Restoration project into Winter trainer

davidcarter20

Hi all

I am thinking of restoring a road bike of the 1970s/1980s into a winter trainer and hoping to gain some knowledge of bike building maintenance on the way.
I currently ride a newish road bike throughout the whole year and have been advised on numerous occasions to get a winter trainer and save on the damage to my racer.

I have browsed around the forums but can't find anything specific, I after some advice on make and models of bikes to restore? Raleigh? Mercia? Peugeot? etc... I don't want huge expense just something with a bit of character and history.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

I saw that Sheldon Brown lists the Mercia 100/200 as good restoration projects but they are hard to lay their hands on. I've been scouring ebay for a bargain but just don't know what to go for!

Many thanks, any advice would be much appreciated.

Canny Jock

The problem with restoring a nice old bike, which you will then care about, is that you will mess it up riding in winter. Might be best to use an unloved 5 year oldish Alu frame and use that, then fairly modern and cheap to replace components.

Then restore a vintage Colnago and save it for sunny days once you know what you're doing :-)

maddog3021@hotmail.com

i have just stripped the paint off of a 19 87 Nigel Dean Edge steel frame and forks for restoration , it was a companolo compact with downshifters, i am wondering if i can fit a 10 gear by buying all new parts or return it to its former glory again with all new parts as the gears are shot as is the chain rings. also i am planning to respray it probably by hand myself as i cannot find a cycle spray shop where i live here in southern spain the nearest is about 300ks away and is expensive, what are the pitfall and do s donts . would be gratefull for advice....

geordiefella

i'm doing this right now.

step 1. i bought a road bike, ran it into the ground in all weathers.
step2. bought a new better road bike and now its too good for wet weather
step 3. got my 20 year old steel tourer and have transformed it from 7 speed into 10 speed campag veloce. It has mudguards and is nearly finished. I'll love riding it and won't mind using it in the wet but its a bit shiney and classic looking and well, i sort of don't want to ride it in shi*ty weather, but commuting miles are many so it'll be fine for that

i run a single cog commuter to work. little wear and great for many crappy weather miles. think about a single speed. after hours of fiddling and restoration, the classic bike done up will be a thing you don't want to ruin with miles and miles of crappy weather utility riding. saying that, it feels lovely.

have you considered the ribble sora 7005 winter bike. 600 quid or summat? I'd fancy that. purely as a wet crappy weather every day commuter bike. lovely. reviews well too! and it'll all work well together and be cheap to replace rings now and then.