Drillium Dude 

I throwing the BS flag - that letter-writer is most certainly not astride a Huffy, but a Kabuiki Submariner!

Having said that, it's understandable he/she/whatever doesn't want to admit it; when taking into consideration the obvious performance gap betwixt the two, the Huffy will have bragging rights 10 times out of 10.

DD

Mad Honk 

Well,
Kurt has throw down the gauntlet. I have tons of Campy stuff to hang on a bike, so maybe I need to step up and offer a few bits to complete the project. Smiles, MH

AdventureManCO 

My secret plan to make this thread so unbearable that people end up basically throwing Campy stuff at me in a desperate plea to get me to stop and provide actual content is working. I'll send you my Christmas list (kidding).

Though I do appreciate the kind gesture!

cudak888 

Oh, I'm getting a fine refining right here.



pastorbobnlnh, would you and your Gaspipeinental kindly show the adventurous one how one hangs Nuovo Record on the dog's dinner?

-Kurt

Homebrew01

Same here. I put a Sugino double on an old Huffy so I could use 9/16 pedals with toe clips and have a cheap rain bike.

sbarner 

That looks like a great candidate for a new head badge for your bike, once it has been "upgraded." Or would that be head badger?

sbarner 

I think the Super Sport was one step above where a one-piece crankset was appropriate, but at the time it was introduced, the most affordable aluminum cranksets would have made the bike too expensive, though that changed before the end of the model's run. For American bikes below that level, I propose that the Ashtabula-style crank was far superior to the steel, cottered cranks used on lower end bikes from across the pond. I'll carve out an exception for the excellent, high-end steel cottered cranks of the 1940s and '50s, but the one-piece crank could be easily disassembled or adjusted with only a large adjustable wrench, cups and cones were easily replaced and there were basically only two versions, Schwinn's and everyone else's. Although the bearings were not well sealed, neither was its competition, and the oversized 5/16 balls could stand a lot of abuse before they wouldn't turn any more. No cotters to work loose, no parts to buy just because you wanted to take it apart, one magic nut to loosen (if you could remember it was left-threaded) that got you into everything, it really was the right choice for the level of quality, or lack thereof, of the bikes it was used on.

sbarner 

It took great effort, but I disassembled the headset from the Huffy I dismembered in the woods to get some measurements. I should have recorded the screeching it made as I unscrewed the top race with a pipe wrench. Even with a liberal soaking with Kroil, I worked up a sweat, as this thing has been out in the weather for over 30 years. Nothing at all was round, partly due to manufacturing and partly due to extreme abuse in bike-chucking competition, so these are approximates:

Stem O.D.: 20.6 mm
Steerer O.D. (unthreaded): 25.4 mm
Fork Race: 25.8 mm
Head Cup: 33.9 mm
Stack Height: 35 mm

I checked with a Super Record top nut and it threaded on beautifully, though I swear it puked on my fingers.

The threaded portion has a slot for the toothed washer that goes all the way through.

Assuming the LeGrande has the same dimensions, the bike shop's headset milling tools are safe from this job. You have shimming, not trimming in your future. I don't know of any shims made for the fork race, so you might have to have one made. Should be a pretty easy job on a lathe. The head cups will also need to be shimmed, but this has already been noted. The stack height could be your biggest issue. The Super Record spec is 42.2 mm. The bike I measured had about 4 mm of spacers and 7 mm of threads inside the top nut. If yours has more spacers and/or more thread in the nut, you might have enough for it to work. You could also leave out the 4 mm spacer from the Campy headset. If you get an NOS Super Record headset, you could then sell the original spacer on fleaBay for at least twice the value of the LeGrande as you got it.

There was plenty of head tube that could be trimmed back to make up any more you might need. A few minutes with an angle grinder should get you where you need to be. Just take your time so you don't burn the paint too bad. If the cup shims have a lip, you'll need to take a bit more off. Since your bike has an alloy stem, it would be interesting to find out its diameter. If it's the same size as this bike, a replacement in aluminum is going to be a rare find. I wouldn't trust that the steel in that steerer would be strong enough to ream out to 22.2, which would be a tough job, at any rate. You could solve several problems by replacing the fork with a carbon or aluminum one, and this might help you fix what must be impressive wheel flop, but then it might not be in the spirit of the project.

