RiddleOfSteel

I'll have to post a build thread of it, but I completed my full-boat refurbishing of my '81 Trek 710. She is a beautiful bike and is such a sweet ride. The combination of 600 Arabesque RD geometry (aka not slant parallelogram) and 7-speed, Hyperglide-toothed cassette make for fidgety--or just over-eager--shifting. I'm learning the ways of this particular setup in its nearly 40-year-old condition.

Did some sleuthing to tame the noises caused by the fenders I mounted to my '74 Paramount. Yes, it is now a rain/winter bike! I have grown weary of canti brakes. Limited braking power combined with insane noise levels have killed it (mostly) for me--and I set things up well, with Kool Stops. I like the fender clearance and I love the classiness, aesthetic, and visual statement of status-in-the-lineup that cantis communicate. Seattle, and really, the city environment combined with steep hills and skittery traffic, is pretty hostile to safe operation of less-than-razor-sharp bike setups. I could ride at a sloth-like pace, and then could use almost anything, but if one is to get about with a modicum of efficiency, it is best to bring a gun to a gun fight. Machined brake tracks, Kool Stop pads, good levers, cables and housings, and a very eager pair of dual pivot side-pull calipers means that I have enthusiastic braking with out vibration, noise, or power limits. Plus it looks really sharp.

Wildwood

randyjawa 

For the past two days, I have been helping my son clean up and refurbish his Empire Professional...

noglider 

@randyjawa, is that Empire a Panasonic? It looks a lot like the Japanese-made Schwinns.

cog_nate 

Schwinn Project KOM:


I bought this as a whole bike a long time ago and stripped the parts for another project. Farted around w/rebuilding it (the Suntour stuff on it now), then dropped it. Decided to start building it back up for a friend of mine, with lesser-but-still-capable parts. The Suntour cranks and rear derailleur are coming off pretty soon. Also, it had a kinda bulky-lookint chromed fork that I thought was too crude for a Tange Prestige frame, so I painted a Nishiki Ariel fork (got for cheap at a swap meet) red and mounted it. I don't much care for the straight fork asthetic, but it fits material-wise. Most of the components are coming off of a Sierra. It'll be a fine rider.

ryansu

The Cresta got bar tape, bottle cages, a rear rack and a new IRD 6 speed FW today


IMG_4142 by Ryan Surface, on Flickr

Sir_Name 

I finally finished the wheels on this one... The tires are a temporary swap from another bike to figure out the target width -- It looks like 30mm will be the max, should suit this well.

capnjonny 

This week I have been working on a 1982 Miyata 1200 I brought home from the Bike Exchange. I am almost through with the Metallic blue Custom framed Sport tourer. I am having some fit problems with the wheels and seem to have the chain ring bolts improperly installed causing rubbing between the 26 tooth chain ring and the 36 next to it so I put that aside temporarily while I worked on the Miyata.

This bike is a twin of the bike pictured in the 1962 catalogue. From everything I have read and seen it is a sweet machine. The paint is a gold metal flake and considering it's age is in pretty good condition. It came with good components including Suntour Superb forged dropouts. This encouraged me to try and guild the lilly a bit. I changed out the stock Dia comp brakes and levers with Superb . I also swapped out the original superbe pro rear der. for a straight superb and the Cyclone front der for a superbe so all now match. it is getting Mavic ma 2 rims with Shimano RX100 hubs. To round out the upgrades I have Cinelli bars, Nito stem and New saddle. When I get them ready I will take some pictures for you guys.

natterberry 

merziac

Lately, leading up to last Saturday was getting the gearing on the big Merz where it would get me up and down the big hills at Crater Lake, with 3500 ft. of climbing. The other time I did this I had to walk the last 1/2 mi. of the big hill, didn't imagine that would change this time. Thanks to @Dfrost and the 24t granny ring for the front, a 53t big ring and my desperation in substituting the Ultegra hubbed wheel with 11-36 to go with the Campy 9 speed running gear, it went well. While it wasn't perfect, it worked very well after several compromise adjustments and shakedown rides. Thanks also to a couple of threads here that alluded to this success as I wasn't sure if it would work having minimal integrated Campy experience and pushing limits as well.

