Mr. 66

I'm not so sure about getting the Gitane all together and under budget and on time. That does not mean I'm out of the clunker challenge.

Today at $100 even this crusty critter is looking to be "it"
I'll take some closer shots later

Mr. 66

Classtime 

THAT is a very cool clunker. $8 in the budget for pedals.

rustystrings61 

In two bursts of misprioritized time I finished up the LeTour’s build. In the wee hours of the morning I installed the freewheel and the new/old IRC tires. I fitted the SunTour Blaze derailleurs and shifters, using one new and one used shift cable - call it $4 total, $1 for the used one and $3 for one from the stash. The original chain, post-Evapo Rust bath and soak in 30W, went on next. Once I got the front mech high enough to clear the SR oval chainrings, I was delighted to find it indexes very nicely.

Next was the saddle and seat post. I realize the rails are bent, and I think a taller saddle would let me put just that much more seat post in the frame to meet the minimum insertion line.

Bars and stem were next. and I added the calipers and went to bed.




This morning after breakfast I raided the storage unit for bits I thought I might need. Of course they were in the bottom two Rubbermaid bins in the back of the unit …




I brought back a set of Look pedals ($0, given to me on the Mercian that is now my son’s ride), a Shimano bottom bracket I may install later, a set of Dia-Compe Blaze hoods I didn’t need after all, and all the used bar tape I could find. I’ll have to go back tomorrow for the Vetta saddle that came with a Univega I got last year.

I know it has been suggested that I run the bike with the cockpit arrangement it came with -




- but there are some lines even I cannot cross. So I helped the bike molt, so to speak -




- and got to work. Because the original brake cables were both stainless and good, I wound up greasing them and using the original housings and dialing them in. I was grateful for the brake centering wrench for that!

After realizing I didn’t have enough black bar tape, I decided to go wholly clunker and pieced together the green stuff that came with last year’s Specialized Sirrus.

I took it for a very quick spin around the parking lot and I think I’m going to enjoy this!

RustyJames 

nlerner

I have a fawn-ish colored doeskin (I think?) hide that has been sitting around for years and I would be glad to cut an appropriate size and send it to you. Very soft stuff, maybe too soft for the task but let me know.

jdawginsc 

HUGE win on the find. I just noticed the barcons...for some reason didn't see them first. Let me know if you want to convert to down-tubes; I might have something that matches for you (Also found a SunTour VX hub of all things).

Campagnerdo 

It's enjoyable to see everyone's finds, and their progress with them, on a budget, no less. I don't like to "force" my acquisitions, but this one fell into my lap within the timeline, so I guess I'm in this time. You might initially Cannondale, but I recognized the Klein Performance, with some Dura Ace bits. It has a broken spoke on the front wheel, has some corrosion on the frame, and needs maintenance, but a good start. I paid $60.

nlerner

Thanks, but not worth the cost of mailing. I should be able to find something locally or I’ll just leave it as is.

Btw, the mention function still doesn’t work; you need to avoid the pop up: @RustyJames.

Smokinapankake

So I guess I'm in this year. I've wanted to do this in the past but am too scatterbrained to keep accurate track of expenses. Until yesterday, I harvested this sweet Nishiki from my local Collective:

I Paid $100.00 on the money but they gave me a $25.00 gift card to a local pizza joint to sweeten the deal so I'm calling it $75.00 spent so far. Shouldn't need much to get er up and running....

rustystrings61 

This morning I raided the storage unit again, returning one saddle and fetching the Vetta from the '86 Univega Arrow Pace I bought late last year for $24.99 - so I set the value at $5 for the saddle. Once back at the shack, I installed it and tweaked height and position on the rails, but not quite enough. I put the bike on the work stand again and did a little more spoke wrench work to get the wheels to run true, cinched the headset locknut down and played with everything to make sure it all worked and was secure. I remembered the bike came with a bottle cage, and fished it out, slathered the mounting bolts with grease and screwed 'em down.

It was surprisingly cool today for South Carolina in May, so I waited for it to warm up, which gave me an opportunity to put away all the tools and cleaning supplies used to get the LeTour to where it is, vacuum up all the dirt that came out of the old tires when I pulled them and do some laundry. Finally at 4:15 or so it reached the mid-60s and I decided it was time.

