My very cheap Vintage Sun bike project.

[ianpallen]

My latest project. Sun bicycle from the 70's.
I bought it only for the cowhorn handle bars.
It has a SA 3 speed, broken rear brake cable and a rusty frame (surface rust).
It has a vintage horn on it. The rubber ball is still working but full of water. The horn is rusted solid inside. I will have a go at restoring it.
The wheels have surface rust on them. I think I will put alloy wheels and a single speed on it.
26" wheels.
The Brooks saddle is a bit of a mess with tape wrapped around it.
The bike cost me £0.99p + £5 for delivering it as it was 15 miles away.

 

[FrankCrank]

That's quite a challenge you've set yourself - fair play to you. Could be turned into a ratbike at little expense, something to lock up in town and not worry about.

 

[ianpallen]

That's quite a challenge you've set yourself - fair play to you. Could be turned into a ratbike at little expense, something to lock up in town and not worry about.

I like the colour as it is the same as my very first bike, Hercules Balmoral, but the paint has mostly gone from the bike leaving surface rust . I did think about rubbing it all over with wire wool and doing a boiled linseed oil polish with it, but my main objective is to build a bike I had in the 1970's with the cowhorns. It was my Balmoral. Started off original burgundy, had it sprayed at a spray shop in Teal Blue (I had to prepare it all and I got it sprayed for free as I helped out htere now and again), then I painted it black with a thin paint by numbers brush and a tin of Humbrol black enamel paint. The tin for plastic models was just enough to do the whole bike. It took me a few hours with the tiny paint brush, but it looked very nice and shiny. I was about 15 at the time of hand painting it. lol Then it got stolen.

 

[tinywheels]

oh com on! surely you could have ridden it home. Think of the fun you could have had retelling that story.

 

[ianpallen]

oh com on! surely you could have ridden it home. Think of the fun you could have had retelling that story.

Not at my age. lol. Would have been a good story, but no brakes and a rusty chain, no gear cable so in 3rd gear. I would have had a heart attack or broken bones falling off. lol.

 

[ianpallen]

I have been sttripping the bike. I thought I would give the front wheel a clean with a wire brush on my drill.
It was going well, the rim looked really shiny, so I removed hte rim tape and started to clean the rust under it.
I stopped when I saw too many pin holes in he inner rim wall and a larger one near the valve hole. The wheel has stainless spokes and either an aluminium or stainless hub as no rust on it at all.
Plus, I looked at the rear 3 speed hub and the date surprised me. It is 1993.

The old horn that was on the bike is too far gone to restore. It is rusted through.
The handlebars and stem came up good.
The saddle is a mess and the stem rusty. I have a couple of seat stems. Even an extra long one somewhere in my shed.
The chain cleaned up nice and freed up. Oiled and wiped down. I will put it away for now.
Some day, I will be looking for a set of wheels with a single speed freewheel hub.
The paint is very thin and I will strip it down to bare metal and respray it later in the summer.

 

[ianpallen]

The bike as it stands now. Will be stripped down more soon.

 

[ianpallen]

I have got as far as removing the rear wheel. No pic, nust the same minus the wheel. lol.
I am not in any rush to finish the bike.

 

[wafter]

That looks.... intimidating. I think many of us would consider that too far gone, but fair play for having a crack!

 

[BADGER.BRAD]

We used to call these Trackers , Old bike Cow Horns , single speed conversion ( before you smashed it anyway) and if you were really posh a set of knobbly I'm guessing cyclocross tyres. The 1960/70@s answer to the Mountain bike before it was invented ! I can remember lads riding bikes looking as yours does now sometimes with odd sized wheels

 

[ianpallen]

We used to call these Trackers , Old bike Cow Horns , single speed conversion ( before you smashed it anyway) and if you were really posh a set of knobbly I'm guessing cyclocross tyres. The 1960/70@s answer to the Mountain bike before it was invented ! I can remember lads riding bikes looking as yours does now sometimes with odd sized wheels

The nobbly tires came out in the mid 1970's and a bike shop was selling them for 50p each. We used to put them on our bikes and have dirt track riding. We used to do all sorts of stuff, off ramps, over logs, through brooks, up and down rough ground. Many times my bike went with odd sized wheels, no brakes, no lights at night, no mudguards, I had a raleigh chopper, no brakes or lights and stuck in 3rd gear and was chased by cops for not having lights at night. I madre it up a hill and through a short cut home and put the bike in the back garden and stood at the front gate. The cop came around and asked if we seen some lads on bikes. We said no.lol
We also done stuff on bikes that was done on TV with motorbikes. The program was called Kick Start. We were doing that stuff before the program even started. lol.

 

[BADGER.BRAD]

I remember Kickstart and Junior Kickstart well, I used to watch it then go out over our local fields and see how muddy I could get, we had stupidly made jumps and would sometimes jump each other lying on the floor. I can even remember some idiot/brave lad that managed to get his bike to the top of the highly dangerous slides we used to have built up from the ground with a 20 foot drop either side, he actually got down ! It a wonder we didn't kill ourselves in those days. Makes me think of building up a tracker myself !

 

[ianpallen]

I remember Kickstart and Junior Kickstart well, I used to watch it then go out over our local fields and see how muddy I could get, we had stupidly made jumps and would sometimes jump each other lying on the floor. I can even remember some idiot/brave lad that managed to get his bike to the top of the highly dangerous slides we used to have built up from the ground with a 20 foot drop either side, he actually got down ! It a wonder we didn't kill ourselves in those days. Makes me think of building up a tracker myself !

We lived near a scrap yard and used to take our bikes in the yard when it was closed and ride over cars.
There was a building site 1/2 a mile from us and we used to ride around it while a new estate was being built. There was a massive soil hill with a smooth side. I challenged myself and a mate to ride down the mountain of mud. It was about 40 - 60ft high. I went first and the idea was to go off aa small ramp some kids had placed. I came down the hill that fast, my rear brake stopped my wheel and just sliding down. My front brake was a powerful brake and would throw me over the handlebars often. I had no choice but to use it and about 80ft from the bottom of the slope, I finally pulledf my front brake and went over the handle bars and grazed all my face in the gravel. My so called mate watched and chickened out and walked his bike down the slope. He didnt want to hurt himself. It proved I was a lot braver than him.
I once held a bus up when I done a wheelie down the road as we were seeing who could do the longest. I managed about 300 yards to the traffic lights and the bus was still behind me. lol

 

[ianpallen]

We used to ride down kids slides in a play area, up and down steps along pathways and often get chased by some tennants unhappy with cyclists on the paths. We knew every short cut and back street cut throughs on the estate near us. That was back in hte 1970's. Those were the days. Lots of fun, punctures, brake fails and still rode home to fix the bikes.