marcreeves

Hi all, so I've had an old townsend artica bike I bought secondhand, sat around for a long time. With lockdown and wanting something to occupy my time I want to start riding again. The bike has worn out brakes and problems changing gears, so it needs a bit of TLC.

My plan is to replace the brakes (pads are worn out, brakes are crappy cheap ones so I want to replace them as they're a pain to adjust), probably the seat (worn out/battered), maybe do a paint job, and replace gear and brakes wires. Maybe the chain too! In general I think it could do with a clean up and some fresh components.

I've been watching lots of youtube videos and learning more about how a bike works, and have been trying to sort out the gears. The rear derailleur slips on the way shifting back down, and the front was skipping gears. I've been trying to sort out the front first, but I think it's bent out of shape. No matter how I adjust the height and the angle so it's parallel, and the limit screws I can't get it right, and it does look slightly bent.

I'd like to replace the derailleurs with some better quality ones as these seem a bit cheap, but I'm so confused by how to work out what I need. My gear system is 3 on front and 5 on the rear (so 15 speed?)

The Shimano derailleurs I have are:
Front fd-ty-15gs
Rear rd-ty-15gs

They look to be from the 90's? Anyone know what modern equivalent I could get that would work?
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Retro Grouch 

Oh man! I can understand your desire for a project to do even if it doesn't make purely economic sense.

What kind of shifters does your bike have? I'm assuming they are friction shifters. Do they still hold a setting? The whole gear shifting process depends on how well they do that so a careful examination of the shifters would be my first job. It sounds to me like your bike has Tourney level components. That's pretty cheap stuff. Modern equivalents are easily obtainable. Pay careful attention to how the rear derailleur attaches to your bicycle because there are two quite different methods so you have to choose the right one.

Good luck.

marcreeves

Yep totally, obviously i'm trying to be realistic about how much I spend on this thing. I paid about £20 for it a couple of years back, so basically spent next to nothing on it to begin with. My attitude is if I spend a similar amount doing this bike up to the couple of hundred pounds I might spend on a new el cheapo bike, it seems worth it. I'm saving a bike from being wasted, gaining a fun project to work on, and learning about how bikes work and repair & maintenance. Which, if in a few years I find i'm invested enough in cycling to warrant owning something better, i'll be more equipped to know what I want out of a bike (hopefully!) I've already learned loads!

The gear shifters are those crappy cheap twist shifters - not sure if they're friction or indexed? I think they're indexed as both front and rear have set gear numbers, although there is twist movement in between (if that makes sense?) I'd love some nice quality thumb shifters but it doesn't seem worth messing with/there aren't any good options for a 15 speed system. I came to the same conclusion on the tourney stuff for derailleurs, from lots of researching I ended up buying these ones:
Shimano tourney FD-TZ31
Shimano tourney TY-500

Same fittings to the bike and I believe both should work for 5x3 shifting?

I've spent about £80 so far on those derailleurs, new Clarke V brakes, clarke gear and brake wires, new chain, and some lube. I'm gonna clean up the old derailleurs and chain and keep them as spares I think (even though the front one seems bent.) Reckon I'll spend another £60ish on new pedals and seat - so not bad going really! I did look at the spray.bike stuff as well for the frame but to be honest I don't think it's worth attempting to paint this bike. I'd love a black frame, but the light blue it is currently is fine. I've taken all the worn stickers off and cleaned up the frame and it looks alright! The main thing is i'm having fun that I wouldn't have had had I just bought a new bike!

Thanks for your help!

Retro Grouch 

Probably Sram MRX twist shifters. I think they come in both indexed and non-indexed version. The non-indexed have a plethora of little clicks so you just twist them until you find the gear. If you can't find a way to remove the shift cables so you can replace them, that's almost surely what you have. You have to disassemble the shifter by twisting and pulling to replace the cable and watch carefully how the cable goes because they are tricky to reassemble. The nice thing about MRX shifters is replacements come with the cable already installed and they don't cost very much more than just the bare shift cables.

marcreeves

Yeah these must be indexed as they have clear gear numbers/shifting points, although there are sort of mini clicks in between! I took all the cables, brakes and shifters off today as I was cleaning the bike, in prep for the new cables and other bits. The cables on the shifters just pushed out through a hole in the middle. A little finicky to get out but only took me a minute of fiddling! We'll see how easy it is to get a cable back through haha - looks like it should be easy though!