Mr. 66

The way he described it sounded, just less than perfect, good that it has, but meh in performance. He'll do better. The BMX brake was first thing he found with proper reach. I think he was drained finding out the bb threads were Italian. He had a little more bb thread issue. The Italian threads needed to be cut farther deep. The VO bb threading was longer.

He builds a nice bike.

VintageSteelEU

I would still recommend Weinmann centre pulls. Cheap, easy to find, look great when polished (and easy to polish as well), plenty of reach with both 650 and especially with 750 versions, great stopping power, compatible with modern shoes and pads (both Shimano and Campy standard). Yes, they require some sort of a hanger, but they are not difficult to find.

Ihmemies

Because I could not figure out how to remove the nipples from the spokes. Because I was very annoyed and I wanted to destroy something.

Nipple would not turn with a screwdriver or nipple driver. After cutting the nipples moved after all? I have no idea why. I tossed 20 spokes and some oval shaped nipples, not a big loss.

mrv 

- lye will dissolve aluminum, but not effect - affect?- steel. Kind of a last resort. Takes a few days and it’s really messy. I might have photos. The reaction generates heat, but probably-probably!!- not enough to damage paint. I might have some photos from when I did it to a Gunnar that I did paint.

- I’m stuck on my SLT 12.2. Made in Japan circa ‘76. It’s getting some different wheels due to a French lock ring failure. It’s a very nice ride, I think.

DQRider 

Full tune-up, clean-up, and shakedown ride ahead of fine art photo shoots.



If I had to reduce my stable to one bike, this would be it.
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Bianchigirll 

I haven’t had much maintenance or projects but I had to tape on a few tires. However whilst my Specialissma Campione de Supperleggera Corse Mondo X5 was still in the stand I decided to ditch the ugly shipmano style Campanutello brake pads with some nicer looking early style chrome holders and blocks




I never liked these hideous brake pads, so since they are getting long in the tooth it’s time to ditch them.


If you look closely you’ll notice these are actually GipMe holders and blocks but I think they look much better.



The legendary “Pair and Spare” tubulars




I’ve had two of these laying around for years but could not get the to work. after checking out a few at Auburn I figured out what I was doing wrong.

asad2021

I recently saved a Roold from a garage, and underneath years of dust and grime, it seems to have held up pretty well. I'm still in the disassembly stage as I plan on fully rebuilding it, hopefully with as many original components as possible.
Secondary project is my 1991 Trek 2100, which I am going through replacing the cables and housings.

francophile 

Until I can find a more comfortable way to ride upright, I think everything I'm building to land on gravel/trail will find itself with either flat/riser/upright bars. I thought about going moustache with that Novara, but I'm skeptical if I'll enjoy it and trying to figure out shift/brake lever positions is more than I want to get into. Feel the same way about bullhorns.

Hopping on the podium for a sec, trying to find good looking, comfortable, flexible, vintage-appropriate retrofit options at decent prices is way more tedious than it needs to be. I've gotten to the point I'm snatching up 8spd+ 700c QR wheelsets when I see them, and donating the framset and whatever parts I can't use to the local co-ops.

VintageSteelEU

Sure thing, I was just curious. As for destroying stuff, having a few old plates to randomly toss around is apparently good

Mad Honk 

BG,
I tried using the Zeus holders and wound up tearing the rubber bands that came with them. I switched to using old toe straps to secured the tyres to the rails. Smiles, MH

52telecaster

I got the post out in a vice.

Deepcherry

Stripping down the Bridgestone today, an unloved, much used gift from a friend, for me to work some magic on:



Starts and runs, but a little hesitant. Time for a strip down.

Something v satisfying about reducing it to a pile of dirty junk.

Frame not pretty but no dings nor holes. The rust should clean off with white vinegar and kitchen roll.

Leave that for about four hours and should look a lot better. I will likely just touch the freckles with Owatrol oil and then some nail varnish.

bikamper

This POS. It seemed like such a good idea at the time.


So far, I fixed the front brake and ditched the less than adequate Bendix 70 or 76 coaster brake. I've managed to fit a Maillard drum brake hub with a 3 speed FW in place of the Bendix.


A friend in GA sent me an Astabula to square taper crank adapter so I could use something longer than the 145mm length cranks that were on it. More on how that went later.


While screwing around with the rear hub, I learned something. American made trikes have a 5/8" axle. Euro/Asian built trikes use 14.8mm axle. Jack on Drugs, who did the earlier repairs on this pig didn't know it either. The idjit welded the original 5/8" drive parts to the 14.8mm axle. What fun getting that apart. I did get a 36" x 5/8" piece of round stock and made my own axle. It worked out well.


Back to that later part. I didn't take into account that the super short cranks were due to the very low BB height. Hence, it looks like bruised and bloody heals in my future.


The fix for that? Go to 26" wheels.


Now to find a 1" threaded fork with a 185mm steer tube.

Sactown_Albert 

I have this 1977 frame that was in good structural shape but had really ratty paint and rough chrome. Made the decision to have it media blasted and powder coated in a close match to the original red. Externally applied UV coated decals from Cyclomondo. Going to build it up with 1st generation Shimano Dura Ace derailleurs. While I have the DA down tube shifters, I will likely use Sun Tour bar end shifters. The rear is a Crane that easily takes a 32 tooth freewheel. Still deciding on whether I should put a triple up front or stick with the original Stronglight crank. Going to dress it in fenders, a constructour rack in the back and a portour rack in the front to hold a small Randonneuring bag. Trying to decide on whether I should use a set of Phillippe swept back bars for a more upright position or stick with drop bars.

