Perils of buying 2nd hand and goings on in my garage

[biggs682]

Been looking for a cheap B Twin for a while but they all sell to quickly , so when i saw this one advertised locally at a fair price i went and had a look at it and after some serious bartering brought it home .

I have also wanted a modern 2nd hand bike to show some of the perils of buying 2nd hand to some people , seeing as i quite often suggest buying second hand bikes .

Faults I could see straight away were , chain 75%+ worn , tyre's , old style solid fr axle wheel , rear hub noisy , brake cable's not under tape which also needs re doing , saddle loose on clamp and one pr of bottle cage bolts missing .

Over the next few weeks i will hopefully sorting out the issues stated above and others i may find en route . I will also keep a running total of any expenses .

 

[IanSmithCSE]

Good morning,

Should be interesting. :-)

Would it be useful to note what tools you would also have needed to buy if you were buying this as your first bike for 20 years?

I found that my freewheel remover wasn't relevant but my old pedal spanners and a square taper crank extractor were.

Bye

Ian

 

[otek59]

Good idea, it’ll be interesting to see the results in terms of costs and any problems along the way

 

[Andy in Germany]

Great idea. Having done something similar recently, admittedly with an older and much more worn bike, I'll be looking for tips...

 

[Ajax Bay]

Incongruous MTB brake blocks. I wonder how many of the components are not those as the bike was sold new. The front wheel is obviously a substitute. Are the derailleurs originals, I wonder? The ST-4400 STIs are perfectly good. And if the chain is already elongated that much, then running the cassette and chain on will likely be the best way ahead (as opposed to replacing both chain and cassette). Look forward to your narrative.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Do you know anything of the history of the machine? Strange bodge on the bars/cables. Interesting that the front wheel has been replaced but it looks in reasonable nick otherwise, so it's possible (likely?) either

(1) The bike was crashed, totalling the front wheel and necessitating replacement, perhaps with damage to bars/shifters too? Are the bars original?
(2) The bike was locked front wheel only and nicked.

In the light of (1) a careful examination of forks and frame may be worthwhile.

 

[I like Skol]

Poor bike certainly seems to have had a neglected past and some unnecessary bodges inflicted on it. The R/H pedal appears to have take a fair old whack too...

Of all the things wrong with that bike, the one that grates the most is the stem spacers and flipped stem. I haven't counted but there must be 6 or 7 5mm spacers on there and then they have turned the stem over to lose some height

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Poor bike certainly seems to have had a neglected past and some unnecessary bodges inflicted on it. The R/H pedal appears to have take a fair old whack too...

Perhaps in the same crash that necessitated wheel replacement...

 

[biggs682]

Good morning,

Should be interesting. :-)

Would it be useful to note what tools you would also have needed to buy if you were buying this as your first bike for 20 years?

I found that my freewheel remover wasn't relevant but my old pedal spanners and a square taper crank extractor were.

Bye

Ian

Hoping not to have to buy any extra / new tools but will see . So far it looks like a decent set of allen keys should be needed along with a cassette lock ring tool like https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silverline-241048-Cassette-Lockring-Slim-Profile/dp/B00J3AA66G but i already have them

Incongruous MTB brake blocks. I wonder how many of the components are not those as the bike was sold new. The front wheel is obviously a substitute. Are the derailleurs originals, I wonder? The ST-4400 STIs are perfectly good. And if the chain is already elongated that much, then running the cassette and chain on will likely be the best way ahead (as opposed to replacing both chain and cassette). Look forward to your narrative.

Both wheels are not originals so these will be replaced with a matching set i already have along with a new chain & a low use cassette or a new one if that doesn't like the new chain . Everything else looks original .

Do you know anything of the history of the machine? Strange bodge on the bars/cables. Interesting that the front wheel has been replaced but it looks in reasonable nick otherwise, so it's possible (likely?) either

(1) The bike was crashed, totalling the front wheel and necessitating replacement, perhaps with damage to bars/shifters too? Are the bars original?
(2) The bike was locked front wheel only and nicked.

In the light of (1) a careful examination of forks and frame may be worthwhile.

No history on machine at all and neither did the seller other than it rides well .... I have test ridden the bike and all gears selected and brakes worked . I couldn't see any damage to frame and forks but will have a closer look as i do the jobs on it .

Poor bike certainly seems to have had a neglected past and some unnecessary bodges inflicted on it. The R/H pedal appears to have take a fair old whack too...

View attachment 471214

Of all the things wrong with that bike, the one that grates the most is the stem spacers and flipped stem. I haven't counted but there must be 6 or 7 5mm spacers on there and then they have turned the stem over to lose some height

Yes i need to check them out as i am not convinced what the big thing below the spacers is either

 

[ChrisEyles]

Interesting to keep a tally of costs for this. I'm another advocate of buying 2nd hand, but must admit when I first got into cycling I wouldn't really have known what to look out for, or how to fix it if it was broke.

I think the best way is to buy a cheapo bike you don't care/stress about, and learn to strip down & rebuild and generally fettle on that... but you have to have a bit of time and enthusiasm for this.

@biggs682 the "big thing below the spacers" I have on a couple of my bikes. On my 90's MTB it looks like the one you've pictured above, while on my 2014 Raleigh Royal the front canti brake hanger is integrated onto it. The collar clamp bolt keeps the adjustment on the headset so you can remove the stem without having to re-set the bearing pre-load on it.

It's actually quite handy on my rigid MTB, which rattles around a lot on the down hills. You can easily tweak up the bearing pre-load on the headset when it rattles loose by tightening the collar clamp bolt a smidge.

 

[I like Skol]

The big thing below the spacers is a secondary clamp, seems to be quite a standard thing on B-twin bikes, I have a Triban-3 which has one.

As @ChrisEyles says, it is useful to maintain the bearing set-up when swapping or adjusting stems. I don't think the clamp will actually adjust headset bearing preload, it is simply a clamp. You must remember to loosen the clamp bolt and stem pinch bolts before attempting to adjust headset bearing preload via the top cap bolt. Only tighten the top cap bolt enough to remove any play, then tighten the pinch and clamp bolts. The top cap bolt shoule not be doing anything to hold the headset together once the pinch bolts are done up to the recommended torque. If you over-do the top cap tension you will crush the bearings.

 

[ChrisEyles]

The secondary clamp on my old Marin has a conical washer type assembly, so as you tighten the collar clamp bolt, it increases the pre-load on the bearings. It's kind of a redundant engineering feature, but like I say quite useful as the headset does seem to work loose over time.

 

[youngoldbloke]

Nice idea. I wouldn't count the 2 missing bottle cage bolts as a fault however.

 

[biggs682]

Well tyre's and wheels sorted out by using items that were already in the garage .

Bar tape removed to check what was going on underneath . Frame and fork had a more detailed examination and looks good .

Swapping out the front wheel has made an improvement in weight of bike .

 

[I like Skol]

I see you corrected the orientation of the seatpost qr. It's funny how such details mean nothing to some folk but are intolerable to others....

It will be a fine bike once it is finished, and a triple chainset so perfect for any occasion.