Bike brand to restore
 

I've been looking for a way to get some good exercise and have again taken up biking. I am 73 years old and have been able to try many things that have interested me. I'm very mechanically inclined and like to sometimes just take things apart and see how they work and then put them back together.
I bought a new Schwinn S7 and don't plan on working on it unless something doesn't work right. I also found a Huffy mtb at a trash bin and brought it home. I've taken most of it apart and either regreased the bearings and cleaned it up some. Bought new shifters and cables and have gotten the brakes and shifting to work very good. I don't think mountain bikes are my thing to ride but I sure enjoy the Schwinn cruising the local greenways.

My question is what mfg. or brand of bike would be good to work on and restore/update. I really enjoy tinkering with things and don't plan on making any money from it. It would just be a very good pastime projects to play with.

I'm not at all knowledgeable of mfgs. or brands and have tried to read a lot lately about different companies products. Knowing not much about parts avaliability and replacement parts or upgrades and if they would fit or work right, I'm kinda lost at which brand to concentrate on. Schwinn, Huffy, and the 100's of others out there are very confusing to me.

Any help or advise would be appreciated.

Richard

Brands aren't the issue because almost all brands use the same parts or the same parts spec at a given level.

In low-cost bikes you will generally find one-oiece (Ashtabula) cranks, or threaded bottom brackets (68 mm for road, 73 for MTB, I think 1:25 thread pitch for English ... don't mess with anything else (French and Italian are rare anyway.) Older bikes of a certain quality might have cotterred cranks. I think probably you can google these and see what they look like.

Almost all bikes in lower price ranges use comapitible parts everywhere else. What differs can be clamp size (different tube and handlebar diameter.) Also there are two generally used steerer tube/headset arrangements, threaded and Aheadset/threadless. You will need to look these up and learn to recognize ... but with older and lower-cost bikes, threaded 1-inch steerers with 22.5 quill stems will likely be the norm.

I used to pick up bikes from the roadside and slap all the parts together to make working bikes. I rarely had any compatibility issues. When you start getting more modern things get a little worse---basically with bottom bracket standards proliferating.

Thanks @Maelochs that is some good advise. I guess I just need to do some more reading and youtube looking to figure out which one to go with. I guess mid priced bikes would be the best to look at.

Thanks

Richard

Confente
Rene Hearse
Masi
DeRosa
Sachs
Kellogg or his Merlin bikes
Austro Daimler
Concorde
Merckx


If you want to sell your refurbs at a profit here's a site listing desirable (to collectors) bikes.
www.classicrendezvous.com




Look for lugged steel frames, original paint in fair condition (or better); components that aren't scratched up.
Learn to examine a frame/fork for damage.
Most of my bikes arrived in my hands as framesets - the fun is selecting parts and getting it together.


A good bike repair stand that holds the frame securely is an asset.
Does your town have a bicycle co-op ? one nearby?


Have fun.


edit: Classic & Vintage Forum is your friend. More than one member has a website you will find most instructive - let me search out one for 'ya.
re-edit: here's a GREAT one. MY "TEN SPEEDS - Home Page
you should also search Sheldon Brown (RIP) his site is a great reference for answering questions about standards and specs on the older (less expensive) bikes.

I agree that brands don't matter. I ride a Raleigh from the late seventies and a Schwinn from the early nineties. I just look for bikes with frames that I can put new components on. I don't want a bike "restored" to original condition, because then I'm stuck with components that are years out of date.

I'd avoid the bikes with one piece cranks. While they are generally cheaper, they aren't but five or ten bucks cheaper. One piece cranks really limit you on upgrading components. Pedals being one of them. You'll likely be limited to platform pedals. Though a converter can be purchased to allow you to use other cranks, the cost of the converter way outstrips any savings you had by getting the bike for pennies.

I know, I had a bike that I kept for 35 plus years. It rode very nicely. But when I decided to move to clipless pedals because I was riding at higher cadences, I couldn't. So off to craisglist it went and I got my Raleigh for very cheap in nice condition. A crankset and freewheel upgrade from 5 to 7 speeds made it a good deal for me.

Staying with english threaded bottom brackets 1.375" diameter and 24 tpi. will make it easy to still find modern components from just about any manufacturer like Shimano, Campy, FSA, RaceFace, etc.

But if you already have a bike that rides nice. Ride if for a year and get yourself aquainted. Find out what it does you like and what you don't like. Find out if you are going to be riding at a leisurely pace for a low cardio workout or are you going to be riding to push your cardio to it's max.

Thanks Wildwood and Iride01 for the good info. My riding will probably be just for the exercise so leisure riding will be the thing. If there are any charity rides or short runs, I might do that also. I have a prosthetic left leg so sprints or races won't be my thing to do. I am just amazed that I can ride with the leg situation. Not a problem so far.

Richard

I don't ride a recumbent, but they do put you closer to the ground and aero. And they work a different muscle group, I believe.


