Beurt

Great, thanks !
Funny thing is, I was born in 78 and I'm a bit rusty here and there as well...

oneclick 

When I had a very stuck pedal what I did was remove the crankarm, dis-assemble the pedal, grab the spindle between the jaws of a *big* vice, and attach a long lever to the crankarm with hose clamps. Big enough vice, long enough lever, it's off.

If the spindle has a shoulder by the flats you get a pair of shims to fit so the vice jaws really do grip the flats. Remember which way you want to turn it.

JaccoW

Looking for a vise with work bench now.

noglider 

It can be hard to fit a workbench into a home, but if you can, you'll be glad you did. It's wonderful to have a bench and especially a bench vise. I do so much with my vise.

JaccoW

Especially if the home is this small but I think I can figure something out.

cudak888 

Masonry inserts, anyone?

-Kurt

alexnagui

You can go to a bike shop and ask if your could use their vice

JaccoW

Maybe, but I also have a local workshop and material reuse shop around the corner. Maybe I should try there.

noglider 

What a beautiful place. Are you a paying member, or do you pay per usage?

JaccoW

Pay per usage. Honestly I don't come there often enough. They have some really cool stuff!

Beurt

I think I need help solving another mystery... Lacing a new wheel feels quite intimidating!


I found a donnor bike in a good skape (1982 Peugeot VX45 anniversary edition, front wheel and fork bent beyond any hope for repair) and salvaged quite a few part from it already. It's rear AB hub is in a great state but the wheels are not the right size for a simple swap.

I also found a brand new rim with the same "chapeau de gendarme profile" to match the front one (26x1 3/8 Dia 590). So far everything looks perfect and I'm ready to order this new rim plus new tires and all the jazz,but I cannot for the life of me find the correct lenght for the spokes!

I feel they would not be the same as the ones mounted on the front wheel, the hub being different as well as the rim thickness, I'm afraid.


Using the SAPIM online calculator, do these number look right or wrong to you?


Total lenght of the hub: 117mm (over locknut I assume)

Non gear side: 23mm (axle protrusion length?)

Gear side: 23mm (axle protrusion length?)

Hub diameter non gear side: 102,8mm

Hub diameter gear side: 65,5mm

Internal diameter of the rim: 590mm

Rim thickness (no idea!!)

Number of spokes in the wheel : 36

Number of crossings gear side 9?

Number of crossings non gear side 9?


The bike being a tandem will have to support more weight, should I go to 13g spokes rather than 14g ?

I hope someone can help me solve this and pass on a little knowledge at the same time!

jackbombay

Number of crossing should be 3, for a 3 cross wheel, you could go 4 cross too, but I think three should be fine.

The axle protrusion should be the distance from the lock nut to the center of the hub flange for both sides.

You should be able to look at the spoke nipple hole and see how thick the rim is, the inner rim diameter, plus rim thickness plus 2mm for the head of the spoke nipple will give you the ERD of the rim.

JaccoW

I will have to dig in a little deeper later but I have highlighted some of the things that are wrong and what should be the correct answer.
As always I suggest Sheldon Brown for information on how to build your wheel and this page on what you are measuring and how.

It is however, very likely that it shares the same dimensions as the slightly more modern steel Sturmey Archer AB-3.
My suggestion would be to measure again and compare them to the link above.

For an example of the dimensions, take a look at what a Sturmey Archer AW hub measures like: Kstoerz Freespoke
Here are my dimensions for the 5-speed hub I used for this build as an example: Kstoerz

To put it simply, all you really need is:

• The center of the hub when mounted
• How far the flanges (the part that the spoke attach to) are off-center from that (Center-flange distance)
• How big the circle of the flange is on both sides (Flange pitch circle diameter)
• Spoke hole diameter
• The inner size of the rim (ERD)

P.s. don't forget the spoke washer when building the wheel. Modern spokes use a larger bend than what was usual back then.

Beurt

Thank you both so much for your fast reply!
​​​​I did some research on the different types of lacing and learnt a lot. I hope that with all the details you gave me I should be able to find exactly what I need in terms of spokes.
Then will come the time to build the wheel... A journey by itself!

jackbombay

Yes!!!!

Very good page with all the info anyone could need to successfully build a wheel :-)

Beurt

Happy new year to you all, a lot of progress was made on my bike and I'm late for the report.
Following your precious advice as well as Sheldon's I was able to order the correct spokes for my wheel and went on lacing it.

Everything ready

Laced

And trued
With this big part of the work out of the way we were able to test ride the tandem, refine the set-up, correct little issues and make it more comfortable.

I think this was the first time we rode it to the lake.

​​​​The bike being mechanically complete and safe I consider it road worthy and will stop the restoration process here, the frame will not be repainted. It shows it's age and I'm OK with that.
As my stocker wants to be able to ride it in summer dresses the final touch was to find new spoke guards and fit the peugeot's chainguard on it. Now we can really plan our first tandem bikepacking trip to the Loire Valley castles in May.

