Fixing up an old beater

Quoted message said:

The secondhand and pawn shops around here (Waco, TX) have no bikes at
all, so I can't even scavenge parts right now.

--
B.B.

Try Salvation Army and Goodwill resale places. They always have bikes.

Pat

B.B. said:

The big problems I have right now are poor braking (calipers flex
like crazy) and poor shifting. One thing I hate about the shifting is
that it still has the downtube shifters. But it also tends to jump out
of the highest gear.

Make sure the shifters are in good condition, and properly adjusted
and tightened. The screw on the side may need to be tightened.

Quoted message said:

The gears aren't worn much at all, but they have no ramps either. I
wonder if I can partially simulate the effect by twisting/filing the
teeth a little. Anyone ever try that?

I did it on the chainrings on a cheap crank once. It helped, but
only a little. Others have pinned their rings with small screws;
that's only good for the front, though.

Quoted message said:

I can't keep the brake pads too close to the rims because they both
have dents. Not terrible dents, but noticeable. Steel rims. I think a

Steel rims won't brake well no matter how good your calipers are.

Quoted message said:

spots? Right now my emergency brake (only used once) is jamming my foot
into the fork above the tire and bearing down. Not pretty or
comfortable, so proper brakes are preferred.

Very dangerous. Learn to flex so you can jam your foot between the
rear tire and the brake caliper (or bottom bracket). Slightly less
dangerous.

Quoted message said:

I know, I could make the whole bike far better with a new set of
wheels, but even for as little at $30 each it's outside of my finances
for the near future. Just paid for school.
The secondhand and pawn shops around here (Waco, TX) have no bikes at
all, so I can't even scavenge parts right now.

Go curb-shopping on garbage day. Find any old bikes, take _any_ you
find, and see what parts work better.
--
Rick Onanian

B.B. said:

I've started biking to and from school. It's a short (less than
2 miles) trip on mostly pavement, so I figure it's a good path to
fix up my beater I found in an attic.

Always a good choice for a commuter bike.

Quoted message said:

I've done a fair amount of work on it, but it's still crummy, so
I'm wondering if anyone knows any cheap or clever ways to improve
it. If I had the money to buy new parts I'd replace the whole
thing. (:
It's an old Fuji Espree 10-speed and still even has the
helicomatic back hub. I replaced the tires, rusted chain, and brake
cables and pads. I tightened and trued the wheels, and lubed and
checked the bearings.
The big problems I have right now are poor braking (calipers flex
like crazy) and poor shifting. One thing I hate about the shifting
is that it still has the downtube shifters. But it also tends to
jump out of the highest gear.
The gears aren't worn much at all, but they have no ramps either.
I wonder if I can partially simulate the effect by twisting/filing
the teeth a little. Anyone ever try that?

Have you considered making it a single speed? If it has horizontal
dropouts, just remove the derailleurs and shifters, put the chain on
the combination of cog and chainwheel that you like, and shorten the
chain accordingly. You'll remove several pounds off the bike and
simplify things tremendously- for free. You can leave the cogs on
the freewheel even if you're not using them.

See Sheldon Brown's fixed gear/single speed conversion page for groovy
ideas:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/singlespeed.html

Quoted message said:

I can't keep the brake pads too close to the rims because they
both have dents. Not terrible dents, but noticeable. Steel rims.
I think a couple of wood blocks, a hammer, and a light touch can
mitigate that, and better pads could probably compensate for the
flexing/steel rims/low cable tension. What is the risk in that?
Could I wind up with weak spots? Right now my emergency brake (only
used once) is jamming my foot into the fork above the tire and
bearing down. Not pretty or comfortable, so proper brakes are
preferred.

"Manual adjustment" of rim dents is feasible. Better pads are good-
try the KoolStop salmon pads available from Sheldon.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Rick Onanian said:

B.B. said:

The big problems I have right now are poor braking (calipers flex
like crazy) and poor shifting. One thing I hate about the shifting is
that it still has the downtube shifters. But it also tends to jump out
of the highest gear.