Anyway. I prefer drop handlebar, racy kinda bikes. But it's a big cycling world and happiness comes from finding your specific favourite flavour.
Just get the fit and the gearing right and it's all gooood. :thumb:


Let me call in a couple of members with different forms of bicycle heaven.
Their's are different but ohhhh soooo sweet. :love: I love it. Ride On.
Calling @SquidPuppet & @DQ_Rider - this mechanically inclined old guy want to ride inspired - for the usual old guy exercise reasons. Can we ask for a couple of visuals from your side of Bicycle Heaven.


edit: Pics of finished bikes from above framesets = Pinarello (modernish 10 speed Campy components) and Merckx (only the crankset (gearing reason) is not vintage components).

Honestly crap bikes are always crap bikes and used cheap parts that don't fix or adjust well. Stick with brand name manufacturers like trek, specialized, giant, cannondale, raleigh, fuji etc.
It'll make your life easier in the long run.

I've restored a few bikes. Rather than brands per se, I look for a particular range of frame and component standards that let me mix and match available parts without either going broke, or going crazy trying to find some weird thing. I've found that steel frames from the 70s through the 90s with horizontal dropouts are kind of a blank slate, especially if they have the clearance for wider tires that are preferred these days. With steel, I can play around with things like dropout spacing for different components such as old gearhubs.

Components, likewise. Square taper BB's and cranks give the widest selection of second hand parts. Of course a bike that already has those parts attached is more valuable, even if they end up on another bike or in the bin for another day.

After a near-miss, I will probably avoid bikes that don't come with a seatpost, and I'll make sure the seatpost isn't stuck. I got a nice Schwinn frame sans seatpost, and it was only a stroke of luck that I was able to get the right measurement and find a second hand part that fit just right.

Just looking at the ads on the Craig, it looks like bikes that are sized for the average size male, and smaller, are the hardest to find. There are lots of people selling super-tall bikes that I just have no hope of riding.

Bianchi.

Lemond, Colnago in vintage steel. Super nice when restored. Just my opinion.

My local bike dealer says the name Bianchi adds around 300€ to the value of the bike. Mind you, this is Europe, and I'm aware made in ROC bikes were sold under the Bianchi name in the US so probably of much less value.

I read it is as Covfefe, Donald Trump's new bike brand :roflmao2:

No, no, no.
Mario Confente...

Mario Confente

....highly valued by collectors.

It is a shame that you are not more aware of certain bikes and their history, as the best restorations often occur when there is some kind of emotional attachment the restorer has, to the bike being restored.


Maybe you can do a crash course on a number of brands and see if anything catches your imagination/inspiration. :)

Thanks ColonelSanders. I haven't ridden a bike since I was a teen and am now 73 years old. I went ahead and bought a Schwinn S7 just to get back into it. A very long vacation from riding. I took it out to a local greenway last Wednesday and it rode and felt very good but since it has been a long time, I am not famaliar with what is out there to work on and enjoy riding. This one will get me back into the saddle and get some much needed exercise.
As far as what to restore or work on, I have always back then had Schwinn. I might have had a Murray but can't remember that one.
I am not famaliar with any from that point in time to now. Lots of companies have come and gone.
This will be just a pleasurable hobby and something to keep my mind working and not turning to mud.
I'll keep reading and searching here. I do see a lot of Trek, old Schwinn's, some Raleigh's, and others that I have no idea they are from the names.
Wish me luck on my new venture.

Thanks

Richard

Make sure you take plenty of pics at each stage of the restoration and share them on this forum.


Some of the best threads on this forum are of people who not only do a restoration, but go to the trouble of capturing various stages and sharing them.

Just want to throw in and confirm what others have said - don't buy a low end bike, or even mid range. Get something that's good quality and slightly rare steel - @SouthFLpix mentioned a LeMond, that's my "cool" road bike. It's not very rare or unique as some, but the tubes were manufactured in Great Britain by the Reynolds corporation, and the frame was welded up in Wisconsin. It's light and awesome :D

@Wildwood nailed it by mentioning fitment as the number one thing. If the bike is too big or small, it's not going to be enjoyable no matter how pricey. Case in point I need to shorten the stem on my LeMond, because my crap beater bike fits a little better, and I'm not as sore riding the beater! :o

You should be reading and posting in the classic and vintage forum asap!

I will provide the counter argument to the above.

I would suggest considering a mid range older bike that doesn't need a lot of structural replacement (so as to keep costs down), if the goal is to have fun restoring and tinkering.

Many people do restore high quality bikes but sometimes they are "dream" bikes a person could not afford earlier in life or a favorite that racers they followed from the past may have ridden. If you don't have that connection to those bikes the additional cost and limitation of design options may not be worth it for just riding around. The main problem with that is restoring a quality bike costs a lot more money and the range of parts is limited to what is expected for the make. You wind up sourcing specific parts for specific groupsets. Of course that may be fun in itself and you can do what ever you want but you will get a lot of flack if you start stripping certain paint or decal schemes and/or using different quality drive train parts willy nilly.

