RALEIGH_COMP 

Not sure on the year, but yeah the decals hint at 70's. But yeah I think the only "neat" things are the handlebars and the triple crank... and the fenders and racks ofcourse. Oh and it does have wire routing accommodations for lighting as well.

RiddleOfSteel

I decided to test out a few things for my eventual Miyata 1000 build (frame in for small repairs) on my maybe-my-coworker-is-interested-in-it Cannondale ST. Now that I have caught this touring bike bug (go figure...), to whatever degree, I was looking at the ST again, which I had slated for selling. I had bought it to be a winter rider, but side pull brakes and 32mm tires made fender choosing very difficult, and I bailed before wasting any more time. It looked better without fenders, too.

Well, all the parts for the Miyata (3x9 DT Dura-Ace more or less), minus stem and bars (stem on the way), are on the Cannondale, and it is wonderful!! The 7800 rear derailleur, with the B-tension wound out pretty good, works just fine with a 32T cog. Win! I will post pictures when I get the stem in (and the bars mounted).

I just have to figure out what to build the Miyata up with. Such a dilemma!

Prowler 

Given the ice and cold, I'm not riding the wildness so I decided to tackle a task that's been put off for years. My 79 Moto Mirage was almost a Super Mirage as, over the years, I'd changed out the steel bits for alloy bits, except for the bars. They've been sitting on the floor for too long. Yesterday I finished swapping them out then realized that the steel bars could go onto Babe, the Blue Oxen to replace those horrid Sears Free Spirit "drop bars" that some drunken engineer designed on a dark Monday morning - you know, the bars that curve into the hooks then just go straight down, no drops. Now Babe has proper steel bars to provide greater aerobic benefit and the drunken Free Spirit bars go into the tip to become pots and pans.

tiredhands 

I've been slowly making progress on a rusty, crusty Peugeot. I wanted to save the Huret wingnuts, but as they're French, that meant saving the rest of the hubs. A bench polisher made quick work! I'll start a build thread soon, after I de-rust the frame, as I want to get some input from you guys about building it back up.

3speedslow

Nice work @tiredhands !

ThermionicScott 

Some wintertime maintenance for the Bianchi Eros last night. Its RX100 freehub gums up on occasion when grease migrates from the wheel bearing into the freehub mechanism. It's not enough to prevent the bike from being ridden, but it causes a slight drag when coasting and the occasional missed engagement upon pedalling again, especially when it's colder out. In the past, I have suspected that I used too much grease when repacking the wheel bearing, so it was getting pushed into the freehub. But I thought I did a good job of using less and only putting it where it was needed last time. I'm wondering now if I've been leaving too much WD-40 and/or oil in the freehub after relubing it, which then seeps out over time and encourages the grease to circulate. So this time around, I'm going to give it extra time to drain out before reassembling. We'll find out if that works.

noglider 

@DQRider, when I was in college, my only bike, my pride and joy, a brand new PXN-10, was stolen. My roommate loaned me his C. Itoh, even lower than your Bridgestone. That kind of bike was beneath my dignity, so to speak. I commuted on it and came to love and appreciate it, and it warmed me to the concept of beater bikes. Other than wheel truing, the bike never really needed anything, a testament to its decent construction. The ride was slow but predictable and comfortable. I oiled it and maintained it in other ways. I think I changed the tires on it before returning it.

ParaWK4

I got this Schwinn Tempo a while ago and it has been sitting as a bare frame. I put a Tange chrome fork with a longer steering tube on it. I plan to continue to build it up with parts on hand as a friction shift 6-speed. I haven't been very excited about this one but the chrome fork spices it up a bit.

DQRider 

Sorry I've taken so long to answer, but life gets in the way sometimes...

Yeah, at the same time that I am learning what Quality is in a vintage steel bicycle, I've begun to appreciate the charms of these strange little innovations various makers tried with their lower-end models to make them stand out from the rabble.