BTW, I deliberately installed the tabs at the top of the seatstays with the black above the Tricolore. This is technically upside down when you look at catalog images. The original design is at odds with flag protocol because when you display the French flag vertically, the blue is supposed to be at the top. Since I am not going for a historical representation of the bike, I decided to give primacy to more general flag display protocols.

streetsurfer

I used some tube brushes for cable housings.

merziac

Daily driver, workhorse, trusty steed, new Conti GP4 all seasons, wheels, gears, adjust, clean and lube chain, test ride in a bit.

Ready to um rock for Crater Lake on Saturday.

hankamania

Built up a Soma Fog Cutter V2 last month. The matching Fog Cutter forks (steel or carbon) were out of stock wherever I looked, so I ordered a Hylix carbon gravel fork, which would take like a month to arrive from China. The day after I ordered the frame, the seller offered me a Soma Wolverine fork, which has the same axle-to-crown and 2mm additional rake, at about half off MSRP, and they could get it to me within a day of the frame.



I built up some DT Swiss 533d (the labels appear to say "PEES") 650b rims with Koozer XM490 hubs. Since the Hylix fork has a built-in 45 degree "crown race," I looked for a headset that used 45 degree bearings, and decided on the Token Heggset.



Other parts include:
Sensah SRX Pro 1x11 shifters & RD
Juin Tech R1 cable-actuated hydraulic brakes
Zrace RX crank with a 42T direct-mount chainring
Sunshine 11-52 cassette
SRAM Dub BB
Soma Condor 2 handlebars
American Classic Aggregate Armor 650x47b tires

I tried to use a Campagnolo 31.8mm seat clamp with several layers of soda can shims, but I could never get the clamp up to torque without it bottoming out, and I'd have to stop and raise the saddle every 10 miles or so. Replaced that with a correctly-sized 30mm Funn clamp.

My wife asked if I was going to put lights on it, so that seemed as good an excuse as any to build another wheel. Got another 533d rim and a Shutter Precision PL-8X hub, and Busch und Muller IQ-XS lamp and Secula taillight.

The Hylix fork finally arrived, so I'm getting ready to paint it red to match the Wolverine fork, and I ordered a set of Juin Tech F1s, to switch everything over to flat-mount brakes. Plan is to find a close match to the Black Cherry of my '06 Surly Long Haul Trucker, paint the fork, and convert that bike to front discs, since the canti posts on the OEM fork were never aligned well, and getting rid of shudder and squeal has been really difficult.

So far, I've got maybe 75 miles on it (I had surgery in June and am trying to get back into shape) and I'm loving it. The Sensah shifters and RD are wildly impressive for the $135 I paid for them. I'm a 20-year Campagnolo purist, and I wouldn't hesitate to put a Sensah product on any new bike not meant for racing. The Soma Condor riser bars look super goofy, but are comfortable, and will allow me to keep the spacer stack shorter than the diameter of the steerer when I switch out the fork. I also got a 90mm bung that should extend into the headset for extra safety. Once I get the fork swapped, the next challenge will be to figure out light mounting and wire routing.

52telecaster

Love the story, can't see the pics!

daverup 

His pics seem to be on someone else's server, not uploaded here.
I can see them fine

noglider 

When you rebuilt the wheel, you used a spoke wrench, right? A screwdriver doesn't give you enough leverage to turn nipples unless the nipples are very loose.

streetsurfer

Bought this bag, but it’s straps were more suited to attachment to two uprights. I fashioned up some intermediate couplers, of scrap leather and Chicago screws, so it will hang appropriately.

bwilli88 

putting together my 72 Witcomb.

Prowler 

Live n learn: I had no idea these were called Chicago Screws. I’ve used them over the years but did not know the name. Tack sa mycket .

streetsurfer

I’ve started adding thread-locker to them after one came off of my razor strop. Not while stropping, fortunately. I think it was in setting up a Bianchi shoulder holster that I first heard them called Chicago Screws.

Prowler 

I believe its good to have spare pedals. If the cones or cups go there's not much you can do. And I suspect, as time goes by, I'll start to prefer wider pedals as found on touring bikes or low to mid level consumer bikes, in days of yore. So when I can I grab a pair. Shown below are two pair that were of the SR SP-350 variety with reflectors mounted on lumps of alloy hanging down from the pedal. They are decent width though - these about 11 cm. So I hack the reflectors and the lumps off, overhaul them and fit cages and straps. The MKS set are done and the most recent SP-350 were overhauled recently but not fitted for cages yet. Of course with the reflector lumps on F and B of the pedal there is no room for the "flip tab" that I'm accustomed to. So I've devised a way to make them from old stainless spokes. Shown on the MKS pair. As these were not originally intended to have those peaky leather straps they lack the crank end slot to feed the strap thru. You can see I just use a couple of wee zip ties. I then keep my feet on the pedals while I'm riding so no cool kids notice the zip ties and denigrate my sterling character.