jdawginsc 

After these two, hopefully I have taller students who need and want bikes.

GT was a rust bucket but some heavy rubbing compound has it in a good stasis...

Red K2 cleaned up nicely.

Also got to use some parts that were languishing and would t have been used elsewhere...I DO like doing 1x7 or 1x 8 for kids. The left hand shifters go unused but easier to move out the door and in the low country, hills are non existent.



No splashy-ness here. Just a heavy steel triple triangle Outpost Trail which apparently is dark grey not black (oops).




I am loving these Maxxis Hookworms.Wish they came in 700c x 33 or something.




Rubber stopper for the stem




Cleaned up nicely. 1x7




I hate V brakes with a passion.



Coronado crank gets re-life!

Bianchigirll 

The crew here at Trash Panda Werks started a “Dark Project” this morning

daverup 

So, will we be getting a peek?

VintageSteelEU

Derailleur decision has been made. Moto C5 will be getting Suntour Superbe derailleurs (late 70's version) as it was the best derailleur on the market when the frame was manufactured. Thus it shall become the one and only (well, probably not) Motobecane Superbe. I wanted to keep it all French, but I think getting a bicycle with a nice Columbus SL frame and nice and well working components will give me more fun riding it. I thought for a moment about getting Simplex 6600, then saw the price, thought about potential problems getting it to work in a standard dropout and that combo was just a no go. Other option, Huret Jubilee, though can be found in a Campy-style dropout version, ain't exaclty cheap either. So, if I have a perfectly capable derailleur from the era, I think it's best to make use of it.
Weight weenie B Carre / Superator is getting Suntour Cyclone MK1. I just ordered a set, which doesn't look like much, so there will be some cleaning and overhauling. Here's hoping they are in good mechanical condition. For now I dug out two rear Cyclone derailleurs to see whether I can make the cable anchor bolt work and it seems with a spring washer this might be an option. Now more digging to figure out where I've stashed away spare Suntour pulley wheels.

Bianchigirll 

There is a full blown expose' with lots of 8x10 glossy B&W prints with circles and arrows and paragraph on the back plus a video!

steelbikeguy

Soldering shares certain fundamentals with brazing a frame together, so it sorta qualifies??
I'm an electronics guy, so it makes sense to me.
It also reminds me that I need to make time to tear my trusty Pioneer SX-880 apart and clean all of the pots and switches. Probably need to check the capacitors and replace anything that looks sketchy. I bought it new in the late 70's, and it would be nice to use it again.
... and I also need to do the same for the Yamaha receiver that I bought to replace the Pioneer. <..sigh..>
Honestly, mechanical switches and potentiometers are just trouble waiting to happen, but it does take time to happen.

Steve in Peoria
(I've got a nice Walkman that should get the belt replaced too)

steelbikeguy

No real news here.
I did have an adjusting screw seize up in a SunTour Superbe Pro front derailleur and had a rough time getting it out. It ended up with a bit of mangling of the phillips head on the screw before getting serious about the penetrating oil and (eventually) some heat to break the aluminum body free of the steel screw.

In fairness, I've been using the derailleur for 34 years, and doubt that I've ever lubed the screw, so it's my fault.
This was a good opportunity to learn that the limit screws are M4 with a 0.5mm thread. Not exactly something that you find at the hardware store.
I did try to raid one from an older Cyclone that I'd stripped some threads out of, only to find that someone had replaced the equivalent limit screw with a coarser threaded M4!
As an interim fix, I just threw on a different Cyclone while waiting for the penetrating oil to work its magic.

For reference, here's the original limit screw....


This seemed like a good time to tear things apart and clean them up.
While doing so, I noticed that pivot points on the parallelogram had brass inserts! Very nice!



The limit screws now have plenty of anti-seize goo on them, and should be good for another 30 years of abuse (unlike my knees, I'm sure).

Steve in Peoria

JaccoW

Putting in some of the hard work today of routing the dynamo wiring through the frame. Soldered on the SON coaxial connectors and found a way to easily route the cables through the frame. It involves a stiff brake cable and about 5 cm of 4:1 heat shrink tubing with glue on the inside. It barely makes the cable thicker and as long as the brake cable came through the rest is going to be surprisingly easy.

Bianchigirll 

I have no idea what that is but it looks impressive, it also reminds me I have to get my Luxman RX101 back into the shop. The right channel is out again. Also the servo face is broken, again, but I don't really tthink that is repairable anymore.

Pic courtsey of the interwebs

VintageSteelEU

First snag with the build: headset. I found my Stronglight P3 for the Superator yesterday. First problem is the crown race. Or the steerer tube, rather. There is that thicker section the crown race is supposed to sit on. With my other bicycles (Motobecane ones, at least), that section was thicker at the bottom, next to the fork crown, and thinner at the top to match the inside shape of the crown race. Which doesn't seem to be the case with this one and I'm guessing I will have to grab a metal file later and modify it. Because right now the crown race sits 2mm above the fork crown. That's something to look into when I get myself a length of PVC pipe, so no rush.
The second problem, as pictured below, is a bit more puzziling. The flat section of the steerer tube, which on steerer tubes I have on other bicycles goes down a couple of centimeters, on this one is about 8-10mm only. As a result, the serrated spacer sits well above the top race. I think with the bearing balls in and the crown race seated properly, I think the gap might be slightly smaller, but not by much.The locknut has a lip that steerer tube buts against, so that's fully on (ideally I'd like it to sit 0.5mm above the top edge of the steerer). This is a new one for me, I usually had the opposite problem: headset stack being too high for the steerer tube.
The gap itself is not a problem, I can always look for more round spacers, refelctor holders etc. Serrated side not being flush with the top race is a problem. This makes headset adjustments impossible. Does anyone know if it's fine for me to file down the steerer tube and extend the flat section? What would be the best method for that? Handheld file, rotary tool?

