DonkeyShow

Not too shabby on gravel

Mr. 66

Is that a tool kit in the box?

Mr. 66

I did make some more progress, I went to my take off tires. I think these tire came from a Univega that got stripped down and sold as a frame. The tires were dirt encrusted, I used the Armor All tire wash. They look nice and fresh, they are only skinny 25's the price was right for the budget build.

I also used the Armor All on the cranks, they look good, they will get some polishing before install.

The driveside bb cup has yet to be removed, the bb is probably shot. It was supposedly rebuilt with new bearings and the headset as well prior to purchase. That was a tad of BS, the bb had at least one chipped bearing and there was a load of crusty-uck in the driveside cup when I cleaned the grease out. The headset was not rebuilt, it did have new grease slobber in. The new grease looked ok up top, but after spinning the fork round and round the new green seep turned gray, rebuilt my ass it was, oh well.

Somewhere I have some more Simplex, and I need to locate the Mafac straddles for the brakes. I'll be ready for the Alps soon.

rustystrings61 

Pulling the freewheel was a nice idea, but even the 2-lb hammer on the wrench would not free it. I carried wheel, freewheel, SunTour tool and all locked together with the skewer to the LBS, where the owner threw it into the vise and with one mighty tug broke it loose. Price - “if you need parts come see me.”. So, so far, $0 additional.

DonkeyShow

That's a speaker.

DonkeyShow

I'm starting to enjoy hills on this bike. Got my favorite pic of the journey thus far.
New total
53 miles
2530 ft


Choo Choo!

RandolphCarter

Guy on the bike trail near me had a tow-behind trailer on his bike (the kind you'd put a toddler in) with a very large Bluetooth speaker system in it. Including a subwoofer.

Playing Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus".

DonkeyShow

Look up dom whiting on YouTube. Drum and bass on a bike.

I had kenny g Xmas songs playing the other day by accident...

rgvg

I checked the spoke tension on both my wheels and I've regreased the rear one. I couldn't quite bring one spoke up to tension on the rear one so I guess the rim is a little bent but there's still lots of other spokes to go around. So far here's what I got

1 used rear wheel (Wober super champion alpine, campagnolo hub)$5, craigslist
1 used front wheel (Araya, Suzue SE hub) $18, co-op (Kickstand)
1 used inner tube $1 co-op (Kickstand)
1 used 28c tire Kenda $6 co-op (Our Community Bikes)
1 used 25c tire Gatorskin $0 (freebie when I bought a wheelset) craigslist
1 used inner tube $0 craigslist (also freebie with the wheelset) craigslist

I can't believe I already spent $30 and so far all I have are a pair of wheels.

beng1

The last few days I have been working on this Fuji. I bought it off the original owner who had not ridden it for a number of decades. For safety's sake I am going to put some new brake cables and pads on it and some new tape on the handlebars. I paid forty bucks for it. The tires are old and cracked , but I will ride on them a bit and keep an eye on them and see what happens, if they look like they are falling apart I will look for better tires. I rode about a thousand miles last season on similar tires though.. Will probably take the rear derailleur apart and clean it to make sure it is not dragging.

Classtime 

Finished the Challenge today with my pm commute for 117 miles. I'm glad that I didn't attempt the 100 miles on this saddle before Eroica. My butt is killing me.



Treated to a pair of snakes roughhousing.

darnet

Recovered from COVID to the point that I started some reassembly, which became a long slow process, and added some new expenses.

The headset bearings were fine for reuse. There were some bad bottom bracket bearing balls, so I replaced all 14 with new loose balls, using the original cages (some kind of plastic material that was easy to replace balls). $


Closer inspection of the crank spindle found rough pitting on both sides. I hate rough bearings, so I used a Dremel tool and polishing bit to try to clean up the pitting.






Pics inside bottom bracket showing weird details where tubes and stays are attached, apparently pinned in place(?). Might also see a spot weld if you look close.



Supply chain problems? Didn’t feel like trying to de-rust the chain, so I went into my chain supply to find a not-so-rusty specimen of the appropriate width. I mention only because I wanted to make a pun. $$

Brake calipers and brake pads almost reusable. One of the four pads was worn badly, so required a donor replacement.

I was tired of fiddling, and wanted to ride a bike that shifted and braked reliably, so I decided to absorb the expense and to replace all cables and housings with new. The Huret stem shifter is nifty enough, I’ll keep it. But the cable barrel end was some uncommon standard (Type C in picture) that I had only one of. So I had to reuse the rear shift cable, repurposing it for the front. $$



More cable woes. The shifters had cable stops with little metal ferrules fitting in little holes at the base of the shifters. Those holes were worn through, so the cables would just slide right through. I had to improvise new cable stops repurposing old mountain brake lever parts.

Likewise, the brake levers had little plastic ferrules that would no longer keep the cables in the right place, they would just flop sideways. So I had to improvise and custom make some replacement ferrules. Same with the centerpull cable stops. These little details somehow take hours.

