Project bike for LEJOG 2012

[memoman]

I picked up my bike today. I told a mate of mine, who I'll be doing LEJOG with next year, that I want to turn a crappy mountain bike into a fully fledged, fully equiped tourer by the spring as a project. (I love a project, me!) So he let me have his Dad's old Carrera Gradient MTB which he no longer wanted. It doesn't look pretty... (this picture is the closest I can find. Exactly the same apart from the bar ends.)

But it has a decent frame (spots of rust, but they can be dealt with) and 21 gears. Which is a good start.

So the plan is to convert it into a LEJOG capable bike in time for February/March when we do our first training ride.

What I am planning on doing is to strip the bike down to it's frame, thoroughly clean the frame and respray the frame. Probably a red/black/white combo. Then once the frame is sorted, I'll put the bike back together, using new parts if necessary. (Marathon plus tyres, brake cables, pedals, seatpost, seat, handlebar are definite new parts.) Once all that is sorted, I'll add the necessary accessories required for doing an unsupported tour. Does this sound ok?

Only problem is, I've never done anything like this before. In fact, fixing a puncture is the limit of my mechanical know-how. Is there a book related to this that anyone can recommend? If not, I'll post on here and look online for help.

Thanks
Ollie

 

[Muddyfox]

What a great idea Memo, good luck with it

I would imagine there is plenty of online help for building up a bike

Foxy

 

[willem]

A few things come to mind. First, doing up a badly worn bike is rarely economical. So make sure the bike you start with is in relatively decent shape, fits you well, and only needs new wear parts that one has to replace from time to time anyway. Second, you do not mention the most obvious parts that often need replacing: rear cassette (or freewheel), chain, and one or more chainwheels in the front (steel ones are cheap). And what is the condition of the rear wheel? Rear wheel failure is a real pain, and it may pay to get a new handbuilt wheel before you leave.
Finally, I would avoid Marathon Plus tyres like the plague. They are horribly uncomfortable and slow. Some puncture protection is wellcome, of course, but for nearly all applications these are overkill. I use the 26x1.75 Panaracer Pasela TG on all but the most demanding trips, and even with these superbly fast and comfy tyres I do not get punctures. They will get you at least an hour earlier to your destination each evening (yes that much). The 2012 Schwalbe Big Apple evolution 50 mm would be a good compromise.
There are many good bike maintenance videos on the web, including those by Park Tools. The Park Tools Blue book is the ultimate manual, and well illustrated.
Willem

 

[Ivan Ardon]

I recommission a few old 90's MTBs as commuter/tourers each year and have found that it's very easy to spend far too much.

Before you begin, make sure the seatpost and handlebar stem aren't seized in the frame. Take them out, clean them up, regrease and refit them. If they're stuck, search through the threads on here for tips on freeing them up, which may or may not be successful.

I'd leave the paint well alone, unless you get it blasted and powdercoated. Rattle can jobs are hard to do properly, chip easily, take a long time and cost a lot more than you think they will. If you do your tour and decide you love the bike and want to keep it, you can strip and get it refinished afterwards. If you don't like it, you've not spend time, effort or cash on it which you won't get back when you sell it.

Marathon Plus' are great tyres on a bomb proof commuter, but not my first choice on a tourer for the reasons Willem states. I have plusses on my commuter, and standard Marathons on my tourer. Fit new, quality, tubes as well. I avoid Michelin 26 inch tyres as I've yet to find one that doesn't puncture easily.

I'd fit a cassette bottom bracket if it's not already got one. Shimano UN-54s for me and I've not worn one out yet.

Mudguards - SKS. They are a bit of a swine to fit, but are great once they're on.

Rack - does the frame have braze on's at the top of the rear stays, or will you need P clips? Any rack with a 25Kg load limit should do you fine, although a front rack and panniers will make the bike more stable if you're doing this fully loaded.

You'd also want to be servicing the headset and hubs, and have someone cast an eye over the wheels, checking them for straightness and even spoke tension.

Check the chain, freewheel and sprockets for wear, but I find that most of these bikes have had very little use, at the most requiring a new chain because the old one's gone rusty, and a little oil dribbled into the freewheel.

I also normally replace the 90's cantilever brakes with Vs, which involves fitting new levers as well. My commuter is now wearing a Acera V brakes at each end (cheap at £5 per enc inc pads!), new cables and S/H Deore LX levers from ebay. For £20 all in it transforms the bike and IMO is the biggest bang per buck upgrade on a 90's MTB.

Shopping around, and using good second hand parts (such as the rack(s)) should see that lot done for around £100-£120.

Add a saddle and bars to suit you, and you'll have a bike that'll romp through LEJoG. If it fits you.

 

[memoman]

Many thanks. Not sure what some of the things you both mentioned actually are, but I'll have a look online and that Park's manual sounds good. Will get it!

The bike itself fits perfectly. It's probably a 21-22" frame. Oh, and with regard to the paint, I'm definitely respraying it ASAP, I wouldn't cycle down the road on a purple bike let alone do LEJOG!

 

[bigjim]

Good idea but sounds a fair bit of work.
I very rarely get lucky on e-bay, as bidding seems to go crazy on bikes [a bog standard 80s peugeot went for over £200 last night]. But earlier this year I somehow won this bike for £16. It is as new with a set of new lights and mudguards. It had just never been used. I assume it is 80s or 90s and I figure I could convert it to see what a 26c tourer will be like to ride. However first I am going to run it on road tyres as I figure that the unused gearing should be good enough for a few miles before it would need changing. Sorry about the blurred pic.

