My Klunkerz.

[duncanmartin]

Let us know how the chemistry experiment is progressing!
If the paint was good, then you can save it by using a watering can and washing the overspill off as soon as it bubbles out of the seat post. I guess it's not worth saving on this bike after you attacked it with a torch though!

I consulted the yacf forum about your mystery machine - 2 nuggets: the fork is a triple plate one - used for making inexpensive forks yonks ago. The funky brake is apparently a Lion brake from the 1930s, but I've not been able to find out anything further.

Cheers
Duncan

[pistonpopper]

I must admit i keep looking at that brake lever and thinking that it just doesn't fit with the rest of the bike. The bike itself looks like it's been put together with a bit of care and attention to detail, and then this brake lever was just added! Almost like it was an afterthought! I've raided my dwindling parts stash but i have nothing that will suit it, or if i do, it's in such poor condition it would be wrong to put it on the bike. I've asked friends to raid their personal stashes. Personally what i'd quite like to see on it is an old Dia-Compe MX brake lever...



Like this one, but in either black or silver. I think that might look quite good, and possibly be a bit closer to the era the bike was made. I'm fairly sure that somewhere i've got a pair of blue ones, but i'm burgered if i know where!

Anyway, this is not my main cycling concern at the moment, the Diamond Back is, and it's business as usual, as it's still putting up a fight! I'm still tipping the cuastic soda into the seat tube in a bid to dissolve the seat post, but three days on and it's still stuck in there. It is definately getting thinner, and today when i tipped the solution out it had flakes of aluminium in it...



As you can see, it almost looks like a trail left by burnt paper ash, but it isn't. However, it must be dissolving, and so i thought i'd try giving is a tweak with my water pump pliers, after a bit of struggling, and a small amount of swearing, i decided to go back to trying to dissolve it.



I filled it back up with caustic soda, but this time it was different, before it was really frothy, and it kind of erupted in a small volcano fashion, this time it just qiuetly bubbling away! I wonder if perhaps the lower end of the seat post has completely dissolved, therefore as there's not so much aluminium to dissolve, it's not as dramatic. I dunno, but what i do know is that i shall keep on trying to remove it by trying to dissolve it, then trying to twist it out after each time i drain the tube. Hopefully have it out before too long!

[Thanatos]

Hey Pistonpopper you were asking about rapid fire shifters how about these:

www.wigglestatic.com/product-media/5360100621/shimano-alfine-8-speed-shifter.jpg?w=430&h=430&a=7  Pic
www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-alfine-rapidfire-8-speed-rh-shifter-and-lever/   Description and price


or these:

images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/31T3mnTWF4L._SX355_.jpg   Pic
www.amazon.co.uk/d/Sports-Outdoors/Shimano-Alivio-Rapidfire-Pods-pair/B00EVV3JBG   Description and price

[novocaine]

the brake is a philco or weinmann centre pull from around the 30's. it doesn't belong to that frame, which I'm sure you know.

the seat post is the wrong size for the frame and the top of the frame has been squashed to fit it. measure the OD and the wall thickness, subtract 2x the wall thickness from the OD and pick a seatpost, most likely 28.XXmm
the brake lever is a crappy tektro from a bargain bin bike, so are the bars, something from the 90s I'd have thought.
the fork is a twin stamped plate CROWN, not that unusual I'm afraid, more common in Holland. which leads nicely to where I think this bike came from.
The lag of lugs suggests relatively modern, the dropout arrangement suggests relatively cheap, the american BB shell is interesting but again points to cheap frame and possibly urban bike from across the sea where it's a transport item for inner city and you don't want to splash the cash on something more expensive.

looking at it, I'd say the original bits are the frame, fork, headset and stem, everything else is from the parts bin of the chap who built it.

looks alright though doesn't it.

hope all thats of some help to you.

[novocaine]

oh yer, and the colour on the saddle is just for the fun of it.

change the lever, change the brake to a side pull and the lever to something solid and It'll be a cracking bike for the summer.

[melle]

May 17, 2017 13:19:47 GMT novocaine said:

the fork is a twin stamped plate CROWN, not that unusual I'm afraid, more common in Holland. which leads nicely to where I think this bike came from.

Having owned several hundreds of them, I pretend to know quite a bit about vintage Dutch bicycles, but this is not something I've ever seen before. What makes you think the frame is Dutch? Which manufacturer would you think of?

