This started out as a post for “What have you been wrenching on” but got out of hand. Days, then weeks went by and I was just sitting on a bunch of the story in my notes app. And after today (yesterday), this bike deserves its own thread. I will try to make this as salient as I can. I am no author. I do like the story though. So what better place to start then from the beginning. Part One: The new Beginning

My pop and I were given this bike from the original owner after he passed. He was an incredible man with a lot of mystery around him. He was tall, and the bike was set up for him. High stem, high bars, low BB. My pop took it for a spin and didn’t like it. He bottomed out when turning and it just wasn’t right. So it sat for many years like this.


We have moved many times since. And time and space are not abundant. We decided it was time to sell the bike. I couldn’t find out much of anything about the frame. Again, mystery shrouds the history. I thought, “hey, there are many cool period correct parts worth a decent deal of money.” (Phil hubs and BB, XC thumbies, XC power levers, Mafac cantis, old school Jim Blackburn) “If I sell it cheap some will buy it for parts and I’ll put some money back in the bike jar for pop and I. Plus more space.”

No bites. Even at $200 bucks. The cantis sell for that much. So it sat for a couple months. When the Jack Taylor came into my possession, the Mafac cantilevers suddenly had a place. So I decided to strip it, sell the other parts and give away the frame. I couldnt find any info on it and no one seemed to want it.

One evening, I was stripping it down while my lady sat beside me drawing. She is an illustrator pushing into graphic design. She can practice and learn while I play with bikes. It’s nice to share the time. I was telling her how much of a bummer it was that this bike is so big. The green is such a good green and the headbadge and downtube decal are so beautiful. Very art nouveau inspired. Which the both of us love. Without looking up she said “yeah it’s by far my favorite bike of yours.” I kept *****ing about how cool it is and how bummed I am that I couldn’t really get to the bottom of it’s history. It seemed that it was a dud. By then I had stripped everything but the saddle, headset, cranks and the cable housing on the top tube. It looked smaller without all the parts on it..

I said “That’s weird. The frame doesn’t look that big with all the crap off it.”

She looked up. “It really doesn’t.”

I said “yeah.. but the frame geometry is deceiving. It’s a pretty large frame.”

“Did you measure it?” She asked. It was clearly one of those questions your woman asks you when she already knows the answer.
“I must have!” I ran to grab my tape. I measured my International from the middle of the bottom bracket to the center of my saddle. -27.5 inches- I Ran back with determination, threw the tape up to the frame and gasped. It seemed like it could fit. French fit for sure but it could work. I certainly didnt measure. With how tall the bars were and how low the BB was.. both my pop and I just wrote it off as something that would fit me. I rushed to find a cockpit and look at that… I had a vision and was inspired. It was certainly worth a try.

First, I looked at some suuuper sweet Euclid parts. Then I saw the price and dismissed it. I don’t want to go shimano. A) it’s too easy. One of the reasons I respect shimano is that it often times the best logical solution. B) it’s just not unique and wouldn’t fit the spirit of this bike. It wasn’t long before I found the Suntour three pulley rear derailleur. The bike had XC thumbies and power levers to begin with… It seemed right. it was decided. The McAuley is to be a Suntour build! Well I better get to cleaning parts. Especially if I want to wax the chain. Because this thing was FILTHY






The cockpit I wanted to use had a lot of oxidation under the old benotto tape. Because I like my smile and have no dental insurance, I decided not to risk it. These superbe levers are likely my longest hoarded parts. They are rashed real bad but they cleaned up nicely. Same with the other parts.





24-34-44. Certainly did come from Sugino like this.

I forgot I can only post 10 photos per post. I will continue after dinner!

Hooked and waiting for more

14-17-21-28-34 Pretty cool freewheel. 21-28 is quite a jump though…



The front hub is toast. I’ve never felt a worse bearing. Sticky, crunchy. It looks like the leather straps were acidic enough to eat through whatever coating on the hubs. Or maybe let moisture sit on them. Anyway, when I stopped in while picking my lady up SJ airport, the folks at Phil said $75 for a bearing job. So another time. The rear is butter.


