Dez' pushbike thread.

[Dez]

i thought id already started such a thread, but i guess not. this is where i will dump all my pushbike projects. ive been into bikes of all sorts for years, ever since i used to race bmx in my teens, so get through quite a few of them!


latest acquisition/build is this-


its fair to say its a pretty odd bike, its a raleigh gemini 18. its basically an early hybrid, but labelled up as a mountain bike, i guess in an attempt to gain sales in the early 80s. it has 700c wheels, and is basically just a raleigh tourer frame with a few add ons, very similar to a clubman.
the goupset is 'exage trail', back before shimano made proper MTB groupsets as such. biopace chainrings and everything, remember those?


but, the thing that makes this a good candidate for a build is this-


couple that with campagnolo dropouts with built in chain adjusters and canti bosses, and its a pretty cool frame. its got a couple of small dents, but then i did fish it out of the frag pile at the local scrap yard and weigh it off against what i was taking it so it cost about a quid, and for that price i really don't mind!

a lot of the components on it are knackered (very bent rear wheel, bent bars, smashed levers and shifter, ripped seat, etc. etc.) so I'm going to strip it back and build a singlespeed out of it in an attempt at some health as generally happens this time of year.

[Dez]

so, i needed some wheels for it. i trawled ebay and found some cheap fixie/singlespeed wheels for £60 all-in with tyres, tubes and a freewheel, clearance stock as the front rim was scratched. satin black deep-V rims, stainless pokes, black sealed bearing hubs. bargain i thought!

when i finally got them just over 3 weeks later, both rims were dented due to poor packaging (each done by the axle of the other wheel), the front had a slight wobble, and neither axle was the size/width in the listing. the rear axle was about 10mm too narrow across the cones, so needs spacing, and the front axle which was supposed to be 9mm was actually 10mm, so required dropout filage.
wheels-


dented rims-




the seller was really unhelpful, delaying the compensation process via the couriers as much as possible it seemed, so i didnt feel at all bad for him when ebay gave me my money back and told me i didnt need to return the wheels.

i stripped all the wibblepoo off the bike one evening, basically leaving just the frame, fork and seatpost (and the cranks cos id lost my extractor) i chucked on a old leather wrights olympian swallow-type saddle i had kicking round, plus a drop stem and some flipped bars off another bike. a brake lever too but that don't fit that well so i'll probably change that.



then i remembered a had some cream schwalbe tyres id bought for another bike and not used, and thought theyd look pretty good on the black wheels. they were a whole other online shopping saga, i bought a 'pair' of them only for one to have the reflective stripe round it and the other not. so i complained and had to return one to have another sent, only for the logo on it to be a totally different size, shape and colour so they're still not a pair. i gave up at that.
but with a lot of wrestling i got them on the wheels (the 'long stem' valved tubes that came with the wheels are a fraction too short, so really hard to get a pump on them). i filed the dropouts on the forks a bit and added some washers to the rear axle as a temporary measure, and we now have this. excuse the building materials-





ive also bought a chainring, chain and some short chainring bolts, so I'm just waiting for a new crank extractor to turn up and i should be able to get it finished off.

[projectquartz]

Love this! The tyres set it off a treat along with the bars! Ive got a peugeout premium gonna go down the same route with!

[stuey]

I love a reynolds frame bike- I had one when i was a kid and was lucky to acquire a couple of mercian handbuilts a few months back- I'll be watching this with interest.

[Dez]

shock horror ive actually done something on this! i bought all the bits ages ago, some took a while to turn up and some where wrong as youd expect off ebay. so back in the spare room it went til i could be bothered to deal with it.

crank extractor turned up and was actually loads better quality than expected for the price, good as i had to swing off it quite a bit to get them undone.
i used a set of shimano 300EX cranks off another bike, as they were 130BCD instead of the 110 of the exage ones, so it was easier/cheaper to buy an appropriate chainring. i calcualated a 46T would be about right for general riding with the freewheel i had, so thats what i bought, plus some short bolts. i also bought a clarks halflink chain so chain length when positioning the rear wheel wount be an issue. i specifically bought one listed as having a quicklink to aid fitting as i couldnt find my chain tool either (itll be in the same box as the crank extractor i guess), only to find its a normal pin one so i have to buy a new chain tool anyway...

