AdventureManCO 

While all these dept stores were in competition w/ each other, they must've been in cahoots with each other too!

'Hey Fred, you got any more of that yellow gold paint you use on the Ward's bikes?'

'Sure thing, Walter. Why ya ask?'

'Well, we need some for the Free Spirits.'

'I'll bring a couple gallons by...'




PS - I'm digging both the shifters and the bar tape!

Pompiere

I have completed my first entry for the Mucho-Cheapo category. I have put over 150 miles on it and got it dialed in pretty well. I found the Sears Ted Williams Free Spirit at a Goodwill for $30. With my veterans discount, I only paid $27. It was in pretty good shape overall, and free of any major rust. I disassembled everything and got it cleaned up. It came with a steel seat post and shim, which I thought was odd for a 531 frame, but someone mentioned it might have been a cost saving measure. It also had an AVA stem, which may or may not be one of the "death stems", but it does have the beginnings of a crack. I bought a seat post and handlebars at the Monroe swap meet for $5 each. I had a SR stem in the drawer which was small enough to fit the 22 mm steer tube. It also has 74 stamped on it, so it matches the date of the bike. The Titlist front derailleur had no chrome left to save, so I used a Sun Tour Spirt that looks much nicer. The bike had stem shifters, so I used the Campy downtube levers from the FW Evans. They aren't pretty, but they work. The wheels are originally from my Miyata. I used them to save time getting the bike on the road. The original wheels look good, I just haven't gotten them cleaned up yet. The brakes are also from my parts stash. The pedals, SR crank, and Avocet saddle came on the bike. The fenders were on the Marukin I bought in February. The bottle cage looked pretty bad, but after soaking in rust remover, it looks like new.

Altogether, I am at $47 dollars outlay. That's counting $27 for the bike, $5 each for the stem and seat post, $5 for the shift levers and $5 for the fenders. If I count the full price I paid for the two bikes I took parts from, I am still under the $108 limit. Some people grind through the challenge, counting the days until they can add to their build, but other than swapping to SPD pedals and getting the original wheels cleaned up, there isn't anything else I would do for the long term. It rides really nice, and I don't have to use the disclaimer "for a 50 year old bike".


1974 Sears Ted Williams Free Spirit 531


Original Shimano Crane Derailleur


Sun Tour Spirt from the parts bin


Campy Shift levers from the FW Evans to class it up a bit.


Shorty Fenders because why not. They are aluminum, so the weight is nil, and they add to the character.


The 531 decals are gone, but the tubes are stamped "REYNOLDS 531 BOUBLE BUTTED".


If you look back at the first picture I posted of this bike, there was a barn in the background. This is what's left after a tornado hit last week. It's about 3-400 yards from my house. We had no damage, but several neighbors were not so lucky.

bikemig 

Tough about the tornado. Your bike is super sweet. Getting a Reynolds 531 bike on the road for the outlay of the cheapo bike contest is awesome. You're giving my Sekine SHR cheapo bike build a run for its money. Mine does have a chrome moly double butted main triangle and I've put less money into the bike than you did, so there's that. . . . ($38 total and that includes the tires). This bike--other than the saddle and consumables--is completely original even down to the bar tape. Not that I would try to throw shade on your build to try to win the contest or anything

darnet

I was pondering spending some $ to buy a larger big cog (ebay), maybe a 30 or 32 teeth , for my helicomatic freewheel, when I counted the teeth on each cog. Turns out, my rear cluster biggest gear was not 23 teeth, but 21 teeth (13, 14, 16, 18, 20, 21). Rather than have “Alpine gearing,” I decided to swap out the as-found 700c wheels for (more factory-correct) 27” wheels. I used some vintage looking wheels from somewhere, might have been parted out from a too small Grand Prix many years ago, which already had a wider rear cluster.







The larger wheel diameter necessitated adjusting the brake pads, that’s when I noticed the rear caliper springs were contacting the rear seat stay (which could have explained why they wouldn’t center properly, but didn’t).


Brake Interference with seat stay

The culprit – the caliper was bolted with flat washers, and some mismatched bit from a Campy(?) brake.

Campy Modolo


So, I dug out a couple of those little concave aluminum pieces that are normally used with brakes, which restored the proper clearance. Still I couldn’t really center the brakes. Spring weak?

Regardless, I mounted the 27” wheels, and rode with the brakes released open to prevent pad rubbing. Rather than fuss with the brakes any more, I decided to replace the Modolo/Campy side-pulls with (more factory-correct) center-pulls, a pair of Mafac’s recycled from the Green Mirage.