And no walking this time.

randyjawa 

Managed to go through my newest but unwanted acquisition, an early Quintanni Roo. Wanted to test it yesterday, but extremely high winds made doing so dangerous. Trees bending to absurd angles. Branches flying through the air. And coolness unappreciated. Turn up the TV and take a break. Oops, can't do that either - lost electrical power due to high winds and trees falling on hydro lines...

verktyg 

First was a 1979 Bertin C132 Cyclotouriste that I overhauled and updated in August. This was a bike that we imported. It was a mid range touring model. We spec'd out butted Vitus 172 tubing, a TA Cyclotouriste crank with 50-40T chainrings, Ideal 80 saddle, Simplex SX410 RD, low flange clinchers and so on. A previous owner swapped out the original wheels for a set with LF Avocet hubs and Super Champion Gentleman rims.

I found it in the SF Bay Area in 2008, put on new Pasela 700cx28 tires, tubes plus a tune up. I only rode it a few times because it was a 54cm and I've been riding 55-56cm bikes. My doctor had only ridden MTBs and asked me to find him a road bike. He's taken real good care of me since 1995 so I fixed it up and gave it to him. Now I have a new ridding buddy.

How it looked when I bought it in 2008.



I replaced the 40T small chain ring with a 36T, put on a NOS 13-32T 6 speed FW, replaced the Simplex derailleurs with Shimano - Deore in the rear, 600 in the front and 6 speed SIS levers, new chain, IRC badged Tektro dual pivot brakes, an SR Laprade seat post, a WTB Pure saddle and so on. He's overjoyed to be out on the road for the first time.






Next, I've been fine tuning this 1971 Raleigh Competition that I bought as a beater for gravel crunching last spring. It's a surprisingly nice riding and handling bike. I've been riding it during most of the spring and summer. My only rust bucket. Most recent project was overhauling the Raleigh badged Suntour VKX RD. The bike started making noises while pedaling. Traced it down to a worn top pulley, a chain with mixed brand links and some crud in the freewheel.

eBay picture




Lastly, I bought this 1983 Peugeot PSV frame with cranks, brake calipers and a FD in 2010. From time to time I did a little work on it. In July I decided it was time to finish it.

Before



I replaced the plastic Stronglight B10 headset with one of the newer sealed cartridge bearing A9 models. The BB was crunchy. When I pulled it I found that it had a Swiss LH thread fixed cup. It was a cheap Peugeot branded BB and totally worn out. Fortunately I had some mismarked NOS Stronglight Swiss thread fixed cups so I put in a NOS Stronglight BB.

Next was fitting Simplex Retrofriction levers to the brazed on Simplex lever bosses with old M5x1.0 bâtard French threads. Ended up using 10-24 stainless button head cap screws with Loctite.

I had most of the OEM spec'd components including a Peugeot badged Simplex SX410 RD and a set of 700c Mavic Module-E wheels with low flange Normandy Luxe Competition hubs so it's almost all original components.

I first mounted 700c x 25 Pasela TG tires. I've been riding those since 2006 and have them on a bunch of bikes. They discontinued the Tourguard version and replaced them with the Pasela Pro-Tite tires. The news ones supposedly have a stronger aramid belt under the tread but they're stiffer riding because they changed the sidewalls for "better cornering". I suspect that this last set of Pasela TGs had the same Pro-Tite technology. Anyway even after 50+ miles the ride was nowhere as smooth as the old Pasela TGs. With a light weight Super Vitus 980 frame, I was expecting the bike to ride like a pillow!

Not to be dissuaded, I had a set of Continental 700cx25 Grand Prix Classic tires I bought a few years ago and this was the perfect test. The ride and handling improved right out of the gate. I started off with the tires pumped to the recommended 120 PSI. Even at that pressure, the Contis rode smoother than the Paselas. At 90 PSI the ride, the grip and handling is so pleasant that I just bought another set.

