And then there were 5...

I mentioned in the last post that over the weekend I had sold the Trek 420, and then right after posting that someone bought the Novara,  I had the Ponderosa on both CL and FB and it was FB that came through. It sold for $50 so I got double what I paid for it.

Then today I sold the Takara which I also had on both CL and FB and it was also FB that came through on this bike also selling for $50.  To it break down for the Takara; I paid $75 for the bike and then stripped it of its SunTour bar end shifters and 700c Mavic/Ultegra wheels.  I got $26 for the shifters and $50 for the bike after I had spent $15 in parts and used some parts bin items to get it road worthy.  So in essence a very nice wheel-set cost me $14.00.  Because I purchased a vintage wheel-set for the Allez that is spec to the bike I will be selling the Mavic Ultegra wheels to offset my $90 outlay for wheels.  I think I should get at least $90 for the Mavics thus making the Allez wheelset effectively free.

Speaking of the Allez after getting the 700x28c panaracers mounted as I described yesterday I noticed that I the front tire looked very tall and on closer inspection I found it did not spin freely -the top of the tire coming in contact with the bottom of the brake caliper.  I kind of liked how the red tread looked... oh well.  I swapped over to the 700x23c Vittoria Zaffario's that came on the Mavic wheels.

In the mail I unexpectedly got the 7 speed FW I had ordered for the vintage Wobler, SunTour GPX wheels.

I had noted how nosiy the 28t cassette was so I ordered the FW with a 25t big cog,  I greased the threads got the FW mounted and confirmed the 25t cog is much quieter.  Not sure how hill practical the bike will be for me but I can always do a make over to a compact crank set and I already have long cage RD and a mega range 7 speed FW I would just need to change the shifters as the SunTour GPX don't play well outside their brand for indexing and I have been told by other owners that they stink in friction mode.

For now though the Allez is rideable and when the weather clears I will take it for a test ride with new wheels, FW and narrower tires. 

The nice 700c Mavic wheel-set I scavenged for the Allez is on CL and with any luck I can tell the story of how I got an Allez for a 6 pack of beer.

I spotted a set of Continental Ultra sport II 700x25c tires for down the road when the Allez gets the spa treatment, complete with red stripe.

I was happy to achieve my goal, from the spring,  of thinning the heard and getting down to 4 bikes; Cresta, 520, Handsome Devil and Moto_GT.  And then of course the Allez came to me out of the blue for bike #5.  I sold the 6 bikes I had targeted plus the 2 additional ones I picked up and now I just need to control myself for a while. LOL.  The next thing I want to do, aside from more coffee rides is to give the 520 the spa treatment, fortunately I have all I need accept a few shift cables so it won't require much $$.  And on sunny days I want to noodle around on the Allez and see how I feel about it.

Ride. Sell Sell Sell. Smile. Repeat.

Coffeeneuring Challenge 2019: Ride 3: Olympia Coffee

Ride number 3 I also kept local as the shifting on the Ponderosa is just ok, fine in the big and small rings very sketchy in the middle ring, 

Olympia Coffee is primarily in Olympia WA, the state capitol, but they opened up a West Seattle location in early 2018. I rode the Moto_GT here last year.

I had a very nice mocha and a fabulous cheese crossiant, I almost ordered a second but stopped myself.  I remembered the coffee patches this time, I have a 3rd one somewhere but couldn't find it.  It was cool and blustery but I managed to miss the rain so I am feeling pretty lucky as its been very wet this week.

The data:

1. Where: Olympia Coffee, 3840 California Ave SW Seattle, WA 98116
2. Date: October 18th at 9:15 am.
3. Consumed:  Mocha and a croissant 
4. Details:  blustery , 50 degrees, bike parking half way down the block
5. Mileage: 2.4 miles
6. Bike Used: 1988 Novara Ponderosa MTB

Prepping for ride #4.

I have gone through the 3 bikes that are in CL and were in some danger of not being available, I just lowered the $$ on the Takara and the Ponderosa although I am about ready to either part out the Ponderosa or put on a new chain and make it my winter trainer bike.  I had a nice college kid look at the 420 today and he liked it but is looking at other bikes before deciding.  I think it made a good impression so fingers crossed,  If I am going to complete my theme of riding 7 different vintage steel bikes then the Allez needs to be rideable,  As you know from the last post it now has wheels and 12 functional gears, but the brakes weren't hooked up and it had no pedals.

I cut off the frayed ends of the brake cables and was able to get them hooked up both front and rear which should be adequate for a 2 mile coffee run.