I barely got out of the parking lot before I pulled over to fish the multi-tool out to raise the saddle another centimeter - Look pedals + non-Brooks saddle = 79 cm center of BB to saddle top, period. then after another mile and a half or so I pulled over again to loosen the seat post clamp and smack the saddle back as far as it would go on its rusty rails. My quads were much happier after that.

I took a route I used to ride 40 years ago or so, one that normally has too much traffic now. The gift of Sunday afternoon and everyone being at the lake carried me along nicely and quietly - and very, very slowly! - up the long hill of Deadfall Road, across the scary intersection at 246 and on to the light where I crossed U.S. 25. The section between there and Dixie Drive was reconfigured a few years back, making it much shallower and smoother. I kinda miss the crazy near-switchback turn it originally had.

Feeling brave - this was my second ride for 2022, and I haven't ridden regularly since early October - I turned right to follow Deadfall down the long hill to Pine Drive, once a staple of the old Greenwood Cycling Club that led out from the local Y parking lot. I got down in the drops and got as aero as I could manage, and the old Schwinn rolled smoothly along, making the turn onto Pine predictably and well. I went for the small ring as I crossed the bridge and started up the climb, then cheated and took the left turn that returned me to Dixie, sparing myself a nasty hill. Dixie being essentially flat, it was a easy mile or so to four-lane Calhoun Road, which became Northside Drive as I re-crossed U.S. 25 and muscled up the short little rise.

It wasn't quite all downhill from there, but it's pretty close. I stopped to check my phone when I heard it ding and responded to my wife's text, then back on the old bike and down along the last stretch of Northside, grateful that it's a 35 mph speed zone because it's really too narrow for the volume of traffic it gets. When I turned into the parking lot, I decided to ride all the way to the back of the apartment complex, as I'd never bothered to go back there before, then looped back in.

I realized I hadn't taken any pictures while out on the ride, so for now here's how the LeTour - now called Champagne Charlie in honor of both its color and of Leon Redbone - looked after I finished up.



Observations -

1. The SunTour Blaze indexing derailleurs worked very nicely, making reasonably crisp shifts. If I had a chain and freewheel that had never been allowed to rust to an interesting texture, it would probably be excellent. As it was, I found the gear I was looking for every time.

2. The cheap used 25mm IRCs felt very nice at 80 psi or so.

3. As always, once I've been on the bike for a couple of miles, any peculiarities start melting away and it's just a bike beneath me. This is a quality machine that has been badly neglected, and if I were to keep it I would find some replacement cones for the front hub (and I may do that, as I think I have some in the stash!) and a decent bottom bracket to replace the Horror that is Hatta down there.

4. It probably deserves better bar tape, and I may splurge $9 or so for a set from the 'Bay.

5. I sincerely wish this bike was about 1-2 cm taller and longer. The 56 cm top tube is just enough too short and the drop from saddle height to bar tops is just enough to be mildly annoying. Pity, and maybe if I threw some money at the bike and got a taller seat post and a Nitto Technomic stem ...

Still - nice old bike, rides much better than it looks, and I now have 17.3 km under my belt.

Total to date -

$15.00 - acquisition of the bike
$10.70 - pair of used tires, plus tax
$4.00 - value of one used and one new shift cable from the stash
$5.00 - value of one used Vetta saddle scavenged from another clunker
$0.00 - value of used Look pedals given to me with a free bike
$0.00 - value of scavenged nasty green bar tape

So, $34.70. And who knows, maybe I'll finish up with this bike and go for entry number two with the Univega!

darnet

Inaugural ride this afternoon mostly happy but with a couple of notes, one serious.




First time I tried to upshift the rear cluster, the rear derailleur would not budge. I flipped the bike, and it appeared to be a stuck cable. Jiggled it loose and carried on, seemed to work the rest of the way. Not very smooth or reliable shifting. I’ll have to fiddle with that. I found the fitment and adjustment instructions on the internet.



Serious problem -- Bike actually has a nice enough ride feel. But the steering is amiss. I try to ride hands off, it veers hard left every time. Might be my imagination, but it kind of leans to the left when riding in a straight line as well. Front fork bent? More investigation needed.

