Far from a Boone, this bugger will take a bit of work
And so another temptation that shouldn't have been, slips its way under the cover of darkness into the less than retro collection of bike shaped objects within Muz Mansions
First things first, check it over. I put a back wheel in so I could see whether the filthy and dry looking chain had any life stil in it. Surprisingly it did and went for a lovely long bath in some super environmentally friendly white spirit to de-shite it while I cracked on with looking over the rest of it.
Isospeed cover thingy was broken, some people eh?
Much to my surprise, these are still available so I ordered one.
Along with a charger for the battery that I'll.find somewhere in the frame/seatpost/tube at some point. No it's not an e-bike. Yes I know, it's got a battery, but it's not an e-bike
Next up was cleaning up some of the smeg around the stuck on junction box. I'm guessing Sugru for fixing it but looks like evostik around it. I'm not even asking the seller, I'm not sure I want to know
Rear mech need a bit of a clean as it's a bit grubby, won't take a lot to be fair and being an electric one, I can't allow it in the bath with the chain. Who knows what they would produce given the chance
The whole frame is pretty grubby but after testing a small patch I can see potential for a bit of a T-Cut and polish bringing a bit of freshness to it.
Next up was the notchy feeling headset, having noticed a bit of colour difference between the frame and forks.
A bit nasty, expectations were low. Surprised to reveal that the lower bearing was in good condition so flushed and regreased that. Unusually, the top one was in worse condition. Well, to be frank, I've not seen a bearing this dead in over 30 years.
Thankfully, I had a suitable replacement so have dry fitted it all to make sure it's good.
Goldie looking chain is now looking a bit more er, gold and respectable and drying out next to a retro tool. Having done a bit of the grubby stuff, I finished off a couple of hours with a bit more polishing, this time on the top tube.
More to follow.
Hope you all had a good weekend, folks
Seems to me you are right.
But it just looks a bit cheap and nasty with a zip tie...
You'd have thought they'd use a dedicated plastic clip to make it look a bit neater.
Seems to me you are right.
But it just looks a bit cheap and nasty with a zip tie...
You'd have thought they'd use a dedicated plastic clip to make it look a bit neater.
I've had some plastic C clips for those kind of cable guides before but you have to stretch them to fit and they always rattle slightly. Have always replaced mine with zip ties. I think yours will look better with a black one rather then the white/clear one that's on.
Last few headset bearings I've had to replace have all been tops as well. Seals are never very good and because they are still 1 1'8th, the actual ball bearings are tiny. Moving to tapered mean the bottom ones are 1.5" and the individual balls tend to be bigger plus there are more to spread the load. May not be a factor, but I wonder if being integrated into the frames now also shield them better from the elements.
IsoSpeed concept always appealed to me, will be a nice bike when finished, (and the seat post is in the right way round).
The bottom ball bearings are actually the same size for this frame. Albeit as you say in a 1 1/5" unit.
Never tried Isospeed but he said it's fine once you get used to it.
And yes, I will swap the cable ties for black when I get onto the little jobs.