Replacement wheels turned out to be no bargain. Front fork on Green Mirage is for some reason (maybe foreshadowing?) narrower than standard, so I had to customize the replacement front wheel. Removed the cone lock nuts and spacers, and installed the thinnest locknuts in my box of loose parts. Then, I had to take a grinding wheel to the a front wheel axle to narrow it and enable quick release to tighten. That led me to look closer at the replacement rear wheel, that’s when I noticed the axle was actually bent. So I had to replace the rear axle, and do a similar grinding job to get it just the right length.

Bike now ready to test ride.

Oops: Almost forgot the seat. Could not easily change the seat post, due to original using a small diameter and sleeve, but for my own sake I had to replace the original seat.

I had a spare seat or two on my shelves donated by old bikes and thrift stores. So to price my replacement seat, I researched the previous Clunker 100 Challenges, and found four other instances where entrants (other than me) charged expenses to a bike seat. The values were: $5, $6, $15 (included seatpost), and free. Average = 26/4 = $6.50. I’ll charge $7 this year.

Bike now ready to test ride.

Mr. 66

From the box the box o' crap a 14-28 freewheel is found, gently cleaned and installed.

This for now appears to be a fail looking at the gap the chain has to run through, arrggh!
French bikes make my head spin out of control. Ah dang!

RandolphCarter

Is that the same cable end that's on a MTB brake cable?

rgvg

I think that's for a shifter (Huret). It's smaller and thinner (more like a button than a barrel). No way an mtb brake cable would fit in there.

rustystrings61 

I think Walmart sells a double ended shifter cable with housing set with conventional on one side, old Huret on the other. I’ve seen them in the last year or two.

rustystrings61 

I disassembled and cleaned and regreased the front hub. The cones have some pitting, but what's the Clunker Challenge without that? The rear is in much better nick and should roll nicely when I am done.

I also hit my favorite LBS right at opening, before the no-hvac upstairs got too hot and scored a pair of used IRC 700x25s with mismatched labels - Coleman let me have them for $10 + tax. So now I’m at $25.70.






EDIT: Took more tweaking than usual, but now the rear wheel spins smoothly on new grease! Hopefully tomorrow I can reassemble the complete bike!

schwim

Going for the KoM.

RandolphCarter

Wow.

What's the story with this one?

schwim

For sale locally for $50. Only other picture is this one:

philpeugeot 

This will be a pretty lengthy submission, so I apologize in advance.

This will be my submission for this year: a Trek TX700 that I picked it up last year. I initially tried to haggle for a lower price but the seller offered to throw in an extra wheelset, which turned out to be a set of Weinmanns laced to some very rusty Phil Woods. Sold! Upon bringing it home, however, a few issues became apparent. The rear rack had a large crack in one of the welds, and the chain jumped around for some reason. I was pretty ecstatic with my find at the time, so I ignored the shifting issues and discarded the rack, wheels, and a couple of other components that were on the bike. I then left the TX700 to languish in the backyard shed until I decided to pull it from storage a few days ago. Nothing much has changed, except that the hoods disappeared somehow and the bar tape has disintegrated a bit. Now that it's on the work stand, I can finally get some photos in and see what's wrong with the Trek.

D/S photo. SR crankset and stem, Suntour VX drivetrain and barcons, Weinmann Concave rims and 1st gen Phil Wood hubs.

Massive 34t freewheel paired with a racing crankset. Weird combo.

I think I found the cause of my shifting woes...

No bike of mine is complete without a bit of rust.

Wheels attached with skewers from a similarly esteemed American manufacturer.

Remnants of the Reynolds 531 decal.
Aside from the chain, I don't think I'll be doing a major teardown until after the TX700 completes the challenge. Most of the components are sealed anyways. I think I'll turn this into some rando or sportiff bike within budget. I've also got a lead on some vintage Blackburn racks that I'm checking out today. Fingers crossed this clunker will be able to survive the challenge.

darnet

I'd offer him $40

jdawginsc 

Wow! Nice find. Early Trek with Phil Hubs???? Add that to the awesome Vx stuff, an Avocet saddle, and that’s a nice keeper. Is that an Apex crank?

Looks to be around 50cm?

nlerner

Finally was able to build the rear wheel for the Peugeot porteur clunker. It’s a $30 27” Weinmann rim, a $20 single-speed coaster brake hub, used spokes 4 cross, new nipples from the stash ($5.76 at current Amazon prices), used IRC tires from a trash find, and a new chain ($10). Original pedals, BB, and crankset minus the big ring. Still thinking of recovering the saddle with brown leather, but haven’t had time to go to the thrift store for a donor jacket or purse.







The ride is surprisingly smooth. A bit under-geared but that seems appropriate for this type of bike. Considering adding fenders from the stash.

philpeugeot 

Yes, it's all as you described. I was hoping the crankset would be a Royal, but it's not etched into the arms, so I'm assuming it's a Super Apex. The frame is 48cm.