WGB 

If someone in FLA near Jacksonville wants to win this one and have street racing cred, here is the bike, just posted.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...19146899203364

Bicycle 27” Ross street racing bike
$25
Ad says "Good, skinny tires. 10 speeds need adjustment and rear tire needs spokes repair"

Who knew winos raced? Is that the purpose of the bars?

nlerner

So after a few days of furious cleaning, polishing, degreasing, regreasing and some parts swapping, the Sprite is ready to hit the road. I ended up overhauling all bearings (nothing pitted, just old dried grease) and swapped in a Nashbar saddle ($10 from a BF-er), some Union pedals in my stash (not what it came with but closer than the plastic ones on there), a rear reflector, a piece of cable housing (the white one it came with just stood out to much to my eye), new brake pads, and a kickstand. I mostly re-used bearings, but came up short with the front hub for some reason (I blame my ultrasonic for eating them). Had some of these tasty treats in the stash:



And the reveal:






I just took it for a test ride and other than a rear axle nut slipping, it was fine. That Huret Allvit RD isn't being asked to do much, and it mostly handles that ask (you need a remarkable amount of shifter travel to cover those five closely spaced gears). I'll try and knock off the 100k this week in 3 or 4 increments. All told, let's say I'm in it for $100 though it's likely less as the parts I added from the stash weren't bits I actually paid for but were pulled from various projects here and there.

Narhay

Oooh and it has red jockey wheels too

ryansu

On this mornings 20 km ride to get about 3/4 of the way to the finish line I am pretty blessed to live where I do....

Murray Missile 

The Soma as found.




The Soma with different tires and saddle and my 20 year old NASHBAR handlebar bag.

grayEZrider

I missed seeing the start of this challenge by ten days. And after fighting N+1 this last year (who cares about Covid-19? phhht) the only potential project hanging in the workshop (known far and wide as the "Gone Fishing Bike Shop") was a too large Centurion LeMans frameset. So withut much hope I checked the local CL and surprise! Only 20 miles away for $50 a severely abused and scarred up early 80s Puch. Flat tired of course, locked rear brake
and a weird looking chain. But the right size. And I've always wanted a Puch bike since the first motorbike I ever bought was a Puch (-in '66). I washed and lubed everything and got it rolling on the small chainwheel for three miles yesterday. Then spent all day today working on it. Pic as bought and pic of the bent big ring (pants leg protector?) which was the cause of the chain "stacking" on top of the teeth and then slipping and skipping. I thought the problem was the cheap 5-speed chain until replacing it did not work. I will post pics of the many "upgrade/salvage" work tomorrow. ?? no pic link- will try again.

grayEZrider

rustystrings61 

Is that a Puch Luzerne with 531 tubing and Shimano 600 parts? Looks like Bocama Professional lugs - are those Shimano forged ends? If so, that frame was silver-brazed in Graz, Austria, alongside all the pricey Austro-Daimler offerings. I have its ancestor, a '76 Puch Royal X (same frameset as the better known Royal Force), which I had foolishly parted with, was haunted by, and by freakish chance located and was able to recover last year. If that is indeed it, you have a keeper!

nlerner

I went out for my first longer run on the ‘69 Sprite this morning, a familiar circuit through Boston, Charlestown, and Cambridge, about 17 miles altogether. Only problem was with a slipping seat clamp as shown in the nose-up saddle angle in these pics:


Zakeem Bridge from the locks crossing the Charles River from Boston to Charlestown.

Zakeem Bridge from another angle.

At the Charlestown Naval Yard, where those guns seem to be aimed at downtown Boston.

Along the Charles River in Cambridge. Citgo sign in Kenmore Square near Fenway Park peeking out over the railing.

The route.

natloz

Rust paint applied before upholstery

grayEZrider

You are 100% correct. Stickers beat up but all there and legible. After some upgrade work I took it out for 8 miles today. I can FEEL why you wanted yours back. Wonderful ride. I will detail how/where the parts came from later. But I think my Ironman is going to be getting dusty for a while!

ryansu

Another morning ride and another lovely summer morning. Hoping to knock out the final 20 km this week before going out of town on the weekend.

Andy_K 

I think I'm going to toss my hat in the ring. I've got a project that's been languishing in my garage for about four years, and this might be just the thing to get it moving. In the spirit of social distancing, I'm going to attempt a build entirely out of things I have on hand. I know that's somewhat contrary to the usual spirit of the Clunker Challenge, but usual times call for unusual methods. It will still be a challenge keeping myself within budget if I'm honest about everything, particularly if I account based on what I paid and not reasonable value. I'll probably end up over budget and disqualified, but I'm going to do my best.

The bike I'll be starting with is a 1973 Nishiki Olympic that I bought as a parts donor for the 2016 Clunker Challenge.



As I recall, I used the wheels, freewheel, and derailleurs from this beast on my 2016 Steyr Clubman build. The actual value of what I've got left is probably very close to $0, but I paid $25 for it, so I'll use that as my starting point.

Pictures don't really do justice to just how rusty this thing was. Suffice to say, it was riddled with surface rust.



On the other hand, it's got pretty thick tubes, so I was able to strip it down to bare metal and get it clean. I've done this gradually over the past four years, working on it when I was bored and wanted to try out some different paint stripping technique I had read about. The end result is pretty good.



