capnjonny 

Thought I would post some pics of the Atala that I rescued recently . It is the latest in my "Hipster" series.

Currently working on a Motobecane Mirage .

1988 Atala Corsa Special Frame

Tubing “Tretubi Aeile “ Columbus tubing

Micro cast fork head

Gipiemme Forged drop outs with adjusting screws

Frame weight (including Drive side bottom bracket cup and upper and lower steer tube bearing races

4.8 lbs (2.205 kg)

Fork weight 1.67 lbs (.720 kg)

All up weight as completed 23.72 lbs.

Serial no. (on bottom bracket ) 88 AO – 9

Paint Rustoleum Sunrise Red enamel ( no clear coat)

Original shows painted forks and fork head.



Equipment

Campi Head set and bottom bracket

Mavic Open Pro 4 CD rims w/ Mavic 501 hubs and Skewers

Vitoria 25-622 (700 x 25 c) randoneer tires

Bontrager bars with Dia Comp levers

Shimano 8 speed trigger shifter

Shimano Tiagra dual pivot brakes

Sachs New Success cranks w/ single 40 tooth chain ring

Shimano Exage 400 lx rear derailleur

Stainless chain

Sunrace 8 cog 13-32 tooth freewheel

SR seat post

New seat.

DQRider 

I've been wrenching feverishly on this Sequoia frameset that I bought, along with a few bits and bobs, off a local fellow on Craigslist. I call this Mk.I because it is just the ride-test prototype of my first 650b build.



The ride is as nice as I've read and heard; indeed fatter tires are necessary on our deteriorating roads these days. Potholes and cracks everywhere make riding a roadbike with 100+psi skinny tires murder!



For this build, I pirated the 6-speed Deore drivetrain from my $25 Rockhopper Comp, and paired it with the beautiful Sugino triple-crank I bought with the frameset. I have heard that this frame was built for Specialized by Miyata - can anyone here confirm that? It really is a beautiful piece; elegant and strong.



I rode it around Harriet Island this morning and put it through the usual maneuvers I use to test a new bike. Since we are logging weight here now, this build weighs 27.4 lbs as you see it in these photos. Unfortunately, it is going to get about six more pounds of touring gear: fenders, rack, and bags, before I will consider it complete. It has been my experience that you cannot build a ready-to-ride touring bike and keep it under 30 lbs.



I'll be working on this all weekend, and hopefully I can commute on it Monday. I'll post more pics soon...

.

gomango

j.mic.alt

Not really vintage, with the exception of the NOS Suntour front and rear derailleurs, but I did just finish wrenching on it.

jimmuller 

It sure looks vintage enough to me. Non-aero brake levers, lugged frame w/horizontal TT, non-weirdo-shape bar, classic stem, silver components, TA-style crank, toe clips & straps, metal bottle holders, high-flange alloy hubs, 32-spoke wheels w/ alloy rims.

Bianchi84

Way back when, I got my Schwinn Factory Mechanic training (a week in Cranbury, NJ). Part of the training was disassembling SA 3sp hubs, putting all parts in a metal bin, have instructor shake up bin to ensure no "strategically- arranged" groupings of parts, then re-assemble. That was before it became more cost-effective for most customers to buy a new 3sp wheel than to pay someone to rebuild their hub. I still have my Schwinn Mechanic's card and Patches. Where does the time go?...

DQRider 

Thanks, gomango. French Alps, eh? Very nice. Is it everything you hoped it would be? We have family in France, and it's definitely on my list for future travel. Someday...

So I finished this build last night, and took it out around Saint Paul today. No long rides for me right now, too much family stuff going on. But I did manage to get a few nice photos. At this point, it's hard not to duplicate some of the settings and angles from older photos. I need to get out farther afield, but it seems like whenever I make plans for a weekend ride, the weather turns sour on us. Maybe I'll have to play hooky from work again, the next time the forecast calls for a sunny day.

Okay, so here's my first full-on touring bike build:











Here's a shot that shows just how high the river is running right now. I've taken many shots from the quay at the bottom of those stairs. That's completely submerged now.



The barges are riding higher than I've ever seen them.



I just noticed that all my shots today were from the drive side. Yes, I know that's what most of you prefer, but I usually try to mix things up a bit. I'll have to do that when I post to the "Where Did You Ride Today" thread later this week.

.

SJX426 

Spending time on the Pinarello. Since purchase, it has longed for a try at Campagnolo equipment. It is part way there now with RD, Monoplanar, and ergos. Modifications include respacing the DA 8V cassette with accompanied axle alignment. All the cables are installed so it can go for a short cruise., almost.

