bike refurb methodology
 

what do you tackle 1st?
do you have a specific order?


i haven't actually developed one yet
but i seem to be working from the bottom up.
wheels, drive train, gears, brakes etc.. working way up the handle bars for final adjustments of cables.

I've found it is easier to strip the entire frame, clean, polish, and repack.

I do wheels, head set and BB, just because, makes no difference, but gets the bigger things out of the way first.

That is basically my procedure as well - if I don't have to strip/paint the frame. If the paint is passable, I don't redo it. But for an old classic (I'm a sucker for hard luck cases!), I strip it down to the bare frame, repaint, and service everything before reassembly. It's more a labor of love, but I routinely get beauties like these:

A 70's Raliegh

http://i510.photobucket.com/albums/s...G/IMG_0303.jpg

A 60's Western Flyer

http://i510.photobucket.com/albums/s...G/IMG_0275.jpg

+1, I do the same thing. I HATE working on wheels, so I do it first to get it out of the way. Then the headset, so I can set it on wheels and just add the other parts as I clean/acquire them.

How it went on the one I just finished (my first C&V build)
Strip and clean frame then wax; ditto fork
Clean/lube bottom bracket; install drive-side crank then adjust BB
Clean/re-bearing headset; pick up the ones that fall on the floor and reclean; adjust HS, installing hanger
Seatpost and saddle
Wheel bearings; adjust cones, mount on frame/fork; readjust cones
Derailers and shifters/cables (well, would have been, but this was a Sturmey 3-speed)
Brake calipers
Mount handlebar to stem, install in steerer tube; adjust these
Brake levers, then cables; adjust length (cut if necessary); center and adjust brakes & pads
Chain and right crank arm
Pedals (and toe clips/straps)
Remember on first ride that I left the stem bolt a bit loose!
Fenders (this week's project)

I tear it down completely, clean, polish, wax the frame, then start the build up.

1. Bottom bracket - clean and repack the bearings.
2. Headset and fork - same here.
3. Add the crank.
4. True the wheels then service the hubs unless the cones are really loose, then reverse the order.
5. Add the rear derailleur, then the front.
6. Add the chain and adjust the rear derailleur if needed.
7. Add the stem and handlebars.
8. Add the shifters.
9. Cable the rear derailleur, then the front; make any necessary adjustments.
10. Add the seat post, saddle, binder bolt.
11. Add the brake calipers.
12. Add the brake levers.
13. Cable the brakes.
14. Add the pedals.
15. Wrap the bars.
16. Done!

I vary it from time to time for a change, but I mostly keep to this order.

+1 Machin Shin, except I'm more of a randommeur. Sometimes, in order, not.

I tear down the bike and usually work from front to back and it usually takes 45 minutes to an hour to go from a bare frame to the test ride.

If I am using aero levers then I work from back to front so I can lay in the cables and do the handlebar wrap last.

After that I set to tuning up the drive train and test riding.

I haven't been doing tear-downs, and I think I'll start doing it, based on the advice above.

I picked up a nice Varsity on Saturday, so it should be fun. I hope it's not as troublesome as the last Varsity was.

Sixty Fiver, is this something you do at your shop or as your hobby? I can't imagine it makes sense for a shop to do this much, if at all.

My method:

1. Strip frame, clean, polish, in the worst case sandblast and paint/powder coat.
2. Rebuild headset
3. Rebuild bottom bracket
4. Install wheels/tyres, seatpost, seat, stem and bars. Adjust/swap stem length for comfort.
5. Install brake levers, crank (no cogs) and pedals. Final rough adjustment for riding position.
6. Wrap bars - if aero brakes, run the brake lines and tubing beforehand.
7. Sit on it once again. See how comfortable I really am. Make changes as necessary.
8. Once I'm happy with what I've got, I then worry about chainwheels and rear cluster.
9. Derailleurs, shift levers, chain, brake calipers and finish cabling.

Assuming I'm going to have to buy components rather than just go to the parts shelf, everything's got to fit just right before I go spending any money on derailleurs, brake calipers, etc. There's been a few builds that never made it past points 6 or 7. The bike got torn back down and the frameset sold because it didn't feel right.