I’ve been collecting hoods now for a little bit. I’m picky. But if they fit nicely and are usable I’ll save them from junker bikes. These work better than they fit and look, but they cleaned up and work!



Now for the parts I bought:

First being the cable guides! Fitting I think.
I went down to the co-op and went hunting. I found the top guide! But no luck on the bottom guide. I asked my buddy who works there if that was something that ever came in and he opened up his drawer and tossed me one from across the shop. Shortstop to second base style. Bad picture but good vibes. (I hate this phrase for being so overused but it’s perfect here). With some creative routing. I was even able to keep the right side rear and left side front without crossing the cable underneath the downtube! I’ll post about that later

I had all the parts for the cockpit (bar, stem, levers and hoods) but did buy a set of newbaums taped the barcons. I like newbaums tape. Plus I buy from Rivendell. I get to support a local bike business that I think is cool. The suntour bar end shifters were a FB marketplace find. The threads had some old grease on them so were a little sticky. Some simple green and new grease and they were ready to go! Total steal at $20. I feel silly about not getting a picture of them cleaned and greased.








Cables are one of the only things I actively don’t buy local. I buy complete stainless steel cable kits for $10 shipped. All my LBS charge between $9-$12 bucks a cable, and Housing by the foot. Plus ferrules plus caps? Cabling a bike quickly becomes ridiculous. I’ve never had a single issue and in fact, been impressed with how nice they are.

I like getting using these chains. I get them from the co-op. Apparently they are the same as shram. With so many companies outsourcing nowadays, I’m inclined to believe it. It took to waxing well it seems! I’ll make another post about that later though. Fit great out of the box too. Might mess around with it more though later. For 13 bucks it’s a great option.



The derailleurs: I searched and searched with little luck. If I could find them, the rear alone were all over $100. With the paramount and other non bike (regular life) costs, I wasn’t prepared to do that. I ended up finding this one on CL. I’ll make this part of the long story, short: Dude was cool. I’d like to think I made a friend and walked away with not only the rear derailleur, but the matching front as well! I won’t put the price because he gave me a really good deal and I don’t want that to be the point.


And finally, the brakes. I can’t afford a set of mafacs, Paul’s or campy Euclids so anything will do in the meantime. I found this set in the drawers at the co-op for $20 bucks. Seemed like a good option to get me on the road. But can you see the problem?

This past couple weeks have gone by in a blur. While moving a metric ton of junk and sorting through family stuff with my pop. I told him about what I needed to finish the McAuley. I was telling him about the cheap clamp style cable stop for the front brake I’d need to order because the dura ace/600 headset wrenches were really expensive and the co-op didn’t have them. I can’t bring myself to put vice grips on a pristine 600 headset.

“What, this wrench?” He said with a **** eating grin. My pop really is the coolest, I tell ya. (We also found a cable stop that will totally work in his stash of parts!)


Bearings weren’t as bad as I was expecting. Now full of Phil’s and smooth like butter. I didn’t take pictures of this part really. I was excited to finish!

Couple days later it was finally time to knock out the brakes and finish the build. I bought this set as an easy, complete package to get me on the road. This being the first set of cantis I’ve bought I trusted that everything I needed was in the bag. I have since learned my lesson.

By now my guess is you found missing part. Yeah.. no mounting bolts. Totally deflated me.

A few days later, I went to the co-op to sift through the bins for a set of mounting bolts. I could’ve gone to the hardware store. I have no idea why I didn’t. But while at the co-op, I got a set of cantilevers with bolts and some dirty, but very gently used kool stops for very, very cheap. I call it a win. Scrubbed up the koolstops and we’re ready for assembly and installation!


Once I had all the parts, installation went smoothly. I made sure the threads were clean and greased. I adjusted the pads so the cantilever arm was level when making contact with the rim, like I said, mostly a breeze. Then I grabbed the cable ends to make the straddle cable, and it hit me. I picked the only set of cantilevers that require a double barrel straddle cable as my cheap, easy, quick fix. Again.. What a maroon.

Another week goes by..

