'm guessing that you're looking at it as a cheap daily use bike project.

OK, the paint has been sanded, stripped or blasted off. But from the looks of the lugs and components this was not some bottom of the barrel bike in it's day. The hubs are actually of good quality and will rebuild nicely if the cups and cones are not corroded or worn. Same with the cranks and BB. So first thing to do with those is to get them apart, clean away the dried out old grease and see if they are useable. The white corrosion on the hubs will be tough to remove but with some patience and some different wire brushes you should be able to clean them up through the spokes and get a nice looking brushed aluminium look. The oil hole cap is rusted badly but if you can sand it clean of corrosion and then blue it with some touch up gun bluing it should come back OK. If they are too badly pitted then toss them, seal the oil holes up with a small dab of silicon sealant. You'll be using grease in the bearings anyway so the caps would have only been for looks anyhow.

The frame will need to be finished with something to protect the steel from rust. Good quality rattle can paint is the least expensive option. Engine block enamel is tough once it has been aged for a while and is even tougher if you can sit the frame in a big cardboard box with a couple of 100 watt incandescent bulbs overnight to act as an "oven". Just keep checking to make sure it doesn't go up over about 150F. If you can't find a suitable box then stacked up sheets of plywood or foam insulation plastic would work as an "oven" as well.

Now to the derailleur issue. As you're finding out the old Simplex stuff is hard to find and frankly unless you want to stick with friction downtube shifters you'll get a lot more functionality out of getting some new lower end components. I'd also suggest going with a new 6 speed freewheel to replace the old 5 speed unit which is likely quite rough turning and is obviously quite rusty. Along with this you can look at the idea of moving the shifters up to the bars and go with some friction or 6 speed indexing bar end shifters commonly called barcons. For the rear derailleur there are some basic Shimano Tourney derailleurs that would be a big step up in funtionality from the Simplex. Or if you want to go a little higher up the scale then you'd need a bolt on hanger to slip into the semi horizontal drop out slot first. This hanger would allow mounting any sort of derailleur on the bike. The hanger should come with a spacer for the other side as well so the axle seats square without a lot of fussing.

How much should you spend on this project? Likely not a lot. Also if it turns out that the hubs and BB are toast due to rust then all you have is at best a $20 to $30 frame and fork to sell if they are not badly rusted inside the tubes. If they are badly rusted then the whole affair is a total loss. The frame MAY have been worth more if it was possible to verify that it was some old collectable. But with all the paint gone at this point you would have a rough time proving that it's worth more to anyone.
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Old 10-18-10, 06:42 PM
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As a bit of a side comment, if you have trouble finding an inexpensive Simplex RD on eBay, you could always move to a similar-vintage (or just a bit more recent) Suntour RD. (Also meant for 10-speeds (i.e. 5-cog freewheel), with friction-type down-tube shifters, or the similar stem shifters.)

Just as an example, Raleigh Grand Prix models used Simplex derailleurs in the mid-70's, but by the late 70's had changed over to Suntour.

My impression is that there is more old Suntour stuff out there, than Simplex. Plus, being all metal, they are (in my opinion) a bit more rugged.

I don't know what kind of bike you have, but Raleigh tended to have their own name put on derailleurs, but they were made by Suntour. Most other bike brands just used the stock Suntour-badged products.

As a fer-instance, here is a page showing Suntour RDs from their 1980 catalog - it gives weights, and other data for the various models. And gives you an idea as to the relative pecking order of old Suntour models that you might see on eBay.

https://www.yellowjersey.org/stour80a.html

(I happened to have this because I have an old 1980 Raleigh, and was looking for NOS Suntour down-tube shifters to replace the stem shifters that came on the bike.)

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Old 10-18-10, 07:02 PM
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+1 I am a big fan of Suntour, anything Vx or higher. I picked up a pair of Vx derailleurs, including cable clamps, for 99 cents plus $5 shipping on ebay a month or two ago.
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