Barchettaman

I picked up this battered Hon in the next village for 75€ including a spare rear wheel, a 7-speed cassette and a nice trekking style saddle



it looks better on the photos than it actually was; the drivetrain wasn’t really working and the frame was realllly rough and oxidised. But I thought it had potential.

closer examination revealed two brand new tyres and a brand new 8-speed cassette on the back.

Anyway the boat anchor front ‘suspension’ fork was about as much use as a chocolate teapot; fortunately I had a Dahon one spare in the parts bin, and a pair of Tourney 3x7 shifters.

so anyway, with the help of the language exchange lad we have staying here in Frankfurt, we wet sanded and polished the frame with Mothers Aluminium Polish. It’s 100% better.



the headset needed cleaning and repacking but that was easy enough. Bottom bracket was fine.



that’s the stem from a donor Dahon Espresso.

Drivetrain nice and clean:





The chain was de rusted and reused, no stretch, it’s fine.

the rear disc caliper has some fetching mould on it; I’ll have to sort that tomorrow.



Nice bit of shine, not perfect but the hyena-like stripes of oxidation are gone. It was rough as a badger’s arse before we sanded it.



V-brake front, but hey ho, it works and stops the thing.



I absolutely love working on older 7 and 8-speed stuff, it’s so forgiving and easy to index. Both derailleurs were perfectly indexed with just a bit of tension on the cable. It made me feel like I was almost a pro mechanic (I am not).

anyway I need to put some grips on it, attach a bell, dial in the headset preset when I’ve got it off the stand and that’s about it.

overall I have 75€ into this thing, well, add on 5€ for cables and outer housing, and have successfully used stuff out of the parts bin.

Photos to follow in the sunshine tomorrow if anyone’s interested.

tds101 

Oh yes, I'm definitely interested...

Barchettaman

Barchettaman