rosefarts

Project 1, Remove the cup on my 11 speed Campy Chorus BB and crank and add a 0.7mm spacer. This moved the chainline out just a little and dramatically improved functionality due to me running a few things out of spec. 10 minutes

Project 2, remount mountain bike tire with boot. Sidewall gash so I glued a leather boot in place. I did such a good job it barely leaked air even before the sealant. With sealant, it seems great.
We'll see soon. 20 minutes

Project 3. Add water bottle cage mounts to the Spectrum. Cheap plastic crap really, I'm not impressed with the SKS system. I used zip ties instead of the Velcro and I used the Velcro on the frame pump. More secure and I didn't have to get new straps. 30 minutes because the SKS bottle cage system doesn't even match the threads of the bolts it came with.

Project. 4. Getting my vintage shoes to work with my vintage pedals. Not done and won't finish today. Weighing my options currently.

SurferRosa

Finally started on the frame. Removed the two long Campy seat tube decals <sadface> and the bike shop decal easily enough. The awful/cracked chainstay protector was more trouble. I kept using what I was using -- wd-40 and a razor blade -- and it finally gave way ... along with some of the clear coat. Oh, well. It looks sooo much better, and I can always apply another one.



For the life of me, I could not remove the balls from the mounted bb fixed cup. It's one of those of those "sealed" for your protection things that I've only seen on a couple low-level Schwinns. So I tried to remove the cup with a crescent wrench, and it was barely tight. Came right off. The spindle on that side is pitted, and so is the cup. So much for "sealed." The rust on the cup is pretty bad.

But all the ugly stuff is done, and everything is ready to build back up with all new stuff!

xiaoman1 

Well, I finally am getting around to finishing my 58 FI. I started to rebuild the fuel unit after a long hiatus and a lot of procrastination. In order to maintain the original finish instead of bead blasting the unit, I elected to have it tumbled with walnut and glass beads. When I received it, it was already cleaned off all the debris so it need only a little attention...(I blew everything out to clean it anyway).
I should have the distributor done shortly and then I'll start on the Dual Quads for my Nomad.

The before...Ugly!

After....Better Looking!

Best, Ben

stardognine

That’s coming up soon-ish. I have a 44t ring in my pannier, to replace a 48t. 👍

Today, I swapped off my old Suntour Power Thumbies, for these XT 7-speed thumbies (M732). Now I need to find, beg, borrow, or steal (not really) a proper screwdriver, to remove the old band-clamp (where the downtube shifters are), so I can put on a clamp-on cable stop. 🙄😉

stardognine

That worked out pretty good. I put those XT thumbies on on Tuesday, now today, 2 days later, I got a nice deal on these. 😁😎😁 The brake levers are M739, and both derailleurs are M737. Those V-brakes are M750, but look pretty good with the earlier XT, I think. 🙂



I also got some period correct LX cranks, with a 22t granny ring, but the rings look a little worn. I’ll try them out, but not expecting great things there. 😉

natterberry 

Very nice, I like that group a lot.

stardognine

Thanks, me too. 🙂 It turns out one of the pedal holes’ threads are stripped, on those LX cranks. 😒 But even so, the 22t & 32t chainrings are nicer than I first thought. 👍 That’ll be excellent, for hill climbing. 😎

intron

eom 

Too small for me.

polymorphself 

This came to me in already great shape but I'm giving it a clean/polish, especially the wheels/spokes, changing the bar wrap, added this VO rack and will swap the cables and saddle.

xiaoman1 

Something about this shot makes me thirsty...BTW, nice looking ride!
Best, Ben

Prowler 

Great! I'll park my '87 way down the street, under a poncho. Please install a blinking rear LED lamp so I can follow at a respectful distance and not loose sight of ya.

natterberry 

I love a nice green bike.

JacobLee 

Don’t be surprised if you struggle with the XT parallel-push v-brake calipers. Folks liked the XTR versions, but the XTs were squealers, too much slop in the linkages. I had a set in the early 00’s, and they were probably the only bike component I’ve replaced when they were still new!

stardognine

Thanks for the heads-up. 👍 I’ll want to clean them good before installing anyways, so I might as well slop some grease around, too. 😁 I just realized last night, I don’t have any noodles. 🤔😉 I’ll need to get lucky at a bike shop, or something.