Mafacs from my box of salvaged brake calipers


I decided to splurge and put on brand new tires and tubes for the remainder of the mileage. Happened to have a pair of Panaracer Pasela tires, 27x1”, so decided on those. But the rims were drilled for Shraeder valve stems. I had no Schaeder valve tubes narrower than 27x1-1/4; I did have some narrower tubes, but with Presta valves, so I 3-D printed a set of Schrader-Presta adapters. I used TPU filament which is somewhat flexible.
Centerpull brakes mounted front and rear; TPU 3D printed Presta to Schraeder adapter

Having replaced brakes, wheels, tires, and tubes,I embarked on yet another test ride, another 7.2 miles, after fitting the bike with a kickstand (to take easier photos), a rear rack (in case I have something to carry), and wider pedals (for my wide deet). The up side is that now I didn’t have to keep spinning the pedal to find the “up” side.

French Pedals


Kickstand (and pedal)


40.1 (66 Km) miles total, and I really like this bike. It was fast from the beginning, a bit floppy with the 700c wheels, but with the 27” wheels it seems to have responsive but more stable steering, and rides more comfortably. It’s worthy of some cosmetic polishing up for the rest of the miles.

Fredo76

Found a silver SR Suntour crankset on eBay for $20 and got it just for the looks, to replace the black Shimano crank on Bella:



New silver crankset & dual SPD pedals for Bella

Looks better better to my eyes, but less Franken, even with the extra brand. Can we dress the same bike differently for the different categories?

darnet

Ride 7 – 20.5 miles.

Been either too rainy or too hot around here to ride the last week or two, but I did get a long ride in, 20.5 miles, on June 25, a Sunday.

Started at Shady Lane Elementary School pickleball courts (after a rousing game), then rode uphill to Skymeadow Country Club to visit my fellow cart barn guys.


cart barn

cart guy and carts


After that, back to being boring, visiting some of the same destinations as last year -- Gilson Road via Buckmeadow Road, and the Gilson Road Cemetery (which I visited last year). Continued to the Rail Trail head (my preferred test ride stretch), for some flat miles to Pepperell MA covered bridge (another repeat destination), to Mill Street passing Dr. Davis’s ice cream to Hollis Street,






Buckmeadow

Covered Bridge


Dr. Davis

Gilson Road cemetary


and on to the Hollis Town Common for the annual Strawberry festival. Threatening rain moved the festivities from outdoors on the Town Common, into the Upper Elementary School.



Strawberry festival & band concert

Menu

Town Band playing indoors

Strawberry (Combo)

Then home. Completely uneventful, some serious hills. Brakes and shifting worked fine. Kept having to kick the kick stand, it creeps into the path of the crank. Foot occasionally slipped or spun forward off the pedals. Front still likes to flop abruptly to the side when stopped, but I haven’t fallen again yet.

Total miles covered now: 60.6 miles, or 97.5 kilometers. I might continue to ride beyond the 100 Km goal just for the fun of it, or until I can ready another candidate (I have three potential candidates waiting in the wings).

rgvg

I've decided it will be too much work to grow 6 inches to ride that Gitane I got. So instead I'm going to work with this one, which I will call Frank. Frank was free. That's because he was clearly in a front ender and Frank's fork was, well, forked. I got him a used fork from the coop for $5 I think. I've had Frank for about two years now but I haven't found a fork till recently.

I'll have to clean and work on him a little bit. But there's still almost two whole months to go, right?

rgvg

A closer look at Frank's neck. The replacement fork is clearly for a different sized frame. But it's the shortest 27" fork I could find. There are 20mm of spacers in there.
If you think this will get me killed, please let me know.
The top picture is an approximation of where it will end if I line up the max line to the top of the lock nut. It should still be under the threaded section. I guess to really find out I could pull the fork and see, but I am too lazy to do that right now.
OTOH it does mean the stem is up higher than it would normally be, which is nice.

USAZorro

If you can make the marking hashes above where it says "Minimum Insertion" disappear under the upper edge of the steerer, you're golden. Crossing fingers.

also possibly worth noting - That frame was likely designed for 700c wheels.

rgvg

Yes, I will certainly try to bury the max limit line.

