RCMoeur 

What am I wrenching on at the moment?



Plus a middle-of-the-night urgent care trip for a family member. To be honest, I'd much rather be working on a bike.

But since I was out in the backyard, I continued cooking a batch of gunky shifters I started last night. So I got something bike-related done...

Chuck M 

Not vintage, but a necessary task. Bottom bracket service, chain and cassette cleaning and lube, brake inspection, and a wash and wax. And call me a luddite if you want, while press fit bottom brackets are easier to work on than threaded cups and loose balls, I don't think they are as durable.

PromptCritical 

Excellent garage!

PromptCritical 

I'd be happy to help with parts. Just LMK what you need.

PromptCritical 

Finishing up converting a "new to us" Santana tandem to a flat bar setup with a new fork and Magura HS33 front brake. I wasn't able to come up with a shift lever-FD combination that worked, so with a little machine work I was able to use a Campy friction shifter for the FD (works very well). I haven't decided whether to convert the rear disc to a hydraulic caliper. I'd like to, but it will involve lengthening the hose, and I'm not sure I want to do that before we ride a Zion, Bryce & Grand Canyon tour in a couple weeks.

sbrudno

I have a beach house on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. My wife gardens and we have a sprinkler system but there just are such a paucity of people to work on sprinklers that I have become the go to guy to make repairs. Worthy endeavor BUT I too would also rather be biking!

RCMoeur 

I installed the current system myself several years ago with a little help from a small contractor. Due to our "wet" winter (a whopping 5 inches since October 1st), I hadn't tested the sprinklers until this week. And when I did, the depicted head decided it was identifying as a fountain. OK, no problem until I broke off the riser digging it out, so had to go deeper to extract the riser and flush the crud that flowed in. :/

But the holes are filled and our priorities are back to as they should be. Rear axle adjustment and swapping pedals on my flagship 90s Nashbar "alumicruiser".

bikamper

It kind of works, but I think it's headed back to the 'Experience Pile'.

At least I got to practice melting some 6013.

BTinNYC 

Totally agree on press-fit BBs. I did not enjoy the price delta, but the BB Infinite replacement has been trouble free and silent, unlike the Shimano(s).

Jeff Neese

I bought this last year and am finally getting around to rebuilding it. It's a 1997 Specialized Sirrus. It was a one-year bike, full DB chromoly (Specialized "Direct Drive" tubing) road bike. I've got it stripped down to the bare frame now. A couple of very small spots of touch-up paint and then I'll start putting it back together.

This has a Shimano RSX100 groupset which is very nice but some of it is being replaced. I had to swap the brakes for 105 so that I could fit 28c tires (Panaracer Pasela). Also the brifters work fine but are being replaced with something else, and I'm still considering my options. I may go with Nitto Albatross bars (which I already have) and thumb shifters, but drop bars with down tube shifters or bar ends are a possibility. The bike has a very long top tube and a ridiculously long stem on top of that, so I need to bring the handlebars a lot closer. If I stay with drops I'll use Nitto 135As. Naturally all the usual replaceables are being replaced - tires and tubes, brake pads, cables and housing, cassette and chain, and bottom bracket. I went with an IRD QB55 for the BB.

I'm fairly certain this will ride and handle great once I'm done.

VintageSteelEU

I've started preparing C5 frame. Today just examination and touching up some very minor scuffs with dabs of clear nail polish. Not sure whether nail polish is actually the best thing to use. I think they used to be acetone based, which might not be the best thing to use on paint. Oh well, done already.Doesn't seem to have caused any damage.
The frame is absolutely gorgeous. Could be a bit taller, but it will be alright. When I saw it for sale, I was entirely convinced this must be a recent paint job because it just looked too good. Now I'm 99.9% syre it is original paint. I have another Moto in the same shade of blue (with a hint of aqua), where I know for certain the paint is original. Paint on the new one is an exact match, albeit in a nearly perfect condition. So if this is a repaint, someone has done an absolutely perfect job. But then again, examining the tubes inside, dropouts, decals, now I'm pretty much convinced that it was a showroom piece, as described by the seller. This frame was definitely built up at some point, perhaps taken for a test ride, but that's about it. There is a tyre rub mark on the left chainstay, very minimal one. There are some very minor scuffs in other places on the frame, but I'd have to point them out and magnify them for anyone to notice without a thorough examination. Damage to the decal from the FD clamp and that's pretty much it. But I will be putting a strip of vinyl undernetah the FD clamp and shifters anyway.
Of course, as always, no idea what seatpost is required. 26.4 I have seems ok, but a bit loose. 26.6 seems ok, but a bit tight. So I guess I'm in for a bit of sandpaper time. Now back to building some wheels. The sooner I'm done, the sooner I'll build a wheelset for this baby.

georges1

Installed the Race Face Evolve XC Crankset on the fuel 100

Pompiere

I could imagine someone in this group adapting a friction shift lever and extra long cable to operate the spreader. If you are really creative, you could use an index lever and calibrate it to match the settings on the spreader.

bikamper

I gave that some thought but would need at least a double system with bell cranks to compensate for the many motions involved on this bottom feeder spreader to open and close the gate. I think it would be easier to adapt my little Scotts' spreader I used at our old house.

jamesdak 

Back on the Moser this morning while waiting for temps to reach riding levels. Swapped out the sorta heavy brake levers for a different set that feel better under my hands. Decided on these instead of the old Dura Ace's I had for comfort reason. Plus the shine. Then I finally got around to rewrapping the bars with white tape. The Ritchey wheels would put on about a week ago for more bling. Still have a matching 700 x 23 tire coming in for the front. The 25mm on their right now clears everything but is too close for even my comfort. I'm perfectly fine with the black saddle for now as this is for riding and my favorite type saddle. But....I will keep an eye out for a white Fizik Kurve Chameleon saddle for this.

