Mr. 66

michael k

Dang, I felt I was going overboard by giving in to the frayed cable gods and purchasing new shifter cables. For what they charged I did ask if they pulled them from the box of Gold plated cables. :O
Re-assembled for now as it was taking over the kitchen. Aired up the tires and they hold air!
current total,
29.99 bike
10.00 cables
8.00 Full Sail Ale honey wheat
5.00 Cool-stops
38223847_1657490054362337_7079806541490028544_o by K Farm, on Flickr

uncle uncle

If we have to tally what we imbibe... I'm over the C-note threshold already. Or do they not count when self-medicating the loss of knuckle skin, or slicing open your palm on a stray wire of a mangled brake cable? And how about my tetanus shot; does that count?

Murray Missile 

If I figured correctly my final total on the Rallye II is $93.15, I still have a fair bit of riding to do.

I'm going to start on bike 2 this weekend, it really is a "clunker", it was in a pile in their driveway when I went to look at it. I couldn't get the LH shifter working so I'm going to set the derailleur stops to lock it on the middle chain ring for the Challenge unless I find a CHEAP replacement. I ordered one new part, a quill stem extender to get the bars up where I can comfortably ride it but I'm going to use it as a threadless stem adapter with a stem off an old NEXT MTB, I paid $10 for the bike and rebuilt it but with a different stem. I used mostly leftover parts for it too. $5 sound fair for the old stem? I'm pretty sure I can scrounge up everything else from my used parts. So, $20 initial cost for the bike, $15 for used tires and tubes, $14.99 for the stem "adapter" and $5 for a threadless stem so far puts me at $54.99. I will probably have to buy a repair link for the chain too so I can pull it off to soak.

ollo_ollo

Thanks Narhay, I planned to switch them this week end. So, add $8.85 to the $82.00 and it's $90.85 for my Gitane Mixte.

Been enjoying my Clunkers, and recently picked up a Specialized Sirrus frame/fork for $25 thinking to start from scratch next year.

Started gathering quality parts though (Brooks Team Pro, Specialized Superbe triple crank, Cinelli stem/bar) at bargain prices. But I can see its going to come in at $150 or $200 even with low cost parts. She's already too fancy for a Clunker and I'm already at $85. Need to find another. Don

Stormy Archer

Hey, would it be acceptable to do this with one of many co ops "build a bike" volunteer program? My local one will let you build up pretty much whatever parts and frames they have if you volunteer for 6 hours. At 15/hour, 6 hours is still under 100$

ollo_ollo

I vote yes! A brilliant, yet reasonable solution that should yield a high end Clunker. Don

ollo_ollo

Skoda Specialissima is looking good! Don

non-fixie 

Thank you! Slowly getting there (may have to ride the 100k on day 99 ):

Murray Missile 

Decided to call this one "Barney" since it's a goofy looking purple dinosaur of a bike. Ordered 2 quick links for 6,7 & 8 speed chains for $5.85/pair so half that gets tacked onto my total investment. Finally got a whole weekend off so I'll get make some progress on riding the Fuji and getting this one running.

Murray Missile 

I wouldn't either if my purple bike looked as nice as yours but it doesn't even come close besides "Bicycle Company of America Citicross" is such a mouthful but if you really stretch it and shuffle some letters you could say Barney is the abbreviation of

Bicycle Company of America.

Pulled the LH shifter apart and have the mechanism soaking in some HD solvent overnight, it looked really good inside but the pawls were seriously gummed up and WD-40 wasn't cutting it.

Update, the morning after....... Pulled the LH shifter out of the cleaner and lubed it profusely with Tri-Flow and it works, put new cables in both shifters so there's another $4.00. I scrounged up some leftover pieces of cable housing that should be long enough. Not sure what to claim for value on it, it's Jagwire LEX and CEX, some is red and some is orange. I didn't have enough left of either color to do a whole bike my size, may not be enough to do this bike, I don't have the bars on yet and I can't tell until I get them on and positioned. The stem adapter was supposed to be here today but it didn't make it.. I cleaned and lubed the chain on the bike but I'll still need that repair link as it has one stuck link and I can't get it freed up. Headset, bottom bracket, freewheel and rear hub all turn free and smooth but the front hub was a little crunchy so I cleaned and greased it. Both rims are dead true which really surprised me considering the condition of the bike, some of the spokes have surface rust, I'll hit 'em with some Scotch Brite and clear finger nail polish on the rusty spots. Panaracers are mounted, brake pads and straddle cables are OK but it will need new brake cables. I also had to add a cable stop for the front brake since I'm switching to a threadless stem and the front stop was built into the stem. I found a rusty old Dia-Compe cable stop I salvaged off a free bike a few years ago. Not sure the seat post is going to be long enough so that may have to be swapped out, It takes a 26mm and the only other 26 I have is shorter than this one.

Mr. 66

Mr. 66

ryansu

thats no clunker! thats a very nice Grand Record!

rustystrings61 

Even with going out of town to see a concert with the family, there were still a few moments to cavort in the workshop. After giving up on the local Tractor Supply ever actually having any Evapo Rust, I paid more at Harbor Freight just to get on with it. Here is the first batch of stuff to go into the bath -



- which turned out pretty well. I kinda munged up the large chainring by trying to polish out the worst area with some Quik Glo, but it's decent and considerably better than it was, so I'll put that in the win column. The transformation of the skewers was breathtaking. I've since done the Lyotard pedals, which look nearly new, and the Christophe clips are still soaking as I write this.