oh and the inner tubes with the cheap wheels don't hold air for any amount of time. this was supposed to be a quick easy project and not a thing has gone right/worked properly so far!

in the end i just impovised a chain tool with a nut, a centrepunch and a BFH. chucked the rest together, inflated the tyres and took it for a spin sans brakes. first impressions are it rides good. light and whippy like a steel frame should be, fairly tall geared but not unbearaby so. i need to adjsut up the bars and seat, fit a brake, then take it for a longer spin.

pics in a mo...

[welshpug]

How long between pump ups on the tubes?


I use Schwalbe tubes at work, not that expensive and really good quality, could bung some in the post if you want, guess you'll need some long valve type for those rims.

If I lived much nearer work with a flat ish commute I really would be tempted to build something like this, but I live 18 miles away and like gears far too much

[Dez]

less than a week from rock hard to totally flat. just cheap curse word tubes that came free with the wheels. the valves are barely long enough to get the pump on too.


heres how it now looks.


here the new crank/chainring setup-



decided I'm not going to repaint it, just clean and polish up the existing as best i can.
its mostly becuase its got some proper 80s/90s stickers that i cant find anything like and don't want to loose-

[welshpug]

are those Schwalbe Deltacruisers?

[Dez]

i think so, they're deffo schwalbe but i cant remember the exact name. nice tyres especially for the price.

[dave120a]

Nice, that is a beauty. I have a Raleigh Montage, only Reynolds 501 but suites me fine, with a nice set of mavic wheels and slim tyres it is a pleasure ride to work on, I kept my gears though, love single speed as concept and you get such a lush clean look to the bike. I love seeing old bikes get new life.

[eskimogod]

love a nice bike build ive got way too many built half built and i barely get the time to ride them these days if you neededing any reynolds tubing stickers should be able to dig a few out you

[Dez]

gunna endeavour to keep this updated a bit more, ive been a bit slack with it.

so, further acquisitions.

rescued this '88-'89 montage recently. its been badly repainted(around the stickers though?!) but otherwise is in pretty good nick, proper survivor!
its another reynolds frame, 501 this time.


and a garelli moped-


both will be sold as i don't have a need for either. think i'll sell the gemini now too as I'm back riding dirt again so don't really need it.

also happened across this wheel in a load of stuff from a mate who does house clearance type work. a mavic 217SUP rim on a '98 XT hub with a specialized tyre, so quite high spec. but no sign at all of the rest of the bike which was a bit disappointing!

[rysz]

You haven't got any 26" wheel hard tail frames kicking about have you Dez?

I am after something a bit lighter than the steel behemoth all my bits are hanging off at the moment.

Cheers!

Rysz.

[fuldatramp]

Love the garelli, I've always been a moped sorta guy,

[oukie]

At my local council tip place they have a shipping container for bikes, which a local charity pays for I think, I believe they get a container full of bikes then make good und out of them to sell etc.

Any way I went to drop off an old freezer last month and as I'm into mtb's, Cannondale is my flavour. I went in the early third full container to see no less than six amazing bike's, all complete and appeared to be in working or wouldn't breed a lot of work to fix, anyhow, Specialized x2, Diamondbacks x3 and wait for this a mother plucking Santa Cruz. The Specialized bikes were road bikes (I think lol)

So here is where the story of the find of my lifetime bike related anyway starts and finishes.

I went over to the little shack type mini porta cabin and asks if I could have the bikes for a friendly donation to the charity etc. No mate, well how about a friendly donation to you I asked. No mate. Bumhats.

He wouldn't budge.

So I had a brain wave, I went round to the industrial unit that this firm sells these fixed up bikes out of and made them aware of this epic find, I gave the chap my number, with an interest in the Santa Cruz. Anyhoo three weeks later still no phone call