Among the curious bits and bobs I've discovered on this Bridgestone, is a little plastic cable wheel like those on the old English 3-speeds, except this one is about 1/3 the size of those and it is screwed into a braze-on on the downtube ahead of the crank.

It's supposed to warm up enough tomorrow that I should be able to work out in my shop. I have limited heating out there, and standing in a 30°F room trying to work on small parts with my bare hands got old in a hurry. I'll shoot some photos tomorrow; significant progress has been made...

Roger M

This fifty year old car. Bringing it back to life after a 15+15 year hybernation.

nesteel 

Oh, we're gonna need more details on the Cougar sir.

Roger M

Well.. it's a long story

My dad bought it back in the late 70s(he was in the used car business). I drove it some while I was in high school, when I got bored with my own cars. I Joined the Marines in 83 and forgot about the car until my dad passed away in 2000.

After his passing, my brothers and I went through all of his 'stuff'. He had this underground garage that was real damp and full of his lifetimes worth of things. So, in the back corner of the shop, underneath piles of tools, nick-nacs, and other junk, was this 67 Cougar. When I uncovered it, it brought back many fond memories of school, friends and cruising in this old Merc. It had been there for at least 15-17 years(still in the dark about the history up to that point)

I spent a few hours digging it out and changing fluids in it. To my surprise, the damn thing fired right off with a shot of ether and some fresh gas. Anyhow, I bought a house shortly after that(as well as kids,wife, & a whole bunch of other responsibilities),so the car went into my garage for another 15 years...

Forward to last summer:

My son had been egging me on to do something about the neglected Cougar. In July we dumped some gas into it and a shot of ether... And whadyaknow, it fired right up. Well, it was like opening up a can of worms. The brakes were frozen, carburetor was all gummed up from old gas, and whole bunch of other stuff needed fixed. Every time I fired it up, it seems like something else needs attention.

It's a 1967 standard Cougar with a 289 4V, factory air and an automatic transmission. The brakes are four wheel drums with NO power assist.

But hey, we got it drive-able, licensed and insured, and have been driving it and fixing things as we go. My kids freakin love it!

DQRider 

Sounds like somebody needs to call the "Garage Squad"! (Fix-er-up show on Velocity channel.)

DQRider 

... on the Unnecessary Bridgestone.

To review (and sorry for double posting, but this requires contrast).

Before:



And now that I have it stripped-down and mostly mocked-up with only a few pieces missing -

In Process:



I wish the sun was out today, it would look a lot nicer. Still, you get the idea of where I'm going with this one. Nothing is permanently mounted yet, so I still have options. It's going to get a nice chainguard, and a saddlebag, and one or two new graphics, but it's mostly all there.

It just occurred to me that there will still be a lot of winter left by the time I finish this. Time to look for that next project...

nesteel 

Great story, and history on the project. If you kids dig it, run with it. Excellent way to spend quality time.

stardognine

Not at all, it completes the group, plus you get dual-pivot. 😎
I'm planning to upgrade my early 105 calipers to Tri-Color, eventually, just because everything else is Tri-Color. Oh, and the FD.
I was just tweaking the fit on my trekking bars this afternoon, after installing one of those adjustable stems not too long ago. It fits way better now, and looks pretty good too. 😁

NJgreyhead

I've been doing some annual maintenance on a 1986 Lotus Excelle I'd bought new but gave to my then-teenage nephew when I bought a new bike in 2007.
Nice to have Ol' Paint back in the basement corral, even if it is only temporary. Glad to know my nephew exercises it regularly.
After I gave it away, I missed it and purchased another one I found on CL, which I ride occasionally.

Fun with bikes.

pcb 

Too much cold/snow here in Jersey to venture out, so I've been doing some updating, 1x converting and beer drinking.

Just posted the first three on the Retro/Brifter thread. Also just finished a new Ritchey Swiss Cross, which I'll claim KOF C&V status, since the original first hit the market more than 20yrs ago. These are tig-welded lightweight steel main frames with a CF fork.