The fork, of course, was also a rusty mess.



Here, I experimented a bit with the aluminum foil method of cleaning up the chrome. It came out pitted, but I think it's good enough that when I repaint I'll leave the socks.



I've got a few cans of primer and yellow spray paint that I bought over 10 years ago for a project that never came together. Assuming the paint inside is still good, can I claim that the value of these has depreciated to near zero? I have no idea what I paid. They've been in my garage for 10 years and I don't think I've ever even taken off the caps.

Many of the parts for this build have been culled from the Box O' Crap, so that will help considerably with the budget.





Wish me luck!

ryansu

andy k it is almost a shame you aren't riding it as found'; rust, pie plate, stem shifters.... Clunkerific! welcome to the Challenge/

rustystrings61 

Tons o' rust, BOC parts, frame stripped for parts and left for dead - I'd say it's PERFECT! Besides, your clunker builds are ALWAYS entertaining! Bring it on!

Andy_K 

I had to make sure my tetanus shots were up to date before I even worked on it.

As found this bike weighed 40 pounds -- seriously, 40 pounds! I think I can get it down below 30 if I leave off the kickstand. I will miss the 36T cog on the original freewheel, but that moved on when I gave away the Clubman. I may have to bring back the stem shifters and the original saddle to keep this thing within the budget.

zukahn1 

Got this one done today trash find under $100 parts and work value. Schwinn Mesa GSX 1998 all good working including fork spent ten dollars for hanger ordered, 3$ for new shift cable and 4 hours work at slightly low $20 for legit just under $100 build. Will keep this one it will likely end up my winter beater and do several hundred brutal miles I well let you guy's no how it holds up

RandolphCarter

I realize I had said earlier in the thread I didn't have time to work on any project bikes this year, BUT.... what paint stripping technique did you use, that you were happy with?

droppedandlost 

My somewhat unintentional entry. 1981 Shogun.... something, don't know the model. I started working on this a little bit before the contest started, but hadn't made much progress. The goal was to not spend a dime and only use what I had to build a pub bike. I bought the frame from a forum member for the price of shipping so I could harvest the headbadge for another project. It's funny how certain limitations can direct a build. In this case, I didn't have any used cable that could reach the RD. This SA single freewheel was already on this wheel and I don't have the tool to remove it anyways. The rim has quite a hop in it, but if I keep the pressure kinda low it's not too bothersome. Hills are an issue with a single speed so I added one up front. 46/30 x 18 two speed. Next issue: old style Shimano bosses. I hit it with a dremel until the boss cover fit. If you look at the FD, you might notice it's a bit short. A while back I was curious how strong front cages are and cut the bottom off. I was thinking about clearing above the BB cable routing with smaller big rings. It actually works just fine. Brakes, levers, too short stem and bars are low end left overs from cheap bikes past. I honestly don't remember where some of this stuff came from. I used the longest cable I had for the rear brake, barely made it. Saddle is from my wife's Allez that got parted out years ago, post is from my teenage Fuji, and the pedals are the resin "test" pedals that came on my new Rockhopper. The only things of some value (to me) are the Sugino triple crank and the SIS RD. The rest of the parts are a couple dollars each at the co-op. My only real issue at this point is no bar tape. While I probably have enough budget left to buy some, I don't want to. Any ideas?

Unca_Sam

Wear gloves?

My kids tore the foam padding on the balance bar for their small trampoline. I had enough leftover tape to wrap most of it with two scraps. Maybe you have some too?

Deepcherry

I have a few contenders, recently purchased:

Diamond Back Ascent:
Bought in full working order, fixed some paint, changed the wheels to older ones, changed the tires for some older ones, new brake cables, second hand brake levers.
Bike 50€
Wheels 15€
Cables 3€
Tires and levers from donor bike which cost 10€
Total 78€ (92.18$ as of 8-27-2020)

Clunker #1


Next up is the GT Outpost:
Bike bought as is in full working order, no fun mods unfortunately, how very boring.
Total 65€ (76.82$)

Clunker #2

The Peugeot:
This one was built to last.
Bike bought working, needed a new stem, pedals.
Bike 55€
Stem and pedals 25€
Total 80€ (94.54$)


Clunker #3


Last and by no means least, some Iberian exotica, the Razesa!
Bought complete for 60€, one new tire 12€
Total €72 (85.09$)


Clunker #4


Oh wait, there’s another one;
Vintage Jaguar (german brand), bought complete for 35€, two new tires and tubes 16€.
Some leftover paint (tin), and new brush 3€.
Total 54€ (63.82 US$)




My fave

ryansu

With a 20k ride this morning the 2020 Clunker challenge is in the books! now I can put a cassette with decent range on this beastie

ryansu

Electrical tape? it is the clunker challenge after all....

nlerner

^ I vote for old inner tubes covered in Saran Wrap.

Murray Missile 

Take an old pair of ratty blue jeans and tear a couple strips out of one of the legs, preferably from somebody tall LOL. I use them to make charcloth for fire starting and you can get some nice even strips by making a starting cut with a pair of scissors, they'll tear in a nice straight line.