curbtender

Someone trying to make a 'bent'?

juvela

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cudak888 would have this in perfect alignment in no time

fancy Marchetti e Lange equipment not required


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bark_eater 

and dat's dat....

rekmeyata

In my rush due to lack of time I didn't see that part

eeuuugh

I saw this on a local fb bike group a minute after it was posted and was off like a rocket.

It's a Grand Sport! Beausaged to hell. 1973 based on the Brooks date code.

I took it home and started breaking it down. The seatpost, surprisingly, came free. So did the pedals and stem, which has no cracks at the square corners of the expansion slot. Red C (for Carlton?) seatpost binder, and the white Carlton hoods are dirty but neither cracked nor sticky. I threw the delrin Simplex shifters and derailleurs away. Not touching the cranks until I have access to my Wera hex wrenches, which I hope will remove the caps without damaging them. Normandy hubs, worn-out 5 speed TDC freewheel, rims in good shape, the Mafac Racer on the back has suffered some inappropriate hardware substitutions. The headset has been replaced at some point with a Hatta Vesta.

The bad:

Both seatstay caps have these edges which are rusted through. My best guess is that they were barely brazed on in the first place. I'll probably clean the rust up and fill the cracks with JB weld.

Also a big ding on the top tube.

This frame is too trashed to flip or restore IMO. I think I'm going to build it up as a singlespeed coaster-brake beater with fattish 700c tires and use it for a loaner; if and when I do I'll post it in the Grand Sport thread. If anyone wants the freewheel, hubs, pedals, Brooks guts, or handlebars, let me know and you can have them for the cost of shipping, or as trade for a set of North Road-ish handlebars.

AdventureManCO 

SWEET SAVE!!!

Got a torch? That would be a fantastic one to learn some brazing on. The rust would need to be cleaned up, but I would be wanting to give it a go. Also, Paul Brody (youtube) has a good vid on filling in dents with the torch too. At this point, the burn spots would enhance the paintwork!

eeuuugh

But if I fix the frame, I won't be able to justify keeping it!

I watched Paul Brody's video and I do have some friends with a shop space that is capable of that work. I just don't have the time to go down the rabbit hole with this frame right now. Maybe I'll hold off on the JB weld though so I can get around to it "someday".

clongwill

Testing out brazing would be interesting. But why even bother with the dent with the possibility of making it worse and screwing up the paint?

jemaleddin

I found this frame rotting in the barn of a local bike builder who is going to find a set of wheels and drivetrain and give a it new cables, etc. to get it rideable and I'm pretty stoked. It's from an 81-83 Fuji S12-S 18-speed, and while what I'm getting from the builder will probably be a bit of a franken-bike, my plan is to slowly turn it into a more faithful rebuild. Any tips on sourcing parts, etc. are appreciated!

curbtender

https://classicfuji.posthaven.com/19...-no-13-edition

AdventureManCO 

There is a lot going on in that picture! Good save. Had an S10-S for a while. Good bike. Fuji's are good quality.

jemaleddin

Thanks! I'm now going over all the pictures I can find of original and rebuilt versions to see what I can do.

jemaleddin

I am VERY excited. I've never ridden a mixte, but he threw some wheels on it and it fit me JUST SO. My last steel road bike was a Sears Best "Tourney" that I spent two years of allowance on in 5th grade, so this will be a big upgrade!

Pompiere

There is nothing like riding a bike that fits well. I have an S12-S LTD that I refurbished. It fits perfectly and rides great. I almost ordered a Sears bike for my first ten-speed, but my dad took me to a friend's bike shop and I got a Kabuki instead. Almost 50 years later, I finally got a Sears bike, their top-of-the-line Reynolds 531 Free Spirit. I wanted mostly it for the nostalgia. I actually like the Fuji better.

jemaleddin

OH WOW. It somehow never occurred to me that any of those old Sears Best bikes would still be around, given how I rode my one-step-up-from-the-bottom bike basically into the ground. I bought it and then made friends with a bunch of kids with BMX bikes who wanted to ride on trails, so I took my 10-speed over all the rocks and roots it would handle.