This one appears to be an '86 Technium, so 27" is correct until a couple of years later when they switched to 700c, says bikeforums. That said, I might stick on 700c instead. I haven't quite decided.

darnet

Ditto on USAZorro's comment about stem insertion. I did the same thing (fork and spacer) last year (Clunker Challenge, Green Mirage), and it was fine, at least long enough to finish. In my case I had to replace the shift cables, because with stem shifters they were too short with the longer fork, and the bike would switch gears on its own when turning.

bikemig 

I made progress on 2 of my builds. I've done a 100 km on my mucho cheapo build, a 1973 Sekine SHR which I picked up for $20 and had to invest very little money to get rideable (my total costs and that includes the tires were $38).

I've been making progress on my Frankenbike which is an early 70s Raleigh Gran Sport. The seattube was out of round so I had Jeff Bock, whom many of you know since he is a very fine framebuilder, ream it out to 27.2. By the time I'm finished, the only original parts on the bike will be the seatpost binder bolt and headset. The saddle is old enough to look original but it is a Brooks pro with small rivets that did not come off this bike.

rgvg

This is Doe, John Doe. After almost 40 years unfortunately he broke his back. So he went on craigslist where I found him. As Apollo's quality touring rig, I knew I wanted the Sugino cranks, Cyclone derailleurs, and the Selle Italia saddle, plus all the other bits. He donated his wheels to Frank.



After receiving the wheels, I took Frank out today for a short spin. We went to look at a lot of murals. Vancouver has lots of them.





On the way home we chanced upon a neighborhood festival, where a dental office was cleverly drumming up future business by handing out cotton candy. Naturally we stopped for a hotdog, chips, and a soda.

Pompiere

I think, in the spirit of this contest, you should have used a hardwood dowel or an aluminum rod to splice the frame back together to ride the requisite distance before harvesting the organs parts.

obrentharris 

An interpretation of the rules by @USAZorro please!
I have just completed a frame up build and am trying to decide whether to enter it in the El Cheapo category or the Frame Up category. I'd like to enter it in El Cheapo since I am working on another build which I would like to enter in Frame Up. The only items I purchased this year are a chain, bar tape, and paint. However I spent about $150 on several colors of paint, some of which I blended to create the colors I wanted for this project. I also used some of the paint for a sign painting project and I have a lot of paint left over for future projects. I used about 15% of the paint for this project. Do I value the paint at $150 or at 15% of that, which would be $22.50?
Brent

USAZorro

Presume that you'll save a bit for touch-ups and go with 20%.

campfire

The final configuration of the RAGBRAI Raleigh Revival. Now with another bottle holder, kick stand, air pump, and speedometer (all scavenged from other bikes, so no net cost). I also installed new front brake pads (already accounted for). Will this barn find survive 500 miles? I think so, but we'll find out together. I do still need to fix a broken strap on my cargo bag.



Heading out first thing in the morning. It's RAGBRAI time!

darnet

Rides 8 & 9

Went back to the rail trail for an afternoon ride alongside my wonderful wife, married 39 years, rode for about 5.5 miles. She rides a purple Cannondale with Shimano Nexus internal gear 7 speed rear hub, We left the trail for a stretch of road on the last stretch, to see local corn growing almost ready for the farm stand.




The Blue Peugeot finished the challenge mostly fine, on this ride I started to hear a one-per-crank rev clicking, but it disappeared later. The bike did get caught outdoors when one our recent rain storms hit (did I mention that it’s been raining incessantly this summer), maybe the chain got a little rust. Also, I thought the bike front wheel was feeling loose.

Friday (June 14) I saw a window between rain storms, so rode to my exercise place, 4 mile round trip, uphill there, downhill back. Definitely shaky going downhill. Front wheel was secure, so I continued home, there I found a bit of play in the headset bearings.






So the Blue Peugeot managed to complete the challenge, she went a total of 109 or so km (about 68 miles). Very el-cheapo ride, and a fun one at that. I definitely liked it more than the 2022 Green Mirage, and I’d say nearly as much as the 2021 Green Super Course. I think the Blue Peugot was the lightest of them. I still haven’t cleaned it up, and still might, and might keep it in my fleet for a while at least.

