Its not what it looks like!

late 70s something Takara

It appears you have bought another bike

well yes but,...

And we thought you were "thinning the herd"?

I am but you see...

And we thought you had sworn off entry level bikes with safety levers...

I have, the Motobecane Mirage was my last one but.....well look can I just explain?

Well ok, but it appears to be exactly what it looks like ....

You may recall that for essentially a six pack of beer I picked up a Specialized Allez in my size recently, the caveat being it had no wheels.  I wasn't going to let that stop me but it has been interesting looking into finding a 7 speed wheel-set for this bike.

First of all because 7 speed was a transition from FW hubs to Cassette I had the option of either one.  I searched ebay and actually found a Suntour GPX wheel-set to match the group on the bike but it was about $90 with the shipping and I discovered that Suntour cassette hubs are very one off and only work with Suntour cassettes which are as rare as hens teeth and therefore expensive so I didn't want to go down that road.

Then I looked into Shimano 7 speed cassette hubs and found that those are of the uniglide variety pictured above.  They had a unique feature that the last few cogs screwed onto the hub, they aren't as rare as Suntour cassettes but are out of production and only found on  ebay and are NOT compatible with the more modern Hyper glide standard.

I could go with a newer 700c free wheel hub wheelset, and I even have a nice Amazon gift certificate that I got as a parting gift from the last job. even with the gift cert, however, after taxes I was looking at about a C-note, and a no name rim/hub 700c 9 speed cassette wheel-set on the web was about the same. a little more after tax.  Bike works is my go to for vintage parts but not much help for complete matched wheel-sets.  Hmmm

So I started to scour CL and FB marketplace for complete bikes with 700c wheel-sets in the under a $100 range.  I found some nice candidates but inevitably the wheel sets didn't match, dark front rim, silver rear or mismatched hubs etc.

Finally I stumbled across the unlikely candidate of the Takara, which originally would have been an entry level bike with 27" wheels.  The CL ad specified it had been updated to a 700c wheel-set and I could make out the Mavic sticker from the so-so photos.  I had no idea what the hubs were but I figured with Mavic rims there was a good chance the hubs were at least something I would recognize.  The bike was priced at $75 and while I could have waited another week for the price to soften or at least make a lower offer more palatable I decided to go look at the bike last night.

I thought  I  might find Tiarga hubs or if I was lucky 105, so when I saw this hub badge I was very glad indeed and promptly paid the man.

After checking that the rear hub and rim matched of course.  Ultegra was more than I hoped for and this wheel-set was worth the $75 all by itself  considering most of the used 7.8 speed  wheel-sets on ebay go for $50 to start and then you have to pay $40 for shipping and the tax.   I have a 7 speed cassette and a spacer (needed to make a 7 speed cassette work on a 9 spd hub) on order so the Allez should be taken care for a wheel-set.

The wheels weren't all I noticed about the bike, it had also been converted to bar end shifters from Stem shifters and those SunTour bar ends have a value of their own and appear to be intact, no missing nuts as sometimes happens, so I will sell them separately from the bike.

I have a few options for the bike itself, the rear claw derailleur needs the screw that fixes it to the drop out, as you can see its slipped down.  I have a set of 27" wheels and plenty of used but in good shape tires and tubes.  A set of stem shifters from bike works would be about $5.

I think I can get this bike back to it original configuration and up and running as a beater and sell it as such without too much effort (knock wood).  With any luck my 700c Mavic Open pro wheels with Ultegra hubs will end up being free.


Ride. Think outside the box. Smile. Repeat.

Some upgrades for the Trek 520

The 520 has been sulking lately, jealous of all the attention his little brother the 420 has been getting,  I guess I can't blame the 520 too much, I did steal the saddle off  his back and put it on the 420 after all.  I knew there would be sun today and I wanted to ride so I decided to tinker with the 520 in the am and then ride it.

This wasn't going to be the full spa treatment the 520 has coming, more like a strip-mall cut rate mani/pedi to make it more comfy to ride in the fall, step one was getting the VO saddle in place.  Glad I removed this from the Novara before I sold it,

Step two was taking off the stamped steel pedals and putting on my favorite MKS sneaker pedals, had a pair still in plastic just waiting for this build.  It took less than 10 minutes to do these two updates.

Step 3 I took another 10 minutes to replace the thread bare Kenda tires with the Panaracer's that had a brief stay on the Novara before I swapped it to thinner tires to accommodate its fenders.  The Panaracer's had been earmarked for the 520 already.

My most ambitious update, step four, was removing the tape below the brake levers and then removing the brake levers from the bars while still attached to their cables,

So I could swap to the nice wide Nitto bars and taller Nitto technomic stem.

 I greased the inside of the clamp area on the stem to prevent scrapes when fitting the bars and of course the stem and plug got a liberal dose where they will enter the head tube.

And bingo new bars and stem same levers and cables.  I did have to do some fussing with the cables but didn't have to remove them which was great for this quick update.  Everything above took about an hour to do.

That even included putting on this Trek branded bottle cage I had laying around in place of the old plain one.

And then it was time for a shake down ride, pro tip; snug up you stem bolts and quick release skewers before you ride, just saying.  The upside of looking for work is that if its sunny and nice at 11 am I can just pack up an go for a ride!

The saddle is still rock hard but it won't get broken in by not riding it, I immediately felt the comfort of wider higher handlebars,  The pedals disappeared beneath my feet and the Panracer's had the same plush ride I remember and love.  That will do for some fall rides.

Upgrade.Ride.Smile.Repeat.

