Old 05-06-22, 04:59 PM
  #15  
dddd
Ride, Wrench, Swap, Race
 
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Northern California
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Bikes: Cheltenham-Pedersen racer, Boulder F/S Paris-Roubaix, Varsity racer, '52 Christophe, '62 Continental, '92 Merckx, '75 Limongi, '76 Presto, '72 Gitane SC, '71 Schwinn SS, etc.

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Great find!

For the cranks, simply oil-can the bb bearings as needed, no need to mess with the cotters unless you'll be putting many, many thousands of miles on this bike.
Bearings can be adjusted with left crankarm in place!
I would also simply oil-can the headset bearings myself for all but lengthy, hard use.
Aerosol lithium grease using a tapered applicator straw will put lasting lubrication into the existing bearing assemblies. Sounds rough-turning until the solvents evaporate.

Removal of cotters, using even a proper press, is best facilitated with a torch, getting the crankarm end hot enough to issue a bit of smoke when the torch is pulled away.

Must save the original cotters!!!

This bike's original front derailer shows no cracking! Resist the urge to tighten further the clamping bolts or cracking is likely in the succeeding months after said tightening.

Good luck fixing that pump. Please follow up here with any success that you have!

I'm in full agreement with markk900 with regard to tires!

The original brake pads may work well, mine still do!

Treat the saddle and wait a day or two for the oils to permeate fully before riding on it.
The black coating will appear on any non-black shorts to some degree.

Oiling up the shift lever's internals and getting the inner cables to run only against polymer-lined surfaces will drastically improve shifting ease and accuracy, and the levers will no longer feel flexible.
The correct choice of cable housing (including needed ferrules) can be a challenge on vintage bikes, but is effort well spent imo.

The stem should be inspected, but should be fine for less than aggressive riding based on my experience.
The quill and clamping diameters are French!
If a longer 10cm stem is desired, an Origin8 or similar Kalloy stem will at least have a compatible quill diameter already, but will be compatible with alloy bars having 25.4 or 26.0 diameters (depending on the particular stem's labeling).
A compatible wider bar would be nice, as will the increased grip diameter of an alloy bar (24mm vs. 22mm).

You'll need to tap the crankarms out to 9/16" in order to use modern pedals.


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