tjfastback66

Yeah I am not so sure that I originally was fond of the red tape - but it is growing on me!
Yes Grand Compe -

BFisher

For sure. I can't say I envy those conditions, but we'll get ours in PA before I know it.

cstar 

Today I finally made a tool to remove the Sugino Autex self extracting crank bolts and caps that came on a free roadside bike I picked up. Unfortunately the bike did not come with the Sugino "special tool" for the crank caps lol. If only.

Turns out 10 minutes of dremel-ing a $3 11mm 1/4" drive socket will do you just fine. Fits the dust cap key slots nice, just looks a bit ugly. I'll make a prettier version on a day where I'm feeling more patient. But now these caps and bolts can go on my ProTour.

Chuck M 

A few weeks ago I went to look at a Peugeot that I really didn't want. But I thought the Simplex shift levers, Normandy hubs and Suntour V derailleurs would be worth the $55 they were asking. It also had a Pletscher Model C that I wanted for my Takara. I had a Takara with a Pletscher rack in high school. Long story short, I bought the rack for my Takara and left the rest of the crap there. Tonight I installed the rack on my Takara and if he sells the bike he still has listed for $55 we will both be happy.

Pay no attention to the Cate-eye poking up through the rack. I have a concave washer for the rear brake around here somewhere to fix that.

styggno1

Exploring the borders of my "vintage" comfort zone. Servicing almost "new" 20 year old ergopower.

Dirty



Ultrasonic bath clean







New hoods




Pretty straight forward - but - there are three washers of different thicknesses that needs to go in the right place. Take care documenting where. I did not but after some foul language I got I sorted it out.

Going on this 2003 De Rosa. My only "modern" bike. Bought for a song (the quivalent of 550-600 USD) in flawless condition. It was complete with a 10V Chorus group which was the reason for me buying it - I wanted the 10V Chorus ergopower handles which are in aluminium and I want them for another build. I am swapping out the parts for Record 10V that I had on the shelf. Planning for it to be my indoor training bike.

Aardwolf

Nothing major, but I did replace some brake pads without screwing up

Weinmann 500 side pulls with possibly original (or just very old) Weinmann black brake pads in holders with tabs on all 4 sides.
The old pads worked fine - they could tip me over the bars if I went for it, but I figured replacing them was a good idea as they're
probably harder than they used to be and brake pads are cheaper than rims.

Got the blocks out and replaced with Kool-Stop salmon (no tabs broken), adjusted toe-in by bending the arms, went for a test ride and they're completely silent.

RobertUI 

I can tell already that this build is going to go through many iterations before I make is 'somewhat' stock w/ a 2x or 3x7 setup. Currently, I'm running this as a 2x10 with 105 front and rear derailleurs and Shimano 600 shifters. Eventually, I am thinking that I'll kit it out with the same components from the RB-1 of the same year (basically 600/Ultegra all around) but for now, I'm planning to ride it and test out some different configurations. Tomorrow morning will be the test ride after I get the brakes hooked up (chain already installed, and shifts as beautifully as a friction set up should). The crankset is Exage 500 with 10 speed chainrings, pretty sure that this one came with Exage 400 (still trying to determine 91 vs 92) so maybe all Exage 500 isn't a terrible long term plan. I was lucky enough to score a Nitto stem & bar so the TT bars that are on will definitely be going (longterm).

**NOTE: Please ignore the stack of Peavey monitors.

Mr. 66

The Mercian gets new tricolor hubs built on Mavic MA-2 rims with butted DT Swiss spokes, a cassette bb with 6402 cranks and 6200 pedals. tricolor dual pivot brake calipers, Technomic 110 stem with Winn Pista bars, Avocet seatpost with Selle Royal Futura saddle.

Straightblock

Repack day for the hubs on my Merckx. The wheels are 21 years old and I haven't serviced them nearly as often as I should, so I was relieved to find the cones still in excellent shape.

New Year's resolution: I really need to clean up the bike cave.

Prowler 

Bittersweet day. The best bikes get a good cleaning and wax. FW cleaned and goop scrapped of the RD wheels. Nice but then they headed up into the loft, literally cold storage, for the winter. They'll come back down after a couple of good rains in the spring wash away the road salt. Down came the Ersatz Gran Prix and Babe the Blue Oxen, ready for duty. And down came the trainer wheel for the C'dale to use on the rollers.

