Old racer restoration

scottyjohn

Hi all,
I am a mountain biker to heart but I have a hankering for an old school racer. I have the chance of a Dawes really cheap but needs a bit of renovation. My questions are, instead of going to a single speed, is it better to drop the front or rear mechs? I'm assuming three good gears would be better than 7 out back in terms of useability. Also is it worthwhile doing this?
Any advice appreciated!

David-Witts

whats wrong with the Dawes, what type of riding do you intend to do and then whats your budget? Davy ( old school touring bike )

juankerr

If you drop the rear mech, how are you going it tension the chain?

skyd0g

I think you'd probably spend more trying to "convert" it, rather than getting the front and rear mechs working properly. I think you'll also find you have a more useable bike at the end (especially as you're in "bumpy" Glasgow). IMHO

scottyjohn

Ah well, Glasgow is a little hilly :-)

I just wanted the bike for day trips on the bike and cycling around the city really. I just really like the clean, old skool racer look. I really like the whole fixie look, but I know im not fit enough to handle a fixie! Im just thinking what are the likely problems I may face in renovating it.

lae

I've renovated quite a few old bikes and they're dead simple (compared to restoring old cars, at least). Classic bikes are really simple, so the mechanical bits will be covered by an ordinary bike manual (like the Haynes bike book - this even covers old-school stuff like cottered cranks). You'll need a halfway decent selection of tools (including a long ratchet or breaker bar for cracking tough nuts and bolts apart!) and some general consumables like WD40, bearing grease, new cables and ball bearings etc.

Steel frames are pretty bulletproof, but still you should check carefully that everything is straight. Because the steel used is quite thick and usually of a high quality too, it's very rare that rust will be a major problem at all (although surface rust is to be expected pretty much everywhere!).

Then you just need to check normal things like - are the threads okay for the bottom bracket (your LBS will have a big clamp tool thing for removing the old-style axled bottom brackets, which you can re-grease and use, or replace with a modern cartridge), are the stem and headset threads okay etc. Then just check that all the bearing cups are okay and not worn, and on older and well-used bikes check carefully for dimples in the headset bearings (if the threaded headset isn't done up tightly enough, repeated jarring causes the ball bearings to hammer out little dimples in the cups).

If you're gonna be using the original steel wheels, they're usually pretty strong and difficult to buckle, but give them a good check anyway. I find them too heavy and usually replace them with aluminium 700c wheels anyway. NB - If your old bike came with 27" wheels, you can fit 700c wheels BUT the brake blocks will need to be lowered by about 4mm to suit - so check that the calipers have enough adjustment in them to move the pads down. You'll also need different brake blocks as the weird felt-like material for chromed steel rims is pretty useless on aluminium rims.

As the mechanical bits on old bikes are so simple it's usually just a case of - remove components from frame, disassemble components, re-grease components and replace where necessary, then re-install on the frame.

If you want to paint the frame you can rub it down with some 400 sandpaper (with plenty of water and a dab of washing up liquid) and then red-oxide primer (good anti-rust primer, available in Halfrauds etc) over that. If the frame is rusty, you can use a paint remover such as Nitromors, and then a wire brush to get it all off (much faster is a wire wheel in an electric drill), then use a rust-converter, then red-oxide primer and paint as normal. I usually find that 4 cans of primer, 4 cans of colour and 2 cans of lacquer is enough to do a colour change on a bike (it sounds like a lot, doesn't it? you'll need less if you're re-spraying in a similar colour though). If you need advice on how to paint just look up car repair techniques or ask a knowledgeable friend or PM me (it's a long and very repetitive process, so long and repetitive that I can't be bothered to type it out!). Leave the frame and forks drying for at least a week before you start putting it back together, otherwise you'll notice that the paint will chip and even peel off very easily! If your bike has any aluminium, it's really easy to polish up - get an electric drill with a felt wheel and clamp it to a table, and use Autosol as a polish and with a bit of work you'll get aluminium that looks like chrome!

I've only had a few specific problems with old bikes:
1. stuck seat posts - specifically aluminium seatposts in steel frames - Sheldon Brown has an excellent article on this
http://sheldonbrown.com/stuck-seatposts.html

2. Shearing the threads on crank arms, meaning that they can't be removed from the BB spindle - the easiest way to get them off is to use a hub puller designed for car clutches or steering wheels - three legs clip around the inside of the chainwheel and you screw in the column in the middle, pushing against the BB spindle and pulling the chainwheel off. On the left hand side it can be much more difficult unless you find or make a special puller - what I've had to do is get an angle grinder with a 1mm cutting disc and very carefully cut the BB spindle apart, the pop the little stub out of the crank arm in a vice. Of course, you'll now need a new axle or cartridge BB, so make sure you clean the threads and screw in the proper removal tool as far as it will go to hopefully prevent the threads shearing!

And as for single speed bikes - try it, they're cheap (potentially free) to put together with an old spin-on freewheel. The transmission is noticeably more efficient and the bikes are quite a bit lighter, so you'd be surprised how easy they are to pedal. If it's not a commuter or competitive bike then who cares if you have to get off and walk once in a while :oops:

lae

Oh, and if you want the single speed look but with some low gears for hills, you could alway try using a hub-geared rear wheel and carefully colour-coding the cable to hide it!

You may have to put spacers on the rear axle (if the hub is too narrow) or spread the rear (if it's too wide) but neither is a difficult thing to do.

scottyjohn

Thansk for the advice Frink, I took the plunge and picked up my new steed today :-) The bike is complete, and seems in not too bad condition, I will know better after I get a chance to strip it down and clean up whats there. I did notice that there were a few rusty bits on the chrome work, like the large chrome rings on the headset and little things like the little chrome cable ties which hold the cable to the top tube Are these types of parts available to buy anywhere?