dddd

"Full complement" means you remove the 14-ball retainers from the headset and replace with perhaps 24 loose balls, almost invariably installing as many as will fit, with a rotation test confirming no binding.
The traditional textbook recommendation of "full minus one" is almost universally wrong, I struggle to recall more than one instance in all my years.
Leaving no appreciable space for the balls to wander means that they can't easily fall into existing worst defects in the races and thus cause rough turning (which is verboten for headsets relative to having the steering find center while riding no-hands).

stoneageyosh

Unless you were racing bikes in the early-mid 60’s nobody had a clue about high end bikes. My 1960 Puch Burgmeister was a “You spent how much, on a bike?!” whole 85 bucks. First ten speed with a funny shifter in back that was the first that most had ever seen.
By 1965 I had bought a Bianchi Speciallisima with Campy Record, Universal CPs and Fiamme Yellows for an astronomical $185 and people thought I was totally nuts. It was my first race bike and the only place where folks knew what it was for was at races. Probably should have kept it. But, BITD it was a tool, a real nice one, but still a tool and not a collectible.

AdventureManCO 

Started in on the saddle.

So far = not good

But I have plenty of time to cook this goose, so we're gonna give it every shot we can to save the saddle. Bit touch and go at the moment.

cudak888 

^
Paging rhm.

-Kurt

AdventureManCO 

Morning update: we are saving this saddle.








Fortunately, the cracking looks way worse in pictures...it's just on the surface of this very thick leather.

stoneageyosh

Should be salvageable for sure. FWIW, at my age I know some people and a couple of Shar Pei that look worse.

SurferRosa

Both surfaces?

dddd

That shield or support isn't even present on most saddles, so might be completely unnecessary depending of luck and on loading. I've run saddles that had cracks in the actual leather but went on functioning for years under my modest poundage.

AdventureManCO 

@dddd is correct, that is some sort of a fiber layer that is riveted on underneath the leather and extends under the frame. I'm not sure it is necessary, but I can leave it for now.

I had really good luck sanding out the cracks in my other Brooks leather saddle, which helped with both presentation, and hopefully with eliminating stress points. Fortunately, all the cracks in this one are from drying out, and not from someone sitting on it and it pulling at the tension points. I think we'll be okay.

I needed 3 things to happen with the saddle:

1. I needed the sides be shaped in, instead of splaying out
2. I needed it to be soft enough not to tear while riding, and also for comfort
3. In order for #1 and #2, I needed to be able to safely manipulate the leather back into shape without damaging it.

I think I found the key. First thing I did yesterday was to start conditioning it. While I don't necessarily think that was a mistake, it did needed to be cleaned. I was VERY hesitant to use water, as I have destroyed some bits of very old leather in the past with water. But I also use water with leather all the time to loosen it up for a moment. There are lots of factors that determine how leather and water interact, but what I found was that water will open up the fibers of the leather and allow it to be safely manipulated, but then water evaporates, and will cause the leather to also dry out, sometimes irrepairably. Therefore, I did a combo - I took it rather slow with the water, and scrubbed all the dirt off, all the while letting the water gently massage the leather and lossening it up. Then after getting the shape to where I wanted it, blotted it dry with a towel, and started replacing the water with leather conditioner and spent a LOT of time hand rubbing it. I think that is a winning strategy. It is now in the correct shape, and has conditioner soaking into it.


More photos to come!

pastorbobnlnh 

My first 10-Speed was a Sears Ted Williams purchased during this interim time. Most likely in 1971-72. It was made in Austria, most likely by Puch. I took it to college in '76 and it was stolen from the dorm during my first semester.

AdventureManCO 

Saddle saved! Pics coming. Turned out better than I had hoped! Tonight I'm going to pull the fork and soak the headtube/lugs in evaporust because the chrome was somehow just replaced w/ rust, despite the paint being perfect!

AdventureManCO 

EDIT: double post

Also going to disassemble the hubs and see what kind of carnage we are looking at.

AdventureManCO 

Okay, I really debated how far to go with this, but I think we ended up in a happy place. I got the saddle in a (hopefully) rideable state that is loads better than it was, but kept a little bit of the character while theoretically eliminating stress risers from the surface cracks.

Here is what we started from...







Time to break out the sandpaper!

AdventureManCO 

AdventureManCO 

Still bears the scars of its time in quarantine, drying out, but just waiting to be picked up again and taken out into the light. That is what we will do.

bikingshearer 

My clear recollection from this era (I was a kid) was that the Ted Williams name was slapped on all kinds of sports equipment sold by Sears. Certainly fishing tackle, but I think ball sports equipment got the TW moniker as well. I know it was on more than bikes. Nice little endorsement deal Teddy Ballgame had for some years.