The interesting discovery was chain length. Way too long with the Campy RD. Found a chain in the stash for modification. Wheel needs dishing prior to the ride. Tried the Campagnolo crank but it didn't like being on the DA BB. There may be a Campagnolo BB hiding in a box. Test ride first.

gomango

Great trip so far.

Even better, the boys are holding down the fort at home, with Oma ''s strong support. No issues.

Favorites so far include Annecy, Chamonix,, Morzine, Vailly and Lullin where we are staying.

Mainly mtb's. Pics later.

FWIW Looking at two interesting 650bs in the morning.

noglider 

Not what I'm wrenching on currently but what I will wrench on soon:

I took a ride with my wife yesterday, and my rear derailleur shifted beyond first (largest) cog and spun in the space between cog and spokes. Hmm, the last time that happened on this bike, it turned out the rear axle had broken. Then as the ride progressed, the wheel made all the horrible grinding noises it made when the axle broke. So I'm sure I have another broken axle. I build these wheels 35 years ago, and I've gotten my money's worth out of them. The rear rim has a flat spot which I can feel when I ride on very smooth pavement.

I've collected everything I need (unless I've forgotten something) to replace the wheels, handlebars, shifters, and drivetrain on this bike (my 1971 Raleigh Super Course), and I've been putting off the work. Now it's time to do it. I won't be back upstate for a couple of weeks, and I'll get started as soon as I can.

noglider 

Another current project is my tandem, a 2002 Burley Zydeco. I bought a shifter, cassette, and derailleur to convert it from 7-speed to 11-speed. The cassette won't fit on the hub, so the LBS ordered a new hub for me. The owner thinks I'll need shorter spokes, but I'll try reusing the ones I have first. This is a shop in New Paltz, NY.

Oddly, the shop in Rosendale, NY doesn't sell tools. That's weird to me. I wanted to buy a cassette extractor. Do they really not get any call for stuff like that, or do they think it cuts into their business. If the latter, I think they're mistaken.

RiddleOfSteel

My Miyata 1000 (official rain and winter bike) has been going through component changes. I experimented with a 52/42/28T first generation Biopace chainring set, including multiple reverse-from-normal clockings. Biopace really feels good when you're out of the saddle and mashing it at low cadence. In light cruising, I feel like my feet are slipping off a cliff on every pedal stroke. My knees were not super fans of that. I've been working on spinning at a higher cadence as well as being even smoother. My knees are, uh, suggesting I do so. The stretching helps, too.

Anyway, so it's back to round rings. The only Campy stuff on it now is the wheelset and 9-speed 13-28T cassette. Shifters are Suntour Accushift Plus critters set to friction. DA 7703 triple FD and a new-era Shimano XT RD that looks a bit bizarre on the bike. The Veloce long cage RD that it replaced, shifted much smoother and more nicely. Dang it!

At least I got the handlebar situation sorted. Nitto+Soma Hwy 1 ---> Cinelli+66-series ---> Cinelli+64-series. Tektro R200 levers. Position, angle, reach in the drops, and saddle to lever reach are all as desired and it is good!

Next up is to get a matching 39T chainring for the crankset. It's currently 53/42/28, with the 28 being a Biopace because I didn't want to take the crank arm off. A 39T will allow me to mount the FD lower due to its inner plate profile (running into the 42T ring).

Looking at my fleet, given my espousal of stem conversions to use with modern compact-profile bars...only two out of eight possible are doing so, and one of those is a Nitto Technomic stem to Soma Highway 1 bars. I can tell you that the 1000 does look "right" with classic bars, as do the others. It's raining tomorrow, so I'll see how everything fares!

ryansu

Getting closer to completing the Moto_GT rebuild

Jon T

Replaced all 3 chainrings on my (bought it new) '84 Peugot PH10. It was only a dual when I bought it but I needed a lower end than it came with. Changed from 32-42-52 (bio pace rings-YUK) to 26-42-50 round rings.
Jon

noglider 

I noticed on the way home on Friday night, both of my dynamo lights were not working. I couldn't figure out what was wrong. Today I looked at it. I should have started with the easy things, as I took some connectors apart and cleaned some contacts, but it turned out that the problem was the light was switched off. How did it get switched off? I never touch the switch and had forgotten that it existed. Either I knocked the switch when I lashed a bag onto the rack, or someone saw my lights on with my bike parked in the rack and did me a "favor" by turning them off. Lesson learned, I guess. Oh well, I ended up cleaning the bike a little, so that's good.

janthenat

rocks in head 

about 3/4 of my way through this Montgomery Ward 5-speed (open road?). I've yet to do the bottom bracket and front wheel bearings. Not going to dis-assemble the derailleur. Things tend to explode when I work on a project, and layer up, just trying to explain away that background.

