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:

sheldonbrown.comsinglespeed.htmlOpen ↗

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 sheldonbrown.comautoshift.htmlOpen ↗ 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 sheldonbrown.commismatchOpen ↗ 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.