Out-of-Pocket Cost roundup: -- <$108
Bike -- recycled from give-and-take at Hollis Transfer Station
Chain -- from my old parts bin supply chain (repeat of pun from last year
Wheels -- recycled from some other bike of many years ago, though neither the Green Mirage nor Green Super Course.
Tires & Tubes – new, but cost not to be included
Brake Calipers and pads -- recycled from 2022 Green Mirage (or some other Peugeot donor, whose fork I found in my dungeon when cleaning up the other day)
Centerpull bits -- front bracket was already on bike as found, rear bracket and adjusters were hand picked from a box of odds and ends
Brake Cables -- re-used stuff from my tangled bundles of cables and housings
Shraeder to Presta adapters -- home-made using 3d printer

It’s now time to complete the Raleigh Super Tourer I originally meant to build for this challenge. It’s an appealing notion, the idea of a fresh start, but truth is I had already started and abandoned work on the Super Tourer before I found the Blue Peugeot. The Super Tourer starts as a frame and fork, with Huret rear derailleur included (to be explained in a future post) for which I paid $60 in July 2022. Although it’s a frame up build, with some creativity and USAZorro’s rule clarification of 5/4/2023 regarding costs for on-hand parts as of 1/1/23, I hope to keep the total cost under the el-cheapo limit. As I said, I was in my basement digging up things to purge from my assorted and out-of-control collections of parts; that is giving me possible ideas for the build.
ET

bikemig 

I've enjoyed taking my time rebuilding my early 70s Raleigh Gran Sport. I made some real progress today. The Maillard 7 speed 13-32 freewheel is off at pastorbobnlnh getting the spa treatment. I had Jeff Bock here in Iowa ream out the seat tube recently to 27.2 as it had gotten out of round.

Today, I sprayed the inside of the frame with Fluid Film based on what I read in this thread I started here, https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...l#post22961757.

I also cleaned and waxed the frame, used a bit of simichrome polish for the chrome bits, and Brooks proofide for the saddle.

Once I get the freewheel back, I'm in business and I can build the bike.

rustystrings61 

So I am still working on the Lighthouse - got the seat and steerer tubes cleaned out with the brake cylinder hone, just got a headset for it today, and got a 44T ring to go with the 48T that came with the T.A. Alize crankset ….




While moving assorted bikes around and prepping them for sale I stumbled into a stalled project -

Last year I was hanging out at the now-defunct LBS, Bikes and Boards. I spotted this ‘92 Trek 820 that someone had fitted with a bad single speed conversion and bull horns. Coleman the owner said it had come in for drivetrain and brake parts, and when he gave the customer a quote, the customer said “keep it.”

”It’s yours if you want it, otherwise I’ll scrap it,” Coleman said, so into the truck it went.







I puttered with it and then set it aside aside for more than a year, but yesterday while clearing out projects I looked it over again and decided it was time to create the ultimate Edisto Beach bike, capable of also doing some single track.

It helps that this 820 has chro-moly main tubes and forks and possibly even stays - generic plain gauge, but better than gaspipe! Being a more casual sport model, it also has a shorter top tube - and the reach from saddle to bars is about identical to that of my road bikes.

I had a set of anatomic bend dropped bars from a long ago part-out, a set of aero brake levers that have been on who knows how many bikes through the years, and some SR 110 bcd 170 mm cranks. Into the stash pile I went for the 34T Sugino chainring, and I used the 40T for a placeholder/spacer until I can get a 36T. The cranks are pretty far inboard, which meant I needed to rearrange the spacers for the 17T cog. It all went together with less hassle than it could have ….

The current 34x17 makes for a slack chain, but after consulting the FixMeUp site I feel confident that I can run 34x18 in magic gear mode - which leads me to suspect 36x16 will also work, so I could go with a near-60-in gear for meandering around in pavement and have a 49-in for singletrack with different tires.

The best part? So far, ZERO cash expenditures! The bike was free, bars, crankset, brakes, bar tape, cables, housings, ferrules, saddle, pedals and cage were all recycled bits from the parts stash, and the cartridge BB was a gift from a generous BFer!

So, now to get a 36T ring and 16 and 18T cogs - and a half-link for insurance. Guess I’ll have to spend some money, unless someone has those bits and wants to trade …

Anyway, maybe I’ll get in 100 km on this before the clock runs out - we’ll see …

bikemig 

When I bought the Raleigh Gran Sport, it was a Frankenbike with little original other than the headset, bar and stem, seatpost and saddle. By the time I'm finished with the bike, it will still be a Frankenbike,

I received the 13-32 Sachs Freewheel from pastorbobnlnh today so I can get to building this bike up. I'll install a deore crank with a compact set up (50/34) and the 13-32 freewheel. That will give me a gear range from 104.5 to 28.9 inches. I had to get the seatpost reamed out by Jeff Bock. I bought new pedals (Shimano platform pedals), new cables and housing from Velo Orange, and a new bar and stem (Nitto randonneur bar and Soma stem). I nearly always buy a new bar and stem when rebuilding an old bike. The bike is otherwise a parts bin build.