I taped the Weinmann to the rusty Saminox rim and started switching the spokes over. First delightful surprise - the nipples fit my nice Park spoke wrench. Second - the spokes and nipples worked perfectly, like brand-new, and the Weinmann came into line swiftly. By the time I finished it up Sunday evening it was right on the money, straight and true and running smooth and silent, and challenging me to find something to finish stripping the paint off its mate and get the rear wheel completed.



This morning I tore into the bottom bracket. It felt like it had never been serviced, but there were marks on the lockring that say otherwise. I admired the R.G.F. tooling, and while the cups and balls are all okay, the spindle is less than ideal on the drive side. I may live with it, or I may poke around in my parts pile and see if I have a suitable cottered replacement, we'll see where my lawless and mercurial moods take me. The balls (covered in rusty muddy mucky grease) came out in what appear to be Delrin cages, something I hadn't seen before.



After that came the headset, unmarked but probably also an R.G.F. product. It was uneventful, simply enough to clean and de-grease and throw the top bits into the Evapo Rust for the day. I had just enough time to try Andy_K's Evapo Rust wrap trick on the fork, adapted thus - wrap shop towels around fork blades and tape in place, hold fork over the pan and use a scavenged plastic drink bottle somebody dumped into my truck bed as a ladle to soak the towels, then use plastic mover's wrap to encase everything for a day or so. We'll see the results before too much longer!

Here's the before -

And here's the process, so we'll see the results soon!

tiredhands 

It's alive!



I finished putting the Schwinn Varsity back together over the weekend and took it for a 14.8 mile spin. Here's how it went down:

• A strong vinegar solution in an ultrasonic cleaner is pretty effective at removing rust from small parts. And all of the small parts were rusty.
• I had to use all of the original bits except for the wheels. I wanted to swap handlebars, but the Schwinn-Approved drops on here are smaller diameter, so they had to stay in order to keep the original brake levers.
• I also kept the old bearings in the headset and bottom bracket because I'm out of replacements. They are very crunchy.
• I reused the chain, which probably is a bad idea. It was heavily rusted, but after a soak in vinegar and a douse in Tri-Flow it's flexible again.
• The wheelset is newer, but very trashed. The rear axle is bent, rims are impossible to true, and they have hops. Perfect for this challenge.
• Other parts like the tubes, tires, and saddle are from my parts bins. I think they are take-offs, I don't remember where they came from. The Benotto bar tape is reused.
• The only new purchase for this bike is the brake pads, and they are the cheapest pads on Amazon.

The ride is less than inspiring, but it doesn't seem like it's going to explode, like I expected. It creaks, it grinds, it clunks - but it does shift, coast, and stop. What more can you ask of a bike?



The cost run-down:

• Schwinn Varsity - $free (dug out from the bushes in my neighbor's back yard)
• Trashed wheelset - $20 (fair market value)
• Kenda tires and tubes - $15 (fair market value)
• Ritchey saddle - $10 (fair market value)
• Cable housing - $2 (I did use a new length for the front derailleur)
• Brake pads - $8.99

Total: $55.99






The plan was to do a long 100k out-and-back, but I don't trust it to not fall apart 30 miles from home. So I'll do a handful of smaller rides like the initial shakedown.

Mr. 66

ryansu

I am very familiar with Recycled Cycles and Bikeworks but not Sprokets bike I will have to check that out.

non-fixie 

That actually looks pretty good!

non-fixie 

Flushed and re-lubed the freewheel:

rustystrings61 

38223847_1657490054362337_7079806541490028544_o by K Farm, on Flickr[/QUOTE]

Say what you like, but I cannot call this one a clunker. It looks like it's waiting for one of Fausto and Gino's pals to step out of the roadside cafe and mount up.

ryansu

Say what you like, but I cannot call this one a clunker. It looks like it's waiting for one of Fausto and Gino's pals to step out of the roadside cafe and mount up.[/QUOTE]

so shiny!

gilesa

I finished my 100k last weekend with a riverside ride to deliver the bike to its next user.

Picture at www.dropbox.com + /s/zrnc5szjqc2l65n/DSCN1838.jpg?dl=0

Bicycle: £15. That is what I remember, but it was about 20 years ago. It may be an over-estimate, as I recall that a men's Dawes with 531 was only £10 from the same local auction.
Spoke, cut and threaded by LBS, and new spoke nipples: £2.
Inner tube, from a wheel saved from a clunkerish folder that cost £10: £1.
Brake lever, same source: £1.
Brake adjuster, same source: £0.50
Plastic saddle from spares: £4.
Woods valve core, LBS: £0.50.
Cotter pin, rescued from scrap and filed flat: £0.20
Chain joining link, after original dropped out while riding, LBS: £3!
Paint for carrier, from old tin: £1.

That makes £28.20, or about $38.

Murray Missile 

Stem extension came, forgot I was going to need a 1" to 1-1/8" shim for the threadless stem and I'm pretty sure I don't have one. Duh. Rather than buy a shim just for this or use it as an extension ( never been to keen on that ) I have a chrome extra long stem I had purchased for something else a couple years ago that didn't work out but the neck is also shorter so it will move the bars back a couple inches, bar position won't be ideal since it'a an already too small frame. I have a couple sets of steel bar ends salvaged off WalMart bikes I was given, a set of those might help when I need to stretch. This stem also cost $1.96 more so the budget just shrunk a little more. Note to self, if I do this next year find a bike that fits......

coffinjewel

My entry for the clunker challange. A 1970s gaspipe candian made Eaton Glider. It used to belong to my grandmother before it was stored outside for 10+ years. It's unsafe, rusty and a little bit ugly but perfect for this challange. I know the challange is to purchase a bike but I had this frame and had been looking for an excuse to do something with it. I guess we'll see if this can actually make it 100kms