Finished project.





verktyg

DQRider 

Well, now I've done it. I've gone out and bought a bike just because it looks so cool. And because of the headbadge. And I probably paid too much. *sigh*

But she shore is perty!

Here's the photo that caught my attention:



That Lauterwasser `bar had to go immediately. The handling was atrocious! So I used one of my upside-down porteur bars with a pair of Brooks Plump Leather Grips from the parts bin.

In order to bring the price down to reasonable range, I let the seller keep his saddle, because I had a better one waiting for it at home. (Mine has the copper rivets.)

Then I carefully removed those counterfeit graphics from the top-tube. This bike is not a Guv'Nor - It is an early `70s Pashley Roadster turned into a Path Racer. So it has the regular frame tubing rather than the 531 used on the Guv'Nor.

And you can tell riding it... even all stripped down this thing still weighs near-as-makes-no-difference 30 pounds (29.8).

But look at her now:





She's not done, of course, or I wouldn't be writing about her in this thread. She will eventually get a Sturmey-Archer internal-gear hub; maybe an AW with a quadrant shifter on the top-tube. But for now the X-RD will have to suffice. And she earns her sobriquet every time we climb a hill of any length. She needs gears...

So for today she will be my `round-the-hood cruiser and ice cream getter. I don't foresee rides of any real distance on this bike. But I will take her to cool places on the back of the car just to shoot some evocative photographs.

And the Journey begins... Here's one last shot by the lake:



.

Cl904

Dave Cutter

I repacked the wheel bearings in my daily rider... when I noticed a slight jiggle of the front wheel. Finding some imperfections (wear) in the cones... made me decide To just have the wheels rebuilt. I got a new BB cartridge too. Then decided I should just go ahead and replace the cassette and chain (instead of waiting till the planned off-season). Now... I realize... I should at lease repack the headset bearings.

Meanwhile.... I traded for a new/old cad2. It's in great shape. It would almost be too easy to go-over-it and hang it on my wall. I am thinking of updates like converting it over to a thread-less fork (maybe carbon), and modern stem.

Johno59

Road this old girl back home. Amazing after 112 years everything still works.

A little oil bottle slides into the opening on the front of the 'hangman' seat post. It doesn't have the puncture repair kit inside the handle bar grips but I'm not sure that was an option in 1906


Just above the chain on the chain ring you can see the integrated fixture that feeds the gear cable into the BB to shift the epicyclic gearbox between the two speed direct drives. I intend to lace a 3 speed hub on the rear which was an option as early as 1903 to make it a six-speed.
I

noglider 

Wow!

JWilde16

Adding aluminum fenders to the Sequoia, trying to identify a 3-speed townie I just found, and cleaning 2 frames for a winter flip-flop build.

RiddleOfSteel

I've been wrenching away, as always, on something. Current projects go something like:

1) 1981 Trek 710/716 is complete. I will swap the 80mm SR stem for its identical twin-yet-20mm-longer as the frame plus the short stem (on the bike when I got it, and original spec'd stem--shorter unit likely installed at original sale) as it is a touch cramped. Otherwise, this full double-butted 531 bike is a beautifully riding, refurbished (slightly 'enhanced') original. I've been holding out on everyone with regard to documentation and pictures. Soon!

2) 1982/3 Guerciotti Super Record is being built up again, and is only missing a non-drive-side Italian threaded BB cup from a 102mm 10-speed era Campagnolo Chorus (or Record) bottom bracket. So close!! The bike is devastatingly gorgeous with its Merlot metallic paint and black secondary components (stem, bars, seat post, rims/wheels) that let the polished 10-speed Chorus pieces just pop and glow in contrast. The polished Chorus crankset is the centerpiece and is naturally not installed, and that is killing me! Lol.

