Cycling UK Forum

interesting contris, personally imv you are stark staring bonkers, firstly it would seem your experience with anything remotely cycle orientated is what i refer to as PILGRIM.. newbie perhaps, interested as many are today and living in an environ where bikes are widely used by students and perhaps letting your enthusiasm get hold of good sense and your wallet. Listen to the old hands here, Colin and Brucey et al, these guys have built and fettled more bikes than many have in a lifetime and are still enthused... but tempered by hard won experience.. there are a few i think co op type bike rescue places in that area and it would be a good idea to walk your GF down there and have a look at what is on offer, i would bet money that you can get her something with a decent saddle gears and wheels that work for less than you will spend fixing up that BSO.. guys.. i apologise if i seem to be a bit heavy handed here but i know from hard earned experience rebuilding bso's for a friend who used to supply hundreds of students bike every year in our university town Coleraine, Co L'DERRY. and i learned hard and fast on the exact same type of machinery you are proposing to restore.. the only ones worth restoring are non rusty 501 or 531 reynolds tubed frames, any decent peugeot even carbolite, and it makes sense to use secondhand parts if possible.. if interested i have 2 bikes at present ready for work a 22.5 Dawes and a 23, Falcon , original paint, steel, black, both in good nick either one for 100 parcelforced to you.. will

DavidH wrote:

mjr wrote:Ask me after I next ride a steel-wheeled bike in the rain with them on! ...

I'd be interested to know how you find them if you do try them in the rain!

Well I ride through most things... I did delay while the hailstorm passed, though! So not riding through rain, but slush and spray today. The Revolution Advanced pads are pretty good, easily good enough to stop in slush, but it's still not anything like as sharp on the 70mm Lifeline pads on aluminium rims that the Streetfind currently has. (I was riding the bike pictured in https://social.mayfirst.org/notice/253316 )

531colin wrote:Measure the distance between the dropouts. If its 126mm (one of the old standards) then a new 130mm machine built wheel will "spring" in fine.
(I would question the wisdom of a hand-built Open Pro wheel on a student bike....get the lass a decent saddle first...... )

I know the open pro is overkill, I'm just very anal about aesthetics and having two different rims would really disappoint me! But I may concede and get a cheaper rear wheel. The distance is about 122mm oddly, but just pulling them apart you can easily get it wider than 130mm so I think that's my best option.

What is wrong with the saddle? I showed her this thread and she says she finds it very comfortable and doesn't understand why people are bringing it up. I'll happily buy her one but need to know why to persuade her to give up the current one first!

willcee wrote:interesting contris, personally imv you are stark staring bonkers...

I'm not sure I understand your problem with what I'm doing. I am not completely new to bikes, but my experience is with downhill mountain bikes not 70s road bikes. That's why I came here to ask for advice. I am not looking to buy a new bike as she really likes this one and a new bike worth buying won't be as cheap as a new back wheel. It will also be much more likely to be stolen, and way better than she needs for getting about town. Having discussed the brakes and gears with the 'old hands' here I am happy that they are working fine and won't need replacing. Even if they do, remember that I have parts from my Carlton that I am happy to use on this (like brakes, levers and front wheel) and a friction gear system is not expensive to replace. Currently the only thing I am actually buying is the back wheel, something I need advice for because I am not familiar with old standards.

Finally, if I was to give up on this bike (that has cost me less than £100 so far) and get one of your suggested frames for £100 how am I in a better position?

David, ok, you want to learn the hard way, understood, you be older and wiser and poorer when all is said and done. and you'll still have a old working bike worth 30 quid on a good day. . by the way.. mine are complete ready to ride machines with guards... and my Dawes 22.5 would be a better fit for your GF judging by by the sizing you have on that 20 inch machine..mine has 27inch wheels, weinmann alloys, which going by the many 27''s sought on this forum might well be worth as much as the bike all together..bon courage.. will

DavidH wrote:

531colin wrote:Measure the distance between the dropouts. If its 126mm (one of the old standards) then a new 130mm machine built wheel will "spring" in fine.
(I would question the wisdom of a hand-built Open Pro wheel on a student bike....get the lass a decent saddle first...... )

I know the open pro is overkill, I'm just very anal about aesthetics and having two different rims would really disappoint me! But I may concede and get a cheaper rear wheel. The distance is about 122mm oddly, but just pulling them apart you can easily get it wider than 130mm so I think that's my best option.

