85 Saracen conquest....what have i started!.....Finished!
- Thread starter Tootyred
- Start date
Well, ive done now! Its in bits scattered across the bench. The news is good and bad!
Good......
Mostly original by my reckoning....with a few major exceptions.
Seatpost, bb etc all came out without drama.
Frame not cracked or broken.
Bad.......
Frame as some suspicious rust around chainsay brace and paint very poor state.
Rims covered in unknown substance, which may be cement!
Bars and cockpit adulterated.
Front hub replace with dynamo.
Original seat and post missing.
Chainrings poor, especially middle.
Rear mech smashed to bits and no " spring" to it what so ever.
Freewheel stuck pretty solid to hub.
So good and bad.
To start with ive sent the frame my mate who is going to gently strip it for me to see how bad the rust really is...fingers crossed there!
The front wheel is now in bits and im going to have to work on the rear freewheel issue.
As for the rims......well I'm soaking them in a tub of hot water to start with.....lets see if the loosens the stuff!
As for the mech....that needs to come apart and find what's bust and how bad.
So a journey of discovery
Good......
Mostly original by my reckoning....with a few major exceptions.
Seatpost, bb etc all came out without drama.
Frame not cracked or broken.
Bad.......
Frame as some suspicious rust around chainsay brace and paint very poor state.
Rims covered in unknown substance, which may be cement!
Bars and cockpit adulterated.
Front hub replace with dynamo.
Original seat and post missing.
Chainrings poor, especially middle.
Rear mech smashed to bits and no " spring" to it what so ever.
Freewheel stuck pretty solid to hub.
So good and bad.
To start with ive sent the frame my mate who is going to gently strip it for me to see how bad the rust really is...fingers crossed there!
The front wheel is now in bits and im going to have to work on the rear freewheel issue.
As for the rims......well I'm soaking them in a tub of hot water to start with.....lets see if the loosens the stuff!
As for the mech....that needs to come apart and find what's bust and how bad.
So a journey of discovery
Attachments
So to play catch up a bit.....the the freewheel is NOW off the hub....NOT an easy job.....of course not!
My thanks to @Suffolk roads for his help and the use of his freewheel removal tool.
This being pre complete mountain groupsets, the freewheel is actually 600 series shimano kit that came as part of the deerhead setup. These and Durace share a narrower tooth tool for removal.......which i didn't have!
Sadly the bugger still utterly refused to move even with one holding, one pushing and the whole assembly having been soaked in super crack for 48h before hand.
In fact we chipped the notch edge in the end......arse!
So back to mine and plan B. With the freewheel in bits i tried a pair of pipe grips on the body wrapped in a thick cloth (pawls etc removed).
No dice.
So plan C. Body in vice with copper jaws. Now this is a game requiring a degree of care......too loose the body spins.....too tight you crack the hub.
Well, the gods obviously favoured me today and it finally can off with an almighty crack and just one minor hernia.
Now its off, ive taken the opportunity to grind down the broken notch and made it to fit a standard bigger extractor. The hub nor the freewheel guts are damaged and with a good decrease, new lube and bearing the freewheel is good to go again for another 40 years. I even used some of my period ball collection for total authenticity!
Here's it finished and in bits.....oh and my latest workshop assistant!
Good result....But i don't want to do that too often!
My thanks to @Suffolk roads for his help and the use of his freewheel removal tool.
This being pre complete mountain groupsets, the freewheel is actually 600 series shimano kit that came as part of the deerhead setup. These and Durace share a narrower tooth tool for removal.......which i didn't have!
Sadly the bugger still utterly refused to move even with one holding, one pushing and the whole assembly having been soaked in super crack for 48h before hand.
In fact we chipped the notch edge in the end......arse!
So back to mine and plan B. With the freewheel in bits i tried a pair of pipe grips on the body wrapped in a thick cloth (pawls etc removed).
No dice.
So plan C. Body in vice with copper jaws. Now this is a game requiring a degree of care......too loose the body spins.....too tight you crack the hub.
Well, the gods obviously favoured me today and it finally can off with an almighty crack and just one minor hernia.
Now its off, ive taken the opportunity to grind down the broken notch and made it to fit a standard bigger extractor. The hub nor the freewheel guts are damaged and with a good decrease, new lube and bearing the freewheel is good to go again for another 40 years. I even used some of my period ball collection for total authenticity!
Here's it finished and in bits.....oh and my latest workshop assistant!
Good result....But i don't want to do that too often!
Attachments
Last edited:
27motorhead
Senior Retro Guru
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Great effort getting the freewheel to separate. A kinder way of gripping the hub would have been a hardwood block with hole to match hub flange DIA, but you may not have the wood or right DIA drills to hand. You can never have enough tools/bits lying around when it comes to jobs like these! Not sure how helpful your new assistant was in all this!!! 
Mickeyspinn
rBotM Winner
Top marks for getting that bugger off!
Had the same scenario with a beautiful pellisier hub and a simplex 4 speed freewheel....
Had been removed from wheel without loosening
desperately had to have the freewheel ...mission critical! But so wanted that silky hub....but ended up one or the other 
hub is now being turned into a rear light!
Had the same scenario with a beautiful pellisier hub and a simplex 4 speed freewheel....
Had been removed from wheel without loosening
desperately had to have the freewheel ...mission critical! But so wanted that silky hub....but ended up one or the other hub is now being turned into a rear light!Good news! The " matter" has come off the rims after soaking in water for a day or 2.
On reflection, given where it was and that it was inside the eyelets, i think it might have been plaster powder gone hard!
I have a feeling it got a bag of the stuff spilt on the wheels whilst in shed storage.
Following a bit more work with some jiff / ciff whatever its now called and a copper carb brush to run through the eyelets, they are looking great.
Also had some good news that a hubs come up for the front......cheers mate.
Plus the rear hubs in bits to be serviced and polished.
Next might have to deal with that bloody mech........
On reflection, given where it was and that it was inside the eyelets, i think it might have been plaster powder gone hard!
I have a feeling it got a bag of the stuff spilt on the wheels whilst in shed storage.
Following a bit more work with some jiff / ciff whatever its now called and a copper carb brush to run through the eyelets, they are looking great.
Also had some good news that a hubs come up for the front......cheers mate.
Plus the rear hubs in bits to be serviced and polished.
Next might have to deal with that bloody mech........
Attachments
Those wheels came up nicely 
.
Nice bit of history behind the brand & the bike, I recall seeing a tv programme a year or two ago about Nicholas Cranes exploits where they interviewed him in his home, and he still had the Kilimanjaro expedition bike!!
. Nice bit of history behind the brand & the bike, I recall seeing a tv programme a year or two ago about Nicholas Cranes exploits where they interviewed him in his home, and he still had the Kilimanjaro expedition bike!!
Nick Crane's made some great trips and written some very good books. Clear Waters Rising is one of my favourite travel books.
Journey to the Centre of the Earth, along with Nick Sanders' The great bike ride: around the world in 80 days, and Bernard Magnouloux's Travels with Rosinante were the three books that got me into cycle touring in my teenage years.
I'm sure you'll enjoy it. And be amazed at the degree to which weight saving can be taken!
Journey to the Centre of the Earth, along with Nick Sanders' The great bike ride: around the world in 80 days, and Bernard Magnouloux's Travels with Rosinante were the three books that got me into cycle touring in my teenage years.
I'm sure you'll enjoy it. And be amazed at the degree to which weight saving can be taken!
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