Photographed on arrival at our home. It can only get better.
Hopefully this will soon be a beautiful bicycle for Beautiful wife. Eventually. We found it in a cellar where it’s languished for at least 12 years, unwanted and gradually gathering dust . It’s a bit of a wreck a complete wreck. It’ll be a while before we can even make it ridable. A few months ago I wouldn’t have looked twice, but talking with people here and reading things like the old bike blog have got me interested in having a go at a full bike makeover.
Those brakes will have to go. It needs dusting too...
And this will be a full makeover: the gears are shot, the bottom bracket is a mess , a complete crank is missing and the tyres are shredded, but it’s still what I’ve been looking for since I started the blog: a steel small framed bike with metal mudguards, a luggage rack, and most importantly, 26″ wheels. And it was free.
Ghastly colour scheme and remains of Bottom Bracket
Beautiful Wife has laid down one condition: I can do whatever I want with the components to make it ridable, but it needs to be a different colour. First. Before anything else. I’m in full agreement as I think the current scheme could frighten horses. She wants a dark coffee brown, matt. A friend has access to a paint shop and I’m waiting for him to cost some paint.
Front end with odd handlebars.
So that looks like my winter project. I’m no expert though so I’m open to suggestions and ideas: What would other people suggest I look out for? What would be a good place to start on the renovation? And what suggestions would other people have for replacement parts?
All suggestions gratefully received…
6 comments
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November 10, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Jon
Paint, for sure!
Cost no object?
Then: Priest bars, cork grips, French tourist-style brake levers, MKS caged pedals, Brooks seat (B66, preferably), smoother tires, SR cfrankset (vintage, preferably, but new if necessary).
Basically a Velo Orange shopping list.
Are those Dia-Compe brakes? If so, they really aren’t bad, functionally. The front one is set up with the straddle hanger much too high, in the photos, but new pads and correct set-up will make them not bad,
Of course, better can be had!
Actually, all of the above parts can be sourced fairly cheaply (with the exception of the saddle, alas), if you are patient and eBay-savvy…
November 11, 2009 at 5:20 am
Rapps
Dark coffee brown, yes-yes, wrap the handle bars in it too.
Save the bell, make it’s teal blue an accent color with tiny, very tiny stripes on the fender edges or find a larger sheet of it and have her cut something she likes a flower, troll with an IPod, hot air balloon or frog holding a spear. Then make that the “logo” for the bike on the front handle bar post. You can get auto detail stripes at an auto parts store in the US ?? where you live. I’d add a pale yellow too. Ditch the generator light, quaint but not very bright.
It would be cool with custom panniers in the coffee brown, I’m thinking corduroy or are the any Naugas around there? You could use their hyde.
The put the logo on them too…………art project!
November 12, 2009 at 4:39 am
Myles/ rattrappress
Get an internally geared hub, 3 or 8 speed. Then you can get one of those nice aluminum chainguards that Velo orange is now selling. You’ll also need a Brooks saddle and some kind of upright bars. I look forward to reading about your progress on this new project.
November 13, 2009 at 10:14 am
Nick
I’m with your wife on the colour scheme. It HAS to go. It looks like a whole winter’s job to me; good luck with it.
November 14, 2009 at 12:01 am
MarkA
Wow, that’s going to be a lot of work to tiday up – will be awesome when it’s finished though.
I’ve added you to my blogroll at i b i k e l o n d o n
Looking forward to hearing how you get on with the (whole) winter project!
November 14, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Andy in Germany
Hello all, and thanks for your thoughts.
Glad to see we’re united about the colour.
Money, or rather lack therof is rather an issue- although we’ve ourselves to blame having forked out for the Bakfiets earlier this year.
The rennovation will be a balancing act between buying in better quality parts where they’re needed and digging around in the spares box wherever I can get away with it. For example, we’d like a hub gear, but it’s beyond our budget, and besides in this hilly region I think Beautiful Wife will appreciate the extra options of a derraileur system, so the front mech I replaced on the Xtracycle last year will be pressed into service for at least a few months. I’ve enough V-brake sets to be able to replace the (no-name) brakes the bike currently has, so all I need to get new are shifters, brake handles and the rear Mech.
Wheels are more troublesome. I have a cheapo alloy front wheel as a stop-gap measure but the rear will have to be bought new straight away. I’m also unsure what to do about the front mudguard stays which currently loop around the axle for support which I imagine is awkward when you have punctures. Does anyone have a suggestion how I could connect these directly to the forks, or is this less of a problem in practice?
I like the idea about having a logo too, and we’ve got a design we like. Unfortunately the Bell is a Mickey Mouse or something equally tacky.
Generator lights are a legal requirement here so they will stay, although long term I’ll try and get better quality ones- the Bakfiets has a set of high-power LED lights that frighten cars.
So far I’ve taken the bike apart down to the frame, which is sound (if cheap) and appears to be British-made. Now I’ve got the ‘flu but when I’m better I’ll keep working at it and let you know how things are going…
@markA Thanks for the link…