A bitter adieu but sweet memories and dreams.

natterberry 

Need to true up the wheels a bit, and install chain and bottle cages. I didn’t previously shorten the cage clamp bolts to a reasonable size, so that’s also on the agenda.

mrv 

Trying to take this Deore LX from worn - patchy black to polished aluminum. Maybe too cold for effective stripping…… um. so to speak…..

this Kwik Strip stuff is less powerful than Aircraft Stripper.
Kwik more for woodworking.

markwesti

It's a drillium machine . I had a fine drillpress but it wasn't C&V so it went to CL . Now in it's place is this 1940's Atlas 1060 . Also wrenching on my wrenching room , waiting for patch mud to dry so I can do more paint .
Putting together a C&V drillpress is a lot like building a C&V bicycle from the frame up , it gets pricy . We don't care , right . it's only money

IMG_0826 by mark westi, on Flickr

steine13

I'm not sure I'd call it wrenching... but it might be worth a smile to some-a-y'alls.

This relates to the beauty in post #4710 above, where among some other wrenching I thought I'd get another 100 miles out of a studded snow tire with the Folded Dollar trick, so I could start fresh with an old mountain bike next year and get some real snows.

Alas -- on the way to work last week, I heard an felt a rythmic thwack-thwack-thwack that turned out to be a growing bulge in the tire. Like so:





So it was not to be. Lucky me, the Michigan State bike store was well stocked with Schwalbes, though narrower than I'd like -- I bought a 40 mm Schwalbe studded snow tire. This actually fits my good commuter bike so I can ride on iffy days with only one snow tire and in the future... Anyway, I was too lazy to put it on at work. I figured I'd try to make it home on the old one, and I did. Barely.





Remember the financial crisis of 2008? It started with the Lehman collapse that "broke the dollar." (*) Looks like I just managed to do the same thing and broke clear through four layers of legal tender. I'm not complaining. These are Nokians, and they lasted fourteen Michigan winters. Worth Every Penny.

(*) https://www.investopedia.com/article...d-meltdown.asp

capnjonny 

Here is a before and after shot of a Raleigh Space Rider(24" wheels) I just cleaned up and clear coated for the Bike Exchange. This is only the second of these I have ever seen. The other came through the shop a couple months ago. It's not perfect. Some of the blemishes didn't come out of the paint, but with a thorough clean, white polishing compound and even some 0000 steel wool followed by a coat of Rustoleum Automotive clear it looks pretty good now.

steine13

Not the best riding weather here in mid-Michigan, but my wife's ancient Bianchi's resurrection Version 2 is shaping up, this time with 650b wheels, a Nexus 3spd hub, and Col de Vie tires as an in-town ride. Still needs fenders and a bag or rack, but I like this iteration and hope she will too.
I taped & twined the right grip after the picture was taken -- it was getting dark.

jdawginsc 

A plate tectonic-level root growth under my driveway by a Satanic tree (it was sadly removed) necessitated chopping up the concrete that jutted 4 inches in the air.

Because I was too lazy to take several trips to the landfill, have a bit of conscience in tryi NY to upcycle/reuse and because I had hesitated buying edging to build up soil since my grass and soil has drained out of a root infested yard, I decided to attempt to use.

It adheres to the Jdawg code of mediocrity...if it doesn’t look terrible then it looks good.

By the way, do not attempt concrete breaking with a 4 pound sledge.



You can see the volcanic eruption of the root bottom right...the concrete quarry.

Desertification of my front “lawn”

It’s not circular because it is a biopace shape for better efficiency

Hopefully the sinkhole in my area here doesn’t suck the garage in.

The lesser chips had to go here...might need to chop up a neighbors drive to supplement.

thumpism 

I did something similar with busted up concrete from a neighbor's driveway, hauled it home to be a base for a woodpile to keep the split firewood off the ground.

merziac

@jdawginsc

If you have a decent compressor and plenty of air hose, get an air or Roto hammer from HD or HF and a long spike bit to use as a mini jackhammer.

I've made relatively short work of some concrete a couple of times but do have a big Snap-On air version so YMMV.

Its a spendy tool and see's little use but well worth it when needed and it will last forever.

jdawginsc 

i probably could have used that for the lava filled volcanic pine cone root. Thanks for reciprocal saws!

This is a temporary situation and need to do sand and gravel for now so it will drain.

Roger M

Five days of snow and unusually cold Temps here, have me tinkering some. I changed out the 'bigger than life' 200mm Zinn crankset & IRD bottom bracket, for a 175mm Shimano crank and bb.

mrv 

i think you've achieved a kind of "Urban Ruin Porn" aesthetic that the rest of can only aspire to.... until our spouses realize we were just trying to save time to get a bike ride in.....

jdawginsc 

No spouse to displease ... Now I can relocate storage container stuff, organize other stuff, and hopefully have room to work on my projects.

Bianchigirll 

^ What kind of stone is that? It looks like what we call 9 Limestone but not quite

I can't quite wrestle the motivation up for wrenching although I have a few small projects, so I am once again make a big effort to scan my catalogs and other information up to me FB page

For example the 1988 Bianchi USA Mountain catalog

denaffen

I got a Park TS-8 truing stand for Christmas. The little arm on it only checks true on one side so I 3D printed a “caliper” style arm so I can check both at once.