Trek 420 Refurb: Assembly IV (Smaller cassette and Bar tape)

Bar tape half done

Today I was on the home stretch and determined to finish the 420 and get it listed.  I used an RJ the bike guy video on wrapping handle bars the vintage Trek way and used Newbaum's cotton bar tape and the original Cateye bar end plugs.  I found on the first roll that with the adhesive backing being as wide as the tape it really wanted to stick to itself which is a pain.  It makes it difficult to keep it smooth and flat while wrapping,  For the second roll I would only let 2 to 3 inches of adhesive be exposed at a time to avoid this issue.  I found that two rolls (one for each side)  was plenty long for these vintage bars and in retrospect I could have probably cut a strip to put on the brake lever clamp, like you do with cork tape, so I wouldn't have that triangle showing behind the levers but I decided on this go around to go with the classic method.

Yesterday my new 12-28, 7 speed cassette came so I swapped it out and eliminated the chain grinding issue in the granny gear.  

I also decided to use the Vetta saddle from the Trek 520 for this bike as the 520 will probably get the VO saddle and this Vetta looks more in keeping with the bike than the Marin road saddle it came with, and the Vetta wasn't a real comfortable saddle for me.  It also got the blue Trek branded water bottle cage that was on the Ponderosa.

Its been raining alot today but I was able to get out during a lull and snap some shots for the Craigslist ad, btw for the first time in my experience CL is charging to post an ad, it was $3 for 30 days which is totally reasonable but its the first time I have to pay to list something on CL.
EDIT I inadvertently hit for sale by dealer rather than owner 

Although its officially the first day of fall I count this as the 6th bike I have put up for sale this summer which I am pretty sure is a record for me and not something I want to repeat.  Next summer I want to ride much more than I wrench.  I want to do a clean and tune of the Novara Ponderosa I picked up for a song and get it listed soon too.  Then this winter I can putter on the 520 and the Allez and perhaps deal with the little things the fleet needs, bar tape here a brake adjust there etc.

I am hoping the Trek sells and that I didn't wait too long to get it listed, I may still tinker with truing the rear wheel but essentially the 420 is done.

Refurb. Smile. Repeat,

Out of the Blue

As I have documented I have been thinning the herd this summer with the idea of getting down to 4 bikes.  Sure I picked up a Novara mountain bike recently but that was because I am convinced with a little work I can double my money on that.  I was minding my own business when I get a message from a fellow bike forums member who happens to be local.  He had noted that I was selling an 56cm Allez because it too small and I was pining for an Allez in a 58 cm size.  Turns out he had come into just such a beast at Bike Works for a stupid cheap price, he had built up a Specialized Sirrus and the Allez was surplus would I be interested...?

There were a few caveats, the bike was mostly complete but the wheelset had gone to the owners Sirrus and while it had a seat post and saddle the owner indicated the 27.0 seat post was a smidgen too big.

Near as I can tell the bike is an 1989 based on the UK Specialized catalogs on the web, the decals and components match up.

After test fitting the seat post I would concur its too big,  so I am going to need to figure out the correct size.    The interesting thing about the wheels is that with a 7 speed set up I can either FW hub or Cassette hub as this was a time of transition, checking eBay getting a vintage 7 speed cassette wheel-set would run me about $90 when you factor in the $40 shipping,  In either case the wheels need to have 700c rims for this year of Allez.   Since I am not in a hurry I will look on CL and FB for something local, either a wheel-set or even a complete bike for a bargain that I can harvest parts from.  I could get a basic wheel-set new for about a c-note but I think this bike deserves a nice wheel set with some vintage hubs.

The bike came standard with nice Suntour GPX bits including indexed 7 speed shifters.  The Crank is Shimano 600 also nice.  This is a racy road bike, double crank, short cage RD, not my usual cup of tea but I would like to build it up and see what happens, if I love it I could always put a compact crank on it, of course losing some weight wouldn't hurt either.

I love the pantographed seat stay end caps and the tape confirms its a 58 cm/ 23 inch frame.  My price for this bike?  $25, a nice NW microbrew six pack of pilsner and the promise that the owner could take it for a spin once I had it rebuilt.    Since I had just sold a set of 5 orphan 26" MTB wheels for $25 this Allez minus the wheel-set and seat post cost me a six pack of beer.  This never happens.

More to come.

Ride. Manna from heaven. Smile. Repeat

A more thorough shakedown of the Trek 420

On Saturday I went for a ride with some local members of Bike Forums, Classic & Vintage group, who like me are nuts for lugged steel.  I am in appalling shape  but this was a flat bike trail ride and I figured I could always turn around if it was more than I could take.

Here are some of the C&V bikes that make the ride, my 420 and Schwinn Paramount and an very nice Eddy Merckx.  It was worth showing up just to drool over the lovely bikes.

For this ride I decided to put the VO saddle that had been on the Novara on the 420, I have finally wised up to removing nice saddles and pedals from bikes before I sell them.

It was a lovely fallish day for a ride mid 60s cloudy with sun breaks, 6 of us on the trail and I felt better than I expected, still a bit winded but keeping pace.  What I forgot was that the VO saddle wasn't as broken in as I thought and so at 4 miles in with a good turn around spot I bailed early to avoid some epic saddle soreness. 

Even though I had to cut things short I was glad I did the ride, I had forgotten how fun group rides can be especially when its a group of C&V nuts like me and no one is trying to prove how strong they are, they are just out for a ride.  I was reminded yet again that I need to get back into shape so I can jump into these rides and not worry if I can keep up on a flat 20 miler.   Also if you do the whole ride there is usually beer at the end!

The 420 performed admirably and besides the saddle was comfortable and makes me look forward to what the 520 will be like with a more plush cockpit.  With any luck the new cassette will arrive today and I can close out on the 420.

Ride with friends. Smile. Repeat