Glad to hear you like your Fuji better - otherwise I'm making a huge mistake! 😀

Korina

A Fuji is never a mistake.

marnar

Agree curb tender old catalogues are the best.
Sourcing, try bike coops
Looks like the bike is rather complete and many parts may be original. Research will confirm one way or the other.

Good luck

jemaleddin

Yeah, the handlebars are original, apart form the Grab On foam, as are the the Dia Compe brakes/levers and Suntour shifters/derailleurs. All it really needs is... all the parts that make it go: chainrings, cranks, pedals, cassette, wheels, tires....

I am pretty sure that "Rob" won't be able to source original parts for most of that, but maybe over time I can!

AdventureManCO 

Sears had a few decent models. Around the '64-'65 time period, they had their 'Sport Racer' type bike, which actually had Campagnolo Record components, believe it or not. It was made by Steyr I believe, in Europe. Sears was famous for putting their name on subcontracted goods - same thing w/ 'Craftsman'...made by Emerson, Parks, Syncro, etc. Jim Merz has detailed a story in which he used one of these bicycles (I think it was a '64 model, maybe before the Campy component spec) to take a bike trip w/ a relative, I believe from the Northwest down to Cali or something similar.

The '65 (?) Sport Racer I have is a lovely bike. It is not a high end bicycle, and while it has some low end features (crimped/pressed seatstay caps, stamped dropouts, etc), it has internal cable routing, chrome accents, and a good component spec - especially for '65. The frame by itself weighs around 2500g, which is not in 'racing' territory, but decently outside of normal dept store bike territory for weight (think 2700g+). I have no idea what the tubing is. Probably some sort of hi-tensile something-or-other, but not bad. The 531 framed Steyrs that Sears sold that Pompiere is referring to is the only version I know of, released in or around 1974.

Here is my '65, currently disassembled for cleaning/upgrading:

jemaleddin

So what I'm taking from this is that if I had bought the top of the line Sear Best "Suteki" (and had another 2 years of allowance saved up), I might still have a nice bike!

https://christmas.musetechnical.com/...r-Catalog/0508

Also, your bike looks great, but I'd get that back brake looked at! 😉

AdventureManCO 

Sagging bars, worn decals, pitted chrome socks, shot chrome headlugs, missing spokes. We got issues. But there was a lovely picture of one around here that was my inspiration, w/ new rims, a replacement Campy NR derailleur...the bike was ace. I'm very surprised, but actually the hub bearing races actually look okay! So I can rebuild the wheels, upgrade the rear to NR, and it should be a nice ride. I don't know yet if I will go for a full on restoration or not. Its going to wear the patina for a while, for sure. But that won't stop me from some upgrades, new shoes, cables, etc. Really, I just want to bring a Sears bike to a group ride amongst all the De Rosa's and Eddy Merckx's.

Pompiere

Mine is at the bottom of this page: 1974 Sears Spring Summer Catalog, Page 976 - Catalogs & Wishbooks (musetechnical.com)

and this is what it looks like today:


1974 Sears Ted Williams Free Spirit with Reynolds 531 frame

I found it last year at a thrift store for less than lunch for me and my wife. Mainly, it just needed some TLC to get it ready to ride.

zukahn1 

I consider the top end Techinums road or MTB to be under rated and some of the best mass produced bikes every made. They have a really great ride quality and the fit and finish is excellent.

zukahn1 

I like that it has the original red dust caps online at the evil place there likely worth more than the bike complete great job.

Murray Missile 

After acquiring the Falcon I said no more bikes this year but......

I just got back home from a 200 mile morning cruise with this one owner 1979 Raleigh Super Grand Prix in 23.5" which in itself was no temptation but it was topped with a pretty decent brown Ideale 90 saddle which I needed and the asking price was less than half what I've seen the saddles advertised for. Seller had owned it since new but hadn't ridden it in years. He is moving halfway across the country early tomorrow morning and didn't have room to take it with. The saddle is going on my Peugeot PKN-10, I'll freshen up the rest of the bike and see how it fits and rides, then I'll decide if it's a keeper or not. All in all it's in pretty decent original condition and should clean up very nicely but it was at the far edge of my bike buying territory and had it not been for the price and that saddle I wouldn't have given it a 2nd thought.