What is wrong with the saddle? I showed her this thread and she says she finds it very comfortable and doesn't understand why people are bringing it up. I'll happily buy her one but need to know why to persuade her to give up the current one first!

Its the inconsistency that I find bewildering.
Open Pro isn't "overkill" for this bike, its simply wrong. Open Pro are expensive nice light rims that build into expensive nice light wheels. There are plenty of club cyclists who reserve Open Pros for their summer "best" wheels, because the metal is so thin the brakes wear through the rims fast, so other cheaper, heavier rims are more suitable for winter, for commuting, and for training and club rides. You said about the saddle that it was probably only OK because she never sits on it for longer than a 15 minute journey.....so why do you need clubman's best wheels for a 15 minute trip?
As I understand it, this is a hack ("beater") bike to be used and parked around town. It needs to be unattractive to thieves and robust enough to bump up kerbs when the tyres haven't been pumped up for a fortnight, and ideally street legal....but that's about it.

Yes you are right, open pro is not suited at all, especially given the extra detail you just described, I hadn't considered that. I only considered it because I had a front one lying around and thought a matching pair would be best. I have been persuaded otherwise and ordered a basic rear wheel I can screw the current gears to. Also it's got a black inside to the rim so it will at least look similar to the mavic which keeps me happy enough with the aesthetics!

Could you give me advice on what saddle I should look for (if any) to replace the current one? I am more than happy to buy one if it really is terrible but so far have had no information beyond simply being told it's not good.

Isn't the purpose of the bike so your GF can make short journeys?
If she is happy with the existing saddle for that purpose, I would leave "well enough" alone....if she later finds it uncomfortable for longer journeys, then let her research the subject and for example try her female friends' bikes, read the womens' forum here. A man buying a saddle for a woman is a bit like a fish without a bicycle,(choose your own phrase for absurdity.), or buying your woman a pair of shoes, or a handbag.

Assuming you have bought a 130mm OLN wheel for a screw-on block, and you are going to fit the existing 5 speed block.....
The wheel will have been made for more gears, I'm guessing at least 7 or8, so you have some extra space on the right for those extra gears.
I would proceed as follows.....
Fit the block but don't tighten. fit the wheel, to see if you must remove axle spacers from the right and transfer to the left to get the best chain line. If you shuffle spacers, then you must re-dish the wheel to bring the rim back to central.
If you leave the wheel "as made" then in the low gears the chain might be too far to the left, and the chain may fall off the chainwheel, when you will have to remove the block and re-space the wheel as above. Or it might be perfectly OK, because springing the back end out to fit a wider hub cancels out the extra hub width....I can't know which will be the case without seeing the bike.

DavidH wrote: I'll certainly change the cables, the front is awful but I had trouble getting it out of the lever mechanism last time I tried. I seem to remember doing the back cable a month or so ago. What would you suggest were 'decent' blocks?.

Clark's Gold seem pretty good. Even if your cables are new-ish it won't hurt to grease them .

cheers

Thanks to those who helped me work out what to do, the work is now completed and everything appears to be going very smoothly. The rear wheel has the original 5 gears screwed on and fortunately the wheel slots into the frame (without too much stretching required) quite nicely, no need to respace and dish the wheel thankfully! New brake cables and pads are working brilliantly, even on the suicides. Here's a couple of pictures in case you'd like to see the finished product.





I know it's only a cheap rear hub but runs much smoother than the old one so the bike feels smoother and easier to ride. Very happy with the results! And for those who thought I was nuts spending money on an old bike, I kept the price of everything down. All I bought in the end was a new rear wheel (chosen to look similar-ish to the front) and a new brake cable. Oh and new tires of course!

I did also re-wrap the bars with new tape, much nicer stuff than before and having done it twice now I did a much better job!

Bike fit for purpose, spend reasonable......Result!

Good job. You should get a few more years out of that. there is nothing wrong with centrepull brakes. Suicide levers are fine if kept correctly adjusted. I've used them on a few bikes. The older design of brakes are most powerfull when used from the drops. Older racing type bikes used to have the handlebars closer to the height of the saddle and on the drops was a regular method of comfortable riding. None of this ass in the air modern position and braking from the hoods.