DQRider 

I've been working on a Raleigh/Carlton Super Course that I picked up off Craigs List a few months ago. Here's what I started with:



The fork after soda-blasting:



And here is how it looks this morning, after a rattle-can Rust-Oleum paint job, and lots of rubbing and polishing compound:



Yes, I know the decals are not correct. I bought what I liked and put them where I thought they would look best... so sue me. Another view:



This is not done by any means. But since I had it out for test/adjustment rides this morning, I thought I would snap a couple photos. It still needs a chainguard and proper cable clips - I'm just using zip-ties right now. The fenders are compound-curve bamboo from Woody's Fenders in Bend, Oregon. The canvas saddle bag is only there to carry a few tools and a flat-kit; I will be using a proper leather piece on the finished project.

.

capnjonny 

Here is the latest in my "Hipster" series.


It is a Motobecane Mirage, probably early 80's that was set up as a single speed and looking for love.


I have been wanting to try to paint a bike a metallic color and this was my first attempt. I used Rustoleum blue and silver metallic spray can enamel with a Rustoleum clear enamel overcoat.


I stripped the paint with jabsco stripper then sand blasted it to get rid of all the pint in nooks and crannies and all the rusty bits,then sprayed with Rustoleum primer and the above paint.


Actually , the paint went on better than I expected. One mistake I made was when I sprayed the silver on first I sprayed more than would eventually show. Then when I masked and sprayed the Blue the places where there was silver under it were slightly lighter. Probably only I would notice but next time I might spray the entire bike silver then over spray the blue. Or maybe not.

Another thing is that the metal flakes in the paint were bigger than I expected. It is almost a metal flake paint . still looks good but I would have preferred a more normal metallic finish.

After spraying the metalis the paint had a slightly rough texture, as if the flakes were sticking out of the paint. I was afraid to sand at this stage so just clear coated over the color. When finished it came out pretty smooth.

Any time you paint a bike you have to be very careful to avoid overspray and runs. I spray the lugs and bottom bracket first , then the stays, and finally the main tubes . I start with the frame upside down supported by a stick up the seat tube clamped to a large Jorgesen Clamp resting on the bench . Then I turn it over right side up and clamp the bottom bracket shell with the clamp and spray the top and sides. That way any runs are likely to be on the bottom of the frame and won't show.


For this build I used wide rims with 700 x 35 tires , a 7 speed freewheel , and single chain ring up front. I had a set of MAFAC RAcer brakes already polished and detailed which I used because they have a wide range of reach and because they are French (of course)

two unusual pieces are the MKS CT LITE pedals and the seat post. I have never seen either of those anywhere before.


All in all I think it turned out pretty nice. On Saturday I will take it in to the Bike Exchange where we will sell it to support our non profit.

jamesdak 

Not at all one of my usual old steel bikes. This was my winter ride. Just cleaned it up and such to give to my son to be used as attended. The old studded snow tires I had on it had plenty of tread but also were cracked on the sides. Plastic fenders falling apart too from the winter chemicals. Hopefully the bike will stay together long enough for him catch the fever and grab a real M.B.

noglider 

@DQRider, another good piece of work! How do you like it?

@capnjohnny, you too. I think you need to dish your rear wheel.

I thought I had broken the rear axle on my Super Course a couple of weeks ago. It turns out instead that the freewheel had come apart. Time to start the rebuild of this bike.

Kdogbikes

SJX426 

Continuation from #915 . Found a Record BB, sealed, and installed. With everything torqued to spec, the chainring bolts barely graze the chain stay. Going to find a spacer for the BB fixed cup. Looks like Chain line is right. What is interesting is that the spindle sticks out more on the NDS than the DS!

wrk101

ollo_ollo

Began converting one of my Titans from down tube shifters to Centaur Brifters and used the old shift levers and brake levers to finally complete my longest running project:

1985 Motobecane Grand Record, all Columbus SL. Got the bare frame/fork in 2006 right before our move to Oregon. Original paint was in poor shape and hideous even when new, so powder coat that matches my Grand Jubile was a good choice.

Added parts as I found them. Original spec was Campy Triomphe, 20.5 pounds with sew-ups. My build, with better, mostly NOS parts is 21 pounds with clinchers. Don