zzpza
Well-Known Member
I bought this bike before all my other road bikes, about two years ago (hence it being before project one (here) and project two (here)). It was £10 and in a sorry state. It required more work that I had the free time to do back then, so it went into the garden shed and stayed there. I had always intended on repairing it, but nothing happened for over two years, until about a month ago.
I guess I enjoy building / fixing bikes almost as much as riding them! This was the condition the bike was in when I got it...
It doesn't look too bad from this pic, but...
Both front and rear tyres were perished
Both brakes were borderline seized
The headset was incredibly slack
The bottom bracket was very notchy
Chain almost rusted solid
Rear brake lever seized and heavily corroded
Frame covered in scratches and surface rust
Here's a nice pic of one of the tyres.
So I started to strip the frame down. I wanted to spend as little on this bike as possible as, if I'm honest, I didn't really have any use for this bike. I just felt it was a shame that it was sat in the shed doing nothing.
I gave the frame a quick clean, but left the rust alone. None of it was anything other than surface, and it gives the bike a good 'rat bike' look. It's not going to be high on a list of bikes to steal!
Stripping the Mafac center pull brakes down into their component parts, cleaning off all the grease that had solidified and replacing the brake cables fixed the seized brakes.
I converted the bb from a loose ball bearing tyre to a Shimano UN54 110mm sealed bb. I reused the loose ball bearing headset, but I replaced and regreased the 15 or so ball bearings that were missing.
I had to pay the LBS £8 to remove the stronglight crankset before I could replace the bb as it was bigger than my bb extraction tool. I replaced the crankset with a spare campy xenon one from the 'spare parts shelf'.
As the brake levers were shot (and I had no spares), the drops were replaced with a set of riser bars and 'dirt harry' levers. I had to pay £5 for a set of grips.
Next up to be replaced were the tyres... The wheels are 27" x 1 1/4". So I only seemed to have two options - cheap and nasty or expensive. Luckily I kind of found some middle ground. Albeit, closer to the expensive end than the cheaper end - Conti Ultra Sports.
I also replaced the gear cables (again from the parts shelf) and added an old rack I had to add to the undesirability of the bike.
Oh, and a £10 cycle computer off the 'bay.
Bike - £10
Grips - £5
Tyres - £30
Comp - £10
Total - £55 (plus elbow grease and half my spare parts shelf)
Out of interest, does anyone know what bike it is? I think it's a late 70's early 80's PX-10, but I'm not sure. The seat post is 24.0mm if that helps.
Full set of photos - here.
I guess I enjoy building / fixing bikes almost as much as riding them! This was the condition the bike was in when I got it...
It doesn't look too bad from this pic, but...
Both front and rear tyres were perished
Both brakes were borderline seized
The headset was incredibly slack
The bottom bracket was very notchy
Chain almost rusted solid
Rear brake lever seized and heavily corroded
Frame covered in scratches and surface rust
Here's a nice pic of one of the tyres.
So I started to strip the frame down. I wanted to spend as little on this bike as possible as, if I'm honest, I didn't really have any use for this bike. I just felt it was a shame that it was sat in the shed doing nothing.
I gave the frame a quick clean, but left the rust alone. None of it was anything other than surface, and it gives the bike a good 'rat bike' look. It's not going to be high on a list of bikes to steal!
Stripping the Mafac center pull brakes down into their component parts, cleaning off all the grease that had solidified and replacing the brake cables fixed the seized brakes.
I converted the bb from a loose ball bearing tyre to a Shimano UN54 110mm sealed bb. I reused the loose ball bearing headset, but I replaced and regreased the 15 or so ball bearings that were missing.
I had to pay the LBS £8 to remove the stronglight crankset before I could replace the bb as it was bigger than my bb extraction tool. I replaced the crankset with a spare campy xenon one from the 'spare parts shelf'.
As the brake levers were shot (and I had no spares), the drops were replaced with a set of riser bars and 'dirt harry' levers. I had to pay £5 for a set of grips.
Next up to be replaced were the tyres... The wheels are 27" x 1 1/4". So I only seemed to have two options - cheap and nasty or expensive. Luckily I kind of found some middle ground. Albeit, closer to the expensive end than the cheaper end - Conti Ultra Sports.
I also replaced the gear cables (again from the parts shelf) and added an old rack I had to add to the undesirability of the bike.
Oh, and a £10 cycle computer off the 'bay.
Bike - £10
Grips - £5
Tyres - £30
Comp - £10
Total - £55 (plus elbow grease and half my spare parts shelf)
Out of interest, does anyone know what bike it is? I think it's a late 70's early 80's PX-10, but I'm not sure. The seat post is 24.0mm if that helps.
Full set of photos - here.