'78 Chris Kvale, just converted to 1x, weighs in at 21.6lbs (w/o bottle or computer):


'82 Columbine, swapped out crank, wheels, seatpost and cassette just to slim her down, to about 21.5lbs (w/o pump, bottle or computer):


2011 Waterford ST-22, fully neoretro, just converted to 1x, weighs 22.5lbs w/fenders, rear rack (no rack bag, bottles, computer or headlight):


2017 Ritchey Swiss Cross, v2b; pretty light a 19.6lbs:

browngw 

Been doing a whole lot of cleaning and polishing of the shiny bits for a Raleigh DL1 project. Working on the bars and wheels now including an AW 3spd rebuild.

Chombi1 

Did some polishing this weekend too.....

It's the Ciinelli 1R stem that's test mounted on my Bottecchia in the pic.
Came out really nice but it took a lot of time and effort to get it all the scratches off and all polished up. Reminded me why I don' do polishing of anodized parts that often. What a mess it makes and so much effort for such a simple thing! Didn't help when the plastic front cap went missing after it pinged off into a dark corner of the garage when I tried to snap it back on....... took over an hour to find the dang thing. Almost gave up when it magically fell out of a small microfiber rag that I was about to wipe the bike frame with.... I swear, my garage is haunted or something, as i remember checking that rag and the area around it and found nothing....
Next time I'll remember to wear a bunny suit gloves and a hat when I polish another component. I have to remember too how I got the anodizing off too to make things go quicker....

brandon98

I'm working on my NOS just purchased 2015 Bianchi Impulso, removing the Ultegra 6800 and subbing in Campy Potenza. I plan on riding it for my birthday in February. As an aside, I'll have a pretty sweet deal for new-take-off 6800 STIs, GS rear, and braze-on FD coming up soon.

kcblair

Decided to modernized my Ciocc a little. Last year year, it got Brifters. This year, I'm trying out the new, outboard bottom bracket. Got the Shimano Ultegra BBR60 bearings installed today. Waiting for the crankset. Also, waiting for a 13-34T casette. This will be my dedicated climber. KB

OutBoard Bearing.jpg

RiddleOfSteel

I've been dealing with a weird illness of some sort (equilibrium-based--real fun) ever since Jan 1 and there have been some other factors that have led it to linger. So to pass the time during some properly dreary and rainy days and nights, I cleaned up the apartment from its post-Christmas mess, and assembled my '99 Marinoni again, lol. Why have organized piles of frames, wheels, and parts, when you can organize them into one easy-to-move bicycle?!? Genius! Also, it weighs in at a hair over 20.0 lbs with pedals and cages. 25mm tires juuuuust clear the seat tube in the back, and the underside of the fork crown in front. Full 7800 with light Vuelta wheels. 11-28T cassette in back. It'll climb in more ways than one...if only it would stop raining so I can try it out...

Somehow, I still have yet to re-tighten the headset on my Miyata winter bike that I ride every day....go figure.

Jadesfire 

Thanks to a number of forum members, I spent some time this winter putting this little number together:
[IMG][/IMG]

I know in the heirarchy of Bianchi frame this is pretty low end, but it is by far the nicest bike I have built so far. Shimano Tricolor parts are very nice to work with as well . I still need to fine tune the gearing, and if anyone can see anything from this pic that looks like it needs attention please don't hesitate to point it out.

I took it for a spin yesterday afternoon and I can't decide (due to my lack of experience I suppose) whether it is a squirrelly ride due to some mechanical issue I'm missing or if it's just so much more responsive than anything I've ridden so far . I hope it's the latter, and I suppose time will tell as I come to trust it more and finish fine-tuning it, because this thing can really move.

Edit: I see the RD position, that's something I know needs to be adjusted.

eom 

The Brava is a great bike IMHO. Bought a used one for my daughter about 15 years ago. She still rides it. She has refused many offers for another bike. It has moved all over the country with her.

Enjoy