I'd better get moving to build the bike and get a 100 km in before Sept. 5. That's plenty of time but August will be busy.

darnet

Part I – Introduction:

I was oblivious to the Raleigh Super Tourer model, until I saw it last July on Craigslist, actually searching for a Raleigh Competition. So I found it it in the catalogs for ‘74, ‘75, and ’76, and was mesmerized. I paid $60 for frame, fork, included was a Huret rear derailleur, not Huret Jubilee.









Mine is apparently a ‘74, based on the top tube location of the pump pegs. That does not mean I will ride on a padded quilted saddle (unless I already have one on my shelves somewhere).

Part II: The Vision

For some time I’d been thinking of building an upright bike with an internal gear hub, a la Sheldon Brown's Raleigh Competition "Superbe" (https://www.sheldonbrown.com/org/ral...ion-index.html). I was accumulating parts gradually, including a Sturmey-Archer 8 speed internal gear hub, which I have laced up to a rim, but that’s as far as it goes. Well, since the Super Tourer will be from-the-frame-up,and mostly a “parts bin build” (tip o’the pen to bikemig), I strive to keep expenses within the el Cheapo limit. That rules out using the SA IG hub, even if I could in good conscience (and I really can’t) count the hub itself as a free-to-use bin part. I don’t want to absorb the cost of a shifter, other bits for the cable system, and possibly a single speed chain. So, while I will build the Super Tourer as an upright tourer, as Raleigh envisioned, it will be sans IG for the Challenge.


Part III: A Stroke of Good Fortune

I rarely find upright tourers at the town transfer station, especially interesting ones. I do occasionally see, and wax nostalgic over, and pass over, a rusty Schwinn Collegiate or Free Spirit or the like. But in Spring of '22 , a worker there with whom I often chat (and for whom I’d repaired a bike or two, and to whom I gave a Schwinn Searcher Ridge), set aside for me a green ‘70’s-ish Mixte (Gitane Gran Sport). From it I was able to harvest handlebars, Mafac Racer brakes, brake levers, and fenders (along with a cool generator/light set). I now think the Mafac calipers I used on this year’s Blue Peugeot actually came from the Gitane, not last year’s Green Mirage.

I am oddly tempted to build the Super Tourer with modern (i.e., ugly) components. I know it wouldn’t qualify for Eroica.

USAZorro

Two items.

1. Don't overlook the Frankenbike category.

2. Is there any way a cassette could be mounted to that 8 speed? I have a Super Course built around a CS-RF3 hub - presently with a triple up front and a 9-speed cassette that yields me 81 speeds with many close ranges and only about 3 or 4 duplicates. Plan is to get an 11-speed cassette to make it 99. However, if there were an 8-speed hub with this feature (you can see where I'm going with this, right?) 8 x 11 x 3= 264!!! Even if half are duplicates, it would blow away the 100-speed barrier.

darnet

1. I agree that Frankenbike is inevitable. To make it a horrendous monster, though, I think I WILL have to fit it with a threadless handlebar stem with adapter, and I am now resolve to install an old and very ugly external cup bottom bracket that I have lying around here.

2. My mistake, I looked at the hub and it is only a 5-speed, "xrf52w," with a wide gear ratio, and a built in drum brake. The sprocket is held on with a snap-ring. In fact, I used a sprocket from an old 3 speed hub. No provision to install a cassette,

ET

rustystrings61 

I could not stand the anatomic bend bars. Aesthetically they're uglier than home-made sin, and on this bike they were just enough too wide to work for me. So I dug around the parts stash and realized I had not one, not two, but THREE sets of old SR Super Misspelled Rando bars as well as a set of RX-100 levers lying around. Meanwhile, I acquired a used stainless 36T chainring from @hazetguy and scored some BMX 16T and 18T cogs for $6.95 AND used an online coupon which exactly covered shipping costs ... so I now have $20.90 invested in this bike.



The rando bars get my hands up just that little bit higher up and closer together, and it works. They also don't offend my eye the way the anatomic ones did. The RX-100 levers are also smoother feeling and more comfy to my hands than the ancient Gran Compe Aeros I had mounted before. Best of all, the FixMeUp magic gear site did not let me down - 36x16 is PERFECT, 34x18 is a trifle slack but absolutely useable, and it all works pretty well. The only downside is the bottom bracket I wound up fitting has some slack in it, and no matter how hard I tighten it down, there's a tiny bit of left-to-right play in it. But not enough to worry about, and hey, it IS a beater.

So now to get some miles in, which may be the biggest challenge of all ...