that is bright and shiny but has a strange (and thoroughly seized-up) 2-cable derailleur.
More photos and the rest of the story later; first I think I'd better invent a bike-to-bike tow hitch.
20190826
How many bikes does it take...?
...to be a bike hoarder? I've taken on a second project bike
that is bright and shiny but has a strange (and thoroughly seized-up) 2-cable derailleur.
More photos and the rest of the story later; first I think I'd better invent a bike-to-bike tow hitch.
that is bright and shiny but has a strange (and thoroughly seized-up) 2-cable derailleur.
More photos and the rest of the story later; first I think I'd better invent a bike-to-bike tow hitch.
20190817
General History
Just a quick note about the Hercules Museum website I found while looking for the correct cable routing for mine. Website coverage is mostly pre-WWII and way to early for what I'm doing, but still generally interesting.
20190812
Brakes! No brakes!
Herc hangs there expectantly in the end of the living room I've designated as my shop space -- recognizable by the chunk of blue tarp protecting the carpet and, on the other side of the filing cabinet, my new State Surplus AV cart workbench. The original plan was to do most of my work outside on the patio, among the plants, but the work stand and bike aren't really portable enough and anyway I seem to do most of my work after 10 at night. Guess it's a good thing I splurged last spring and got that forehead-mounted light, because even with all three of the lights in that end of the room turned on I still don't have enough light there.
Anyway, I mostly only work about an hour at a time, mostly because it's not that comfortable a workspace but also because I'm usually supposed to be doing something else instead, but it's hanging there Looking Patient at me, like my father used to do when he got roped into going shopping.
So, for instance, Thursday my goal was to get the rear brake off. It's not in bad shape, but I want to give it a good scrub-over and oil everthing on it that moves, both easier to do off the bike. I couldn't budge it, despite taking the rear rack half off to get a better angle on it, so I oiled the bolt thoroughly and let it sit. Then, since I'd had to remove the bolt holding the seat post in place to get the rack out of the way, I tried to pull that and the seat to see what shape it was in. Couldn't get that either, so gave that a good oiling too and retired in a huff.
Saturday I decided to at least pull the rear rack off all the way and have a go at the fender. That went well enough but I soon realized the brake would have to come off to get the fender free. However, looking more closely at the brake, I realized I'd been going at it from the wrong side. I'd been using a screwdriver on the brake side of things when I should have been going at the bolt tucked away on the other side... for which I needed an 11mm wrench. Didn't know there was such a thing, so will hit a hardware store soon, but for the moment I made do with my new (also State Surplus) adjustable pliers. Worked like a charm, so I decided to have another try at the seat post. In that case, I think it was the oil dripped all around the top; it came free with a couple of twists and a heave, and was in good condition under the mud-brown runny grease/oil it was covered with. The post was in much better shape than the saddle and bracket, which are both pretty rust-spotted underneath, although the saddle looks pretty good from the top.
Meanwhile, I keep looking at those rusty wheels. The rear wheel is fairly rusted but the tire, inner tube, and the rubber strip that protects the inner tube from the spoke ends are all nearly new and must have been replaced (comparatively) recently. The front wheel, however... instead of a rubber strip it has what looks to me like a band of twill tape, which has rotted. The tire was sort of rusted to the rim as well, although it looks decent otherwise. I think the twill tape must have held moisture, because in places it's kind of rusted in place. Will take a wire beush to that and see what can be done, but, well, they're steel rims anyway. There has been some talk of having a wheel-building workshop for the Walk N Roll volunteers, and I've seen a whole Sturmey-Archer 3-speed hub without missing bits on the internet for around $50-$60. I keep thinking how much work I could avoid by building myself new alloy wheels instead of trying to track down a drift punch so I can take the old hub to pieces and clean it -- if it is, in fact, clean-able. And it doesn't have anyplace to attach disk brakes, so I'm pretty much stuck with the rim brakes at least on the front, making alloy wheels a desirable thing in this wet climate. But I'd like to salvage as much of it as I can, partly an economic choice but also just to see if I can. That's part of why I took on the project in the first place, after all.
Anyway, I mostly only work about an hour at a time, mostly because it's not that comfortable a workspace but also because I'm usually supposed to be doing something else instead, but it's hanging there Looking Patient at me, like my father used to do when he got roped into going shopping.
So, for instance, Thursday my goal was to get the rear brake off. It's not in bad shape, but I want to give it a good scrub-over and oil everthing on it that moves, both easier to do off the bike. I couldn't budge it, despite taking the rear rack half off to get a better angle on it, so I oiled the bolt thoroughly and let it sit. Then, since I'd had to remove the bolt holding the seat post in place to get the rack out of the way, I tried to pull that and the seat to see what shape it was in. Couldn't get that either, so gave that a good oiling too and retired in a huff.
Saturday I decided to at least pull the rear rack off all the way and have a go at the fender. That went well enough but I soon realized the brake would have to come off to get the fender free. However, looking more closely at the brake, I realized I'd been going at it from the wrong side. I'd been using a screwdriver on the brake side of things when I should have been going at the bolt tucked away on the other side... for which I needed an 11mm wrench. Didn't know there was such a thing, so will hit a hardware store soon, but for the moment I made do with my new (also State Surplus) adjustable pliers. Worked like a charm, so I decided to have another try at the seat post. In that case, I think it was the oil dripped all around the top; it came free with a couple of twists and a heave, and was in good condition under the mud-brown runny grease/oil it was covered with. The post was in much better shape than the saddle and bracket, which are both pretty rust-spotted underneath, although the saddle looks pretty good from the top.
Meanwhile, I keep looking at those rusty wheels. The rear wheel is fairly rusted but the tire, inner tube, and the rubber strip that protects the inner tube from the spoke ends are all nearly new and must have been replaced (comparatively) recently. The front wheel, however... instead of a rubber strip it has what looks to me like a band of twill tape, which has rotted. The tire was sort of rusted to the rim as well, although it looks decent otherwise. I think the twill tape must have held moisture, because in places it's kind of rusted in place. Will take a wire beush to that and see what can be done, but, well, they're steel rims anyway. There has been some talk of having a wheel-building workshop for the Walk N Roll volunteers, and I've seen a whole Sturmey-Archer 3-speed hub without missing bits on the internet for around $50-$60. I keep thinking how much work I could avoid by building myself new alloy wheels instead of trying to track down a drift punch so I can take the old hub to pieces and clean it -- if it is, in fact, clean-able. And it doesn't have anyplace to attach disk brakes, so I'm pretty much stuck with the rim brakes at least on the front, making alloy wheels a desirable thing in this wet climate. But I'd like to salvage as much of it as I can, partly an economic choice but also just to see if I can. That's part of why I took on the project in the first place, after all.
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