Falcon Majorca Restoration

[mjr]

I did the bad old trick of squirting spray lubricant into the pedal bearings. Only one click remained. Adjusted headset and all seems quiet... for now... There's a chance I may replace this bike with another one in a week or two if that's the right size (but I suspect it'll be too big), so I'm probably going to leave it there until I know. I might fit safety clips to the mudguards if I can figure out how.

 

[stevevw]

SR road champion bars are quite nice if a little curvey on the top. They came anodised so would not be shiney. Some were gold and some had their sleeves drilled

Shaun

A nice bath in caustic soda and a blitz on the polisher will sort those dull bars.
I have just received in the post today a set of SR Road Champion Bars with very nice punched holes, they are like nos so do not need a bath yet. I do like most of the higher end SR stuff just as good as Cinelli in my opinion.

 

[stevevw]

@mjray looking good to me

i always do a number of 1.5 mile rides to gain confidence and to test bikes before i do any longer rides , once all happy then i use them for leisure rides

un taped bars is a good look imho unless its winter

Good advice. My last test went like this. Finish build at midnight, 200 yard ride down the road, next day 30 mile club run, Put bike in to bike bag, ride Eroica Britannia 55 miles. Touch wood all went well. Do as I say not as I do

Untapped bars Ok. No end bungs Nooooooooo. Far too dangerous.

 

[mjr]

I have bungs in but I still rediscovered the "delight" of trying to dismount forwards, getting it a bit wrong and smacking my knee into the bar end

Not a problem on roadsters... then if I get it wrong, I usually kick the bike out of the way!

 

[ChrisEyles]

Good luck tracking down the last of those clicks!

I discovered the same corrosion when I re-did the bar tape on my ten speed last year. It looked almost like someone had put plaster of paris under the old tape to bulk up the bars, there was an awful lot of it. The aluminium underneath looked OK when I scraped off the white stuff, and the bars have since stood up to a fair amount of heaving up steep hills - so I reckon yours might well still be fine to use.

 

[mjr]

The bike seemed silent on tonight's test ride Well, as silent as an old ten speed ever was. I need to adjust the rear derailleur to make the smallest cog slightly easier to select, but it feels pretty close. Also, I've inspected some bearings and there's grease in them

 

[ChrisEyles]

Great stuff Is the bike a good fit in the end?

 

[mjr]

I'm not sure until I ride it some more but it seems close!

 

[Gatters]

SR road champion bars are quite nice if a little curvey on the top. They came anodised so would not be shiney. Some were gold and some had their sleeves drilled

Shaun

I have the ones with holes, they are 'World Custom' a very nice bar. I've never seen 'Road Champion' with those holes...but I've seen 'World custom' without the holes...Sheesh!

 

[mjr]

As discussed in https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/i-have-a-nervous-falcon.183926/, I was finding it a bit twitchy but unlike the ultimate solution to that one, I didn't switch the stem yet - I think I've managed to tame the falcon simply by repositioning the bars. After having done that, I notice that they now look more like the position that @Illaveago's bars were in to start with and it's nearer where they hang naturally, which is probably a good thing, isn't it?

Of course, that's meant moving the levers up the bars a bit so the hood position is still comfortable, but I don't see a problem with that. I've also fitted some Dia Compe 204 tan hood covers. Not sure that looks right with grey bar tape but I don't really like black or white

It's still far twitchier, lower and less practical than a roadster and I seem to keep going faster and faster on it. It's like a device for turning inhaled air into whoosh, but I guess that's a road bike...

 

[Illaveago]

I was just wondering what size wheels and tyres are you using?

 

[mjr]

28-630 Schwalbe Active Line tyres on 27 x 1 ¼ Rigida wheels.

 

[Illaveago]

So they're not razor blades then! I found that mine on 7/8ths-700s was a bit lively to say the least.

 

[mjr]

So they're not razor blades then! I found that mine on 7/8ths-700s was a bit lively to say the least.

⅞ths-700s are 22-622? Yes, that sounds different enough.

It's odd in that it's a smooth ride but I can still feel every stone and road defect. Doesn't this bug the heck out of other people when using narrower tyres with alu frames? When riding this falcon, I do miss my usual roadster's armchair-style ride... but I was reminded what twitchy really means by using the short-wheelbase folding bike with 40-405s at RideLondon Free Cycle! It's sort of fun being able to a u-turn in about 2m width, as long as you meant to!

 

[Illaveago]

I have heard that the ride on ally bikes is a bit harsh. It is a long time since I rode a bike with steel rims ,I can't remember if they feel any any different.