Or you could just leave the headset alone and focus on the rest of the project. It's not like its going to make any difference.

thumpism 

Obviously, he can do something simultaneously easy, complicated and in the spirit of the original concept. Run the stock headset but somehow do a scan of a Campy HS and print that on something like Mylar that can be wrapped around the original to disguise it and satisfy the demands of Campification.

Mad Honk 

I have a supply of brass sheet metal that I use for shim material and it may be useful for the spacing from the headtube to fit the head set. If you need some let me know and I can cut out a sheet of it the size of a number ten envelope that should be a lifetime supply for you and more than enuf to fit the SR headset. I think you will also need a Suntour rear derailleur hanger to adapt the SR to the frame. Let me know if you need one and I can cannibalize one from a unit here. Smiles, MH

Rocket-Sauce 

YES!

But seriously, this thread got me excited about a bike that I'd never get excited about. And I owned one!

Iowa10Speed

What's wrong with you people **********? Why do I suddenly think these are hot listings?

dddd

Because they are American-made classics, they have character, and they evoke nostalgia?

I really got into the EF Schwinns about a dozen years ago, had an overall great time tinkering and riding them. They got plenty of attention on club rides and training rides, was most fun seeing people's reaction when they did the "lift test" and the wheels didn't seem to leave the ground!

cudak888 

That's how 1970's Tyco HO scale trains became collectable - despite being unreliable toys that shouldn't be worth a nickel.

-Kurt

Hondo6

I didn't know you fabricated costumes for female Valkyrie characters in Wagnerian operas too!

AdventureManCO 

I haven’t posted for a few days in this thread, or on BF in general, and there is a reason why.



It is with a bit of a heavy heart that I write this post. I have purposely avoided posting on the forum for a few days, taking that time to pause for reflection. It’s given me some perspective, that you only get when you step away. I know that some of you will find this post a bit shocking, and maybe some won’t be surprised at all. It’s not easy to write, and I already feel like I am going to be letting a lot of you down.



This project all started from an interesting idea, borne from both fascination and lunacy. I thought I would be ‘that one guy’ that could maybe have a new and interesting take on something that most people wouldn’t have normally considered, and venture into territory that few dared to go, and provide something of interest with regard to content and a bit of entertainment. But time, family, and costs have all had other plans, as well as some other factors that have been weighing heavily on the project. I knew that getting into this was going to be difficult, not just from a technical point of view, although that has certainly been far more difficult than I originally realized. But I've been getting sort of hit from all sides on this one. I’ve been battling it all going uphill, and the bicycle is already heavy.



That last visit to the bike shop really struck me. Meeting a normal person trying to interface with my vision, and seeing the look on their face – it really gave me something to ponder. Just what am I doing? Well, I’ll tell you what I’ve been doing up until this point – I’ve been attempting to take a junky old bike that nobody likes (not even me) and make it something it is not, nor will ever be. Not only that, but I’ve done something few of you know – I’ve been robbing parts for it off of a perfectly good (and original) vintage Trek 9xx series (a horrific crime all by itself), in sort of a somewhat demented attempt to garner attention (whether good or bad) and I’m sort of just realizing that it isn’t me. I’m not that much of a public figure, and the attention (and a little bit of fame) the project has garnered has been a bit overwhelming.



Honestly though, probably the bigger issue that I can’t seem to get out of my head is the disappointment that will happen either way – and right now I’m being tormented by visions of this bike being completed and then coming in last place in anything I do and then of course, everyone will say ‘heh, the guy with the Huffy comes in last? Big surprise there!’ See, I was on the track and field team when I was in junior high, and have some really painful memories about some things that happened on the race track that I don’t really want to discuss. It’s just too much. Besides, I’m not really even a ‘bike guy’…I’m more of a ‘bike mechanic guy’, meaning I like projects and working on projects far more than I like riding and being super involved in bike culture. I’ve mentioned to people here before that I don’t even own a pair of cycling shorts. I don’t even know what they are called. It’s almost as if that ‘fear’ of ‘what happens’ after the project is completed that just ‘gets me’ and I freeze up.


