I put the Bianchi Ibex on CL last week but I thought it would look better with some new grips so since I had no serious bites last weekend I ordered some $10 Celeste grips and cut off the tired old faux leather grips.
I think the new grips give the Ibex a fresher look, we'll see if that translates into a sale, I raised the price a smidgen to cover the new grips but I think its still priced to sell.
I have been stalled out on the Schwinn Le Tour at rebuilding the hubs. I started with the front wheel Saturday by removing the stupid "safety" hangers which physically connect the wheel to the fork, comes in real handy when you need to change a tire, smh, they are scrap metal now. I can actually operate a quick release skewer like most 10 year olds.
I got the bearings out, cleaned them up in the sonic cleaner along with the axle and cones, the races got cleaned up and with some fresh grease the bearings are back in and ready to go, 3 out of 4 main bearings are now done.
Today it was time for the rear wheel, in addition to cleaning up the bearings and adding new grease I found a number of extremely loose spokes which would explain the wobble in the wheel.
One trick I learned in removing bearings is to use an old bike computer spoke magnet to get them out of the hub and into my Park Tools magnetic bowl, I still have bearings try and get away from me but not as many and using the magnet is not as messy as sticking your fingers in there.
Of course it can't all be smooth sailing, the cheap CST tires were a bear to get off the rear rim, I don't recommend bringing in the screw driver but in this case with these $%&*! tight tires I made an exception. I did finally win. If I hadn't needed to put this wheel in the truing stand I wouldn't have bothered.
The sonic cleaner did its magic with the bearings cones and spoke protector.
And now all four main bearings have clean bearings and fresh grease.
The wheel is far from perfect but its closer to true and all the losey goosey spokes are tightened up.
I got the stock FW off the bike I gave it a WD-40 bath but it still refused to spin, as it turns out I had a new Shimano 6 speed 14-28 FW in the parts bin and that had been there for years, so I put it on the bike and I will play with the stuck one later and see if I can free it up. I might even try an take it apart as I have nothing to lose.
Rear wheel back on with the fresh new Shimano FW, which I hope will make setting up the indexed shifting easier since it matches the spread on the old FW.
Seems to be one step forward and two back with this bike, the bearing are done, unfortunately the rear brake needs sorting. The Le Tour had no rear brake when I got it, I found one at Bike Works but the arms where the pads go are short, T-rex arms, and they don't extend far enough for the pad to meet the rims flush. Sigh. The good news is I can go back to Bike works and root around in the parts bin. I will measure first before I do. I would have assumed the caliper brake arm length was pretty standard in this era but this what I get for assuming.
So closer on the Schwinn but it still needs the rear brake shorted, the cables run and we'll see if setting up the index shifting is a chore or not. If it is, I can learn some new skills and I did find a helpful Park Tool video that should come in handy.
I got in a ride this morning to push my clunker challenge mileage on the Trek 520 to 90 km. Hope to finish off the distance and complete the challenge next weekend.
The goodies have accumulated for the Trek and await the end of the clunker challenge for installation.
I think the bar wrap will play off the Trek logo and the wider bars, taller stem and sneaker pedals will improve the comfort. I still need to sort a saddle, as the Vetta must go, but I have a few Brooks I can borrow from other bikes in the short term. I think the Seat post size on the Trek and the Handsome Devil are a match so that would make swapping fairly easy.
As I mentioned previously I wasn't sold on the look of the Carradice bag with rear rack on the Cresta GT, and since I was able to find a modestly priced, used bagman support I ordered one.
Today I got the rack off the bike and the bagman support, basically a metal loop, installed on the saddle.
Since the front of the bag has to attach to the support and not just loop around the seat post the supplied strap was too short for the new support, however I like to keep toe straps around even though I usually discard the toe clips, so I had a spare and it was plenty long for the job of securing the bag to the support loop.
I like how it looks with the support loop much better than with the rack so I am glad I bit the bullet and bought the bagman, I might need a bigger bag now like a Nelson long flap lol. The barley bag has a 9 liter capacity and the Nelson has 15 and can extend to 18 liters, but I am not going to upgrade unless I actually start doing credit card tours and decide I just have to start bike packing/camping.
All the work on the Schwinn meant missing the farmers market but I decided to ride up to the Junction and get a late lunch. I have felt like I have been neglecting the Moto GT lately so it got the nod for the lunch ride.
Since I was nearby I had to stop in at the Beer junction for a couple tasters including this Third wheel Coffee Porter from Dwinell Country Ales in Goldendale, Wa.
Three day weekend coming up so I hope to keep riding and wrenching.
Ride. Smile. Repeat.
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