As far as tinkering and enjoying the act of rebuilding I find mid range older bikes to be fun. They can be had for dirt cheap (or free), they usually were pretty good quality in their day and replacement parts are cheap if needed. The systems are also basic enough that you won't feel nervous messing with them. Because they are not "grail" bikes people will also be a lot more forgiving of any modifications/artistic license you may take in restoration. This is especially true if you go for the extra challenge of finding a real junker to restore. I guess the difference I might say is whether your goal is to have fun tinkering with a bike or whether the goal is to wind up with a quality bike. Though a quality bike can also be fun to tinker with (especially if you have a personal connection to it) the price to play will be a lot more.

Another option is to choose a bike of some historical note or from a well known company. If you just like riding around greenways a more upright utility bike may be what you desire and a great company for those was Raleigh. They have a long long history you can spend time learning about and a used older model can be had fairly cheaply. They are also a very pleasing eye catcher when done up nice.

I have a department store bike from the Hudson's Bay Company called a Hurricane Deluxe 6 which is nothing special as far as quality goes but has been a real pleasure to restore with inexpensive period correct parts and ride around. I also have a low quality 10 speed that I felt free to strip and rearrange into a single speed at the cost of some tires, a $15 sprocket, chain and a lot of elbow grease. Another bike is a mid 80's mtb junk store find that I explored using a different finishing technique on (Gun Blue treatment instead of paint). Lots of fun and creativity at little relative risk or cost.



Before:
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4310/...199711b3_z.jpg
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4302/...14dd20cd_z.jpg
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4316/...cc52616a_z.jpg

After:
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4474/...5f0e669d_z.jpg
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4456/...cec21488_z.jpg
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4466/...261b8d03_z.jpg
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4465/...da868cc4_z.jpg
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4489/...4cfd4b88_z.jpg

One more:

This was a $20 Woodward's department store bike that I bought and stripped down, using the same gun blue technique but leaving parts of the original paint. I tried working some older tens speed bars on it but never really liked the look of them or the seat so I am rebuilding it again with more period correct bars, a springer seat and a small gas powered bicycle motor to try and effect an early era pseudo Harley Davidson motor bicycle. It's going to be a bit of a project but not much above tinkering grade.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4305/...e1602e21_z.jpg
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4710/...809a1ef3_z.jpg
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4309/...11a7ed1a_z.jpg

Thanks Happy Feet for your input. Your way is what I intend to do simply because it is fun taking something that is cheap or thrown away and making it workable again. I do have a Huffy mtb that I found at a trash bin and all it needed was a tube patch, seat and post and chain. I truely have enjoyed messing with it but it doesn't fit me for comfort. It will probably go to a kid in the neighborhood that needs something to ride.
I did buy a Schwinn S7 cruiser new from a local shop just to get back into the groove of riding. I've been looking at CL a lot and that is what is making me try to figure out what bike is good or bad and why are they selling it.
I think I tend to look at bikes about like cars. I have owned Mercedes and Volkswagens. Bugs will get you there with a lot more fun driving them and the Mercedes was for comfort. I liked the Bugs best. They were fun and cheap.

Thanks

Richard

I'm with happy Feet.For fun .... unless you really like the hunt for that one period-correct widget which casts more than the whole bike when you finally find it (and absolutely no disrespect to the people who do that and love) it is a lot less stressful to grab any bike with a square-taper bottom bracket .... then pretty much any part from any era from any manufacturer will fit.

I--and many others---are partial to early rigid-frame mountain bikes like the Skate-Board King he showed above. Comfortable, durable, can haul huge loads or ride over any terrain but can also work well on pavement for anything from commuting to touring to cruising the neighborhood after dinner as the sun sets.

Pretty much anything before the mid '90s I guess ...

@Happy Feet, wonderful machines! I should amend and slightly backtrack my statement, as your first bike shown has forged drops! :lol:

I was coming from my current experience working and building up my Panasonic sport 1000 - the darn thing has stamped drops, and plain looking lugging. I discovered my local co-op, and found that if I had just spent a tad more I would've been able to get a bike with forged drops, an integrated derailleur hanger, and some better braze ons.

Speaking of co-op, @RichardHaas this would be a good place to checkout if you have one locally. At our co-op there's a ton of bikes in the "in-bay" that have yet to be processed. I was told for $50 you can just buy one. That's not a bad deal since I saw a couple really nice machines in the queue, that once worked over by the volunteers then sells for over $200 at the co-op.

Going by car analogies - my LeMond is the Mercedes, @Happy Feet has the VW beetle, and the Panasonic would be a Hyundai accent :lol:

I'm also going to suggest an '80's-'90's MTB as a good tinkering project. Get one from one of the 'major' brands like Trek, Specialized, GT or Raleigh, Fuji or Nishiki for good build quality, and decent components.
Going late 80's early '90's will also ensure that you can find any replacement components new(er) rather than having to source vintage stuff for the '70s road machines show above. Think Small-Block Chevy vs. Jag inline-6

Early MTB's are also very versatile in what you can build with them, just by changing handlebars and tires.
See these threads from the 'Classic&Vintage' forum for some ideas.
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...nversions.html


https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...nversions.html