Chuck M 

About all that is left that will require wrenching is the pedals on this Raleigh. Until they show up Monday, I'm wrestling with the decision of these two saddles or finding another one and considering bar tape options. Original plan was to use the brown Iscaselle Tornado with brown bar tape. But the black Specialized saddle looks good with the black bar stem and I am apparently resigned to using black Shimano hoods on the AG250C aero brake levers as the correct hoods aren't easily found.

seedsbelize2

I recently brought my 88 Centurion Ironman Expert back from frameset land. Complete with a new paint job. Still tweaking, before calling it done.

merziac

2 person job now, 1 to hold the wheel and one to man the pipe wrench with a cheater pipe, what could go wrong?

And @mrv

Mad Honk 

J-Dawg and all, Put the wheel on a five gallon pickle bucket so it rests on the spokes and lays flat, put the freewheel tool into the freewheel, and then use an impact wrench to remove to freewheel. This approach allows you to put your other hand on the back of the impact wrench to be sure the freewheel tool stays seated on the freewheel while removing it. Also be aware that you will need to let the freewheel stop spinning before touching it (The fast moving teeth will act like a chain saw blade on skin.) just a basic safety measure while working with power tools. Smiles, MH

jdawginsc 

Trust me, I have listened intently as you have described the method! Leather gloves ready.

bargo68 

Finally finished up the Fuso rebuild. Settled on some cheap cork tape with the idea I might get some Fizik black to go matchy-matchy with the saddle at a later date.
Bought as a sad single speed conversion with a mish mash of cheapo parts, I transferred a Campagnolo super record group from my Univega Super Special and I think it's a done deal!

natterberry 

Finally getting bikes out of boxes. First up, the International.

Prowler 

I finally purchased the recommended "five gallon pickle bucket". Have just started on eating the pickles. I'll be ready to remove free wheels in 8 years. Can't wait 😄

Mad Honk 

Prowler,
If you check with any local fast food shop they buy the pickles in five gallon buckets and wind up throwing them away. I get mine that way or you can go to Home Depot and pay five dollars for one. Har! can't wait till you start smelling like you use vinegar and dill for after shave. Smiles, MH

jdawginsc 

Wait...we don't have to pay for them at Walmart....???? Dang it.

Prowler 

Truth be known, I have an ample supply of 5 gallon buckets. I use them for all sorts of things. However I also know about residual oders. My wife buys 3 gallon buckets of garlic powder for her horses. They are such a handy rectangular size that I grab an empty on occasion. I have to wash them then leave me outside for several weeks before they are tolerable. Ex: handy for holding most of the parts when I strip a bike for overhaul. Keep it all in one place.

Smiles from one rat packer to another...

thumpism 

Well, that Trek 620 frameset from steine13 arrived yesterday and I swore I wasn't going to work on it yet. I mean, of course I unboxed it and stuck the frame in the stand but I have plenty of other stuff to do so no wrenching. First thing I noticed is some bubbling rust on the cable guides. Ordinarily I would not want to paint a frame but it looks like the smart thing to do for this one is to intervene before things get too bad.


Then I got the fork out of the box and slapped it in the frame and determined that the Stronglight A9 headset is shot so I'll have to find one of those. I recall them having a very low stack height and don't know what's available this century that fits as well so I'll have to research that when I get some time.


Then I put a wheel in it. Just a rear wheel. Had to spread the dropouts for the 7-speed cassette but that's okay. I'm not going to do anything to it yet. Not a huge amount of clearance with a 30C tire and it looks like my go-to 32C tires will fit, the largest I'd likely use without having to buy new. Might be a little tight with mandatory fenders. '80s clearance, after all.


Might as well take a look at the front tire, too. Even less clearance but that's okay.


And what about that stuck Phil BB; what crank will fit on it? The old Shimano from my ex-RB-T was handy so slipped that on and it looks pretty good. And what about that stuck Phil? How stuck is it? Tried my long Phil wrench, no movement. Tried it with a cheater pipe on the wrench, no movement. The BB seems smooth enough to use that I'd just go ahead and build it if not thinking of painting the frame.


At this point I had to accede to the bride's wishes and finish the door casing in the guest room so we could move on to the next steps of that job so I got out the compressor and brad nailer and got to work. Finished it up pretty quickly and looked at the compressor with its tank at full pressure and thought about the impact wrench. Well, shoot.

Back at the Trek I fitted the compact Phil remover into the fixed cup side and set the rattle gun on it. Brrrp, no movement on Low. Hmmm. Changed to Medium and brrrp, no movement. Hmmmmmmm. Changed to High and...


... ZZZzzzzip!


Moved to the other side and ZZZzzzzipped again.


Threads are good and rust flakes are coming out. Plenty of time to deal with that when I finally do start working on it.

jdawginsc 

Although it has become a moot point (since I decided using Shimano Dura Ace wheels on a SunTour Superbe Pro equipped Trek 670 was sacrilege and found a mixed set of Mavic 550 hubs and mismatched rims), I decided to give the brrrpp toy I bought myself a try using the Mad Honk method.


The hopelessly stuck DA freewheel. Anyone need a lovely knee curdling corn cob seven speed?

The toy.

The rust bunnies

Threads seem fine here.

And here...


The process has been five weeks of spraying chemicals, five weeks of “oh well” needs another week. Big wrench. Nope. Big wrench plus bigger wrench extension. Nope. Don’t have a dedicated bench vise yet.

Set up took 3 minutes including opening the child proof box.

Removal took 13 seconds.