I think, but am in no way certain, the the "Free Spirit" brand is what came after the Ted Williams deal ended, but I would cheerfully defer to someone who has actual, you know, knowledge on the subject.

And the Record RD is certainly worth the price of admission - a lot fewer of them were sold that the Gran Sports and Nuovo Records.

AdventureManCO 

I got a weight on the bike before I start tearing into it and disassembling everything.

28lbs on the dot. I knew she was lighter than the Huffy was, stock. Everything's lighter than the Huffy was, stock!

Not bad! Not great, but a lot of potential here. The kickstand? That was .52lbs, so removing that, we are already at 27.48lbs. Biggest gains to come from crankset and wheels/tires combo. Then low hanging fruit like the steel seatpost.

If the hubs are not thrashed, I will rebuild the wheels, and I'm open to some newer, modern rims. Tubulars? Clinchers? If this is an everyday rider, clinchers might be nice, but I'm out of the loop on good, lightweight rims. Machined sidewalls would be nice.

AdventureManCO 

Okay, some midnight action (of the less-than-ideal kind) updates!

Tonight had several wins!

First things first, the stem and fork all came out without a hitch!






I didn’t really look too closely at the headset races, but we have to have some suspense somewhere, so we’ll revisit that. I wanted to get that head tube and lug assembly inverted for a little evaporust mojo. The chrome on these lugs is nearly gone. It must have been really thin from the get-go. Those Austrians and their freakin’ thin chrome. The should have hired a consultant from Schwinn.

So we are soaking the entire shebang and we’ll see how it turns out after a day or two. I have a plan in the works here if it turns out the lugs clean up well but just with chrome loss.




Next up, the wheels!

Ive been a little apprehensive about tearing into these hubs to see what the condition is, but time to face the music, so let’s get to it.




Just what awaits us? Well, these hubs took a 13mm and 16mm cone wrench, of all things. Keep those 16mm wrenches around! You’ll never need them unless you pick up some weird Austrian bike!


Well, I have fantastic news to report. While the cone nuts had some pitting, the innards of the hubs looked just great…





I have no ideal what cone nuts these hubs take, but once I find out I am going to try to source some NOS ones or something new that fits, some new bearings as well, and get these things cleaned up. I’m not expecting them to roll incredibly smooth since those hub races didn’t look polished or finished super well, but they should be fine, and a definite improvement over how they were. They were very tight and notchy, so while I was worried, one of the previous posters mentioned that many old bikes had their wheel bearings adjusted too tight and that should be all it is, and fortunately they were right.

Now that I know we are in business, I am definitely more excited about rebuilding the wheels. Please let me know your thoughts on keeping the same 27”
rims, or going to 700c clinchers or even tubulars. I will be stuck with 36H. Let me know your suggestions.



While I was at it, I got crackin’ on spraying penetrant on the cotter pins to soak a bit…






...and then got the chance to examine the bike a little more closely underneath. Besides the head tube lugs, here is the worst of it...




This is the NDS chainstay. Bit o’ rust, bit o’ paint bubbles, nothing too crazy. I’m not holding out too much hope for the chrome, just knowing how thin it is, but at least it is on the underside.

Sad day for the chrome, but for the seat and the hubs I think we got to them just in the nick of time.


Oh, and here is the super cool fork crown.




cudak888 was right, we are basically starting with a Confente here compared to where we launched off on the last bike build lol

I will be cleaning up the Campy bits soon. Stay tuned!

HelpSingularity 

I came of age in the early 70s, when Sears reigned supreme (but certainly not in the bicycle department).
As I recall "Free Spirit" was the name of all their bicycles.
Most of the "Free Spirits" were "Huffy" look alikes, but somewhere along the line some of them were lugged from Austria.
As I recall "Ted Williams" designated the top of the line of the "Free Spirit" line.
I even remember seeing one with a lugged "531" frame, big surprise on my part, like "WTF?".
A very rude and crude frame, adorned with the wonderful "Guaranteed built with Reynolds 531" decal.

pastorbobnlnh 

...and the rebuild adventure has commenced! The saddle rejuvenation is awesome.

AdventureManCO don't forget the whole C&V-Family Life balance deal this time around. Not everything needs to be solved immediately.

nlerner

I had one of the 1970s Reynolds 531 TW Free Spirits, which I sold to @ascherer for his son. Here’s the ‘73/‘74 catalog page:

cudak888 

Do I spy someone in need of the The Classic & Vintage Pass Around [Cotter] Press?

-Kurt

GeezyRider 

Nice work on the saddle. Did you happen to weigh it before and after sanding? Probably a significant weight reduction there.

Rocket-Sauce 

Here we go again, in the best/worst possible way...

AdventureManCO 

Excellent reminder sir! A big bonus is there is no time crunch on this one, so we can go at our own pace and I won't have to live out there, so I'm excited to have a leisure 'vacation' build