hihik

Hello!

For many years I have wanted to take apart and put together a vintage bike. I am a long time lurker of this forum although my focus on classic bicycles ebbs and flows depending on my current subject of obsession of which there are many - vintage watches, vintage audio gear, lawn care, etc.

Finally I took the plunge and, it seems, jumped into the deep end of the pool... I present to you my first ever, ongoing, restoration project. Hopefully I will be able to see it to conclusion.

The bike is a 1983 Motobecane Super Mirage acquired on Craigslist from the suburbs of Massachusetts. This is not a story of a one-owner, cherished, heirloom bike. The seller was a high-volume flipper and the bike was in a sorry state - rusted in spots, with mismatched (in size!) wheels, non-springing rear derailleur and filthy bartape. Here it is as purchased:



Weinmann brakes and levers, Nervar crankset, Suntour V-GT Luxe RD, Sachs-Huret shifters and FD. Standard components for this model (afaik). I almost suspect that the fork is not original as it doesn’t match what I see in the brochures from that year. Let’s go over it again after closer inspection: brakes - bent cable arm, torn lever hoods; cranks - deep gouges; shifters - rusty, missing washers; FD - rustyyyy; RD - broken frame, broken spring. Well, at least it will be a good (comprehensive!) learning experience.






First thing is getting everything off and assessing the damage (damages!).




Right around here I decided that this will be as cheap a build as I can getaway with. I’m not even sure I’ll be able to put everything back together yet. Or if I’ll discover (or you’ll point out) some irreparable defect in the frame itself - with how beat up and bent everything is I wouldn’t be surprised if the bike was in a serious crash.

What I have done so far:

1) Washed and cleaned everything, steel wool galore, Vaporust flows like a river... No matter how much I polish, it looks it won’t be as shiny and nice as many bikes shared here

2) Repacked bottom bracket and headset - reusing bearings (remember cheap build). Had to buy a crank-puller. Using - is that OK? I’m using it for everything so far. I have packages from Amazon on almost daily basis it seems.

3) Bought a Suntour Cyclone RD off of Ebay for cheap but it turned out to be damaged - returned and waiting for a refund. Still looking for derailleurs.

4) Bought a pair of 27” steel wheels (cheap!) from a guy on CL. Spent 4 hours cleaning one of them today. Two spokes are broken on the rear wheel and need to be replaced. Have to figure that out now. Oh and of course they will need truing. Bought a spoke wrench. Hopefully the wheels will be the right fit though. You can tell I’m kind of winging it all (more or less).

5) From the same guy bought Atom pedals (bike came with clipped pedals) and a pair of Weinmann brake levers which had nice hoods (unfortunately white, maybe I can Sharpie them, or keep as is). Will replace them on mine - originals instead of buying Crane Creek imitations off Amazon. Cleaned and repacked the pedal bearings. They look nice actually. Also bought a bike seat from Goodwill.

6) Took off the chainrings from the rear wheel the bike came with. The idea is to sell both wheels to recoup the build costs. Had to buy a freewheel puller tool. Still haven’t removed the freewheel - it’s tight and I can’t find something to use as a cheater bar, have to go to Home Depot. Anyway have to return the 35mm socket I bought to remove the fixed BB cup which didn’t work out (couldn’t remove it after all).

7) The frame had lots of rusty spots (just surface rust) after sanding which I was left with bare metal patches. Earlier I was planning to powdercoat the frame and even got a quote. But after realizing that the rest of the bike is not getting a high-end treatment I decided against it. Instead I painted them with modeling enamel I had laying around from another short-lived hobby - there are now silver spots all over the frame. Looks kind of cool to be honest. There was a rusty spot on the headtube as well so I just painted the whole area black. The maroon wasn’t really my thing anyway. I doubt the paint will hold up but should be OK for this round.

8) Tried to bend back the brake cable arm, semi-successfully. By the way, the spider on the big chainring had a bent.. “toe” too. Fun! Bent it back somewhat. There’s a slight wobble in the chainring after I installed it back - probably 2-3mm. From my reading that sounds to be within acceptable tolerance?

