Murray Missile 

Whatever else they may be those old Schwinn's are strong. It wasn't a question of it surviving my 230 lbs. for 100Km, it was a question of me surviving it's 41 lbs. for 100Km but we are both here to tell the tale.
It rides very nicely on rough roads, a good portion of my 100Km last year was ridden on the local gravel roads, but it is no hill climber that's for dang sure! This year's entry will be kept on pavement as much as possible due to the condition of the aging tires but I won't be dreading the hills nearly as much.

rgvg

Can I enter this frame? The problem is I bought it on May 17, 2018. Around a week later I got the blue bike here for free as our neighbor abandoned it in the alley. Then a couple of days after that there was this old mountain bike that was also abandoned on the sidewalk. No picture of that one. The front wheel was bent, the crank bolts were missing, chain ring bolts were missing, and the ends of two crank arms were slightly bent. Brakes were dead. 100 days after May 17 would be around August 25th.

Narhay

You can enter whatever bike you like and have 100 days as of the first post. If you started working on it before then no, but I am ok with you entering whatever.

FBOATSB

Originally, I thought if it fits, I would do a 700c convertion. I don't think the calipers have enough reach though. So I'll give it a go. The way I work, 100 days is an incredibly tight schedule
Here it is after tear down and a quick spit shine with Boeshield and some foil/water on the front socks. The BB and headset seemed usable, so they went back together with fresh grease and a lot more balls than came out.

Seems the poor thing has never been under a roof. Cables and housings had to go as they were rusted tight so that's going to add up maybe ten bucks. I haven't even looked at the wheels yet.

rgvg

Rats. Okay I will see if I can find something else then.

Narhay

I should have clarified. Feel free to enter them unless you have already finished them.

Murray Missile 

OK, just got back from a (not so) quick 2.77 mile evaluation ride. Rotated the bars several degrees to bring the top of the drops level with the ground and moved the saddle back about 1-1/2" and tipped the nose down a couple notches when I got back. HUGE improvement! Think I'm going to have to service the hubs and throw a set of the cheapo brake pads like I used on Big Bird on it. Needs some minor tuning on the derailleurs, possibly replace the rear derailleur cable and I'm keeping my eyes open for some better tires on the cheap to stay on budget. The ones on it hold air and that's about all I can say for them. I also threw a 20 year old NASHBAR handlebar bag on to replace the defunct seat bag. A couple of the smaller hills I used to dread on Big Bird and had to drop several gears I was able to climb without down shifting or getting out of the saddle, That was pretty cool, especially since it was before the bar and saddle adjustments, amazing the difference 15 - 20 pounds can make. When I was on the evaluation ride I was convinced I had made a mistake and this bike had to go as soon as I got my miles in, it handled like crap and felt very unstable. After the adjustments it felt really nice and I think it will be staying, still have some tweaking to do but I'm going to enjoy this year's challenge much more than last year.

rickrob 

That model / color bike was the first road bike I ever bought-- If I remember, it's a 1981. I bought mine in 1982, and I had it until two years ago.

daviddavieboy

Murray Missile 

Nice bike, you clearly have classier dumps where you live LOL. An older Miyata 110 that size passed through my garage several years ago, they definitely scaled them up in later years, mine had lower level components, stem shifters and a painted fork.

non-fixie 

Spent the afternoon watching the 2nd TdF stage, so did not progress beyond cleaning small parts in front of the TV.

Headset:



One brake lever (did the other one after Peter Sagan had crossed the finish line):

leftthread

More chrome is like extra cake frosting.

ryansu

I am 2.5% of the way there, shakedown cruise to the Farmers market today. I gave the Ibex a once over, lubed the seat post and stem, and raised the saddle but that's it; the stem could be a bit longer, rear brake is a bit mushy and the relatively narrow 1.25" front tire makes the handling a bit twitchy a low speeds. The saddle hints at ass hatchetery but I have a old tattered Motobecane saddle ($2?) I could try if becomes an issue.

@Narhay how are we scoring accessories? I swap tail packs and panniers between many bikes (lock, spare tube, multi-tool) , I am counting the rack I added which cost $5.51 at the co-op.


Farmers market by Ryan Surface, on Flickr

leftthread

I ended up selling the Schwinn Sierra entered in Clunker Challenge #3 . Maybe something in road bike this time around.

machinist42

Quote:
Originally Posted by Narhay
If you run out of budget due to the $3 glue you may subtract ir then. I don't think we have had tubulars in this challenge before...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Narhay
I stand corrected.