I’m on the way now, to scarf an XT 7-speed cassette. 😎 It won’t work on my Gyro Masters, but when it’s cheap & in good shape, one does not quibble on the details. 🤔😁

stardognine

I had to ride about 37,000 miles today (thanks a lot, google &#128580

but I got it. 😁😎😁 It’s an 11-28 unit, so not “as” good as I was hoping for, on the gear range, but still, how often can you just grab an XT cassette, in good shape like that? 🤔😉

If this keeps up, I’ll have to put an XT headset & cranks on my wish list.
Heck, I might get them. 😁

Man, I gotta quit editing my posts. I dunno how the pic ended up in the middle of the paragraph again. 🤔

Murray Missile 

1986 Fuji Del Rey "Star Silver Limited Edition". Bought it as a keeper but something better came along so now it will go up for sale as soon as I get it back together.



As originally purchased:

pcb 

Got this '81 Merckx Road recently in a trade. The original/previous owner had it resprayed in '83-ish Molteni livery by Tom Kellog in '03, after a moving company top tube paint mishap. Mostly vintage build, with Nitto stem/bars. Looking to maybe bump up a couple of the Nuovo Record bits to Super Record?

Never had a Merckx in-house before. Got a couple of rides in already, very nice ride.

stardognine

Someone sabotaged me, lol, those LX chainrings won’t fit my Sakae FX cranks. 🙄😉 But I finally got those old Shimano clamp-on shifters off, and installed a slightly rusty Suntour cable stop. 😎 So today, I got my brake levers changed out (cleaned & lubed the XTs first), and got the 7-speed shifters working well on a Uni-Glide 6-speed freewheel. 😁

I rode over near Davis again, before doing this much, thinking I can see what’s open for bike shops. 🤔 I just really need some noodles for those v-brakes, and maybe a certain kind of front rack.

noglider 

1982 McLean, my pride and joy which I've owned since 1983.

I've had a lot of trouble with the shifting of my rear derailleur. The problem is caused by a sharp bend in the cable as it exits the shifter (on the side) and then bends to get around my handlebar bag. I installed a new cable with a much longer housing. The new housing got ruined quickly. I wonder why I don't have a problem with the front shifter. So I replaced it again, this time routing it differently. It looks stupid, but it seems to be working well.

It was time for a new chain, and I decided it was also time for a new cassette. It was skipping and ghost shifting in second gear (second-largest) which is weird. I wasn't sure if it was the cassette, but I figure it was time. It's so lovely to have a new chain and cassette.

While I was at it, I did a few other things. I noticed the seatpost rotated freely but I took it out anyway and found that rust had started to form on the bottom. Good time to scrub it and grease it.

My rear brake caliper had nearly seized. It ended up needing a complete overhaul. The calipers are the last remaining components on the bike from the original 1983 build. They are Campagnolo Record from that era. They were so incredibly well made. There is rust on some parts but they have held up better than anything else would have after all these years. The bike lives in the barn in a very humid climate. The climate is taking a heavy toll on all of our bikes, but I don't see a way around that. I'm not going to insulate and seal the barn, and there isn't room in the house for bikes. So anyway, I took the caliper completely apart. There are washers behind and ahead of each rotating arm, and they were rough and corroded. I scrubbed the shmootz off them with mineral spirits and wire brushes. Greased everything and reassembled, and it works like new.

I also removed the chainrings and scrubbed them clean. There's no point having a clean chain if the chainrings are grimy. Velo-Orange triple crankset.

I did a moderate job of cleaning the derailleurs. The rear derailleur is a Tiagra, and it works fine, but I can see it's not meant to last as long as the high end stuff. I'll keep using it as long as it works well. The front derailleur is Ultegra.