[pistonpopper]

Thanks for the info novocaine , i appreciate it. I would say that the seat post is not the wrong size for the frame and the top of the frame has not been squashed to fit it. It's pretty odd. I keep meaning to photograph it to show you guys but i'm so busy trying to dissolve the seatpost from the Daimond Back that i forget. However, on the Monty. W. the seatpost is a very small diameter, and it flares in size under the seat. The tube that the seatpost goes into is also very small diameter all the way down to the bottom bracket. You really wouldn't get a bigger seatpost in it if you tried. I would say that you're probably right, the original bits are the frame, fork, headset and stem, everything else is from the parts bin of the chap who built it, but as you say it looks alright though. I must admit that i do quite like it, and i think that whoever built it, and for whatever the reason they put some care, attention, and thought into building it. I wonder why they then just left it hiding in a shed? Hmm, strange. But it rides alright, infact it's not too bad at all. But much like the Giant it's not for me, so i think at some point i'll be putting it up for grabs.

Thanks for the heads up on the shifters Thanatos , i appreciate that too. However i was at the festival of rusty curse word otherwise known as Beaulieu autojumble at the weekend, and manged to pick up these...





See those three dimples in the brake lever? This is the reason i needed a seperate shifter. I've had those dimpled levers in my collection for ages, and i always liked them, so when i decided to build my Mustang i knew they'd be featuring on it! I guess it's a little sad, but really my OCD knows no bounds! lol. Anyway, i picked up several other bits and bobs too, including a couple of bikes, which i'll also photograph tomorrow while i'm photographing the seatpost on the Monty. W. Anyhoo, the Mustang now only needs a set of wires, and an 8 speed rear cog, and i'll be riding it... Hoorah!! I'll have to go down to the tip tomorrow and see whats been dumped in the way of an eight speed rear wheel!

Anyhoo, speaking of Beaulieu autojumble. I thought that i would just share with you some bicycle pictures i took whilst i was there for your possible enjoyment...



This i like, and i think it would be really cool scaled up to fit an adult... Like me!





Motorised Raleigh Bomber, how cool is that? My feeling is that PC Plod would probably take issue with it though if you were riding it on the road.





Easy rider! Admittedly thats as cool as Penguins wee wee to look at, but i'll wager it pretty damn horrible to ride for any length of time! I shall take a couple of pictures of the two bikes i bought tomorrow. don't get too excited, they're nothing too special, just my normal curse word that i like to buy, and they're most likeley to become part of my parts stash re-stocking lol. Anyhoo, obviously i took some poor quality photos of cars while i was there too, so if you want to check them out, they can be found here!

Thanks for looking!

[novocaine]

fair does. only reason I say it's been squashed is the clamp is touching.
it's an interesting thing and rather difficult to pin point it's heritage though. why was it left? hipster wanting in on the latest trend maybe? it's how I got by Carlton anyway.

I'm not allowed to buy bike stuff at the moment, apparantly 12 bikes is to many. wheres the fun in that though.

I can promise you that chopper is horrible to ride.

I want to build a cafe race pushbike. rigid dual CROWN forks and clip-ons with fat tyres and the like.

good luck with the seat post.

[pistonpopper]

Time for a tea time update or three... I see what you're saying novocaine , i'd not noticed it before. Anyway today i did finally mange to get some more detailed photos of the seat post area, stand by...



As you can see at the top of the seatpost it flares out to accept a standard type saddle clamp.



The outer daimeter of the seatpost is about 13/16 of an inch, or approximately 21mm to you metric types.



The down tube or seat tube is about an inch in diameter (about 26mm) in my extremely poorly focused picture, which is a difference of 3/16 of an inch. I took the seat out, which was a bit of a struggle as i reckon its been in there a while, although, to be fair it wasn't as much of a struggle as the one in the Diamond Back was! Anyway, as i already had my Vernier caliper out i thought i'd try to get a better measurement of the seat post, and the innner diameter of the down tube...



As suspected, its still about 13/16 of an inch, now for the inner diameter of the down tube...



About a Gnats Knacker larger! I would suspect that whatever this frame is, this seatpost was always with it. I wonder if perhaps the seat clamp may have been added at a later date and is not quite right for it. However it works, and holds the seat tightly, so thats good enough for me.

[pistonpopper]

Now, the Daimond Back...

May 13, 2017 11:47:42 GMT duncanmartin said:

Let us know how the chemistry experiment is progressing!

Well Duncan, the chemistry experiment is finally over!



I thought earlier that i could see a small gap around what was left of the seatpost so i thought that i would try to gently twist it out.



Of course as it was so thin it just tore off. This irritated me as i was out of caustic soda, and would need to go and get some more. Once back from Homebase i mixed up a fresh strong batch and tipped it in...



It bubbled away like a good-un for about an hour or so, but by the time i had got back from lunch it was barely even fizzing, and the level had dropped right down.