And the Shimano dual side pedals were in the parts bin so I slapped them on the bike as a temporary measure.  The drive side pedal was a bit stiff going on despite my greasing the threads so I may have to check the pedal arm threads when I rebuild the bike,

As I was working on the bike it occured to me just how racy this model is, the 56cm Sport model I sold this summer was more relaxed with a triple crank and fender and rack mounts, this Allez has no braze ones, a fork with minimal rake and a short cage RD that isn't really set up for more than a 25t big cog on the cassette paired to a 52/39 crank.  It would be pretty easy to make this a more hill friendly bike, compact crank, Deore LX RD, 34t big cog in the rear, but I have lots of hill friendly bikes and I kind of like that this is different than the rest of the fleet.  Its why I keep wondering if I should just jump in with both feet and get the spec Suntour GPX wheelset to make it even more stock.  We'll see, lets ride it to coffee first.

Ride. Caffeinate. Smile. Repeat

Novara Ponderosa mini refresh

I started with a somewhat grimy trainer bike that I got it for a song @ $25.  I had to curb my natural tendencies to try and spiff up the paint and get new tires etc.  What I decided is to clean it and with the minimum amount out of pocket and sell it on as a reliable beater.  Yeah kind of a flip.

If no one is interested in the Ponderosa as a complete bike I know the 6 speed indexed Shimano Deore thumb shifters in good condition are basically worth what I paid for the bike so I can always go the part it out route.

I did sand the glaze off the brake pads.

I also made sure the seat post and stem were greased.  Since the seat post had sticky gummy grease I cleaned up the seat post and also ran the brake hone in the seat tube so I could start fresh.  I also cleaned and greased the chain.

One thing I did decide to address was the clutter on the bars.  As mentioned this was a trainer bike so it had a clamp on book holder,bullhorns on the end of the bars and the grips were a bit tired.  Since I had a free Amazon gift card the new  $10 grips were essentially gratis.

I do know that the bullhorns are useful from the standpoint of more had positions however, I think the simplified bars with fresh grips look better IMHO.

I am emphasizing the full Deore drive train and the fact this bike would be a great platform for either a commuter or gravel grinder.  And all those rock chips in the paint means you can lock it up downtown and not worry about it.  Time will tell if anyone thinks its the deal I do.

I hope I can get this bike and the 420 moved along to new homes and now I need to get the Takara in the stand and then out the door... after I remove those sweet wheels and the bar end shifters.

A Bonanza of a side project

No I am not stopping work on the 420 but I had been following this Novara Ponderosa MTB on CL for a few weeks for no particular reason and saw the price drop steadily, I threw out an offer of $25 and it was accepted.  An older gentleman had been using it as a trainer bike, hence the clunky book holder clamp on the bars, but he had a fall recently and was liquidating his bikes.  I figured for a $25 outlay I had a chance to make some profit and now that I am temporarily unemployed that could be a good thing.

I took it for a 2.5 mile test ride this morning and found a few items to sort, the rear brake pulses for lack of a better word and the front is too loosely adjusted.   The rear shifting is fine, its a 6 speed Shimano SIS indexed thumb shifter.  The front though has issues in the middle ring the chain makes a racket going into the middle ring but is find in the low and high.

I am not a big fan of gel saddles this might be fine if I just flip it but the cover is a bit loose so I might replace it with something used from bike works.  Very likely the original saddle.

I do like all the Deore bits and if I decided to part the bike out I think the thumb shifters and cranks with intact bolt caps could go along way toward doubling my outlay.  The RD looks like it might be a replacement but it seem to work just fine.

I believe this to be an 87/88 model year bike due to the unique and short lived rear brake set up.  The picture above is the bike upside down, its got a u-brake attached to canti studs on the underside of the chainstays set up.  Never worked on this type of rear brake and the odd pulsing I was getting from the rear brake my just be a feature of this brake.  I need to do some research and see if this unique brake has any worth on the used market.

Nice Tange MTB steel, fillet brazed.

A little sleuthing shows this bike spent some time in Montana, could have been a college bike at Montana State Univ.

I am going to scavenge the trek branded water bottle cage for either the 420 or 520.

I haven't got around to sleuthing the serial number yet but as I said I think the unique rear brake pegs in the late 80s.

I have this vague idea that I could double my money on this bike, then take the proceeds and find another project and keep on going a little more upscale each time.  I am aided by the fact that I was given some amazon gift certs as a very nice parting gift on my exit from the contract job by an appreciative boss.  So I could replace the tires, chain and grips basically for free.

The paint is in rough shape as you can see so its ,not going to clean up as nicely as either the Bianchi or the Rock hopper.  I think I can work the winter bike, beater, commuter angle when I list and it will benefit from some rubbing compound and wax..

Losing the clunky book clamp off the bars has already improved the looks and I think removing the bull horns will help even more, they can be very practical giving you more hand positions but they don't do much for the look of the bike and I find pretty sells faster than practical.  My gut feeling is to sort the issues I found, give it a through clean and tune up replacing as little as possible, some fresh grips  and then we'll see if I can double my investment.  Who knows?

Did I mention it seems to fit me.........

Ride. Rescue strays. Smile. Repeat