etherhuffer 

It actually works pretty well. I have been using it on my Fuji Gran Tour SE for years, no problems. If you bump it hard it moves, but no big deal, just push it back in place. I use large bottles, no problem there either. The only problem I had is the mounting nut. It sits in a recessed hole in the back side. You have to have the exact right length bolt. Too short it won't find the nut, too long it hits the tube. I put a small piece of rubber band in the hole to push the nut forward so the bolt could start running in.

Brad L 

My current project is a rough 1980 Colnago Super in need of LOTS of TLC.

mrv 

another option
https://www.rivbike.com/products/two...b40a062c&_ss=r

i use this one on my old Schwinn Super Le tour

Nemosengineer 

JB Weld works best above 70 degrees and really needs a full day to cure enough to work the surface. everything has to be very very clean to get the best bond (Lacquer Thinner}.
I used a gram scale to ensure the mix is very close to 50/50. I worked this project over a week using multiple thin skims as a filler, that's why the fill job looks like tree rings in those photos
What's good about JB is it can be worked to a feather edge without chipping, it can be sanded so fine it is translucent, so no need for spot putty which I hate. So as of an hour ago the frame is in primer and I'm happy with the result. I will let the pictures do the talking.

Top tube fill area in primer.
Untitled by nemosengineer, on Flickr


Chain Stay fill areas in primer.
Untitled by nemosengineer, on Flickr

This side has a paint sag see if you can find it...
Untitled by nemosengineer, on Flickr

Untitled by nemosengineer, on Flickr

The fork will be in primer tomorrow.
Have a great day: Mike

Nemosengineer 

Italian triple crank with 10 speed French rings to run Japanese derailleurs. sounds like a new project.

Untitled by nemosengineer, on Flickr

: Mike

VintageSteelEU

As for electrical tape, you could also get Tessa tape. It's made of fabric and looks pretty nice on vintage frames.
One of my first bicycles had two clamps holding a bottle cage. There seem to be many solutions these days: Adding Water Bottle Cages to Bicycles without Braze

Desert Ryder

A 4th of July project..
Took this Diamondback from this:


Down to this:

Its parts will go into the spares bin. The wheelset has already been put to use.

Mr. 66

Here is the Holdsworth. I think this bike probably had center pull brakes. Massive reach needed for front wheel. I was going to go 700 and campy brakes. Well, that was a failure. Campy brakes do not reach 27" let alone 700. So I try the Dura Ace, and they work at maximum reach, but only with 27", dang.

Here is a picture just before cable.




The wheels have been swapped with a comparable set the difference being Mavic over the Rigida. Busted up Universal side pull brakes are now Dura Ace with Campy levers, Sugino chainrings have been replaced with new Sugino rings. The chain is Sachs off an old Raleigh MTB, the bb is a Shimano cartridge, pedals from the stash.

Test ride today with the current gearing the ride will be very old school.

jamesdak 

Good choice!

etherhuffer 

Your build was part of my inspiration. Man, this is such a nice ride!

jamesdak 

New shoes this evening on the Softride.

VintageSteelEU

Whilst still waiting for new brake cables, I decided to tackle the derailleur. It had quite a bit of play in both pivot bolts. Not enough to affect shifting much (I think), but it was a bit annoying. I had another RD-6208 with some minor damage to the cage, so swapped the cages, cleaned it up and put it on the bicycle. The other derailleur ended up in a box for part donors for the future.
No more play on the lower pivot bolt. As for the upper / mounting bolt, I think at some point, perhaps I'll have to follow Suntour school of engineering and perhaps stick a thin shim somewhere and see if that does the trick. Not really crucial, shifting works fine. I've seen some NOS RD-6208's, but definitely outside of the budget.


Both cages off

RD re-assembled with undamaged cage

And back on the bicycle

EJM73

Added shims to the toe clips to fit my massive shoe size, wet sanded and polish the Viner seat post.

daverup 

What did you make those shims out of? Looks like a good idea

EJM73

I made them out of thin wall stainless tubing. I just measured wear my foot rest on my clipless pedals using the pedal axel. then added that to the cages. I road them this weekend and it worked well.

bikamper

No pics but my neighbor was riding his 80’s Schwinn hybrid up and down the street. The brakes were squealing loud enough to wake my deaf dog. I called him over and adjusted the toe in on the brake pads. The dog is happy.

etherhuffer 

Uncommon but durable tourer. Building for a friend

Aardwolf

Lug lining test #3: DecoColor Liquid Gold paint marker (extra fine).

Slightly shakey in places but much easier to control than a Fluid Writer.
And the colour and opacity are fine.
I think I'm prepared to run with this

Update: There's a real problem trying to clear over this, solvent based varnish just smears it after 2 days.

Nemosengineer 

My AlAn is officially dead due to a cracked seat post lug and has been for a while. Over the last month or so I have been frame shopping, usually I stay within the cheap and cheerful price range and I found a red 1994 53cm Cannondale R800 2.8 series, a bit rough around the edges but not bad. Full Speed Ahead...
But... I found myself back on line just for a look... I found myself smitten by a Shimano box blue with yellow logos 1984 lugged steel grail bike also USA made in wonderful condition. Yes I bought it, should be here on Monday and I will reveal the bikes true identity.

The Cannondale will be built up using most of the AlAn except for the crank, its getting the Shamagnola. Its name is "You can call me Al"


Good Bye AlAn.

