Refurb Advice
 

Hey gang,

I have obtained my dad's old 1970 Falcon, and I'm not sure but I think I've decided to part out the drivetrain, convert it to a fixie, see if I like fixie-riding, and if I don't, then sell it.

I don't know how to embed from flickr, but here are a bunch of pics. As you can see, it's a great frame (531 DB, nice lugs, unique wraparound seatstays), but the paint and decals are pretty beat. I think I can handle all the mechanics, but I don't know nothin about nothin when it comes to paint.

So how much energy/investment would it take to make this thing look nice? (What's up with these "preval" sprayers -- are they better than rattle-cans?) And even so, is it possible to find replacement decals, or would I have to lay out the long green for custom decals? Or would it be better to just forget about the original branding and paint it plain, maybe some detail on the lugs?

What would you do?

if this is your dad's only bike (and you like or liked your dad), i'd restore it. i inherited my uncle's falcon, and did a resto-mod to it, a restoration with a 700c conversion and modrn brakes:

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5200/6...8c54ae5b6f.jpg

to many, it's a noble endeavour to restore it. you coukd even sell that beautiful shimano 600 looking crank and get a sugino or campy gs or record crank to replace it, probably for even money. if i were you, i'd strip the frame and treat it with boeshield and rebuild it (overhaul it), before painting. you might like the patina and history of the bike more than actually paintimg or powder coating it (like i did mine). that way, you could ride it without worry amd even lock it up on occasion.

cyclomondo on ebay sells decal sets for $40 if you go that route.

if you go the route of fixed/ss, at least the bike doesn't have a derailleur hanger, so not such a horrible sin. (dante wouldn't put you any lower than the first floor.)

besides the after market crank (which might finance half the needed tools), i hope you can keep the original parts if you decide to go fixed now and 10-speed later.

oh and you can polish the stem, bars, etc with auto wet/sand paper. makes it all like new.

enjoy the project. it's great fun.

on images, bracket the *.jpg file path with "[img]" and "[/img]"

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7143/6...9e77a0366d.jpg

I will appeal to you NOT to strip it for SS/Fixie thing....There are so many cheap, but decent bikes and or frames out there for that purpose. Of course, it is your bike to do with what you wish, but IMO, I think a little bit of refurb effort (clean, lube, polish, wax) and ride is the way to go.

Cheers,

Joe

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http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=271423

You've come to the wrong neighborhood!

A guy I know used to convert fixies and sell them. Now that the fad has passed, he closed down his business and mostly sits in a corner crying over all the bikes he robbed of their derailleurs...

Yo Spiff: thx for the detailed steps! Look what I can do now!
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6106/6...284840c5_m.jpg

eschlwc: beautiful pic, thanks for all the advice! Yes I like and even sometimes love my dad, but he can't make use of this bike anymore with the state his back is in. He gladly gave me the bike in exchange for a comfort/hybrid that he can sit up straight on (Giant Farrago).

As for modernization, yes it certainly does need better brakes! And thankfully the wheels are already clinchers, not sewups.

As for me, I am also too old and fat and out of shape to enjoy using the aggressive 5-speed on the Falcon (which seems to indicate I probably won't enjoy it as a fixie either...)

I tried searching for 'cyclomondo' on eBay (as product and seller) but couldn't find anything; can you give me a link? Also thx for the wetsand idea, I will definitely see if I can spruce up those decrepit parts. So I think I will do step (a) of disasemmbling, thoroughly cleaning, reassembling. Then I'll be in a better place to assess whether I want to go to (b) fixie and/or eventually (c) repaint.

Also, the vintage Ideale leather saddle is pretty dried out, but I'm hoping it should respond well to the right treatment. Is "Proofide" the only way, or are there generic/cheaper options? (Vaseline? baseball glove treatments?)

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6019/6...cdbbdbab17.jpg

RE: Cyclomondo, never mind, found it! http://stores.ebay.com/Cyclomondo That shouldn't have been so hard!

You can also email Greg directly: gtsoftley@ozemail.com.au
great advocate of bicycling, and friendly.

As for my leather saddles I use a beeswax treatment, same as for my leather hiking boots.
Called KIWI Camp Dry Beeswax Waterproofer. It's Lanolin, fragrance free- does a nice job.

Having recently restored my Peugeot, I applaud your decision to restore first.
I went online to the Testors (hobby enamel paint) site and ordered one of their kits for touchup work with a fine brush. Amazing what a good job it did.

Be sure to post your progress or finished pics. Good Luck.

Oh, also, Park Tool makes CB-2 Citrus ChainBrite product that cleans up chain rings, cranks derailleurs real nice and easy and good. Apply with an old paintbrush and wash it off. Available @ local bike shop.

I would strip it all down, use some light rubbing compound (gently) on the paint, wax it, and re-build it with the parts you have. Those brakes will work fine with new brake pads. I use Sno-seal on leather saddles. It's a wax based product like Proofide. Don't use glove oil, neatsfoot oil, etc. as the leather will become too soft and stretch out.

Peugotlover, due route: thx for more advice. I'll look for wax-based treatments.

And Testor's enamel hobby paint, that's a great idea! If I can find a well-matching color, that should fill in the chipped areas rather nicely! So if I get the rest of the paint to look OK, and I buy some new decals, would I have to somehow strip/peel/scrape/sand off the old decals, or just apply the new ones over top of the old? (I guess the honorable Cyclomondo would have good advice for me there)

Congrats on your new bike. Personally, I would not convert to a fixie. San Diego is hilly enough that you'll surely want your gears back. I'd fix up what you have and then, if you like the ride, you can upgrade the drivetrain later. Keep in mind the Campagnolo Nouvo Record derailleur is going to limit the size of the gears you can use. Officially, it has a max cog size of 26 teeth, but that can be stretched to 28 teeth in most cases by pulling the wheel all the way back in the drops.