As a method it seems to work. Of the nine in the garage, only one (the Schwinn 564) isn't comfortable. And I built that one deliberately against my method just to try an aluminum Schwinn. I'm currently hunting for another Rossin to move all the components to.

On my bikes... always.

At my shop this is a full meal deal and quite a number of people have requested this... usually when they have really nice vintage bicycles that have not been serviced in decades.

It does not really take that long to do.

I strip it down, let it sit in my garage for a bit while I think about how I'm going to build it, build it up one way, tear it back down, build it up another way, ride it, tear it down again, build it another way, then either sell it or keep it forever.

On good days I just do what Machin Shin does and then just sell it, but normally it's the long drawn out process noted above.

In my (approximately) second year as a bike mechanic, my boss had me build a bike from scratch. I was 18 years old. It was 1979. This was a special customer, and I don't know what the nature of the relationship was. My boss was willing to take me off regular work for about two whole days to build a bike for this customer. We used a cheap frame and a combination of new and used parts. It was a single speed freewheel bike with narrow straight handlebars. I sawed the handlebars to make them narrow. My boss charged the customer $120 for the entire bicycle, which was insanely underpriced. That didn't matter to me, and I learned a heck of a lot solving all those problems.

This was on the upper east side of Manhattan.

Usually it is buy a bike and have it hang around the garage, basement or barn for a few days to years.
-Strip everything off and clean frame. -all parts from one bike get put into a box so I know where they originally came from if I plan to rebuild it stock.
-BB and headset parts gets immediately soaking in degreaser after removal. Generally they soak overnight up to a few days depending on my lazy-ness.
-clean up parts in the ultrasonic cleaner
-true wheels and install new tires/tubes-clean and lube the freewheel/cassette.
-reinstall headset and BB
-install cranks, derailleurs and chain
-reinstall bars, stem, levers, and brakes
-Cable and housing for brakes
-cable and housing for shifters/derailleurs
-fine tune everything and tape the bars
-take pictures, write description and watch the money fly in

This order is in a perfect world because often between the strip/clean and overhaul BB and headset steps get finished it can be months to years before any of the others get started. Often those end up in that stage and get sold off as a frameset.

That pretty much descibes my method. I like to get everything off the frame to make it easier to clean. I put the parts in a box to keep everything in one place. As I reassemble the bike, I'll look at the original parts and decide if they go back on or if I want to change something.

Last night, I tackled a $100 bike I bought off of CL (advertised as Titanium Road Bike $200-uh, wasn't).

Hour 1: stripped the bike to frame and separate fork, washed and waxed the frame and fork.
Then I set it aside, because I find I do better work that way. Future plans:

Hour 2: clean each component, repack the bb and headset. Crankset will take a little polishing.

Hour 3: reassemble. Deviation from norm-different wheelset and adding STI shifters.
Then I set it aside, etc....I find running cables the day after all that other stuff is best for the bike.

Hour 4: run new cables and housings. Make sure everything works and is set, adjust cables.
Set aside again.

Hour 5: Wrap the bars and adjust for any differences the wrapping makes in the brake adjustment. Wipe down and ride.

Normally, I'd take an extra hour to clean and repack the wheels, maybe scrub the tires. Not necessary on this bike, and it takes a little longer to mount STI's and run those cables than the normal DT shifters. Generally 6 hours is enough, add 1-2 for SNAFU's.

If I wasn't upgrading the bike, figure the $100 invested, $5 for the Wal-Mart cable/housing kit, and maybe $5 in shop supplies (soap, grease, lube). I'll re-use the wrap on this one, but generally add another $10 for that. The bike would sell for $175-200.

If upgraded to 8-sp STI and aero wheels, it'll be about a $210 investment, will go $350.

Or I can part it out right now for about $150. 600/Mavic wheelset, 105 group, Technomic stem, Kalloy 27.2 seat post, saddle, and frameset.

If I ride it and decide I like it, well then, it's 6 hours of fun and a nice bike.