I’m just not really sure I can justify it anymore. Not really feeling it at the moment. Even with all the support and donations, the costs just keep adding up financially. And that goes without even mentioning the burden mentally. Spiritually, even. Campy stuff is far more expensive than I realized and because I can’t just throw all the nice stuff I already have onto the Huffy without a huge amount of work been a tough swallow. New adapters, new shifters, new chainrings, new chain…its sucking me dry. My family hardly sees me. The bike is consuming me – either through thinking how to get past some new barrier to the build or riding it and not really enjoying it, slogging it out through cold weather, rain, ice, blizzard, and earthquakes, all for what? I’m creating frustration and worry for the family. They wonder where I’ve been, and who I’m turning into. I feel hollow. None of it makes any sense.



Given the absolute multiple challenges and barriers, I have come to a difficult conclusion. No, I’ve come to the right conclusion, the one I should have known about all along. Or maybe I did know about it, and just wasn’t ready to accept, or to hear myself say. But now I think I’m ready. Whew. This is hard, even typing it. Breathe. Ahh, better. At this point, I feel like I must concede that the easiest and best route, though more difficult in the moment for me and for all of you as well, is to hang up my hat and say ‘we had a good run while it lasted’ with a small smile that looks back and says ‘yeah, we had a good run while it lasted.’



Just kidding. I put an extra 15 miles on the bike this week, and we are coming down to our final stretch of mileage! I have big plans this weekend to wrap up with a bang of a ride. Based on this post:


...I’m dedicating the last chunk of mileage to cudak888 and calling it the ‘Cudak888 Patience Empathy Awareness Tribute (He’s Still Alive) Ride’. I’d invite some of you to come, but then I’d have to charge an entry fee.



This weekend will be the big sauce.

smd4

OK. You had me.

OldForerunner

23 days early...

cudak888 

I love the smell of Huffy BBQ.

-Kurt

Hondo6

Well, Burning Bike is tomorrow in Deland, FL (party starts at 5PM per the website).

But I don't think the bikes there will be Huffys.

Mad Honk 

Hondo,
Great catch on my spelling error! Sometimes the smallest glitch can bring the best humor to the table. I'm super glad you made the catch and found a great way to make fun of it. Did you spend time in Iowa writing in grad school? Smiles, MH

Mad Honk 

So folks this is a bit of response to jdawginsc about how I clean up some bike parts and maybe a way to get a seat post down to size for a Huffy build. A few pics with explanations:

Seat post as sent from CO listed as pretty rough. You can see the damage from dieletric brinnelling at the bottom.

Upper section looks like it survived a train wreck. Damage from either vise or hammer to the pivot posts for the lower rails.

Seat post meets Mr. 3M buffing wheel that I normally use to refinish bottoms and faces of Titanium driver heads. It is a bit aggressive and does remove about one thousandth of an inch from the outer surface of the aluminum.

Finished project (about 20 minutes) with some filing around the lower rail posts to make them round again.
There is not enough post material for me to get from 27.0 to the size needed for the Huffy. Perhaps if I start with a smaller diameter post.... Smiles, MH

stoneageyosh

To sbarner -
How did you end up with one of the ‘84 tech support bikes? It could be one that I put together prior to the Olympics. The shop I was at, Marina Del Rey Bike, assembled road and track bikes and built wheels for Campagnolo Technical Support provided to cycling and racing wheelchair events. I know of one road bike that was bought by a cycling event volunteer. The others were supposedly given to Olympic Committee muckity mucks.

AdventureManCO 

I think you hit on something beautiful here...that 33.9 is nearly exactly the OD of a 1 1/8" headset cup for where in mounts in the headtube. Once the bike is apart, I'm going to see how a 1 1/8" headset cup fits - if it is a good fit, then that will be completely awesome because I'll just pick up some 1 1/8 - to - 1" reducer shims. The best part? They are like $6 cheaper than a BMX reducer, which of course is like a drop of water in an ocean of insanely priced vintage components, but more on that later. I'll take every bit that I can get.

Yes, we will have to see about that crown race. If the Campy one is too tight, then we'll be able to take metal away somewhere. If it is too loose, we'll be able to shim it somewhere. The Super Record headset will live on the Huffy, one way or another.

AdventureManCO 

Thank you, and I will have an answer soon. I'm going to get some aluminum stock and craft my own hanger, but I do sincerely appreciate your kind offer. It takes a village.