Make sure the shifters are in good condition, and properly adjusted
and tightened. The screw on the side may need to be tightened.

I've been all over the shifters. Seems my problem is the frame
flexing. Not too big a deal though, recently it's been so windy down
here I haven't been able to get into high gear anyway. If I want to fix
it later I think using a jacketed cable for the whole length rather than
running the bare wire along the frame might fix it.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The gears aren't worn much at all, but they have no ramps either. I
wonder if I can partially simulate the effect by twisting/filing the
teeth a little. Anyone ever try that?

I did it on the chainrings on a cheap crank once. It helped, but
only a little. Others have pinned their rings with small screws;
that's only good for the front, though.

Do you mean bending, or pinning only works on the front? Or both?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I can't keep the brake pads too close to the rims because they both
have dents. Not terrible dents, but noticeable. Steel rims. I think a

Steel rims won't brake well no matter how good your calipers are.

I was afraid of that.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

spots? Right now my emergency brake (only used once) is jamming my foot
into the fork above the tire and bearing down. Not pretty or
comfortable, so proper brakes are preferred.

Very dangerous. Learn to flex so you can jam your foot between the
rear tire and the brake caliper (or bottom bracket). Slightly less
dangerous.

Hmm. Looking at the frame it seems I might need to go and stick my
foot on top of the back wheel to pull that off--no room elsewhere.
I could give a shot to a really insane idea I once had: I have an old
coaster/single speed hub I might be able to stick in the front if I can
get some short spokes. (and if I have the right number of holes) then
I could run a cable down to the cog and pull it to apply the brake. But
that seems hairbrained enough to scare me, and I'll probably find an
aluminum rim before I get unlazy enough to figure out where the hell I
left that hub and get the spokes.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I know, I could make the whole bike far better with a new set of
wheels, but even for as little at $30 each it's outside of my finances
for the near future. Just paid for school.
The secondhand and pawn shops around here (Waco, TX) have no bikes at
all, so I can't even scavenge parts right now.

Go curb-shopping on garbage day. Find any old bikes, take _any_ you
find, and see what parts work better.

Good plan. I'll probably crowd myself out of my apartment. (:

--
B.B. --I am not a goat! thegoat4 at airmail.net
Fire the stupid--Vote.

B.B. said:

I've been all over the shifters. Seems my problem is the frame
flexing. Not too big a deal though, recently it's been so windy down
here I haven't been able to get into high gear anyway. If I want to fix
it later I think using a jacketed cable for the whole length rather than
running the bare wire along the frame might fix it.

Sounds like a plan for success.

See http://www.sheldonbrown.com/autoshift.html for more.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The gears aren't worn much at all, but they have no ramps either. I
wonder if I can partially simulate the effect by twisting/filing the
teeth a little. Anyone ever try that?

I did it on the chainrings on a cheap crank once. It helped, but
only a little. Others have pinned their rings with small screws;
that's only good for the front, though.

Do you mean bending, or pinning only works on the front? Or both?

Pinning. With the tight clearance in the rear, it will probably be
difficult to pin. Bending and grinding to change the tooth profile
ought to work on the rear, but I didn't try.

Quoted message said:

I could give a shot to a really insane idea I once had: I have an old
coaster/single speed hub I might be able to stick in the front if I can
get some short spokes. (and if I have the right number of holes) then
I could run a cable down to the cog and pull it to apply the brake. But

See http://www.sheldonbrown.com/mismatch/ about having the wrong
number of spoke holes...although the forces of a coaster-brake hub
might destroy such a wheel quickly. I don't know enough to say.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Go curb-shopping on garbage day. Find any old bikes, take _any_ you
find, and see what parts work better.