Shifters are 3x9 Tiagra. One of these days, I might upgrade the drivetrain, but for now, the gear range and the operation are perfect. It will be nice having shifters whose cables don't come out of the sides.

The 40-odd-year-old finned Matthauser brake pads are finally delaminating from the holders. Someone pointed out how this was a bad design, and maybe it was, but 40 years is pretty good. They still work great, but I ought to protect my life and replace them now. They sure are cool, though, eh?

The picture of the whole bike is from before the repairs.

Mr. 66

The triple triangle gets a trial

pcb 

Hey Tom, you didn't ask for any ideas about your rear shifter cable routing issues, but I can't resist troubleshooting. Feel free to ignore any/all suggestions. You have a couple options that might help, and a few more that will be a cure-all. But you'll have to change-up or give up some stuff for many of them.

First of all, I reckon the front shifting isn't impacted much because the cable/housing is shorter, so there's less overall friction, and you only have to shift across chainrings, so the additional friction isn't as critical. You don't need nearly as much precision in the front as you do in the back.

Mods from easiest to hardest, kinda, maybe?

1. Find a way to mount that bag lower, so the top of the bag is below the shifter cable exit
[might help]
2. Replace the front bag with a different front bag that mounts lower
[might help]
-both of these options will make it more difficult to access the front bag while riding, because the shifter housing will be above the bag top-

3. Change your shifter cable routing to under-bb, then criss-cross the shifter cables under the downtube; front housing goes to left side, might make the bend easier/better?
[might help]
-if you don't want to drill/tap your bb shell for an under-bb cable guide, hard to do this well-

4. Replace brifters with
a. later models that route shifter cable/housing under bar tape; run cable/housing all the way to stem
[will cure]
-maybe most expensive option-
-fairly extensive labor-
b. bar-cons, run the cables/housing under the bar tape all the way to the stem
[will cure]
-requires new shifters, and new brake levers if you don't want the now-useless shifter bits hanging uselessly-
-relatively extensive labor-
-step backwards for convenience; maybe you like brifters better-
-plus: could be cheaper than new brifters, especially if you already have spare brake lever on hand-
c. downtube shifters!
[will cure]
-even bigger step back for convenience-
-plus: completely isolates shifting system from anything you do with bars/stem/bag/etc

5. Lose the front bag and use a saddle/seatpost-mount bag instead
[will cure]
-requires new bag, and you can't access stuff while riding-

6. Install a lightweight rear rack, and use a rear rack bag
[will cure]
-requires new bag and new rack-
-more installation work than a saddlebag-
-heavier overall-
-plus: less impact on handling than a saddlebag, in general, because weight sits lower-

I thought about using some kind of brake cable angle guide ("noodle") like are used on v-brakes, but I can't envision a way to make that work.

Did I miss anything? I won't force Tom down the single-speed rabbit hole (Not a problem if you don't need to shift!).

rgppgr

We have a new Schwinn Taff at the Lawrence Unchained Coop. The problem is it's missing a cog on the rear 8 speed cassette. Pro rush 13-40. I can't find the gear progression to find which gear is missing. We're also having a hard time with Schwinn and Walmart in getting a replacement. Does anyone know a better course of action to finish the repair on this bike? Thanks to everyone.

noglider 

@pcb, thanks! All good ideas. I'm voluntarily unemployed (back in college) so I've cut my expenditures way back, so I'll find the cheapest solution. What I have may last. I think I have a pair of bar end shifters that I might try. I'm pretty sure I have brake levers I can throw on. And as I said, I can imagine upgrading the drivetrain eventually so I'll have the brifter cables running under the bar tape. I'm not giving up my handlebar bag, nor can I move it. I just love a handlebar bag too much, and I have one mount for each of two bikes that I have here, so it works great.

bikemig 

I just picked up a Pinarello cyclo cross from 1985-86. I've wanted a vintage cyclo cross bike for a while but they seldom pop up. This is a good one but it will need some work. The parts are so-so but it has good bones. The parts are a mix of lower end shimano stuff (other than the cantilevers) and lower end suntour stuff (other than the bar cons and freewheel).