Schreck83 

I have a set of those levers I can send you if you're still on the fence. No charge, just PM me with your address if you're interested.
Is this the bike you needed the Bicycle Research freewheel remover for, and if so, did you succeed?

bikemig 

Yeah I needed the BR freewheel remover for this but I think I'm just not going to overhaul that wheel and do the adjustment on one side. It turns freely.

PM sent. Thanks!

jyl

Built this Centurion for a young friend. This was his college bike, he lived with us during his last year of school, someone had stolen a wheel so the bike was out of service. His college money ran out so he couldn’t fix it and was bikeless. After graduating he got a good job, moved to an apartment, finally had the cash to get his bike powder coated and redecaled, bought new wheels and tires and the Gevenalle shifters. I contributed used brakes, new cables, housing, cable stop and chain, the pump and a good lock, and a day of work. Used my buffing wheel to polish up some bits and it looks nice. He needs to attach the headbadge and get a matching saddle.

Only hassle I ran into: the new wheel he got had a 7 spd FW and 126 mm locknut spacing but the bike originally had 6 spd and the rear dropout spacing was 120 mm. 120 and 126 are close enough that it didn’t matter, but the original Suntour RD couldn’t move out enough to shift down to the smallest cog, the cage hit the derailleur body. I had to thin that spot on the cage and place a spacer under the RD hanger bolt. Those new wheels also needed truing, which was disappointing.

gaucho777 

My daughter's bike is slowly coming along. It had to take a backseat to a backyard stone patio project I promised my wife I'd finish this summer (happy wife, happy life). Was originally planning on a nice brown Ideale saddle on this bike, but my daughter is adamant against a tensioned leather saddle. I need to figure out the grips/wraps (I might try to make some custom white leather grips). To fender or not to fender? Then clean and polish the brake calipers, glue the tires, and string the cables. She'll probably want a basket...

noglider 

Leather saddles are not for everyone.

scarlson 

Wow, lucky girl!

Fenders are nice, but there's not a ton of room is there. I bet you could do 32s, though. Is that one of those Schwinn sport frames, or is it something else?

Drillium Dude 

Out with the old, in with the new; swapping the SunTour/Sugino mix back to Campy on the Casati:







I have to do some touching up of the flat clearcoat before reassembly, and that requires some delicate prep work. As a result, I don't expect to have the transformation completed until sometime next week.

DD

SurferRosa

The stuff on the '80s Trek 560EX is so cool, I've been overhauling it all before really touching the frame. I don't look forward to removing old, unnecessary frame decals and the ugly, worn chainstay protector.

Started with the NR derailleurs, beautiful first gen Athena crankset (I will be keeping!), and Athena brakeset. Today I overhauled this Dura Ace freewheel. Makes it easy to just leave the body on the wheel.



Already disassembled the wheels so I can build up these Record high flange hubs on new clinchers. Sure wish I could've reused the nipples. I tried. But they were so gross with old glue! How do you tubular guys put up with all that mess?

gaucho777 

scarlson Yes, she is a lucky girl, even if she doesn't realize how lucky. It's not a Schwinn, though still as-of-yet unidentified builder. It's full 531 double-butted frame & fork, Campagnolo dropouts, hand-filed lugs, circa early 70s--probably a custom or small-batch builder is my guess.

bikemig 

I've been working on three different bikes that I'm getting rid of. (1) A yellow 1991 rockhopper that I rebuilt and shipped off to my nephew in New Jersey. (2) A 1973 Gitane Grand Sport "Deluxe" that I'm building for a neighbor. (3) A 1991 Specialized Rockhopper that I'm building for a friend in Texas.


1989 Specialized Rockhopper

1973 Gitane Mixte

1991 Specialized Rockhopper

SurferRosa

From the Trek 560EX donor I just bought, I've mounted its Brooks Pro and Athena/Chorus pedals onto my Miyata 912. I had to lower the seatpost quite a bit for the new saddle.



At some point, the Trek's Chorus crankset is going on there, too. It's a little more blingy than the Triomphe. The 53t ring is bigger, and the 39t ring provides some lower gearing. Just need to find a 111mm bb. Hope the Victory rd can handle the difference.


.

Night Treker

24"

20"

SurferRosa

More donor Trek goodness ... polished and overhauled.



Locknuts say 1972. And the races looked brand new. These were on a commuter!

2cam16

Did some parts changing today.
The 560 got a pair of gunmetal grey wheels I had sitting around. Now it's more period-correct.
IMG_3608 by 2cam16, on Flickr
The gravel grinder is getting some parts off a Scatante I got for free. 9-speed rear wheel(front came off the 560 above) and the rd/brifters. Got as far as the wheels.
IMG_3610 by 2cam16, on Flickr

JacobLee 

Stumbled on a cool trick today removing the bearings from a hub. I thought I’d fish a few balls out with my magnet, but they all grabbed on and came out in a clump. Sculpture!

merziac

JacobLee

Ideally you don't want any magnetism in the balls, they can stick, not rotate properly and wear unevenly in the long run.

JacobLee 

Interesting! Okay, maybe not such a cool trick after all. Thanks for the correction!

merziac

Well there is a lot of debate in general on this and it may be negligible on bikes but I don't chance it.

JacobLee 

Either way, it’s interesting, and something I wouldn’t have thought of in a million years. Unfortunately, I’ll have to worry about the hubs whenever I ride this bike! No I won’t. Yes I will. Eh.

In which circles does this get debated? Automotive? Aerospace?

merziac

Not actually sure, one of the bearing sites that looked up today had a topic about motor bearing failure from it but they induce it so its a big problem for that.

You may have to dig for it and it actually doesn't come up here like I think it would.

I was schooled by a couple of old guys along the way but have had plenty along the way that thought otherwise but I'll go with the sage advice every time.

I did raise the question at a bearing supply house many years ago and they didn't think it was critical on bikes but admitted they weren't expert in that so....

Prowler 

^^^^^ FYI, I use this idea too but use a pretty small and weak magnet. I have one cut from a refrigerator magnet - that weak rubber stuff. My theory: strong enough to pick up bearing balls but too weak to magnetize them. Very brief contact times too.

I could, but would not use cow magnets or speaker magnets. No need and, maybe, strong enough to 'do a mischief'.

I'm also particular about putting the bearings back in. I've made tweezers out of bamboo. They work nicely but are not magnetic. More tactile than plastic tweezers. Pick up the shiny clean balls and place them. No metal tweezers to snag n drag.

jamesdak 

Finally getting around to the Wayne Evans built bike which was custom made for 3 times RAAM winner Bob Fourney. Beautiful bike but had some seriously chewed up paint from a chain drop or two. Local painter going to spot fix the issue and a few other ones in the blue part. So yesterday I tore it all down and cleaned the frame. I also finally removed the reflective tape he had on the back of the seat stays. Bob said he had this built in the mid 90's for Paris Brevet Paris.

J.Higgins 

True.

I learned a lot by working in a ball bearing plant. When I rebuild a hub, I use ball-bearing tweezers and a demagnetizer. Aside from everything, demagged ball bearings just handle better, and a hub re-pack goes smoothly.

ryansu

Been working on a Miyata 112 I got for a winter trainer bike. The plan was always to clean it up do some maintenance and pass it along. It got the full tear down as I had nothing else going on. I like Miyata's and its my size and if it were a 912 I would find a way to keep it but its not so I am going to try and cash in on some COVID market craziness and pass it along. Three out of four Main bearings done so far


trainer duty December

Frame getting a coat of wax

Coming back together

Bianchigirll 

I swapped a 39t chainwheel out for a 42t one.

I wanted to to a few other things but I can’t seem to locate the parts