3) 1974 Paramount P15-9 is now my rain/winter bike with fenders installed, now 10-speed bar-end shifter-equipped, with a newer 6600-era Ultegra long cage rear derailleur covering, hilariously, an 11-36T cassette. The indexed bar-end shifters are legit and their operation is easy and flawless. I also don't bash my knees into them accidentally, which was a concern of mine. This bike is the pinnacle of "point yourself at the horizon and keep pedaling until you get there." Phenomenal bike.

4) Bike Works, our local non-profit bike shop, had its second of two annual Warehouse Sales, and this incomplete 1980 Trek 412 frame in very dark steel blue-grey was hanging on the frameset hooks (had seatpost, saddle, crankset, BB, FD, DT shifters, stem, bars, and brake levers). The graphics, including the Ishiwata 022 sticker, are in great shape, even if the paint has bubbling in a number of areas (bummer). I had been eyeing it for months and once I found out that all the unsold frames would be going to elsewhere (Africa, mainly, and the guys that pick up a TON of unsold frames and components from BW at the end of every Warehouse Sale have been partnering with us for a long time) that didn't include "back into the shop," I picked it up. Ishiwata 022, with its Columbus SL-mimicking specs, is oddly the "lowest-end" ranking bike in the fleet, but imperfections and some rust dust (now that I've disassembled it) aren't deterring me from cleaning and waxing the still-glossy paint. Plus, I finally get a sweet Ishiwata-tubed Trek! Will need a build thread on that as well. I have many of the components spec'd for it already.

ollo_ollo

1) Finished Changing my blue Titan over from Down tube levers + old Campy DR to like new Centaur 10 spd Ergo levers + NOS Veloce DR.

Usually I leave bare bars to allow for adjusting lever position and only tape after weeks of riding. This time, thought I knew better & taped the bars after setting levers where they looked right. Had previously put the maroon B17 on another bike, so used my co-op saddle. A $5, no-name Italian that was a blend of Concor & Turbo.

Set the limit screws then had problems with the rear DR sticking on some shifts, so I generously lubed everywhere, clicking up & down with no improvement. Finally realized the cables were dragging where BB rested on my Craptastic Minoura workstand! Took it out for a shake down ride & shifting was flawless! To bad the lever position didn''t feel right & Saddle's not a good match for my sitzbuns. Need to move the levers s smidge, re-tape and liberate a Brooks off another bike.


2) Meanwhile, putting fenders on a few bikes beginning with some old Honjo's on my Grand Jubile Mixte and swapping its battered B66 for the nice one on my Raleigh Superbe. Sorry old chap, but this pretty lady deserves the good one. Don

ryansu

I was sorry to miss the Warehouse sale on Sunday although I don't really need another project I like to browse, I was in PDX doing the last Sunday Parkways ride of the season. Congrats on your 412 score

2cam16

Wrenched more on this today. Wrapped the bars, Kalloy seatpost and Turbo saddle in. Also a bit of Panasonic bling on the bars.
Just need to look for mid-reach calipers and it will be roadworthy.

IMG_5474 by 2cam16, on Flickr

IMG_5475 by 2cam16, on Flickr

jeffreythree

Bringing my Trek 920 back from the dead as a single speed for now, and finally got the chain line right on a trip to the park. 24 year old GripShift is just not my thing, as well as Trek's idea of a rear brake on this bike (V-brakes right now).

TiHabanero

Brazed a frame for my daughter. Commuter/tourer, fits 32c tires with fenders. Everything old school for the sake of reliability and low maintenance. She is moving out of the house to another state and needs something that can be neglected for a long time without giving her problems. Using Weinmann center pulls so she can center the brakes without tools, Suntour rear. Old Deore crank, UN51 BB, Suntour barcons. The only things newish are the XT front der and wheels/cassette. They are take off from a 2007 Giant OCR so she gets better axle support and any shop in a big city will know how to work on it.
Thought about Panaracer skin walls for that old school look, however choose Conti City Ride tires for the superb durability and puncture resistance. Haven't had any flats with mine since I put them on 4 years ago.

Of course it is pink.

jimmuller 

Strung up a 120mm rear wheel.