Back in Business and with twice the work to do!

Tidying away the pile of reject parts I was disappointed to find that the HP SKS pump did not work. Upon taking it apart I found that two new spare spokes had been stored in it! Previous rider clearly prepared for the worst!

Stripping the pair this weekend all going well.

Some of those chainsets look the work of the devil....

How could they?

Iwasgoodonce":v595qr3a said:

How could they?

Click to expand...

Saddles too!

Fear not the offending items will not be making a return.

I've had to name the bikes to ease the build explanation. Being a very unimaginative kinda guy I plumped for clues from the history. So please let me introduce you to "Guarded" (due to the original rear guard) and "Locked" (due to the original frame lock). Apologies for that something like Bill and Ted would have been much more fitting I'm sure.

Anyway it was Guarded's turn first so today she was stripped and the frame was cleaned to within an inch of it's life. White Gazelles (and other white bikes) tend to suffer with discolouration, pearl white is even worse, Guarded was no exception and the whole frame need a good going over. Unfortunately where a cycle computer had been fitted (cadence monitor) the paint had severely yellowed on the chainstays. To remove this took some very vigorous rubbing and this has almost gone all the way through the paint. A bit disappointing but the overall look is okay and it will look better built. There is still some yellowing and some touching up on the stays and headtube.

All the chrome is good and the forks are near perfect, just two tiny blemishes on there that I can see.

Overall I am happy with the result and can see that she will be a beaut with some age related patina.

Didn't take many before pics of just the frame but here are a few:

Worst part the stays



Headtube:



Few others:









More pictures here: http://s597.photobucket.com/albums/tt55 ... s/Guarded/

According to this link http://jvs.webklik.nl/page/bouwjaren Guarded is from 1986 - 27 years old.

Boring bits today. Bottom bracket and headset overhauled. Nothing out of the ordinary, just a simple procedure. I will mention the Stronglight Delta headset though, superb needle bearing headset very smooth and to me very pleasing on the eye:

Only notable point is the lack of sleeve. Covered in grease which has protected it well:


Cleaned:


Greased and ready to be refitted - with a sleeve sourced from the spares box:


Fitted. Note the bolt hole is filled with grease for when the crank bolts go in:


Headset parts to clean. I saw no reason to remove the races from the frame or forks so cleaned them in place.


Cleaned:


Greased up and ready to fit:


Fitted:


I have also cleaned up most of the other parts but haven't taken any pics as of yet.

Pictures didn't come out too well.

Parts cleaned:



More images here: http://s597.photobucket.com/albums/tt55 ... s/Guarded/

Parts fitted:

Chainset. Came up very nicely but that chainguard has left it's mark scoring the rings slightly, notices on the champagne finish unfortunately. Also a couple of blemishes to the lacquer but nothing too bad (top spider arm in the picture plus a small bit on the top of the arm itself). No crank bolt covers as the left had been butchered and the right was missing as it's how the crank cover was held on.

Front mech came up lovely:



Rear mech came up lovely too:



Gear levers:



The brakes are in great condition, the lack of wear to them would imply that the bike has hardly been used but clearly it has....



Slowly coming together:


Wheels next

great job, cant imagine what they were thinking! I raced one of these in the mid 80's ace frame. Very underrated bikes Gazelles.

I'm rubbish at build threads! Here they are both finished and now both gone to a new home. I couldn't keep them together but did sell them to two friends who ride at the same club and that for me is close enough. Happy days