20191230_125117 (1) by nemosengineer, on Flickr

: Mike

jamesdak 

Rode the old Team USA down to PT this morning and then figured I might as well go ahead and do the crankset swap on it while I had it out. Figured it would only take a few minutes....right!!!
So. the Sugino crank came off with no issues at all and the BB was a cinch to remove. Had thought I might be able to reuse the current BB but then remembered it was ISO and the replacement one takes JIS. Anyway...problems reared that all to usual heads when I went to install the new sealed cartridge BB. It wouldn't go in straight so I could start the threads. Looked inside the BB and realized it was hitting on the hardware used to secure the BB cable guide. Raliegh used so steel pin of some sort with helical spirals on it. I guess they just drove it in when they built the bikes. I couldn't get it out to save my life, grrrrrr! So I had to make a 14 mile round trip to the hardware store to get a grinding stone for my drill. Came back and ground most of the protruding post down, cleaned, cleaned, and cleaned all the shavings out of the BB shell and then was finally able to proceed. Now the BB went in just fine and the new crank was on in minutes. I must be getter better at judging torque because I had the cranks bolts almost perfect when I took the torque wrench to them. Then it was a simple task of moving down the FD (endless band Suntour) and dial in the position. Wound up taking 4 links out of the chain. I'm going from a 53/39 crank to a 48/34. Then mounted up some temporary pedals and ran it for a little test. All gears combo's seem to work now, even the cross-chaining ones I won't ride. It will be nice having the 34/30 combo now for when it get's steep. I'm thinking of going with different tires though. Not a fan of the knobbies now that I have been riding them awhile. Just have to decide what to use.

VintageSteelEU

Panaracer Race C Evo. Very good tires. They go up to 700x28c. I'm using 700x26c version and I like them very much. Good grip, comfortable and look good. Or, if you want something that doesn't look classic, Michelin Lithion 3, though I don't think they live up to what I expected when riding in wet conditions. No problem on the road, but I have a bit of surface in my area covered in pavement bricks and Lithions are not doing that hot with that kind of surface. I had them in 700x25c and found them more comfortable than some other tires in 700x28c I use.

jamesdak 

Oops, should have mentioned. The main purpose for this one is light gravel use where I live. So pavement to the gravel but it's main purpose is off pavement riding.

Nemosengineer 

Here is the big secret from my last post, the mystery bike is... A 1983 Serotta Nova Special in almost new condition, not bad for a 40 year old frame, I could not be happier.
Now for the details, 53X53 frame with 126mm spacing (but not for long), Frame weight 1841gr (4.058lb), Fork weight 632gr (1.393lb), Total weight 2473gr (5.452lb). Columbus SL tubing with splined tubing for the seatpost and steer tube, Cinelli bottom bracket and fork crown, Shimano dropouts. About average weight for a steel race frame of this spec. More later.

Untitled by nemosengineer, on Flickr

Untitled by nemosengineer, on Flickr

Untitled by nemosengineer, on Flickr

: Mike

RiddleOfSteel

Had my bought-but-never-ridden 1980 Trek 510 frameset (my second) built as a complete bike earlier this year, set for sale. Never built it up for myself. Loved the (repaint) purple, even as it has faded dramatically in random ways all over the bike. Scratches and other blemishes, too. No decals, no head badge. I paid more money for the frame than I should have (retail space), educatedly gambling on the chance it was a 710. But hey, a 510 ain't bad at all. I had and sold a 1979/1980 510 in the gorgeous Chestnut Brown after deciding to downsize and concluding that it's serene in-saddle manner coupled with its strong indifference when out of saddle was not in my interest. That's probably what drove a bit of the straight-to-sale building of this purple 510.

Before Velocals closed, I picked up the necessary decals to make it complete, whether I kept the frameset as is or repainted/coated it. A couple of weeks ago, after having the bike for sale, I said to heck with it, I'm putting on these decals (and a spare Trek head badge bought from Recycled Cycles). I still loved the color, and really liked it with the black components and tan wall tires. Didn't want to part with it, and felt bad for the frameset that I never made it mine (and thus gave it a fair chance to be in the fleet). I didn't even wax the paint or polish the exterior of the headset, that's how "not mine" I'd kept it. So, being bored and wanting to make it "something," I decided to put black electrical tape on the silver seat post and stem to get an approximate idea of how making the bike "more black" would look. This is what I started with:



The FSA Vero triple crankset takes a square taper BB and I needed a long enough one to get it to clear the frame. This resulted in a q-factor of about 167mm IIRC, which is a mile away from the 146mm road (double) norm, and what all my bikes are set to since my knees are particular. Another reason to not even recreationally ride this, even if this 3x9 system shifts sublimely.

Regardless, the black electrical tape mockup told me that more black was a very good thing, especially gloss black. This gladdened my heart, and off I went rummaging around my bins for things, swapping one carbon seat post for another with my Orbea, and here is the result (minus the saddle being 1/4" too high, in fading light). It is looking very good and enabled me to assess more of the bike's out-of-saddle character. So far so good/not bad. The next stage is the present Alexrim DA16 wheels going away for a yet-to-be-built wheelset of the exact color composition: black hubs, black spokes, silver nipples, and black rims with machined sidewalls. I have a pair of 105 5600 hubs and previously-laced black Open Pros. Just picked up 14 ga black spokes and silver (brass) nipples. This will get rid of the semi-yuck (on a vintage bike) radially-spoked front wheel, the uneven spoke count, and a heavier wheelset. A used FSA Gossamer double crankset and BB combo was picked up for cheap. That will shed weight there after I shed nearly a pound from swapping out the seat post, stem, bars and headset for what you see below.

I've had some bike sales lately, and have more for sale presently, that is what is funding things. I'm aiming at primarily a vintage Trek fleet. Their size, beauty/attractiveness, ride quality, and friendly standards used are things I really appreciate. So anyway, that's my sitrep--moving the chains on this 510 and my blue '82 715.

xiaoman1 

..........That's a nice looking frame!
Best, Ben