JaccoW

While waiting for the rest of the parts to ship out I overhauled the Sturmey Archer GH6 dynohub. While it wasn't feeling all that bad, it has definitely improved in both looks and feel now. Though I did manage to snap one of the tiny screws in half while tightening them.
No clue on whether it even delivers power anymore, if a previous owner disassembled the magnet it will have lost its magnetism and be useless. Still feels notchy so I think we're fine.
I should have 1-2 pairs of the brass hooks used to connect the wires but I will have to dig a bit in my parts boxes in the shed.





The rest of the GH6 hubs I have:
28, 32 and 36H

cudak888 

If you haven't broken one of the screws, fumbled the nuts a minimum of 16 times (27 for DynoThrees and DynoFours), and lost at least one of the locknuts, you're not working on a Dynohub.

-Kurt

JaccoW

The wheel has been laced but it seems I will need to order a dedicated spoke nipple wrench for these wheels.

So, I built these wheels with 13G Sapim Leader spokes which are your classic stainless steel straight spokes in a 2.3mm thickness. Pretty much how these bikes are usually built.
Now the problem is these spokes use larger spoke nipples. No surprises there. But it turns out none of my spoke wrenches work on these.

I have the Park Tools SW-40 4--sided spoke wrench (3.23mm), the SW-1 (3.30mm) and the SW-2 (3.45mm) but of course these use 4.0 to 4.2mm spoke nipples. The SW-3 (3.96mm) comes closest but I enjoy the much better grip that the SW-40 offers.
And let me tell you that trying to build a wheel using a Knipex pliers wrench is... not a great idea.

So I'm ordering this beefy boy:


That being said, it's one sexy little wheel. Pretty much indestructible once I'm done.
I used some painters tape coated paper squares to keep the spokes from slipping out (which they did quite often) and an awl to slide them into place and remove the paper afterwards.

JaccoW

So while I am waiting for the right tool to finish this wheel I still wanted to see what it would look like and if there was even enough room in the frame.
Well, I didn't need to worry.

First of all, the original wheel was a ETRTO 38-635 size, which I now replaced with a 47-622. Which was pretty close to the original width as well, with the 635 tyre sitting at 39mm and the 622 tyre at 46mm wide. Hopefully it will lead to an even more comfortable ride.
There's plenty of room in the front fork so I could probably even fit a 50mm tyre in there as there is a cm of room on each side and more on top of that.
I do think it looks gorgeous in the frame and I look forward to finishing this wheel.

In the meantime I took off the fender, cleaned and derusted as good as possible. Touched up some of the golden striping and gave it a clearcoat. No clue yet on when I will get to dismantling the entire bike but so far it looks like the right way to treat the original paint.

JaccoW

Sigh...

So you would expect a 13G spoke (2.34mm), using a 13G polyax spoke nipple (3.45mm), all from Sapim, would work with their 13G red nipple wrench right?

WRONG.

The Red 13G nipple wrench is for 4.2mm spoke nipples. The Yellow 14G nipple wrench is for 3.45mm spoke nipples.

One more delay for the wheel build.

Shame, because it does look like a nice hefty tool. More comfortable at least than the Park Tool SW-40.

JaccoW

I give up with this wheel and spoke combo.

These spokes are clearly incredibly strong but trying to tighten (and straighten) the wheel only means I twist the spoke nipples in half. Fixing that is one hell of a job because there is nothing for vice grips to grab onto.
I feel like I need a set of those HM nipple washers to give it a bit more lubrication. Ah well, just one more challenge.

To be continued!

cudak888 

Jacco, have you tried one of those all-in-one el-cheapo spoke nipple tools? It'll probably handle that size just fine.

-Kurt

JaccoW

Got some new bits in the mail today...

JaccoW

I believe I never showed what I am doing with the frame and its paint!

Earlier this year I started treating the frame (in parts) for rust, degreasing everything, touching up some of the gold lining and covering everything in a thin coat of glossy clearcoat.
That should keep the original paint as intact as possible while still protecting the steel against the elements for a while again. So far I am really digging the look:

JaccoW

Time to get started on the rear wheel tonight!

JaccoW

So I just disassebled the hub, deep cleaned everything in the ultrasonic cleaner and now we are back on track to build a wheel tonight.

I found out why the hub was feeling kind of rough, that was down to a broken ball bearing. Let's see if the local bike shop has 1/4" ball bearings in house. There is definitely some pitting due to rust on the inside of the hub but honestly, nothing too bad for a hub from 1955.
It will be lubed and oiled from now on and should provide some good riding in the near future.

I learned from my first build with these wheels and ordered a bag of spoke nipple plates. That should provide some extra strenght to the wheel and prevents the nipples from digging into the unsleeved aluminium rims. That is what made me give up tightening the wheel.
No cream tyre just yet, the one I want to use is out of stock everywhere and should be coming back soon.

For those interested; Rebuilding a Torpedo Freilauf hub.

markk900

That hub look identical to the Perry B100 internally; after some research appears that they have interchangeable parts (along with the Sturmey Archer SC).

JaccoW

Right, so the I finished the rear wheel yesterday. Went over to one of the nearby bicycle shops and found some ball bearings. Simson is a brand that probably keeps a surprising number of vintage bikes on the road here.