Bianchigirll 

First task of the day. Not only does the ironing board do double and triple duty but the bike stand pitches in too!

noglider 

@IdahoBrett, you got the fork out with penetrating oil. Did you use any other tricks?

IdahoBrett 

Nothing special. Just a liberal application of Kroil. About 12 hours upright in the stand. Followed by 12 hours upside down on the floor.

I tried hitting the expander bolt with a rubber dead blow hammer throughout. But it was a ball peen hammer that knocked the “nut” loose with a single rap when the dead blow had no effect. I then chucked the fork up in a vise, supported by a couple pieces of 2x4 with card board for scratch protection. The BB sat nicely on my workbench.

I used the bars for leverage and started a twisting motion back and forth. The stem almost gave a perceptible “click” when the disimilar metal corrosion bond broke free. From there it was about 90 seconds of twisting while pulling up to remove the stem.

If there was one trick it would have to be the wrench set up I used for the lock nut. A large adjustable/crescent isn’t precise enough of a fit. A 1 3/16” Bonney style wrench with a custom cheater bar is what I used. I did not want to slip and round the edges off. I’ve used this set up a time or two in the 3 decades of wrenching on stuff that flies 6 miles up in the sky.




(reassembly began yesterday)

georges1

Preparing the spare parts list to be bought with new zipp quick releases, look delta pedals, probably another rare columbus genius frame at a good price if it is not sold

Classtime 

Too too windy for riding so I spent most of the weekend building a trailer for my new to me Chester Yawl. The Yawl came on a double decker trailer and I’m using much of the upper deck for a bicycle trailer. Parts on hand don’t always work together as envisioned. Did a test ride with the lighter and shorter kayak—better to fail with a plastic boat. I should be able to make these wheelchair wheels from my Carry Freedom trailer work on this boat trailer. More tweaking to come. The Grand Jubile will do the hauling. The stock 32 in the back might not be enough with the 42. We’ll see.

cjefferds 

So after coming to my senses the 84 Stumpjumper is almost ready to roll. Just waiting on some new oversized brake cables and housings.

VintageSteelEU

That's a nice way of wrapping the handlebar tape, over the hoods. I would have expected that to look bulky, but somehow it doesn't.

Today I had a novel idea: how about I actually measure the crown race ID and the steerer tube OD. The result? Well, the crown race ID is 26.5 and 26.4 (this crown race has a lip inside). Steerer tube section / shim the crown race goes on is 27.0mm. So it looks like some extra work will be needed, both to shave 0.5mm of that shim (or whatever it's called) and mirror the lip on the crown race. Then I think I'll grab the rotary tool to extend the flat section down the thread a bit and chase the threads with a spare French locknut and use reflector holder plus spacer to get the stack height right. At least that's the plan.
Speaking of plans, the Superator concept got modified today (again). I got Cyclone MK1 derailleurs on their way, but today I have also found a Huret Jubilee that seems to fit Campy dropouts. I tried to resist, I really did. I've got probably 20 derailleur sets I should get rid of. But then I looked at the Jubilee and it just looked sooo pretty. So. I've got Jubilee on the way. Since Superator is supposed to be the weight weenie, perhaps it's best if it gets the lightest vintage derailleur available. 50 grams lighter than the Superbe originally planned for it. Still need to find a front Jubilee and that probably won't be much lighter than Superbe FD. Shifters got changed to Simplex SLJ (5g lighter than Suntour Sprint ratcheting ones). Switching to Weinmann brakes shaves another 50g though. So whilst 100g is not that much, this might be of some use if I don't use a modern saddle.

RCMoeur 

I looked at the bars to see if it used Suntour Power Ratchet thumbies, but instead they're the bulky profile of Shimano shifters (OK for their time, but IMO not quite as nice as the Suntour version). But a glance at the rest of the bike reveals a deer head Deore group, so the shifters can be forgiven for being part of the set.

merziac

I have a couple sets of these I pulled the covers off of to make them a little less fugly, I think it helped a lot.

Velo Mule

Sticks are the enemy of fenders. I was feeling pretty smug on my ride as yesterday's heavy rains left behind puddles and little streams crossing the trail. With fenders, I didn't get any spray. Nice. But - bam! A stick got caught up high enough in the fender to do some serious damage. I was able to ride home, going slow the whole way. It's not too far.

The fender is already off and I'm thinking about new fenders. My preference has been Planet Bike or Velo Orange. I think these SKS fenders are more for the road. On the trails that I ride, these have taken a beating. The rear suffered a stick attack about two years ago and was shortened to cutaway the damage part.



The break-away tabs didn't release. I don't think it would have saved the fender anyway.

merziac

Atta boy,

Looks great!

noglider 

@Velo Mule, that happened to me riding on a trail. It ruined a nice white Bluemels fender. They have been hard to get. It's sad.

bikamper

We called that a 'Torque Enhancer' in the railroad industry. Using a 'cheater bar' was frowned upon by those who made up the safety rules.

Pompiere

When I worked at the power plant, the mechanics had some huge wrenches that had a big square "handle" that was made to be hit with a sledge hammer. I presume they only used it for disassembly, since they were pretty anal about torque specs on assembly.


from the net

52telecaster

Don't forget coupling caps!