Chuck M 

The hardest thing I did at work today was stay there knowing that the parts to make this ready to ride were at my front door and the temperature was in the mid 60s. I’ll ride Friday if I can wait that long.

Installed the MKS pedals and Newbaum tape tonight. I need some black bar plugs and an appropriate bottle cage and I'll keep looking for some Esquartz pedals with clips, correct hoods and a Raleigh quick-stand in the meanwhile.

scarlson 

So we're out on a ride. My buddy tells me his crank seems loose. He can't backpedal without the chain derailing, and it's rubbing the front derailleur to no small degree. So we stop, look everything over, tighten things, and ride on. Same complaint soon arises again. WTF?

So when we get back to our workplace and are having a beer together, I'm looking at his bike and I notice something decidedly odd about his big ring. This is a Campy NR. It looks like it's made of filo dough!! This is an example of intergranular corrosion on the most macro scale. The corrosion has happened along grain boundaries in the metal and caused it to split like a laminated pastry. I notice this crank's got 4 genuine Campy chainring bolts and one no-name. Guess which one the split happened next to! Coincidence??




He wanted new cranks anyway, so this was the impetus for me to give him his wish! Little ring and crankset are fine, but he wanted something new (and a better chainline) so he's got my old Toplines and Biopace now.

leftthread

Making a mess in the kitchen, of course.



I cut the backbone out of the turkey and roasted it.
now making stock out of it for the dressing. The bird is brining in a kosher salt solution overnight in the fridge. Without the backbone I can flatten it (butterfly, or spatchcock) for faster, more even cooking.

Also sauteing yellow and red onions and garlic for onion dip. That recipe is great-on Food Wishes on youtube.

Mad Honk 

Jdawg, Good on ya for the new toy. I doubt you will ever go back to yer old ways. Working smarter and not harder! Gimme a call, Smiles, MH

Classtime 

I gave up trying to find a silver Velocity Aerohead and ordered a pair of Ambrosio Excellence. ERD is only +1 from the Aeroheads so I figure it's a go with my carefully bundled and labeled spokes from the prior build. The front went together smoothly considering reused spokes and nipples. The rear spokes were short by 3-4 mm.....??? Brought it up to tension anyway...rim tape...tire and tube...put it on my bike for today's ride. Then I thought...none of my wheelbuilds have failed me yet. But this one might. So this morning, I put the NDS spokes on the DS and found 16 silly millimeter longer ones for the NDS, rebuilt the wheel before breakfast, and after 35 miles and 3500 feet, I have a winner: 7700/Ambrosio/DT Comp/Brass nipples. (Stickers gotta go.) I think what happened was my original rear rim was OC which calls for slightly shorter spokes which worked ok for a replacement normal Aerohead. The change from OC plus slightly larger ERD on the Ambrosios was too much.


Threads showing on rear wheel before rebuild.

Drillium Dude 

That's gotta be the weirdest-looking component failure I've ever seen

DD

Chuck M 

I removed the treadmill to make room for a mini fridge to keep a beer or three in. I also tore down another old high tensile Takara to clean the 42 year old grease out of while I watch a little Rawhide.

noglider 

@Classtime, that's using your noggin!

gaucho777 

I built a pair of tubular wheels for my Colnago project last night. Campagnolo Record hubs, Sapim double-butted spokes, and NOS Fiamme Red rims. I forgot what a pleasure it is to build wheels with new (or even NOS) rims. I test fit a pair of 28mm Veloflex Pro Tour tubulars, and was glad to find that I have plenty of clearance.

jkrug

Picked up a white '72 Gitane Grand Sports Deluxe in rather sad shape and have stripped it down to usable parts to rebuild. The frame had lots of surface rust, badly faded foil decals and a coating of spray paint, but no damage. So far have stripped the frame, primed it, and applied a first coat of pearl white automotive paint to fork and frame. Off to the paint store today to get another can of paint and clear coat. Ordered a new decal set, and should be putting it back together next week. Will post pictures as soon as I hit my newbie 10 posts.

thumpism 

First step, well, the first after removing the recalcitrant Phil BB from the Trek 620 frame from @steine13, is to find out what headset will fit. Measuring indicates I have 40mm of stack height to work with, so now I get to look for headsets hiding in the garage that might do the trick. I think I have a Tange Levin NIB out there and perhaps a couple of others. No hurry on this. I still need to strip and sand the frame and treat it for rust before throwing any parts at it.

steine13

I am watching with great interest what @thumpism is going to do with this 620.
On the home front, I'm wrestling with my Cannondale H400 winter bike. Yesterday I "fixed" the herniated tube in the rear tire by putting a folded dollar bill over the hole, installing a new tube, and inflating to 30 lbs... looks like that'll hold for a bit. I'm not usually this cheap and would just get new tires but I think I'm doing it wrong... a too-tall 700c hybrid with 47 mm Nokians is well and good but for our snow conditions, I think an 80s mountain bike would do much better... especially since the vertical dropouts are giving me fits with the 3spd Nexus IGH hub I'm running. 14 years on the old girl; I think it's time to start over.

Tonight I thought I had it all back together, but during the test ride, the cable guide under the bottom bracket fell off... I'm assuming the screw rusted through cuz I can't find it anywhere, though I do have the guide. Aluminum frames are good in the rust belt, but the hardware suffers tragically. I've got a picture of the bike somewhere but can't find it right now. Not that exciting anyway.

On the other hand, I didn't have much time for bicycle wrenching tonight.. my wife picked up a free bike tool in the road...
It's been that kind of a week.
cheers -mathias