Good plan. I'll probably crowd myself out of my apartment. (:

Yikes, tough to do with an apartment. Buy a van to keep your found
treasures in... 😉
--
Rick Onanian

On Sat, 15 May 2004 18:03:11 -0400, Rick Onanian <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Go curb-shopping on garbage day. Find any old bikes, take _any_ you
find, and see what parts work better.

Good plan. I'll probably crowd myself out of my apartment. (:

Yikes, tough to do with an apartment. Buy a van to keep your found
treasures in... 😉

Strip what you need and throw the rest out next trash day. Most trash
bikes need a bottom bracket and or freewheel. I got some nice brake
pads and a brake pivot bolt to replace the stripped one on my beater a
couple weeks ago though. Only required loosening a couple nuts from
the trash bike to remove the assembly.

Some things it is better to buy at a bike shop though. I bought a
Bottom bracket from Sheldon (it will last forever} Brown five years
ago and it's still going strong. As long as you keep the old style
BB's adjusted every couple thousand miles so the grease seal does not
wear out they work fine.

Some department store chain and tires last about 80% as long as the
LBS premium brands for light road duty, but its buyer beware. I
almost bought some pedals at a department store once, but I noticed
they had sloppy plastic bearings! For 3 dollars more I got some nice
pyramids with smooth bearings at an LBS.

B.B. said:

I've started biking to and from school. It's a short (less than 2
miles) trip on mostly pavement, so I figure it's a good path to fix up
my beater I found in an attic.
I've done a fair amount of work on it, but it's still crummy, so I'm
wondering if anyone knows any cheap or clever ways to improve it. If I
had the money to buy new parts I'd replace the whole thing. (:
It's an old Fuji Espree 10-speed and still even has the helicomatic
back hub. I replaced the tires, rusted chain, and brake cables and
pads. I tightened and trued the wheels, and lubed and checked the
bearings.
The big problems I have right now are poor braking (calipers flex
like crazy) and poor shifting. One thing I hate about the shifting is
that it still has the downtube shifters. But it also tends to jump out
of the highest gear.

I prefer downtube to stem shifters. Downtube shifters are a bit farther
away, but take less "aiming". If you were around here, I'd give you an
old pair of bar-ends. If you've still got drop handlebars, those are your
economical options.

Jumps out of gear or skips? You have enough cable slack, and the
derailleur stop screw is letting it go far enough outward?

Quoted message said:

The gears aren't worn much at all, but they have no ramps

either. I

Quoted message said:

wonder if I can partially simulate the effect by twisting/filing the
teeth a little. Anyone ever try that?

I wouldn't. The teeth and ramps are in a particular pattern, and you
aren't likely to improve before you damage something.

Quoted message said:

I can't keep the brake pads too close to the rims because they both
have dents. Not terrible dents, but noticeable. Steel rims. I think a
couple of wood blocks, a hammer, and a light touch can mitigate that,
and better pads could probably compensate for the flexing/steel rims/low
cable tension. What is the risk in that? Could I wind up with weak
spots? Right now my emergency brake (only used once) is jamming my foot
into the fork above the tire and bearing down. Not pretty or
comfortable, so proper brakes are preferred.

Probably going to be hard to get steel rims to stop really well,
especially if you can't get the brakes close. I'd try new pads, or if the
old ones have a crust sand the hard part off. I wouldn't be afraid to
make the dents smaller, but I wouldn't try to make them perfect.

If you do get them close, you are going to have another problem, the
brakes will grab at the dent, and either try to throw you over the
handlebars (front) or skid in the exact same spot every time, wearing out
your tire (back).

Quoted message said:

I know, I could make the whole bike far better with a new set of
wheels, but even for as little at $30 each it's outside of my finances
for the near future. Just paid for school.
The secondhand and pawn shops around here (Waco, TX) have no bikes at
all, so I can't even scavenge parts right now.

Don't know that I've ever seen a pawn shop bike worth what they wanted for
it. I've had best luck at thrift stores and garage sales, and I've
gathered plenty of parts bikes from trash piles.