Before:



After:

Found this Raleigh Pattern 1961 Hercules badged AMF on the local CL a few months back.

Mostly complete but rusty and all siezed up. After soaking in penetrating oil for a few months, it came apart easy enough and cleaned up rather well.

This is my 13 year old's first C&V so the seatpost is buried and the brakes are mounted low so his hands can reach

Here are a few before & afters





And one happy boy with his new C&V bicycle

Nice looking bike!! The white housing makes it pop for sure!

I know it's not c+v, but do you think maybe an interrupter lever might be a good fit here? Or moving the brakes back up so he can ride on the "hoods", as it looks like his hand position is really close to that now?

This is a great thread, I love seeing everyones work.

I have another to add, Gitane Special Deluxe.

Fork's recalled!

Thanks


Interupters won't fit on the levers and the levers have no hoods to speak of. He rides alot on the drops so the brake position works for now. I'm planning on moving the levers back up as he gains some confidence and his hands grow a bit.

Yup, this one actually had the third generation fork which had a steel insert screwed into the fork.

The fork on the bike is a brand new cro-mo fork, this bike was built for my son and I wasn't going to risk his face with the death fork.

I did save the death fork, it's way to pretty to throw away.


.

Before:



After:



May not be finished yet, going to ride it for a bit and test it out. Possible upgrade of bars, saddle, and front rack.

Interrupters are akin to cross style levers, they go on the bars. I know the current levers have no hoods speak of, but I had no idea how to describe "the area where the hoods would be on levers if they had hoods". I was just going by his hand position in the picture, which has him not on the tops, and not on the drops.

Here's my 1983 Fuji Cruiser I just finished.

Before

After

Catalog photo for goal reference

Like the kind the yuts mount on their fixies? Thougth about it but the bars are narrow and he is objecting to me making any changes to the bike...( retrogrouch and he's only 13!!! go figure!) He insists I leave it as is and even googled up this picture just to prove to me they're fine.


Now he wants a steel water bottle just like in the picture! Kids got good taste anyway?!

(Like almost all of my keepers) I'd originally intended to flip this Trek 660, so I dressed it up in bright yellow, to draw as much attention as possible. It must have worked because I actually sold it in a day or two, but when the buyer later admitted that he needed the money more than the bike , it came back to me.

It was at that point that I decided to keep this zingy red and yellow ride:



And the ride was terrific! - but it was just too flashy for me.

So, I decided to make use of a nice pair of NON-aero levers and hoods that BikemanBob had just gifted to me, and I rewrapped the bars in black Tressostar... I left just a very few yellow accents, so as not to overwhelm, and then, (based on a suggestion from Roger M), I swapped out the deep-V Velocities for a pair of black anodized Mavic MA-40's.

I am very happy with the outcome (though I'm not sure everyone would agree).

^ So much nicer, Auch! Looks great.

Great use of the levers! I love the transformation!

While I'm at it, here is my recently completed Schwinn Voyageur.

Before Pictures (stuck seatpost, rusty chain, and all):




It should be evident, but AFTER Pictures!

This bike was purchased at a garage sale and then abandoned at a bike shop. I considered parting it out, but I decided against it. I showed pictures of the bike to Auchen, and he encouraged me repair it. The end result surprised me. I'm glad that I decided to make the repairs. It will likely end up on a college campus. Thanks Auchen!

(I think the reflectors look bad, but for safety reasons, I'll let the next owner decide if he want to keep them. I think they look HORRIBLE!)

Before:








After:

Bikeman - Those reflectors do indeed look horrible on this bike - so much so, that I think any self-respecting future owner would prefer to become a road pizza than seen alive riding with those spoke reflectors.

OK. Maybe that's a slight exaggeration - but these days there are plenty of other alternatives for riding at night.

Great job on the transformation by the way, 80's Maruishi's like this are really very nice riders.

Before



After

This turned out fantastic! Congrats.

Here's a Centurion Pro Tour I picked up locally on ebay, poorly listed, one out of focus photo... bargain!



After an afternoon in the garage:

Don't know if I ever posted this before and after... the Italian Girl.




Garlatti - c. 1975

Am going to take her out today for her first ride of the year... she has been waiting very patiently.

We'll be expecting the ride report shortly Sixty. These old gals can be surprisingly nice rides with the right wheels and components.
Very nice rebuild.

Well... I needed to go and pick up some new boots for my Cooper today and it is a 5 miles ride to MEC over a mix of smooth roads and some fairly chewed up and pot hole infested side streets which I take on purpose to test things because you need a little bump and shake.

The Garlatti feels a lot like my more modern Proctor with a steeper head angle, less trail than my UO8 and a fairly generous wheelbase and as such it is very responsive without being twitchy and the response to weight shifts and input is very predictable.

It is a stiff bike (chroming can do that to a high ten frame) and even with those 630:32 Conti 1000 tyres at 80 psi you don't want to be blowing through potholes and ruts even though I have no worry that my wheels would not handle it... those Arvon hubs are as smooth as they come and this really makes for quite an improvement in the rollout.

The half step gearing on the Stronglight crank and drivetrain set up is about as perfect as one could hope for... the retrofriction shifters and Suntour VX S are a match made in heaven and it is like you are always in the right gear. I can put everything I have into those cranks and all that power (meager that it is) goes straight into that back wheel and discovered last year that this bike is great on hard climbs and extremely stable on fast descents.

The Universal brakes are what they are and there is no braking from the hoods with these... have some vintage Matthauser pads and holders I will be swapping in to freshen those up a little and this should help the 30-0 times.

Marcel Berthet pedals are coveted for good reason... they are as smooth as the Suntour Superbe pedals in my Cooper road bike which says a lot as they don't get any smoother than this.

After I ran my errands I put the new boots on my Cooper which just got it's Cyclone drive train changed to Campy NR which would be a lateral shift at best and the NR does give up just a little crispness to the Suntour, especially with the front derailleur.

My Cooper that rolls on 700:23 racing tyres at 115 psi has a ride that you would be happy to experience on a touring bike... for as stiff and responsive as this bike is, the ride quality is unbelievable and is actually smoother than the Garlatti but then, it is a hand built vs the Garlatti which was made by a big company that specialized in making farm equipment as well as bicycles.

Not really vintage, but might be a classic some day. I've posted these pics before, but never together. Riding this bike makes me consider selling all the rest....

As found (I added the saddle).


How I rode it for the first year.


Recent upgrades. Once I install the carbon Record FD and cross tires it will be done and perfect.

Thanks for the report - Pretty high marks for a high-ten Italian I'd say - to even warrant comparison to a Cooper speaks volumes.

I didn't know chroming could affect frame stiffness. Maybe my Ganna benefits from that too. (It's chromed under white paint). On that note, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that these old Italians are butted high-ten also. They sure don't feel like gas pipe.

Glad you saved a vintage Japanese bike. Just imagine the tracers those reflectors will create. ;-)