TrekCommuter

Ok, I'll play. This looks like too fun not to. Humbly submitted for your consideration is this 1997 (1998, 1999?) Jamis Quest complete with Shimano RSX components. Drive train is 3x7. I bought this on Craigslist last fall for trainer purposes and used it half-heartedly as such over the colder months. It is perhaps a hair small for me, but I bought it knowing this so my wife could use it on the trainer, as well. I paid $100.00.


It had a bulging tire, which was merely a tube doubled over on itself. I fixed that and added "new" bar tape off of an old set of trekking bars I had. I view this as being fully depreciated as no one would have bought the tape. I also had to spray the brifters liberally with WD-40 to get them to index again. Then, I "fixed" a cut in the rear derailleur cable tubing with electrical tape. Not elegant, but it works.


As I will be primarily commuting and recreational riding during my challenge, I took off the original 1990's Shimano SPD pedals (used but work great) and replaced them with a pair of parts bin highly worn Wellgo platform pedals from my wife's Trek 7.2 FX. In my mind, this is either a net wash or a slight deduction.


Here is my outlay assessment:

Bike purchase: $100

Bar tape (used, fully depreciated): $0

Electrical tape: $.25

WD-40: $.25

Wellgo pedal swap (perhaps -$10.00 as I took off Shimano SPD pedals)


Thus, I put my total investment at around $90.50. I hope the tires hold out - they are old 700x23 Vittorias - I am not used to such skinny tires! While this was never a high-end bike, I struggle to call it a complete clunker as it fairly responsive.

I've got 7.5 miles in today - I will try to uploads photos shortly.

TrekCommuter

Drive train side

Electrical tape was used...a lot...it shifts quite well now.

Smokinapankake

First repair complete: rewrapped the existing bar tape to cover the unsightly gap at the bend, and to uncover the center section of the handlebars:





Also trued the wheels and tuned the brakes a bit. Rode around the neighborhood a few times; maybe 1 mile worth.
So total outlay:
$75 bike
.25 electrical tape
for a total of $75.25.

Mileage: 1!

On my way!

Pompiere

I bought a Jamis Quest in 2011. It was discounted for the end of season, but still a lot more than $100. I like C&V bikes, but the Quest is my go-to for all day comfort.

molleraj

Would this count? It's my dad's, and he only spent a maximum of $50 on it between a new handlebar, grips, and inner tubes. It was found in the trash and I still can't find any information on it online. Seems like a generic Taiwanese road bike from the 1970s or 1980s, probably hi-tensile steel. I just put 9.1 miles on it today. I'm going to add maybe $0.50 worth of dry lube to the chain and gears tomorrow. It did need some derailleur adjustment but now it shifts fine.

nlerner

^ Bonus points for the vaguely Italian sounding marque.

molleraj

Ha! Exactly. Time to do some longer rides on this beater.

jdawginsc 

Oooo...SunTour Honor...that will survive the apocalypse.

molleraj

Nice! It does seem to shift pretty well.

Andy_K 

I've got one of these that came to me on a 1977 Gitane Gypsy Sport. According to my fish scale, it weighs about three quarters of a pound. It's longevity is increased by the fact that I'll never be able to bring myself to put it on a bike.

jdawginsc 

50g short of a pound. You can always use it fishing. But they were rock solid...or lead solid....

shimano positrons were a bit weighty as well...

Mr. 66

The wheels have been cleaned, the frame is washed, the brakes as well. The chrome has gotten attention. I haven't serviced anything yet. Everything spins as they should, the freewheel is Dura Ace.

Most of issues of clean boiled down to failing clear coat, it's become glazed, is chipping susceptible to stain, and is no longer protection for the chrome. If anything the clear is encapsulating oxidation and tinted with ingrained dirt. I've been scratching and rubbing the clear with just a wet paper cloth. I need to be careful at the fade. I've gotten most of the seattube chrome taken care of, I may still come out with my linen tester to detail around the branding.

DonkeyShow

Put another ten+ miles on the clunker today. No pics as I ate too many shrooms.

molleraj

I took the Capri Cordova out for a 14.84 mile ride today, getting me up to 24 miles so far (9.15 miles + 14.84 miles). I had lots of problems with spontaneous gear changes and shifting that I now attribute to the rusty derailleur cable having unwanted friction against the housing. Adjusting cable tension up or down plus adjusting the high screw on the rear derailleur didn't help. Perhaps I need new cables and housings, ugh. Pictures coming soon.