1987 Trek 520: Progress and road blocks

 In order to push through and finish the 520 in May I set up the bike stand in the living room.   Usually its in the dining room (lol) but that is my office currently so living room it is.

I removed the wheels to make it easier to get around and work on.

Earlier in the week I got the crank cleaned and mounted and put the pedals on too.

Today I got the chain cleaned and back on, since both the chain and freewheel show little wear I reused rather than replacing them, and the chain had a quick-link so that made it easy.

In going through my box of parts I round the crank bolt caps so they went back on too.

Today I also planned to run the derailleur cables, however, I only had one that was used so I strung the FD and ordered more cables to finish the job.   I have cables for the next project but don't want to rob Peter to pay Paul so to speak,


In the meantime I have the brake cables to string and I need to lube the chain, which needs to happen outside and right now its pouring.   And sometime later I will have the shift cables to finish the job,  As bugs would say, you're getting warmer Doc.

On a different note I exercised some self restraint this week, my daughter knows I am a bike nerd and she sent me a picture of this free bike a mere two blocks from my Apartment.   I  took a walk to check it out, it appears to be an 80s era (glued joint) aluminum frame road bike.   I could not find a makers mark so I have no idea what the brand is.  I did see the RD is Shimano 105 and I was tempted... BUT

• I have limited space and no access to a deck
• I have plenty of projects and 6 bikes are currently in my apartment
• This bike is in rough shape, rust on the frames apparently chrome exterior, mis-matched wheels etc.

I decided that with one bike (520) close to being done and two more in the queue I don't need more and I might be helping my nephew with yet another bike project as well.   Last year I would have probably jumped on this project.

Ride. Smile. Stock up on parts. Repeat.

1987 Trek 520: Rear Wheel

I decided to get going on the rear wheel for the Trek 520 in the hopes that I could finish it much quicker than the front wheel.

The new management of my apartment building started the year with working on the balconies and replacing the decking and railings, recently they got around to me and removed an area where I used to do a lot of bike work.  I am doing my work entirely indoors now.

I like to start by just removing one half of the parts from the axle, it's less work and means I know one side is already set when I put things back together.

The old bearings and hub were definitely dirty so I am glad I took the time to take the hub apart.

I was happy this hub had the metal dust caps that I could easily remove with a large screw driver.

Being able to remove the dust cap makes cleaning out the hub cups much easier.

New bearings, fresh grease (9 1/4 bearings per side) and a cleaned up axle with clean cones.    

With the cleaned up freewheel back on the hard part is done.

Of course I couldn't put a dirty tire back on the cleaned up wheel, I did a dirt and gravel trail ride (after a light rain) last fall and so the tires were dirty from that.

No longer having a deck to work on I used the tub to clean up the tire.

The wheel was slightly out of true so I spent some time adjusting spokes.

And bingo we are done, having a 3 day weekend helped.  I am hoping I can push through the rest of the work; shift and brake cables, clean and mounting the crank, chain,  and wrapping the bars.  I have another project I would like to start while it's still May.  We'll see if that happens.

1987 Trek 520: Front Wheel Part II

Its been a while but I did finally get back to the Trek 520 front wheel.  In the last post I had torn down the hub but realized I didn't have a way to remove the rubber seal without damaging it.

I realized that with the rubber cover left in the only way to clean the cup of the hub was to use the dremel,  but I quickly realized that my dremel battery was kaput so I had to order a new one and wait.

Finally I was able to use the dremel and a small brass wire brush to clean out the hub as best I could.

I also took the opportunity to clean the dirty tire with hot soapy water.

And with the hub cups cleaned it was time for fresh grease and 10 new bearings (3/16th) per side.

Fresh grease applied and shiny new bearings.

Axle and cones reinstalled.

I got the hub adjusted and put the tire and tube back in place.  Done right...

Well about 5 minutes after I took the picture above I heard a tick tick tick and then POP! like a gunshot, and I realized that despite being careful, or so I thought, I had gotten a pinch flat.  The good new is that I have another tube and the blowout didn't happen on the road.

My ears are still ringing but the front tire is basically done.  Hopefully the rear won't take as long.

Ride. Avoid pinch flats. Smile. Repeat.

Market ride in a time of Pandemic

Right after the state lock down the farmers market closed for  nearly 2 months, it opened up last week and this week I decided to ride my bike up and check it out.

I parked the bike in the usual spot and headed across the street to the market.

I was directed to a line so they could meter how many folks were in the market at one time.

The line of one of many new measures, like the fact that I and most shoppers and all vendors had on masks and there were helpful chalk marks to help us stand 6 feet apart. 

They weren't encouraging allot of loitering so I got in, got my stuff, and loaded up the bike.

I scored a nice collection of bread, cheese, spring onions and smoked salmon.

I found the measures they had in place sensible and it seemed like folks were doing their best to follow them and also enjoy the bounty of the market.  I certainly enjoyed a market ploughman's platter when I got home.  Stay safe out there.

Ride.  Get good local eats. Smile. Repeat.

Return of the Approach

Almost exactly 6 years ago I worked on my friend Charlie's 1995 Diamondback Approach Hybrid.  Link to blog post here .  With my favorite Coffee shop reopened for take out orders I saw him recently and he asked me about tires for the Diamondback.

The bike still lives outside and in 6 years the tires were looking shabby, they were used to begin with and Charlie was concerned about dry rot.  As it turns out I had some Soma tires that were too fat for the Allez at 700 x 28c and frankly a bit undersized for this bike, but they were in good shape and this bike is back up transport not regularly used and so they would be fine.

I told Charlie I had some tires, they might be a bit gaudy but had plenty of life left.  I couldn't just replace the tires, of course, so I put my workstand out on the porch to take advantage of the lovely weather we had last week.

The most obvious thing was to attack the rust so I used the dremel (with new battery) to remove the headset rust from the last 6 years.

The old tired tires came off and I did a few other things:

• lightly sanded down the brake pads
• wiped down the dirty frame
• checked the wheels for true and cleaned them up, and replaced a torn rim strip on the rear wheel
• cleaned and lubed the seat post and stem
• replaced the tires of course
• cleaned and lubed the chain
• took a test ride to check the braking and shifting

I wiped down the contact points, grips seat etc with Clorox wipes and did a no touch drop off.  Charlie thought it looked a bit like the Pee Wee Herman bike lol.  He didn't have too but insisted on giving me $$ for the work which was nice as was doing some bike work again since I have stalled out a bit on the 520,  

Ride. Smile. Wash your hands. Repeat.