It was looking really thin, so i decided that i would try and force a long thing screwdriver between the seatpost and the seat tube to see if it would crush, or peel away or something. Success, the screwdriver slipped in, and then i could get hold of what was left of the seatpost with my needle nose pliers, and pull it out. So what was left?



Well as Paul Daniels used to say, "Not a lot!" It measured about an inch in length, and was thinner than paper, but the seatpost was finally gone from the frame! Maybe now the damn thing will stop fighting me!



There were still a few cruddy bits of aluminium in the tube, so i scraped them out with a screwdriver, and then flushed out the seat tube with a couple of buckets of water. I'm not really sure how many buckets of water i should use to flush out any remaining caustic soda, but right now i'm thinking about connecting a hose pipe to the frame tomorrow and letting it run through for half an hour or so.

And here endeth my first experience of dissolving an aluminium seatpost with caustic soda. Thanks duncanmartin for the advice, it was very helpful. Now one last thing, if you do decide to try and dissolve your stuck seatpost from your frame this is what i've learned. First, it takes a long time, i started the process about a week ago, so allow plenty of time. Secondly, and probably most importantly. Caustic soda is some pretty nasty sh!t, do it outside, away from pets, animals, and especially children. Thirdly, wear protection, if nothing else, get some goggles on, eyes are hard to replace! Lastly, be careful, i can't emphasise this enough caustic soda is some pretty nasty sh!t.

[pistonpopper]

Right then, moving on, yesterday i told you about a couple of bikes i bought at Beaulieu autojumble on Sunday. I got them pretty near to the end of the day as people were getting ready to pack up, so i only paid a fiver a piece. First up was this gem...



If your a long term sufferer of this thread you probably know why i bought this... Its like a better version of the Magna Fugitive, you may well be asking yourself why is it better? Well, because it doesn't have cantilever brakes like a childs bike, it has center-pull brakes like a grown up might have! I could upgrade them to Vee brakes if i so desired... I don't so desire, so i'll not bother! I'm not really sure what i'm going to do with it to be honest, but i guess i'll just hang onto it so that it's there when the Diamond Back gets stolen! Next up...



A Raleigh Pioneer something or other (the stickers have peeled off!) Now, i'm sure that if you have eyes in the front of your head you'll know why i splashed out a whole fiver on this! You may remember that back in January i sacrificed my lovely Raleigh Rekord in order to donate its wheels to the Giant racing bike frame i had found so that i had a complete Giant racing bike. Well i always planned to pick up a set of 700c wheels to put back on the Rekord when i found a set. I've been looking, and several sets have turned up at the tip on bikes, but they've always been pretty rough. As i'm not in a great rush to re-build it again i've left them in the hope that something better would turn up. Well, it's turned up!



As much as i like the contrast between the green frame and the yellow wheels, i can't help feeling that these would've looked better on the Giant racing bike that i sold about a month ago! I wonder how much more i would've got for it if it had these wheels on it? Still, nevermind, i'm sure that they will look splendid against the metallic blue of the Rekord frame. So what will become of these two bikes? Well, probably they'll become part of my spares stash re-stocking, although i might well have a ride round on them before i start breaking them up... Of course that'll probably mean they become part of my collection! Well on my way to having over 100 bikes in my collection again if i'm not careful!

[novocaine]

an oddity for sure. I've had a few 25.4mm seatposts but on a adult frame I've never seen something that thin on a bike sold in this country anyways.

I had a topeka, was a cracking bike till it got nicked from a doctors surgery.

well done with the seatpost, I've only done it that way once and I don't want to do it again. these days I heat the frame or cut down the tube, no chemicals involved.

[mikeyp247]

May 18, 2017 17:09:51 GMT pistonpopper said:

i can't help feeling that these would've looked better on the Giant racing bike that i sold about a month ago! I wonder how much more i would've got for it if it had these wheels on it?

Contact the buyer, he might agree with you and fork out a deal for the wheels currently on the Giant and some pennies your way.

[duncanmartin]

I like the Topeka. My first MTB was a Townsend Smoky Bear, which was pretty similar. That green Raleigh looks wonky - are you sure the forks aren't bent? The headtube looks much too upright?
And well done on the chemistry experiment. It's definitely a matter of last resort, but at least now you can use the DiamondBack frame. It's kinda fun in a weird way isn't it? Though the safety advice is important, and I'm glad you emphasised it.
Cheers
Duncan

[pistonpopper]

May 19, 2017 22:15:15 GMT mikeyp247 said:

Contact the buyer, he might agree with you and fork out a deal for the wheels currently on the Giant and some pennies your way.