So I built up the wheel, used the stainless steel nipple plates (which made this wheel a hell of a lot easier to build than the front wheel) and brass spoke head washers (for fun) and added pinstriping to the rim once done. And while I was at it I went and added some box lining to the frame lock as well because why not. XD
The front wheel will have to wait until later this week. I have a couple of busy days ahead and I was so discouraged when the spokes and nipples just locked up on me the last time. But I'm pretty sure it will be easier with these plates, provided I can get the current spokes loose without having to destroy too many spokes and nipples. They're really stuck here.


Finished wheel


"Bofix nippelplaatje" (spoke nipple plate)


Pin striping


Brass spoke head washers



Box lining/pin stripes on the frame lock

non-fixie 

I like the pinstriping on the lock. Nice touch.

JaccoW

I'm making headway into a certain wheel build... but I am running out of spoke nipples at this rate.
Give me lightweight triple butted spokes over 13G (2.3mm) straight stainless steel spokes any day...



On the positive side, I tested the vintage Dynohub and found it still worked! At the very least it managed to power the rear light. Now to find a way to get it inside the old lamp.


Also found out the hard way that I need a longer seatpost. No markings on this one so I never realized it was barely inside the frame. My downstairs neighbour probably hates me for working on my bike in the evening. XD




Some cool details with the fenders and drivetrain. It has the classic Gazelle crankset and especially the skirt guards have some cool details like these clips. More tomorrow as I clean and derust the rest of the bike.

JaccoW

I should have gone to bed earlier... but once you get going, you get going sometimes.

The dynamo wheel... has not been touched but I have been working on the lighting system. Though I fear another forum I used to post this bike on would consider this the highest of sacrilege.

Anyway, when I disassembled the original Koets B dynamo rear light (more info at the Oudefiets forum) I realized the single screw on the outside was an insulated connector bringing in the positive charge and the light got its negative charge through the frame. It is kind of ingenious.
Modern LED dynamo lights however use 2 wires since not all frames are conductive anymore. And while I could have cooked up something that used this same principle, I wanted to really fit a modern light with standmount inside.
So I measured and drilled a hole for a second connector, ground down a perfectly working B+M Line Small to make it barely fit inside and hooked everything up.



And it worked! Looking mighty fine on this cleaned and resprayed fender if I am honest.




To test this I hooked it up directly to the dynamo (modern lights can handle this) and then mounted it and connected the wheel in a stand > silver B+M IQ-XS 80 lux light > rear light using two wires.



The wiring will be completely hidden away to prevent snags but even back then there were some pretty ingenious solutions with the wiring going into a rolled and drilled edge of the fender and then exiting near the rear light mount.
I'm having some trouble getting the wire through but I am sure I can get any obstructions out of the way, The front is going to be a fun one too but I will show you what I have in mind for that one soon.




More in the next post

JaccoW

As for the rest of the bike, I worked a lot on the rear.

The fender was cleaned, derusted and paint was touched up. Sanded off some of the white end and reapplied using a gorgeous cream white while the gold pinstriping on the black part were restored as well.
After that everything was covered in a clearcoat. I will probably have to redo the white part because the cold made the pain dry too slow and drip quite a bit.



It almost looks like a pathracer without the fenders on.

The Torpedo hubs spins for ages and there is a ton of room in the front for even fatter tyres if I wanted too.







Two things I ran into however were the crankset and the frame lock.

The frame lock has its mounting points a little bit higher than they used to be so I will have to find an adapter plate.

The bigger issue however is the crankset. The NDS came off without an issue, even both cotter pins came out without issue with the right tool. I just for the life of me not the the crank arm itself off the spindle. I mean I can twist it a little bit but it just... won't... come off.
I might have to get it outside again and start hammering... but even a 3-arm crank puller nearly destroyed itself trying to get this off.

I'll try again later this week.

JaccoW

Close ups of the light;

obrentharris 

Thanks for the updates of the recent weeks. I've enjoyed following your progress on this fine old bike.
Brent

JaccoW

Thanks! Let's see if I can get that front wheel working the way I want it. And I just need a day or two where it's dry outside so I can clean and clearcoat the frame.

oldbikeguy62

I am enjoying reading this thread. Good to see the bike nearing completion. Do you think you will keep it now you have spent time and money on it? I have also fallen for these opafiets and apart from the Union also have a omafiets. The women’s bike is an Avenue brand which is probably 1990’s but rides even better than the Union being a little lighter. The big wheels, frame geometry and steel frame give them a unique and comfortable and relaxed ride. Keep up the good work.

JaccoW

Today we had some nice cold but sunny weather so I dragged the bike outside again and started doing some of the louder stuff that required a hammer.

I finally managed to pull the crank off and I did a whole lot of chemical rust removal. For those wondering what the original pain was, here on the chainstay you can see the glossy black of the original paint. It has been protected over the decades by the varnished cloth chaincase.
Speaking of which, that one was cleaned and spray painted white, just to add an extra layer of protection against rust.

Tomorrow I hope to do some final stripping, cleaning and cleacoating and maybe I can start putting the entire bike back together!

Fun details are the solid tube for the bottom bracket without any holes and the "cable" you see running around it. That one is actually a solid rod of aluminium or something and is the connection to the rear light. I'll have to figure out a way to build around that because I have two wires running to the rear light.

markk900

What a lovely chainwheel! You are certainly doing this bike justice!

jamesdak 

Loving this thread!

JaccoW

Let's change some spokes: