cudak888 

The sweet stench of success.

That rust will come off, but check the clamp area for cracks before giving any thought to re-using the stem.

-Kurt

AdventureManCO 

I can't take any credit. I just provide the medium.

AdventureManCO 

Good call. What was interesting was just how tight that thing was after I had gotten it to move. I mean I had to wrench on it w/ a 35lb prybar back and forth, back and forth, for a long while.

merziac

Many of these stuck things wad up after they crack loose, the corrosion rumbles and gums things up in a different way.

Lack of patience often gets the best of us, often if you continue to apply penetrant AND patience, it can go much better, sometimes not, by then we can't control ourselves.

RandolphCarter

I used the lye method on a stuck seatpost in my 1986 Trek.

I tried the usual methods - PB Blaster, thermal cycling, clamping in a vice with no success first. Then i tried the vertical slit method:


Then when that wouldn't i used lye. This is what was left of the post:



Using lye will thoroughly ruin any paint, aluminum, or skin it comes near. Definitely the option of last resort.

dmark 

Tried ammonia, penetrants but finally cut stem and put steerer in bucket with lye mix. The small piece is like foil. (from curb find 88 Ironman Master)
...and though steerer paint blistered it returned to solid. after rinse.

AdventureManCO 

Hopefully others can use this thread as a resource for what works, what doesn’t, and fine tune their approach with whatever method they choose. Please learn from my mistakes for sure. And thanks to the rest of the crew for sharing their experiences.

And apologies for lack of updates…I’ve been have too much fun comparing the Allez to another beauty in my garage…




lol

They are basically the exact same frame, separated by mere hundreds of grams -





What most folks don’t seem to understand (and partly the cause for the slow updates on the Allez) is that it’s just a teeny tiny bit .. boring. We all know the bike is going to ride great, feel responsive, etc etc. So when it’s built up and does exactly that, whoopty do.

But .. the Huffy. Everyone expects it to ride like garbage, feel like a tank, and just in general be horrific. So if one can get it to not be ( which of course is a massive undertaking) then it becomes an awesome challenge, and add in a little bit of ‘the road less traveled’ vibe, and it become almost irresistible.

I have a standing policy of letting anyone who wants to, ride the Huffente so they can experience for themselves just what a different bike it has become from what they expect it to be ( yes yes it’s still garbage but it’s great riding garbage!)

Anyway. I digress .. back to the regularly scheduled, vanilla ho-hum ‘normal’ mid-higher-end bike build thread. Yawn.

AdventureManCO 

Oooo, just found this in my junk pile!





Whether it’s too loose or not remains to be seen. Needs cleaned up. It’s a boat anchor but will suffice for now.

AdventureManCO 

Frame degreased, wet-sanded (in strategic places), polished, and soon to be waxed.

I went ahead and took off the gigantic ‘Specialized’ stickers on the rear stays and the front of
the forks since they were a bit torn up and frankly looked a bit gaudy. The nice thing is that they preserved the paint underneath quite well. And they were TOUGH. I would be quite happy if every sticker I ever used from here on out had the quality of these ones. Which, of course, made getting them off a royal pain. Not quite ‘Huffy pain’ but still bad.





Going to clean up the inside of the seat tube and BB (yay bb pictures!!!) and get the fork attached. Then the true build up starts.

Portlandjim

Around the time that this bike model came out, 1985 or so, I visited Japan about once every 2 months. During this period, one of the biggest amateur bike races in Japan was called the Kanabe Cup. Riders from all over Japan had to qualify locally to ride this event, which took place at a ski resort town in the mountains. My good friend, Mr. Kawai, the president of Sun Tour who put on this event , got me an entry slot after I pestered him mightily. I seem to remember that there were something like 2000 riders in total, my class had 100 or so. I was one of 2 in the whole event who was not Japanese. One bummer, my age group cutoff put me at the old end, and these guys were very serious about not letting me do well! I ended up 11th, just missing getting a medal by one place! This small ski resort town did not cater to foreign visitors, so the food and hotel setup was strictly traditional Japanese. When I got there, Mr. Kawai asked me if I wanted to go out for dinner the night before the race, oh, and Eddy Merckx would be joining us. So, I got to have a wonderful traditional dinner with Eddy, his manager and mr. Kawai. We all spoke English, and Eddy was very warm and friendly. The next day, I'm in my riding outfit waiting for my race and Eddy comes over to chat. He is in a suit and tie, it's about as hot and humid as one can imagine. He wonders if he can borrow my bike to take a lap, a Blue SE like the OP, it's his size and fits him nicely. Then he asks what size shoe do you use? 46, same as him! But, I had SIDI shoes, he can't be seen in them, so covers the logo with tape!. The circuit is about 12 miles, which he does with his pant leg rolled up a bit, and gives me my bike back. I left the bike in Japan, no idea where that went. But I kept those shoes for years, until they burned up in a fire that took our house. So, Eddy rode an Allez SE! Jim Merz

rccardr 

Not possible to make stuff like that up. Thanks for the story, Jim!

AdventureManCO 

Good times. Japan was fun. When I lived there, we just to pop these little cans that looked like tuna fish, but were really compacted rice or something, and set them in the closet. Then every few days, dump all the water out, and put them back in the closet. The humidity is no joke there!

Back when we were living in Yokosuka, about 8 blocks from the ocean, someone started a gomi pile, just right there on the sidewalk! It started pouring into the street, and eventually grew to be almost half a block. There was furniture, music, clothes, and of course, bicycles! I remember as a kid, finding a black Japanese messenger bike, and bringing it home. I must have not had it long, I don't even remember riding it once. My parents probably made me take it back

Thanks for sharing these little stories. And I figured while you were here, maybe there is a chance that you could clear up a mystery. I've not found any definitive information around who made this bike, nor what the tubing was made of. Any thoughts?


Also, got the fork on yesterday, and today will clean up the BB and hopefully get some cranks going. I know I know, pics or it didn't happen.

More to come later!

Portlandjim

I have a Specialized stem and handlebar that would be correct for your bike. The stem is in great shape except the anodizing is sort of splochy. I would just remove the anodizing using lye, and polish the stem. $50 plus shipping for both? I also have a NOS English aluminum Specialized headset in the box. $75 plus shipping. The SE bikes were made by Miyata, with their house made CrMo tubing. Good solid frames! Jim

Mad Honk 

For those BFer's that don't speak Japanese, Gomi is the word for garbage, trash, etc. Smiles, MH

AdventureManCO 

Thanks Jim for the offer! I'm set on the bars, and hopefully (fingers crossed) on the stem. It was stuck really good, but a quick inspection shows, miraculously, no apparent damage. It is the original Specialized stem, and the original Specialized bars.

I'll have to give some thought to the headset though. I put the the fork on today (or was it yesterday? Can't even recall lol) and greased up the headset and doesn't feel very smooth. I think it felt better before I took it apart, if that's possible

In any case, it would be pretty cool to get a headset for the Jim Merz Allez from Jim Merz.

Great info to have about the builder and tube set, really appreciate that. Things come full circle (my first vintage road bike was a mid-80s Miyata 710).

thinktubes 

I had to look it up and Google suggested:



Shazam!

Classtime 

I let my SE go a while back but before I said goodbye, took as many measurements as I could in hopes of one day -- getting my torch to behave and building something as fast and fun as that bike. I really was impressed by the neat brazing seen inside the bottom bracket and was happy to see the bronze.
I have a question: What would be a readily available close approximation of the CrMo tubing used by Miata for the the SE? I recall my SE as being rather heavy and was pleasantly surprised and delighted that it wanted to go so fast.

SJX426 

My Langster experienced the Lye approach.
P1030272 on Flickr
P1030273 by superissimo_83, on Flickr
P1030290 by superissimo_83, on Flickr

Remains as thin as tin foil.
WP_20160107_001 by superissimo_83, on Flickr

Going through the same issue with a intensely patina'd Frejus. This time I am going with the 50//50 ATF/Acetone. It has been sitting for 2 weeks now Post is 8 inches in. The Langster was more like 12 inches.

I am wondering if using a hybrid approach would work, Saw as far as you can and finsih it off with lye to eliminate any AL bridging in the slot. Wouldn't need as many Lye treatments.

AdventureManCO 

Well, talk about a thread revive!

I thought it time I finished up a project for once, so here is the Jungle Junker all (well, 98%) fixed up!








A few things to note - I do need to polish up the rims, as there is quite a bit of crud caked on, just want to give my hands a rest. Also, I'm going to need one of those little cable stops that fits in those little rear derailleur stop braze ons for these older road bikes. At first, I actuated the shifter, and it pulled the cable all the way, but the derailleur didn't move. What?? Oh yeah...its just sliding through through that little guy. Whoops! So currently, I have a somewhat inelegant solution, which is just a shifter cable ferrule holding it back. I need a few of these, so I'm just going to probably pick a few up from the co-op.

I reused the grip tape, as it was this 80s plastic stuff and was actually in decent shape. It looks pretty good, and has a bit of sparkle up close. That led the 'yellow' theme the bike originally had when I picked it up, and since it matched the graphics well, and goes great w/ the blue, I got a yellow cable kit. I stole one of the brown suede saddles I had from another bike, and that seems to go well with the package.

I want to ride it, but the weather here is a bit uncooprative (i.e. snowing). The weird tires will probably make the ride bad, but I at least would first like to ride before I decide to get rid of it. Though it may not stay long in the Le Grande Garage, as I am trying to downsize, I can at least say that 'another one was saved!' and while not without its warts, it did come together nicely. The original 600 shifters, which sucked because the teeth on the right side were broken off like so many of them become, were replaced w/ a set of Huret friction shifters which to my surprise, I actually had, and they seem to look the part decently well. At least its 100% functional. New cables, housing, chain, repacked bearings throughout.

Other than the little cable stop, and maybe a bronze washer for the left side shifter, and a better set of tires, (and some pedal cages?) really the only thing this one needs are some of those fancy Shimano 600 reproduction gum hoods that look really nice. But it is a little hard to justify almost 1/2 the cost of the project on a set of hoods when I might not even be keeping it. Well, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's ride it first and see how she goes.

Enjoy!

nlerner

Nice recovery! This very similar Merz Allez hasn't moved from this spot on the bike rack for months now. Don't think liberation will be coming anytime soon (except by campus PD).

AdventureManCO 

Wasn't there a Trek (a 760 or thereabouts) that also was locked up somewhere near the beach to rot away forever? It is unfortunate, but likely the only recourse here is a removal by authorities, as you mention, to hopefully be auctioned off to a sympathetic vintage-friendly bike nerd.

bikingshearer 

How on Earth did I miss the first time around? Great story. Thanks for sharing it.

AdventureManCO 

I got a chance to ride this thing the other day, and it is a nice rider! Like I predicted, the wheelset and tire combo made it feel a bit sluggish, but I'm also getting better at telling where that is coming from. The drivetrain was w-h-i-s-p-e-r quiet. I think I might throw the Campy record wheelset from the Huffente on there, just to see what it does with a nice set of tubulars. Other than that, I'm sort of on a bike-shedding rampage, and planning to get rid of quite a few. If this one goes, it is less about the bike, and more about the space I'll get in return. Lord knows with me keeping the Huffy it ain't about the pedigree

What riding this bike DID teach me is what a *nice* compact feeling vintage road bike should feel like, instead of a *cramped* compact road bike. The fit is on the smaller side, but in a good way, where it sort of has all the fat trimmed off, no excess. Any more would be too much, but it is a cool feeling and I haven't felt that before on a bike. It has been pretty useful and I continue to refine just what is suppose to fit and what won't.

jethin

My two cents: If you have an integrated post you should exclusively use the soak and vice method. Patience is key. Cut as a very last resort. No old bike is worth using caustic chemicals that could damage you or the planet. I’d just find another project.

I’m a glutton for punishment, and I recently encountered my worst stuck post yet. After a couple weeks of soaking it “cracked” (rotated) on the vice. I thought I was home free. Nope — couldn’t turn it by hand. More soaks, and back to the vice a week later for about an hour and a half workout. It screamed like a dying pterodactyl the whole time. Then I could rotate it with great force, but *zero* vertical movement. Two weeks and a couple hundred rotations later I got ~ 1mm of vertical movement. It was out a day later.

The last seatpost I tried to remove I broke one of the vice jaws in two.

AdventureManCO 

Isn't lye natural? From salt or limestone or something?

I've run across a bunch of stuck posts and stems here and there throughout the years. Others have far more experience than I do, but I've used several techniques to remove this stuff. I've used a slide hammer (fail), I've used the soak n' twist method (successfully some of the time), I've used the saw method (successful but with consequences), and I've also used the lye method (100% successful but with consequences). I take the opposite tack of many here - I like using lye. I've found the warnings of danger to be a bit overblown - I'm sure if you splashed it in your eye or drank it you'd be in trouble, but I had some speckles of it get on me and wasn't any worse for the wear, and it definitely was bubbling and smoking, so it was a strong concentration. The big positive is that it doesn't introduce any added stresses to the steel, like twisting or pulling on the frame. People have snaped stays loose trying to twist a stuck post out. The big negative is that it ruined my paint. If I use it again I'll definitely protect the paint better. Each time I use a different method, I learn something new. Probably my most successful was using a puller to 'snap' the stem out of my PX-10 w/ force. Used a mixture of acetone/atf, which mildly helped.

In any case, I'm glad we have lye for those really tough ones.

The most environmental-friendly option, of course, is to forget all this higher end bikes w/ fancy dumb alloy seat posts and just go for the Huffys. Steel on steel, so you'll never have to worry about chemically froze posts, and not only is it eco-neutral, it's eco positive, because your keeping at least 40lbs of waste out of the landfill