9) Watching lots and lots of videos by RJ Bike Guy. Sheldon Brown’s information is great but a video is much more helpful in my case.

Transplanting the freewheel onto the new (old) wheel is next. So is cleaning the second wheel and sorting out their truing.

That’s all folks! For now... Thanks!

SurferRosa

Using steel rims is a huge mistake unless you don't intend riding the bike. Be careful with the RJ videos. He's a hack. And a good way to find Cyclone derailers is with a donor bike.

bikemig 

I like the energy being put into this project. The super mirage is a good bike. I used one as a touring bike. It has good neutral handling.

Two things: (1) I agree with SurferRosa that you should avoid steel wheels. It is easy finding expensive alloy wheels. Also what was wrong with the wheels that came with the bike? They are alloy and the rear rim at least is very high quality (Mavic MA 40 rim). (2) I would not reuse the ball bearings. If you are going to the trouble of overhauling a bike, you might as well use new bearings.

hihik

I’m on the lookout on CL for alloy wheels as well as derailleurs. Thanks for the warning about RJ - I do try to get info from multiple sources before attempting anything. So far his videos have been very helpful in a sense that I see that a given procedure can be done without any special, inaccessible tools.

Front wheel was 700C, rear 27” Steel rims are the best I could do so far. They are Araya with Via hubs. The way I look at it - I’m not going to care (or rather lose a lot of money) if I mess it up on the rebuild. This is a learning round. If I’m successful in making it rideable, and if the frame is a good fit, I will invest in the components. Velo-Orange everything is the goal.

SurferRosa

Most of us wouldn't, especially with that bike, but it's your money.

hihik

Overpriced? A different frame, perhaps VO’s own Polyvalent, is not out of the question either.

dedhed

I'd be checking the local bike co-op for parts. Cheaper, faster, and easier

SurferRosa

I don't know about that, but it's definitely expensive compared to how most of us usually build bikes. Old components can be overhauled and polished to look beautiful, period-correct, appropriate and function like new.

nlerner

One of the most economical way to upgrade is to buy complete bikes for their parts and then sell off the frames. I'm also in the Boston area and see a few possibilities:

https://boston.craigslist.org/nos/bi...03789990.html: Is it $150 for all three? This listing has been there for months, btw.
https://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/bi...301777771.html
https://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/bi...302796514.html
https://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/bi...295534610.html
https://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/bi...304981613.html

hihik

One nearby that I know of:
“We are unfortunately unable to open the workshop for regular hours at this time due to restrictions put in place to limit the spread of COVID-19.”

I see what you mean. C&V spirit.

Hi neighbor! Thanks for the heads-up! It’s weird - I don’t want to use a bike in better shape than mine as a donor I’m on the lookout for a real cheap junker.

hihik

Freewheel removed





The axle on the new wheel is longer than the old one. Do I have to replace (swap?) it? Edit: reading about spacing



Also, what is this thing that was hanging from the brake over the front wheel? Do I need it?

dedhed

\See above.

hihik

Thanks! The compatibility point is a bit concerning. Still trying to figure out if the new wheel will work for me. What do you suggest I do to find out?

Next steps: cleaning the front wheel and repacking both hubs (they are not turning very smoothly).

dedhed

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/frame-spacing.html

Buy new bearing ball assortment and replace in hubs, headset, bottom bracket.
​​​​​​https://www.amazon.com/Piece-Assorte.../dp/B018B7D05K

hihik

Thanks for the link! That was helpful.
I removed the large spacer from the new axle and dry-fitted the wheel - I have a slight space on the right between the sprocket and the dropout, as shown below:




As I understand I will correct for this by adding a washer to the left side (the wheel currently sits somewhat closer to the left side). Will a regular washer that fits the axle do the job or are there somehow bike specific ones that I have to use? I also need a nut in place of the spacer I removed - same story as the washer?

Hope you guys don’t mind the avalanche of noob questions

hihik

I wish I had bought this to begin with

Highmass

Before you spend too much time on the wheels you bought, I would suggest that you try fitting them WITH brakes. According to the 1983 catalog, your bike originally had 700c (28 inch) wheels. They have an outer diameter of 622mm. But the 28 is measured WITH tyre. A 27 wheel is actually bigger, at is has a outer diameter of 730mm (The 27 is measured without tyre). So the "new" wheels are actually 6mm (Around 1/5 of an inch) larger. So unless you use brakes with a very short reach, you may run into problems with the positioning of the brakes in relation to the braking surface on the rims.

Vintage_Cyclist

Am I correct in thinking you hail from across the pond (Re: use of 'tyre' and prior location specific posts)?

If so, it's possible you're referring to a European market catalog. A 1983 Super Mirage in the U.S. would generally have come with 27 inch wheels and tires -- 1983 Motobecane Catalog.

Highmass

Yea, you are correct. I´m in Denmark. Whats more important however, is what catalog I´m refferring to. The catalog I´ve seen, is in French. So unless it´s a Canadian one (Which I assume would be in both French and English), it is propably as you suggest, an European catalog. I just assumed, that a catalog from the manufacturer would be correct, silly me. Sorry if I´ve caused any confusion.

hihik

Thanks, that’s very helpful, I was scratching my head about that after converting 27” into mm

Busy week at work so not much progress mid-week.

On derailleurs:

CL sweep isn’t producing anything useful. Considering that I’m thinking to replace the whole group I’m realizing buying new might be a better option. Found these from Sunrace that look reasonably period-appropriate:
Front | Rear | Shifters

Rivendell vouching for the RD makes me feel confident too:

”This is the cheapest good derailer we're aware of ... It's a neat mechanism, worth every cent.”

On wheels:

Repacked the hubs:






Feeling out of depth about truing them though. They clearly need work especially the RW which has 3 broken spokes and almost certainly needs re-dishing. This is where guidance (at least reassurance) from someone knowledgeable would have been great. Watching videos doesn’t seem to be helping. Morale is low at the moment

SurferRosa

All that is covered in excellent and easy to understand detail right here:

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html

​​​​​​

DiegoFrogs

As for that SunRace RD, I'd single-speed that bike before I'd adorn it with junk like that, unless I was in a pinch and had one in my box of junk that I'd gotten for free. And I actually _like_ the SunRace stuff that I've had (cassettes, mostly).

I've even used a modern Shimano Acera on a bike with a chromed rear triangle, and it looked way better than what you proposed. It functioned way above its price range (~$30 at a car-parts store in Sweden at the time), would bolt up to your frame's built-in RD hanger (maybe with a washer taken from the Suntour unit... hard to see in the photo).

Honestly, I'd probably look for another VG-T Luxe. Suntour friction shifting equipment from this timeframe is actually pretty amazing stuff.

hihik

Where does it fall short - functionality or build quality?

I used Mother’s for the first time and now I know how you all get your stuff so shiny! What is that black magic?!

DiegoFrogs

Yes, and yes. The link you provided also has a claw attachment which you don't need. Most all modern RDs have the dropped, slant parallelogram design of the Suntour that came on your bike, and this $10 derailleur lacks both features.

It's a probably exact copy of the Falcon branded derailleurs that my sister's childhood "MTB" came with in ~1990, along with stamped steel sidepull brakes and steel rims, all from a toy store. The one I got 6 weeks later featured a third chainring on the one piece crank and the RD was Shimano branded, but looked mostly the same. My father tried to guilt me out of the ~$15 price difference, reminding me that it cost more than his first car. The difference was something like $90 vs. $105.

I didn't get any of that at the time, but recently when I was looking at them while we were going through the stuff in storage in the garage attic, I realized that the extra $15 even then was a big step up. Both of those bikes went to scrap metal.

hihik

I suppose I can be patient and scoure CL some more. While I figure out the wheels. Not like everything else is ready to ride