Fixing 50 bikes Project: Bike 5

Seatpost bolt (right) was dodgy, it was replaced with a better one

It had a light and I supplied it with some spare batteries

Right shifter was dodgy, the problem turned out to be the pawl which is circled. It was stuck, a bit of oil fixed it. The whole thing is quite intricate.

A screw was missing on the top side of the shifter and I used a screw and washer from the shed to cover it up.

Original bike with "aggressive" stem suitable for racing. Suggested change agreed to by a couple of mates was to change to the stem circled, they agreed and ......

this was the result. Much more relaxing to ride.

 This bike was picked up just after the latest Victorian coronavirus lockdown came into force. I swapped it over for bike 4, but couldn't ride it home as the rear gearcable was missing and the chain was clunking when I tried to pedal. Its downhill or flat most of the way home, so I was able to scoot it with a foot on one pedal, and wasn't too slow.

Make model and size: GT All Terra Aluminium.

Parts used to fix: 

Recycled from Wecycle: - Bell

New from Wecycle: - Front and rear reflector, chain, gear cable

Recycled or new from my shed: - Bolts, swap over headstem

To (Place and Date, Comment): Wecycle shed, 20/2/2021 

Take Home message: Indexing gearshifters can be fixed. Use a bit of oil and click them through their range for a while.Same message as last time. Some stems might be good for racing but they are uncomfortable for everyday riding.

20" Hercules

Broken Taillight but  - Ta - Da - I have a spare one in the shed.

By this time I had fixed the back tyre

Tool and keys from the saddle bag - woo hoo. The rag surrounding the tools keeps them from rattling around.

Bolt-on front end. I developed this bike half for the velocino 24" version.

1st day out of lockdown and on a warm summer's night I am taking her for a spin to pick up takeaway food. Yes, the load carrying device is a bucket. Simplest thing I could find and it did the job.

Some nice stickers although..

a little bit the worse for wear.

As advertised.

 Hi

A few days ago when Victoria was in lockdown, I spotted a separating Hercules bike on Facebook Marketplace, and a few pics are shown above.

A couple of Messenger posts, a few text messages, and a lifting of lockdown later, and I am driving on the freeway out to Sydenham to pick it up.

Overall I'm very pleased with it and I plan to keep it. I've already fixed a puncture on the back wheel, and discovered I have an intact taillight that suits. Maybe there is a Hercules bell lurking in the shed as well.

In order to justify keeping this one, a few will have to go. The Luxus, Box Hill Purple Peugeot, The Atala, and Avanti Illusion will all be sold on ebay.

Regards

Steve Nurse

 

Fixing 50 Bikes Project: Bike 4

Almost fixed

Searching for a right side shifter and brake, and doing a bit of sorting as I go resulted in....

Finding replacement parts (on handlebar). Top part was the original shifter / brake lever. Eventually a bit of oil and working of the gearlevers got the original part to work, and I put it back on the bike.

A good brand in its day. This sort of bike design was copied by brands selling cheap to supermarkets, but this looks like one of the original good ones.

Not many parts needed from Wecycle, just grips and rear reflector.

Pretty much as found.

Hi

 

I picked up this bike from Wecycle. It was accessible in the shed, looked potentially good and needed tidying up.

After cleaning the bike, I realised the right gearchange was only changing 3 gears, and put a bit of oil in to try to fix it.  No luck initially, so I set about replacing it with parts from the shed. Found some parts (pic 3), but soon after the photo was taken the original shifter started to work and I put that back on.  

Just as I was about to take the bike to Wecycle (Melbourne lockdown Mark 3, day 1) I realised the back tyre was flat. Not sure if its a puncture or not, but I took it up to Wecycle anyway.  

 

Make model and size: Shogun Trail Breaker.

Parts used to fix: 

Recycled from Wecycle: -

New from Wecycle: - Handgrips, rear reflector

Recycled or new from my shed: - 

To (Place and Date, Comment): Wecycle shed, 13/2/2021 

Take Home message: Indexing gearshifters can be fixed. Use a bit of oil and click them through their range for a while.

Fixing 50 Bikes Project: Bike 3

Finished!

Old brake pads on tyre, new pads from a set of canti brakes from the shed.

