SewardRum

I've had two Trek 420 frames blasted and powdercoated, and I sprayed a can of Framesaver into each frame after I received it back from the painter.

I'm curious about how the frames look inside - before and after application of the Framesaver.

It would be interesting to use some type of fiberoptic lens to snake into the frame and take a look.

Kapurnicus

Powder coating done, frame saver applied, bottom bracket and pedals rebuilt and reassembled.

PugRider

Lovely color, will be interested to see the final build. As clean as it will ever be!

The Golden Boy 

Looking good!!!

Kapurnicus

Aligning, cable tightening, tuning, bar wrap. I think that’s what’s left of the list!


Nearly complete build

Kapurnicus

Done! (Except handlebar tape. Just been wearing gloves haha, I’ll get it on there). Took 8 months. Thanks for all the help everyone. It feels great to be on the road again! It’s all adjusted, tuned, cleaned, lubed, and ridden! 2 miles so far.

SurferRosa

Check out Sheldon's article on cable routing:

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/cables.html

The rear should look more like this:



With the front cable entry on the drive-side, you can also cross the stem with both cables, making it look more fluid. Both cables are way too long. Raise the stem as much as you ever would ride it, then trim away.

Kapurnicus

Thanks, is there anything dysfunctional about the method I went? I went swooping with all the cables from front to back (even rear derailleur) for an 80s big hair thing because I didn’t think it would make any difference. If it’s less functional I’ll change it. If not I liked the exaggerated look.

leftthread

The brake cables and housing should route in front of the handlebars, not behind. Also, move the position of the brake levers; place a ruler or some straight edge parallel with the bar drops, loosen the brake levers and lower them until the bottom tip of the lever touches the top of the ruler. The brake shoes need to be aligned parallel with the rims.

jdawginsc 

Firstly, awesome job.

Secondly, there might be a bit of a pinch effect in the cables without a smoother sweep.

Kapurnicus

Thanks all. Great tips. I’ll trim the lines down and route them in front of the handlebars and take a look at the brake levers.

My pads are parallel to the rims, I’m not sure how you would get them not parallel. They touch all rim (no tire) and hit across the whole brake pad surface it looks like. I am I misunderstanding?

natterberry 

Not everyone routes in front. I do cross them over the stem though (behind the bars).

Front drive side looks a bit askew.

Kapurnicus

I see what you’re saying now. Sorry. They were contacting just the rim but was a little twisted (I think the camera angle made it worse). I lowered it a little and got it straighter. Thanks!

SurferRosa

I'd say, very few do.

Kapurnicus

I was following the catalog photo which had high swoops behind the bars. No cross over, and a big swoop under the seat. Granted, mine are even swoopier haha.


I guess it’s wrong but this is what the original 1987 catalog said my bike looked like.

SurferRosa

^ That's pretty minimum in front. Not sure why you think it's "high swoops."

​​​​​​The catalog photo doesn't have the front reflector to navigate, so crossing the bars isn't as necessary.

Catalogs are often setup by marketing folks.

Kapurnicus

The other ones I’ve seen have been wrapped in the handlebar tape. I took the original design and made it swoopier as I said. I meant “high swoops” as our the top of the lever mounts. Most modern bikes don’t do that. These went up and over. And the seat brake line was more like mine than the one you posted as the suggestion. I was just saying this was my baseline and I went a little more exaggerated.

SurferRosa

With non-aero levers, that's called a "kludge." With aero levers, it's necessary.

I understood. Another newbie recently used a catalog pic for his awful cable routing and made the same mistake the marketing folks made. Trouble is, he has to ride his. They don't.

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

curbtender

The good thing is you have a lot of extra to work with. I will leave the cables and housing long until I get my final setup.

leftthread

Now that you've aligned the brake shoe parallel to the rim, you'll need to correct another item. Pretty sure your front tire, a Conti Gatorskin, is mounted backwards. The rear tire looks correct. Check the sidewall of the front tire for the rotational direction arrow; it should face forward. Remove the tire and remount. While you're at it, center the inner tube valve stem in the Conti label; this is just aesthetics. More importantly, make sure the valve stem is perpendicular to the rim. It's slightly skewed in your photo. If the valve stem opening in the rim has a sharp edge and the valve stem is angled, it can wear on the tube/stem and give you a flat. While the tire and tube are off, take some fine grit metal sandpaper and clean up the braking surface on the rim and check the brake shoe surfaces for embedded grit.

And in your second work stand photo, the front wheel's quick release is angled too far forward, almost at a 45 degree angle. When you remount the wheel, position the quick release so it parallel to the fork blades.

SurferRosa

On a related note, I just flipped a bike with a pair of these tires already on it. They were in great shape, so I left them. The tires had a slightly different looking label on each side. The tires looked exactly the same, except the direction indicator was flipped between them. So, if I mounted the labels the same, one of the tire directions would be incorrect. I care more about aesthetics than correct tire direction, so I mounted the nicer looking label on the drive-side for both.

Kapurnicus

You guys are very thorough.

• Shorted rear brake housing and line as much as possible. Left it behind the bar, but did cross it over. Haven't touched front brake one yet.
• Leveled brake levers with straight edge on bottom of the drop.
• Flipped the axle in the front wheel, it was backwards. Now the wheel and tire are correct. (you can read mallard while sitting on the bike, the hub before had it backwards because I put the axle in the wrong way I guess. Tire rotation is now pointed the right way)
• The thread was loose on the valve to rim screw thing that let it look more askew. It's not perfect, but not tiled enough to take off the tire.

Kapurnicus

Thanks again for all the help! It’s been great Loving it. 116 miles so far, 10 straight up a mountain. Running well.

I still haven't shortened front brake housing or put on bar wrap put on bar wrap today. I think I also left a little too much slop in the bottom bracket I’d like to address (Fixed this this morning. Took it all apart to regrease and then tightened the cone nuts down a little harder than last time, but still just loose enough so they don't add a lot of friction. Before the chainrings would scrape the front derailer a little because it could wiggle back and forth a little too much. Now it's nice and smooth and no more chain scratching). But otherwise perfect. Did a 25 mile stint this week with no soreness or discomfort so I think I finally have it adjusted properly.