So, perhaps no one has ridden sew-ups for this challenge?

As I suspected, these old sew-ups have "issues". One won't hold air, and the other does, but the sidewall fabric has decayed. I suspect the same is true with the one which won't inflate at all. I inquired aboot the glue cost because the easy option would be to buy Yellow Jersey's "3 for $50" tubular deal, However, as I've sheared off the RD's cable fixing bolt, and am attempting to drill it and extract it with a reverse helix screw extractor, I'll need to replace that bolt, which will cost me about a dollar. That alone would throw me over budget. Instead, in the spirit of this endeavor, I'll attempt a repair using an @verktyg technique, (his photo):




I can source a silk sheet, or Dacron, or high thread count cotton sheet at a thrift store and reinforce all the sidewalls. The tread of the tires is "as new". Waste not, want not, get glue everywhere?

Then again, I can always scrounge some 630 wheels from the LBS discards. (Naw, Where'd be the fun in that? Doing things the hard way has always come easy for me.)
We shall see?

FBOATSB

Yes, good eye! 1141 on the head badge, steel rims, steel seat pillar is 25.4 mm shimmed out to 26.2 mm, stem is .833", bars are the narrow Sakae "Randnner" which I like.

Today I checked the wheels. Rims flaky chrome but surprisingly almost true. Repacked the hubs with fresh grease and new balls. Took tires apart and leak checked the tubes under water, no visible leaks. Tires? Who knows what's going to happen when they feel pressure after no telling how long.

Murray Missile 

Well, had another casualty, the feed wire for my computer broke where it goes into the base. Guess I'll dig out one of my 20 year old TREK computers tomorrow. I have 5 of them and they all light up so my chances are good for having a functional one. Everybody OK if I claim a $5 value on the replacement? I'll add that on top of the $5 for the 1st one. Got "about" another 2.5 miles tonight. Both derailleurs are a little off but it rides a lot better, the brakes are working better now too so I'll be OK with the pads that are on it. It's turning into a pretty decent riding bike, I'm anxious to see how it rides with some good tires after the Challenge is done.

ollo_ollo

Since I had the wheels off my Gitane for cleaning/preservation, decided I might as well put the alloy fenders on. They're in pretty fair shape, just a few dents needed hammered out. They have the type of stays found on balloon tire bikes, nothing fancy, but with a nice pattern along both edges in a butterfly motif. So Gitane Clunker: Bike $45 + Pryma Saddle $30 + Fenders $10 = $85

The tires look fine. They're labeled "Inflate to 75 Pounds", but I decided to go with 60.

Bike rolls right along & has a nice, smooth ride. Shift levers are a bit flexy but you get used to it. The Simplex Delrin rear derailleur shifts smoothly up and down, but my 1st front DR shift up from small to big crank ring dumped the chain nicely. Thought I had that all adjusted, oh well, try again.

It was hot today, so I started along the path by Santiam river. Really just a backwater, not the main channel. Beautiful day, but not many folks out, even at Pioneer Park.

Rode out West of town a good way, then back home for a total of 25Km. Don

ryansu

@ollo_ollo that is a lovely Orange mixte

ollo_ollo

ryansu: Thanks, fenders turned out better than expected too.

Danbianchi881

verktyg 

I'm honored for the mention...

That was my first spare from 1974. I just started ridding sewups and it was sort of a Mean Joe Green Coke Commercial moment. An "old" hot shot racer was walking away after a race and he threw it at me and said "Here kid patch this and you'll have a spare" or something like that.

I was 30 and at least 5 years older than him but I was a starving student at the time! I used it for a year or so and kept patching side wall nicks. It's a Clement 50 and STILL holds air!

Mean Joe Green Commercial:


You could use a strip of Tyvek plastic from a USPS mailing envelope instead of fabric. Thin flexible and super tough. Use contact cement... Oh but that's $3+ dollars!



I carry several strips in my under seat tool bags in case I ever have to boot a clincher. Works better than a dollar bill!

I also use Tyvek to boot side wall nicks except on the inside of the clincher casing. I glue them in with some contact cement.

verktyg

Narhay

The Miyata is $0 if you did indeed get it for free.

Don't die on those patched tubulars. If you buy 3 new tires but only use 2 the cost is $33.33.

Narhay

I think previously we allowed for removable accessories while riding for practical purposes as long as you present the bike without them for final judging consideration.

Bicycle Addict