Ha ha ha haaaaa... I don't think so!!



I decided to take it for a bit of a run at lunch time today, and it rides beautifully!



This is no doubt partly due to it being a Raleigh bike built before the time when Raleigh bikes became somewhat cheap and nasty, but a good part of it being so good is no doubt the wheels. When you're free wheelin' they just feel so smooth, and the rear cog and ratchet make a delicious clickety-clickety-clickety sound as your coasting along. Ive had some nice feeling wheels in the past, but these feel a bit above the rest. The wheels that my Record donated to the Giant racer were quite a nice pair, but they wern't as nice as these. These will be part of the rebuild of my Record at some point in the future! Just got to track down some wheels to put on this thing now!

May 20, 2017 21:47:40 GMT duncanmartin said:

That green Raleigh looks wonky - are you sure the forks aren't bent? The headtube looks much too upright?

I must admit i didn't notice it until you mentioned it, but now you've said it, the headtube does look too upright...



But having said that there would appear to be no evidence of distortion to either the frame or the forks. So i'm guessing that this was always like this from the factory. Riding along it feels quite nimble and turns in very well, this i am guessing is probably due to the rather upright front forks, that and the frame looks quite short in length to me. Other things of note are that the seat is too hard, and the seatpost not long enough for me, but other than that it is really very nice to ride. Initially my plans for this were to break it up and use it as spares for my other project bikes, but i feel its a bit too good for that, so once i've tracked down some new wheels for it, i shall most likely put it up for grabs. Besides, it was the wheels i was really after.

So Mrs Pistonpopper called me up during work today as she needed a hand emptying half a garden that she had in the back of her car which she had cut down from where she works. This ofcourse meant a trip to the tip! Two bikes were found. First up...



This Ridgeback. I'm never sure if Ridgebacks are good or bad really. Sometimes when i get one they seem to be very well built, and have decent quality parts on them. Sometimes however they seem to be quite cheaply built, with, lets say not quite as good as they could be parts on them. This one, despite being in very tatty condition falls into the former catagory.



Tyres have seen better days. I've seen a few bikes like this lately and i wonder how the tyres get to be like this? Is this just natural deteriation from being left outside or what?



Saddle isn't original, as it says Raleigh on it, but like the tyres, it's seen better days. Again, i'm guessing this is due to the effects of sunlight on the gel saddle as i've seen quite a few like it.



These i liked though, and i could see them becoming part of my spares stash for future projects! I quite liked the handlebars too, they might well find their way onto the Diamond Back! Next up...



A Jamis Durango. I've never seen one of these, or even heard of one before, but it looks quite well built, and my inner girl got the better of me... I liked the colour! (The green that is, not the muddy brown!)



I don't know if this is a good bike or not, but i'm going to give it a wash and try it out once i've got a saddle for it. Again it looks to have some good parts on it, which will probably get stripped for use later!



The handlebars are quite nice and wide, and again, i like the shifter mechanism. I think that this will also donate some of it's parts to the Diamond Back at some point before being re-homed!

As for the Diamond Back, well it's still sitting in the dirt where it sat for the last ten days or so while it's seatpost was dissolving. I think i have now collected enough parts to make it how i want it. But i'm wondering about the frame. Originally i wanted to keep it as it was, with its scuffs, scratches, rust, and patina. But now i've damged the paintwork with fire, and then caustic soda i am wondering about re-painting it. Nothing fancy, just white. Of course half of me wants to leave it as it is, scorch marks and all. I mean, who would steal a bike like that! If i made it too pretty, it might attract too much attention. I dunno, what do you chaps think?

[hopeso]

Leave it as it is. It has a story to tell!

[duncanmartin]

I think you should leave the Diamondback alone with it's scars.
Jamis are decent bikes - that looks like a reasonable quality rigid MTB.
That Ridgeback looks pretty decent too. The tyre looks like it was shredded by a badly adjusted brake rubbing on the tyre rather than the rim - I'm not sure why the saddle has died in that way, but I try to avoid gel saddles...
Did you get both of these from the tip for nowt? That's a treasure trove - despite Oxford being bike city, I only ever see crappy bikes at our tip (and you can't get hold of them anyway).
Cheers
Duncan

[pistonpopper]

Yep, they both came from the tip, but you don't get them for nothing, they were a tenner each! Bikes at my local tip start at a tenner, and head on upwards. They had a Racer in there today, they wanted £100 for it! It was in great shape, but I'm not into paying that sort of money for bikes. Obviously someone was though, because when i went back later in the day it had been sold! I get lots of treasure in the tip, Pistonppper Towers is pretty much furnished from that place!