 

[Ivan Ardon]

That, bigjim, is a purchase fill of WIN!That paintwork looks lovely. It comes to something when a new tyre costs as much as you paid for the bike.

I like the 90s Raleigh MTBs as tourers. They've got nice slack angles for a comfy ride and they're solidly built, although some of the components are overly heavy. I've got the same chainset on my commuting Raleigh Ascender and it weighs the same as the frame on my audax bike!

 

[Ivan Ardon]

Ahh, memoman, I see you're in Tivvy so I can understand why you don't want to be seen riding a purple bike.

Have a look at these people for powder coating:
http://www.bucksengineering.co.uk/5.html

They're at Rackenford, and the last time I spoke to them about powder coating a frame it was cheaper than buying the paint and materials from Halfords and doing it myself.

 

[hubbike]

I did a very similar thing:

http://peterhubbard.blogspot.com/search/label/bike building

THE book to have is this one.

See if you have a local bike recycling scheme (such as the bike station in edinburgh or recyke y bike in newcastle...)

If so you'll be able to get 2nd hand parts cheap and rent a workstand if you don't have the space/tools you need.

I would recommend getting new stuff for the drive chain (chainrings, cassette, dérailleurs, chain.) but on other stuff you can probably seek out cheap stuff at a recycling project or on ebay.

I had the bike shot-blasted and powder coated at a local place for 35 quid and the finish is really durable and looks mint. black was the cheapest as they have loads of black paint for painting fences etc...

I disagree with Willem, I think doing up an old bike is very often the best economical choice. Bike's depreciate in value very fast and '90s mtbs are so rugged that many are going strong and they make fantastic tourers. a 50 quid 2nd hand mtb can be much much better than a 200 quid bike from halfords and are often better than a bike 10 times the price new. Parts can be expensive unless you shop around, use ebay and 2nd hand bits.

 

[bigjim]

Hi Ivan.
Yes the paintwork is beautiful. Its a sort of metalflake finish. The bike weighs just short of 15Kg so I was wondering how to reduce it a bit. I have 2 other MTBs for spares. I think I'm going to fit these bars and levers to it.

I also want to fit these V brakes to it but now you have made me think. Why do I have to change the levers for V brakes?

Cheers. Jim

 

[memoman]

Ahh, memoman, I see you're in Tivvy so I can understand why you don't want to be seen riding a purple bike.

Have a look at these people for powder coating:
http://www.bucksengineering.co.uk/5.html

That's useful Ivan. Thanks, will definitely consider it.

I've bought The BBB-2 and it will come tomorrow, so I'll get cracking on dismantling the frame this weekend!

As for the parts, well I'll try to get em' of eBay whenever I can. I'm known to be a 'tight ass' anyway!

They're at Rackenford, and the last time I spoke to them about powder coating a frame it was cheaper than buying the paint and materials from Halfords and doing it myself.

 

[memoman]

Sorry. My post seems to have been put in the middle of the quote. Blame my phone for that!

 

[willem]

I want to make two points. The first is about brake levers. Levers for cantilever brakes and for v brakes pull different amounts of cable. So you cannot use canti levers with v brakes. However, some levers can be adjusted (they have two positions, usually marked with a c and a v). The second concerns the economics of renovating older bikes. If the budget is tight I would indeed always advise a good second hand bike rather than a 200 pound Halfords bike. What I said was something different. Make sure the bike you begin with is a decent one. It should fit you, and the frame should be from reputable tubing rather than drain pipes. And make sure you only need to replace the hard wearing parts. If you have to replace just about everything, the project may become costly. So be critical about the basis for your project.
As an example of what is possible, I have just bought an immaculate little used 1988 Koga Miyata Country Tourer for 50 euro - a five speed derailleur bike that I want to use as fast commuter bike. The frame is very well made from thin walled tubing, and the parts were all quality bits at the time. All it needed were new tyres, new pedals, a new freewheel and a new chain. Total cost of the finished project will be about 200 euro, and I will have a perfect commuter of a kind you could not easily get anymore in this age of crude stiff tig welded aluminium frames. The biggest drawback is that it has a sidewall generator.
Willem

 

[vernon]

Hi Ivan.
Yes the paintwork is beautiful. Its a sort of metalflake finish. The bike weighs just short of 15Kg so I was wondering how to reduce it a bit. I have 2 other MTBs for spares. I think I'm going to fit these bars and levers to it.

I also want to fit these V brakes to it but now you have made me think. Why do I have to change the levers for V brakes?

Cheers. Jim

The old clunkers are difficult to lighten cheaply because they used components that sacrifice weight to achieve cheapness.

Quick weight savings can be obtained by using lightweight tyres and inner tubes.

The frame is likely to be heavy and would benefit from an exchange to lose more weight.

There's lots to be saved by upgrading the wheels - not cheap

You could always try to sell the bike at a profit and buy a lighter bike.

 

[Ivan Ardon]

Bikes for spares, eh? Then you have more options.

Forget the V's on the silver bike, they're plastic and are a bit rubbish - difficult to ajjust and keep adjusted. The cantis you've got on the green bike are good quality and should be capable of being set up so they work. Have a look at Sheldon Brown for hints.

Losing weight off of the bike, I'd be looking at tyres first - Willem's Pasela TGs are especially light for the amount of puncture protection you get, you certainly don't want Marathon Plus' if you're trying to save weight, then a lighter chainset, handlebar stem and bars. You should be able to shave off a few pounds, but the biggest gain will be from the tyres. Do them first, then see what you think before spending anything else.