I get to the co-op and dig through a million cables and a million little pieces of hardware to try and find either a correct straddle cable or one of those bolt on/clamp barrel for the single straddle cable to make something work. I’ve used them before on my motorcycle. They are sketchy but they work… until they don’t lol So just a temp fix.

I found one straddle Cable! but it seemed like I was doomed to order something online.

A couple of days ago when running errands I decided to stop in at one of the local bike shops just to check. These guys have been around for a while but are not CnV friendly. The guy is super grumpy and if you’re not buying a $7000 E bike he won’t give you the time of day. He didn’t have the right straddle cable, but he did have a barrel! For significantly less than on eBay too. Even though he’s an a******, I’m happy I went in.

Just like that, I had everything to finish. I so the next day I had off work, I threw together the new straddle cable adjusted the seat a touch, stretched the brake cables a little and ran the barrel adjusters out. Pumped up the tires took a step back to look at the bike. Something told me the handlebars could be rotated just a slosh counterclockwise. This is not a Crit bike, and I wanted the ride to be more comfortable than fast.



And let me tell you, I’m glad I did. This bike rides like if an old school monster truck with a 545 big block and a Cadillac had a baby. I can’t express how perfect the gearing is. Or how comfortable I feel on this bike. I know there is a lot fancier out there but man, I am so very, very happy with how this experiment turned out. French fit works here! And I’m so excited to be able to ride in the rain and go off into the parks! Here it is on the shake down ride to the cafe.

The next day I raced back from work and threw my leg over as soon as I got in. My lady was reading at the library a couple towns over so I decided to ride over and say hi.

The good: I asked a lot of this bike, and it just kept giving it back. The more I dug in, the smoother and more balanced yet dynamic the bike felt. I can climb a wall like it’s nothing. 34 in the rear and 24 in the front is nuts. But the best part was when I hit a small decent. It was barely a hill but when I got to cranking in that big ring, I felt euphoria. I was as stable as a freight train and accelerating like a sport bike. It was one of the greatest experiences on a bicycle I’ve ever had. I get why this bike was filthy and the Super Mondia was clean.

The Bad: The bottom bracket is 8.5 inches off the ground. So the small bit of “mountain biking” I did, the crank bottomed out. Luckily the ground was soft from the rain. I don’t really do much of any mountain biking so it’s not a huge problem. However it is disappointing.

The ugly: If I pedal while in a turn, the crank bottoms out with a horrible scraping thud and I have a moment of flight. At this point I’m lucky I haven’t gone down. I want to keep the bike period correct but 170mm cranks seem to be pretty sketchy. I don’t know what to do yet, but will certainly ask around and look into options further.

This has been quite an adventure already. And needless to say, it is certainly not over. I have had far too much to do today but I can’t stop thinking about going for a ride. And I tell ya, it’s a great feeling.

Cool bike and cool thread!

Definitely!

I’d look for a pair of 165 mm cranks, if only to try out. Can’t hurt. And that bike needs fenders!

There are ways to shorten the crankset. I searched for a service but was unable to find the one I remember from earlier in the 2000s. There are also adapters, but they are rather pricey.

However, I did come across this video, which shows a fellow using the most basic of tools in order to accomplish the job.

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I don't know if it would work on your Sugina crank arms or not, but it is worth exploring in order to gain more ground clearance--- and avoid pedal ground strikes--- which are rather scary!

Great story, pictures, and build! Since you mention not doing much MTB riding, consider replacing the knobbies with smooth tread tires. If larger tires can fit you could gain a little bit of BB clearance.

FWIW, standard 32mm headset wrenches will work on EX headsets, if you're careful. Shimano's scalloped wrenches are less likely to mar the soft aluminum parts than standard wrenches.

Mark Stonich at BikeSmithDesign has a crank shortening service:
https://www.bikesmithdesign.com/Short_Cranks/

The bike look great. Green is a good color for bike frames and with the gold anodized rims, it looks great. The frame has a long wheelbase. So, the Cadillac ride and stability downhill is fitting. I like the seat. I like the suede leather as it keeps me from sliding forward.

The bike came out great. It is good to hear that you enjoy riding it so much.