[novocaine]

give that jamis a wash, see how the cassette looks and you might need new cables (I'd swap the bars and seat post for the one's on the ridgeback too) and you've got yourself a real mountain bike. forget about using it's parts on the diamond back, this is a much much better frame. keep your head low for a set of short travel forks and an threadless headset to modernise it a bit and it's the best bike in your rag tag collection so far . they were around at the start of all this silly mountain bike nonsense (it'll never catch on).

bit of history for you.
www.jamisbikes.com/usa/history.html

ridgeback is ok, they do a huge range of bikes from tesco specials to mid range bikes, what you have there is in the mid range area. alivio groupset was (is) 1 up in shimanos "real" gear, it's pretty good stuff for what it is (both the ridgeback and jamis are running it), it's pretty bomb proof too. the jamis also has alivio brakes, which are in my mind some of the best designed V brakes shimano ever did, they outstripped the stuff above it in the range for feel and power.

If you do pull apart one of these for parts, pull the ridgeback apart and use it to build your diamond back (everything on there can be bolted straight on), treat the jamis right and you'll find it is one of the nicest bikes to ride that you have. you'll need a few bike specific tools to pull apart completely, namely a crank puller, a cassette tool and a cartridge BB tool, all of which can be had cheap on ebay.

anyways, tyre wall is due to overpressure and UV normally, leave a bike in the shed with the sun shining though the window, tyre gets hot, air expands against weakened sidewall and pop.. seat it frost damage, the gel freezes and expands. funny how you get similar failure modes from polar opposites.

if you were closer I'd have taken that jamis off your hands straight away for 20 quid (double your money, lol) it reminds me of days gone by when a mate rode one very similar but painted green one side and black the other, he ran a set of Rockshox Judys on the front though.

EDIT: whoops, lieing to you, the ridgeback looks to have acera crank, bottom of the "real" shimano range. still better than the curse word steel stuff you get on BSOs.

[pistonpopper]

So the general opinion is to keep the Diamond Back frame as it is, with all its scratches, burns, and chemical damage. It's patina, and it's history! Fair enough, after a thorough wash with Flash and water then a damn good rub down with WD-40 i have this...



In the photo it looks cleaner than it is, but although the paint is both burned, and damgaged by the caustic soda, its not left any bare metal, so thats how it's going to stay. If nothing else it will deter would be thieves... What am i talking about, nobody is going to want to steal this no matter how good it looked!

The Jamis. Gave it a seat, gave it a wash, adjusted the handlebars, took it out! Actually, despite the gears needing some adjustment it's a pretty nice bike to ride. Probably too nice to be broken into parts to use on the Daimond Back... Probably!! In truth this will most likely be sold on as it is, although i might try and get the gears working properly, and take it out again... Still lovin' the colour!

The Ridgeback. This may not get broken up either, or it might be used to swap parts about, and then be sold on as a project. Not sure yet. The bank holiday weekend often yields great results at the tip... See what turns up!

The Townsend Topeka...



I took this out for a little spin today after fitting the tyres with some fresh wind, and i can describe this bike in just one word... HEAVY!! If i were to describe it in two words i would say VERY heavy! Much like the Magna i would say this is made from iron pipe that would normally be reserved for industrial boiler rooms!



The wheels are arrow straight presumably due to being made from girders! I really think that these are probably 50% of the total weight! And speaking of total weight...



The whole bike with its frame made from iron pipe and its wheels made from girders weighs in at a hefty 16.6kg, or about 36.5 pounds if your still working in English! But whatever you're working in, thats a heavy old ride! It was a struggle to get it going, but it has to be said once i was moving along, keeping it moving was quite easy!









Yep, make no mistake this is an old heavy duty machine, built from old heavy duty parts. But i like it, a lot, probably too much! I can see this being the victim of a damn good fettling, much like the previously mentioned Magna Fugitive to the point that already i've been to the tip scavanging for parts, and have returned with parts (bikes)! Today i picked up this Apollo just for the crank as it has three cogs, and not just two like the Topeka has... Upgrade!!



Of course that extra cog will be adding weight!! Dammit! Nevermind, the extra gear will be worth it! However it might also find itself donating its aluminium wheels, therefore cutting a bit of the weight away! I also picked up another parts doner...



Carrera Subway ltd. I don't know much about these bikes, but it looks like it will yield some decent parts!



Namely the handlebars, and brake/gear levers. Although, it doesn't look like a bad bike at all, maybe i'll ride that for a bit aswell! I like the colour too! It never ceases to amaze me what folk chuck away down the tip!