This is a tool made from a spoke. It hooks 2 ends of a chain together when they are being rejoined. I put a point in one end of it to tidy up cable outers after they've been cut with snippers.

Ripping apart the old seat for recyclingOnly the seat cover got thrown away

New seat was from the a Byk bike via the Wecycle bikeshed. Old seat matched the bike paintwork but was falling apart.

As found condition

Front brakes before fixing

 Really, I didn't have to go very far to find this one. It was out the front of a neighbour's house when I came home with my wife Christine one day, and I picked it up, took it home and started to repair it. There was very little wrong with it, the front brake needed fixing - included with that was replacing pads and shortening the cable - the seat needed swapping out, and that was it.  I waited a few days before bringing it to Wecycle as the shed was already very crowded with bikes. Tyres were good and pumped up ok.

 

Make model and size: Southern Cross 24cm, 20" child's bike.

Parts used to fix: 

Recycled from Wecycle: Seat, Rear reflector

New from Wecycle: -

Recycled or new from my shed: Brake pads from cantilever brakes

To (Place and Date, Comment): Wecycle shed, aiming for 13/2/2021

 

Heidelberg Road plus Video & Podcast.

 

Jeremy and Alyson, and one of their current crank forward Rans bikes which has served them well for 12 years or so...

, but now on the way out, replaced by a custom Trisled ....

which has all the features of the Rans plus some extra load capacity.

 Hi

Jeremy and Alyson came over last Sunday, they promote active transport and were interested in a tour of some nearby popup bike lanes on Heidelberg Road. They phoned ahead but had a surprise when they arrived, a brand new Crank Forward style bike, custom for them made by Trisled. The bike is to replace a Rans which had done trojan service - but Jeremy was sick of lifting his leg over the top tube and also he wanted more load space.

Anyway, Jeremy filmed me for this video promoting the bike lanes, and later in the day I spoke to Chris from the Yarrabug show on radio 3CR, resulting in this podcast .

Lastly if you want to let Vicroads know how you feel about the bike lanes, you can let them know via the survey at this link . I've filled in the survey, generally I think the bike lanes are great, but they have created some pinch points for cars which Vicroads need to know about. 

PS the bike paths hit at least one major news bulletin, here is a link to their video via Chris Starr and facebook. Thanks Chris!

 

Fixing 50 Bikes Project: Bike 2

 

Done!

Supergluing a washer from the shed in place as a gearchanger cover

Neat cable runs....

include no gearcables under the downtube or bottom bracket. That's great and it means its easy to fit the bike into my maintenance stand.

Found a matching! set of v-brakes which replaced....

This old set with old style pads which were on the bike.

A few cable ends from wecycle. A minor catastophe on the way home, this case came open and all the ends got strewn around my tailbox.

The bell and saddle were from wecycle and the noodle from the shed. Didn't end up using the other parts, the shifters ended up being ok.

Almost at the start but I had already swapped the crank and pedals over at this stage.

Hi, this is the second bike I've fixed in this series.  I picked it up from the Wecycle shed last Sunday, and "it chose me", just by being in poor condition (at least a crook back wheel and derailleur loose) and not piled up behind other bikes. 

Fixing wasn't too hard. The crankset had been the horrible steel coated plastic type. There was lots of cleaning to do and it took me a while to work out the brakes were crook with the retraction spring mechanism not working. The chain looked a bit tired, and I'd considered replacing it, but putting it next to a new chain, it turned out to be the same length. So I just lubed it and it works ok.

This morning I took it for a test ride adn did some shopping. As well, I'd spotted an abandoned kid's bike in the neighbourhood, but it had gone by the time I got back there.

From (Place and Date, Comment): Wecycle, St. Georges Road Northcote, Jan 31, 2021. Peter Kelly had brought it in.

Make model and size: Apollo Peak MTB Sport, 26" wheel mountain bike.

Parts used to fix: 

Recycled from Wecycle: Seat, Cable ends

New from Wecycle: Bell.

Recycled or new from my shed: Rear wheel, complete V-brake set, brake noodle, crankset, big washer for gearshifter repair, derailleur bolt.

To (Place and Date, Comment): Wecycle shed, ?????