Complete and ready to go!

1978 gazelle tandem

Thanks a lot JaccoW and all of you for your help and support in this project. I really learnt a lot!
The next one is a 70's road bike and a bit of a mystery... Maybe I should open a new thread for it.

JaccoW

That looks great! Certainly looks the part and not as rusty as mine.

It should certainly be fine for a comfortable ride along the river valleys in France. What do you think of the brakes?

Beurt

Thanks JaccoW,
the brakes are far from amazing to be honest... Just sufficient enough for the weight of 2 riders, anticipation is key when you need to bring it to a complete stop.
I did take them appart for a good cleaning of the surfaces though and even replaced the brake shoe in the front one where I did not like how little material was left. It's better now but still not really powerful I'd say.
​​​​​With the 3 speed hub it's not intended to do anything else than flat land anyway so that's where we'll use it. The upright riding position is very comfy though and if not fast, it does roll super smooth which for a first tandem riding experience is perfect. I feel quite safe when driving it despite the poor brakes and we enjoy learning to ride together as much as I enjoyed fixing it. That's all I was wishing for when picking it up originally and I'm glad that it's back on the road for more adventures.
Did you get to ride yours a bit more? How is the modern hub you installed doing compared to the SA?

non-fixie 

I love the look of your shop. I looks so much more classy if everything is labeled in French. Even dérailleurs cassés sounds expensive and high end!

OK, back to tandems.

montclairbobbyb 

Wow, that tandem is quite the FIND!! Gazelle bikes (especially from that era) were so well-built and they were simply beautiful. A few years ago I refurbished a pair of Gazelle Sports Luxe bikes that appeared to be from the same year (they shared so many of the same features as your tandem). I rebuilt the wheels with 3-speed and dynamo hubs with drum brakes. I had to modify the chain case to accommodate the 3 speed hub, and in doing so discovered the leaping gazelle cranks hidden inside the chain case. I simply HAD to liberate them. These bikes are gorgeous. Congratulations, you've got yourself a RARE GEM!!

Peace,
BB

One of the most beautiful bikes I've ever owned, the Gazelle is beautiful and extremely.solid.

Leaping Gazelles! Need I say anything more??

JaccoW

That's a great looking bike! I love slightly modernized practical bicycles like that to give them a new lease on life. And you're right, those cranks are beautiful. I have (a potentially over-enthusiastic) plan to model one of those chainrings for the Pro-5-Vis system and have modern replicas made for a bike I still have in the shed.
What is the serial number on those bikes? I might be able to tell you the exact year.

I did something similar with a 1976 Gazelle Grand Tourist.

montclairbobbyb 

Nice build... makes you want to sling a leg over the saddle and just GO...

The original Sports Luxe came with single speed coaster hubs. I live in a fairly hilly area and wanted to give the rider half a chance to stay in the saddle while pedaling this around town, so I added just a few gears. I also am not a particularly big fan of coaster brakes, and the SA drum hubs seemed like the perfect opportunity to add hand-brakes that could really stop this bike in a hurry. I found homes for both bikes several years ago without researching the year (via serial number), but from a bit of unscientific research online they appeared to be from the 70s. Both bikes had beautiful gold pin-striping (that looked to be hand-painted), and there was virtually no rust... they must have been kept in someone's attic or a very dry garage. I actually got these for FREE (if you can believe it) from a bike shop friend who took them on a trade-in from an older couple... The new owners paid for parts, but lacing the wheels and doing the mod essentially for free was for me a genuine pleasure and quite frankly an HONOR...

Your build will no doubt be spectacular... good luck!

Peace,
BB

JorisVDL

Nice Bike. I recently bought exactly the same one, same colour to boot. I have the captain's left crank (in the front) where the thread for the pedal is completely gone. I've been trying to find another left sided crank (it's the original cottered type crank) with normal thread (most left sided cranks have a reversed threat), but no luck. Any suggestions on where to find these would be very welcome!. thanks a lot! Joris

JaccoW

Ordered some parts today to build the front wheel! Let's try and get this thing rolling again.

Hey Joris,

My guess would be that these are Gazelle tandem specific cranks. Someone might have them on Forum Oude Fiets or perhaps BikesToRemember.nl knows where to find them. Otherwise your only chance is to find another tandem and steal remove parts from there.
You could however also try with something like a Helicoil but there are options for when the threading is completely gone.

Good luck!

JorisVDL

Hi Jacco,

wonderful, thanks for the links. I think they are indeed gazelle specific tandem cranks. I will follow the leads you gave. In the mean time, I have also thought of the helicoil option. I think I could probably use a reverse threaded left crank and drill out the thread to replace it with a regular threaded helicoil. I'll keep you posted and add a picture once I'm done. Don't tell me where you stay, I might find another tandem that looks just like mine ... :-). Thanks a lot. Joris