19 lbs 7 ozs even with those not so light rims.

Weird... they look and feel level from the cockpit.

Gotta dress 'er up with blue finishing tape. And... the blue tape I put on the seatpost is still there. Did that on the first ride to make sure the Quill seatpost didn't slip any on the ride.

bikamper

I needed another bike project like another hole in the head. So, in admitting that, this Mercier basket case followed me home from a motorcycle swap meet for $25.


Luxtub



Unlike the maybe Guerciotti, this one has a serial number.


The Universal cottered crankset, BB, Mafac Racer brakes, and the rest of the parts are in the boxes. Thankfully, the plastic Simplex derailleurs were replaced by early Shimano. The seller threw in the extra bars so he wouldn't have to pack them back up to take home.


The last Mercier I owned, I was riding when I got clobbered by a boy racer in a Lancer.

VintageSteelEU

Well, it's a. pretty b. French c. $25!

If the frame is good size for you and you have the parts to build it up, why not? Also, Mafac brake levers look like they are all metal, so that's a plus. You most likely won't enjoy that saddle though
Looks pretty nice, hope it rides well and that you have more luck with it than with the previous Mercier.

sbrudno

Sweet frame! See, you have the right to put whatever you want on it. And for $25, who would criticize?

VintageSteelEU

I have finished re-building the rear wheel for Matshus|hita / Superbe and was ready to put it back on. Then remembered I've put the freewheel from it on the Superator and I need another 13-18T one. I have several with various teeth count, 2 with 13-18T, one of which needs a total overhaul and the other that's pretty nice, but it was incredibly gunky. It's a bit strange, because the sprockets have very little wear. Well, it will have to be this one, but I wasn't going to put a dirty freewheel on a new wheel and on a bicycle with basically a new chain. So I had to devote some time to cleaning. No better way to do that than remove the sprockets. If they wanted to come off, that is. The locking 13T one came off easily. The second, 14T needed some time with penetrating oil and came off. The third one... Looks like it might still take a while. Currently soaking penetrating oil, I'll have to get back to it tomorrow. It's a stubborn one, let's hope the next one gets enough penetrating oil to come off easily. I need to think about some small workbench that I could affix the freewheel to and use some cheat pipe with the chain whip. Especially that I have a few more freewheels in need of overhauling.



The clean one looked pretty much the same like the rest before. The FW body seems to be basically new, so I have no idea how the whole thing got so gunked up.

bikamper

58cm seems to be the max I can force myself to ride. This looks to be a 55cm, so we're good there. I've already looked askance at the saddle. Dang thing looks like it's made of rubber, so I'll dig through the stash.There's probably a Bim 39 in there somewhere. Definitely metal Mafac levers, I'll hunt down some half hoods for those. I'm surprised that the stem is an early 3TTT. The only serious change I plan on is to replace the Rigida Super Chromix "You can't stop in the rain" rims with a pair of 700c aluminum rims. That's a bit down the road, though. I have bigger fish to fry right now.

RCMoeur 

Rode 33 miles this morning leading my club ride to a huge steak n' eggs breakfast. Did see a coyote moving unhurriedly through an affluent residential neighborhood, but no boulders or Acme crates nearby.

After a rest, my 95 degree afternoon project was to fix up this red 89ish Giant Iguana that has been patiently waiting for its turn on the stand since last fall. One would think dialing in a 3x6 index wouldn't give too much trouble, given its thrown-rock tolerances and using new cables. However, this bike decided it would be more than ornery in grinding gears. Replacing housing and adjusting / light lubing the XCM rear derailleur seems to have persuaded it to cooperate, and now it's hitting its clicks reliably.



Once finished, this will probably go to the Rusty Spoke co-op as a sale bike to help them out. The paint is in good shape and I found a matching red handlebar, so hopefully there is a short-stature customer who is searching for just the right red bike in the future.

georges1

The bottom bracket wasn't spindling smoothly, so I decided to give the bikeframe with the crankset and bottom bracket for a check to my favorite bike tech to see what is the problem. Never had an issue with a race face bottom bracket but this one isn't spining the crank smoothly, I bought in used condition not new so that might explain the trouble.

Trav1s

Cleaned up and ready for a new owner x2

RCMoeur 

The bright red Iguana is ig-done-a, and I think it turned out nicely. It'll go off to the co-op soon.

bikamper

Still wrenching on the ankle. I started physical therapy today. Only two sessions a week until June 13th. Bleah! I've been hit by a car, had three knee surgeries, and have 3 titanium screws in my left foot from a bunionectomy.I don't think I've done as much PT for all that as I'm doing for this ankle break.