If Cyclomondo doesn't have what you need, check out H. Lloyd Cycles. They are based in the UK, and have lots of decals for British builders: http://www.hlloydcycles.com/

This will get you started on the parts polishing: Khatfull's Polishing Thread

gaucho, thx for the tips! Cyclomondo does have some nice Falcon decals (not exact matches, but good; I'll check out H. Lloyd too).

Yes, San Diego is hilly enough to want gears; in fact, hilly enough to want even more gears than the tiny cluster of 5 currently on the Falcon! For all practical purposes, the limited range of gears on this bike is essentially fixed for this rider's perspective!

In this pic:
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6229/6...a5384bb689.jpg
you can see that the RD is actually Gran Sport, not Nuovo Record. It is rather small, so I'm thinking it might nog have much range. Also I am unsure about cassette/freewheel status of a bike that old. Is it easy to replace cogs?

Also if you look closely you can see that the chain is already sagging; this is due to the Sh600 replacement cranks/rings; the inner ring is much smaller than the original (Campy?) and the RD is not taking up the slack. Overall, I'm guessing that this FD/RD combination is made for racing, and would not be adaptable to the wider range of gears I would need. (Not to mention the narrower spacing of the rear stays)

Avoid Vaseline, baseball glove, and other mineral oil based treatments, as these will degrade the leather by softening it too much. Softness may be a virtue in a baseball glove, but it's not in a saddle, which needs to be able to support your weight. If you don't want to spring for Proofide, I've found SnoSeal (beeswax in a volatile solvent) to work well without degrading the leather

The Gran Sport should be able to handle up to a 26T cog, but does not wrap a great deal of chain, so you need to be careful about the chain ring sizes up front.

5-speed freewheels are still available. In fact, loosescrews.com has them on sale this month.

Yes, there may be too large a difference between the large and small chain rings. Back when you bike was new, half-step gearing was common, which meant only a 4 or 5 tooth difference between large and small rings. If the replacement crank has something like 53-39T rings, that may be more than the rear derailleur can wrap. Either narrow that difference to something the derailleur can handle, or replace the derailleur with one that can wrap more chain. N.B. that Gran Sport unit may fetch a good price if you decide to replace it.

JohnD, thx for the advice. That makes sense, we don't want to soften it up. And that's 2 votes for SnoSeal, plus another for Kiwi CampDry. I guess it makes sense that a waterproofer for shoe-leather would be good for a leather saddle. Plus I guess a little waterproofing would be good too (not that it rains often enough in San Diego for me to ever be out riding in it)!

Good info about the FD/RD, cogs and rings. I have a vintage bicycle shop nearby that I LOVE (Ye Olde Bicycle Place, for anybody that's in the San Diego area -- seems website maintenace is not their strong suit as http://www.yeoldebicycleplace.com is not working. But "6794 University" should be enough to get you there). They buy, sell, and repair vintage, they are very friendly and very cheap, and they have boxes and baskets and buckets full of old parts I can spend hours just sorting through and looking at. I'm sure they could hook me up with a couple options in the 5-speed freewheel department, and I'm guessing a larger inner chainring would be an easier replacment option than a RD.

like i wrote earlier, i'd replace the crank to an old school 144bcd 42t/52t sugino or campy gran sport or nuovo record to better fit the overall aesthetic.

if the big/low cog on the freewheel is 22 or so, you may want to replace it with a 26 or even a 28 by buying a new 5-speed freewheel. if kept, the freewheel should be cleaned thoroughly. (search the forum on this topic -- i did this recently with a freewheel by removing it, bathing it in mineral spirits, cleaning it with solvent, bathing it in oil, and finally lubing it.) the rd should be completely overhauled, and the fd should be cleaned and oiled. the chain should either be replaced (sram pc830) or thoroughly cleaned and lubed.

if you go with new decals, remove the old ones first. it's really quite difficult to apply the falcon decals. measure several different ways, use a string to find the tube center, mark the decals' center with pencil, pray, and 'be the ball.'

Or a smaller outer chainring, depending on what gears you find useful.

Back to the paint for a moment.
You could take your Falcon frame to an autobody paint shop, there they can scan the paint color, and mix up a jar of matching touch-up paint (or spray can).

Check the Surly Bike website. They offer a number of tips to remove the old decals (take pics first for placement).
Such as, scrape off with a credit card, use spray can of adhesive remover; use a hair dryer to soften, then scrap; and more.

Personally, I'd keep that rare Campy rear derailleur, use it to strengthen your legs.

a tip on cyclomondo decals ... they don't always have the same measured space above and below the script/text. the space above 'falcon' may not be the same below the script. so if you measure the center withoit paying attention to this discrepancy, you might find that the downtube decal looks 'off' after application. measure the decals several different ways, and apply with a bit of tape first and notice how it will fit before applying permanently. don't push too hard on the painted part of the decal afterwards to remove air bubbles, as the decal might streak (happened to me). use a safety pin to remove bubbles. i had to buy another set after misapplying the first set. he only charged me half cost for the second set though, which is rather civilized.

You guys are so full of...

...good advice! Thx so much, I will come back here and post updates.

Maybe not too soon though because it looks like I am getting the wife a Raleigh Technium and I need to get that cleaned up for her bday coming up. So the Falcon will have to wait. It's been 42 years, what's a few more months!