DorkDisk

I'm sure there is, crabon paste is used for crabon seatposts. Basically you want something that will stay put, is cheap, and will keep the two metals from direct contact with each other. Why not grease?

I know it sounds counter intuitive to beginners but bike mechs have been putting a thin coating of grease on seatposts forever. It's not a new trick, it's not controversial, it doesn't make your post slip, and it prevents your post and frame becoming one.

I've been greasing my seatpost for 26 years, on countless bikes. Many mechanics better than me have been doing it for longer. Why not grease?

jase33

I use this for my seatpost. I used to just put a thin coat of grease but my LBS told me about this so I have been using ever since. One tube lasts a long time. It's basically lube for anything not threaded and not a bearing.

Park Tool Supergrip Carbon and Alloy Assembly Compound

ColonelSanders

Yeah I am using a Shimano anti-seize product on things.

coominya

I have never greased a seatpost and never had one corrode, though mine have always been aluminium posts in aluminium frames. If I had a steel frame I would consider it though.


Picked up the last piece of the puzzle off an Ebay auction today, a Shimano front derailleur in VGC
It's a top pull bottom swing 9-speed, which should, probably, hopefully have have the ability to handle an 8 speed chain. We will see.

stratford

Nice thread! Thanks for adding all the pics.

coominya

Tonight's work is resorting the rear wheel. As with the front wheel I began by wiping the rim over with aluminium cleaner and polishing the hub and spokes with Autosol. Each cleaner has a different effect and autosol shouldn't be used on brushed aluminium like rims unless you want them shiny (and your brakes possibly slipping)

Replace Cassette
Inspect and Service axle bearings
Install new tube and tire





So over to the bicycle workshop. I do the serious cleaning out in the garage but polishing work and assembly is all done in the games room around my fold down bicycle desk.





I take photos of complex disassembly so I can get all the parts back in the right order.




The old cassette, it's seen better days.




Bearing races are cleaned and inspected, they're in good shape considering the age.








The bearings for each side are kept separate as they can seat differently (according to a youtube vid)





Balls are shiny, a good sign. You have to practical about these rebuilds I think. If parts look acceptable I keep them, these can always be replaced later, though replacing the hubs is like a MAJOR job.





The axles were re-greased with some tri-Flow synth grease I had laying around. It's expensive but I don't want to have to go into these axles for a long time.

Perhaps I could have kept the old cassette and chainrings, but I had no way of judging how worn they were. Having slightly worn axle bearings is not something you will notice IMO but a worn drivetrain is another matter. Better just to replace them, It's easy and not TOO expensive

Obviously I have omitted some steps like removing the cassette etc but that's all on YouTube anyway if someone wants to go down this route.


All done and resting beside it's mate, took about 3 hours.

coominya

You're welcome. If I had it over I'd probably make it more orderly but like the bike it's my first attempt at a detailed ongoing thread, so It does ramble

If there is one lesson i have learned from this rebuild it's Take Your Time buying parts and consider lots of options. The crank choice was a classic example, it took me weeks to discover there was a high quality older style one hiding in the woods of the internet.

ColonelSanders

Good stuff, keep the pics and updates coming.

coominya

It's an interesting process choosing the parts for a rebuild of an obsolete bike. Some are obvious choices, like bearings, some take a lot of Carefull consideration like what type of chainring or derailleur to buy. These latter choices are dictated by looks and quality considerations but also by what will "fit" or funtion properly. I found the most subjective choice of parts though to be the tires. Choosing these was akin to betting on a horse race.

Certainly there are tires for specific rims, horses for courses so to speak. There are weather considerations and the track they will be running on to take into account, but at the end of the day you are standing there looking at a small selection of contenders and trying to choose which one is 'best', which one looks the best but will go the distance and not break down on the back straight. I have only bet on horses once or twice in my life but that's what the process felt like to me. At the end I walked out clutching my tires as though they were betting tickets, full of anticipation on how my choice would perform in the coming months.

coominya

I basically finished the frame work tonight so I proceeded to fit the BB; seat, wheels and fork etc. Getting the Zoom stem on was a rubber hammer affair but it's on now (lots of grease) lots of grease everywhere, I took DorkDisk's advice, except on the seatpost (sorry)

I have nearly all the other components on hand, all but the crank which is a week away. I still have some touch-ups on the frame to be made with black vinyl, that poxy square on the seat tube will be hidden by the water bottle holder (WHEN IT ARRIVES!!!) if not I'll cover that spot in another way. Perhaps a cool sticker.

coominya

the new Japanese Shimano crankset arrived today, I'll bolt it on (with some grease on the tapers) and then get back to the black vinyl work. Since I have to wrap most of the Top tube in it I thought I might wrap a few other small sections of the frame as well, to offset the top tube, make a sort of style out of it. No point trying to keep the bike looking original now.

coominya

Getting a little further along on the project. The shift/brake levers are mounted as are the v-brakes. All cabling is routed and adjusted aside from the front derailleur as I'm waiting for a set of spacers to arrive for it. Waiting for parts to arrive is really the only log jam now.

I could/should/will cut and mount the chain soon anyway. It will be good to have it on see how the drive works. I'm Waiting on some grips and another set of SPD pedals too as I looted the pedals I had bought to put on a MTB.









That black band on the seatpost is vinyl wrap and I'm going to remove it and put a longer section on that will come down below the chainrings. It covers some bad paintwork like on the top tube but it's only a small spot, I put it on, and will now lengthen it so that it offers a matching look to the top tube section. I think it will balance it out.





You can't see it in this photo but behind the chainring and below where the derailleur clamp attaches is a one inch polished section of the seat tube. It had corroded under the paint and rubbing back to bare metal and then using wet&dry + autosol brings it up like chrome. That's one of the beauties of aluminium.

ColonelSanders

That is a nice looking crank, one of the most important parts for any bike to look right.

coominya

Yes, it's supposedly a bullet-proof one from the 90's Col, still a few new ones around.

A nice big box just arrived from Ribble's in the UK so tonight I fitted the chain and set up the rear derailleur, put on a new seat I got locally off eBay, the same one the toughroad has. Installed the hand-grips with the help of some isopropyl alcohol, fitted new pedals, and reattached a cute little cateye tail light I scored that's yellow. I think I spent too much on it Col

All I'm waiting on now is a spacer for the front derailleur and it's out for a test ride.

ColonelSanders

I'm not sure that such a thing is possible.