Getting Started

I've been looking forward to working on my wife's bike. The plan today was to remove everything from the frame so I can clean it and get it ready for powder coating. The first sign of trouble showed up almost immediately when I discovered that the seatpost is stuck in the frame.

 I don't know if it was forced into the seat tube or if it's rusted in place. I sprayed some light oil in the tube but it hasn't budged. I read Sheldon's recommendations for fixing this problem. I'll try heating the seat tube with a hair dryer. Some penetrating oil should help.

Everything else came off with little fuss untill I got to the cranks. The bolts that attach the crank arms stick out too far to allow my crank puller to be screwed into place.

I messed up a crank arm the last time I tried this. I'll probably have my LBS remove the cranks for me. They can remove the bottom bracket while they're at it.

This old bike originally came with 27 inch wheels, I'm going to update it with 700c wheels so that we'll have plenty of tires to choose from. I plan to build up a set of 700c wheels on a 126mm 7 speed hub. Me and my wife really like the look of the Shimano 600 EX components and wanted to keep them. I'll have to replace the original brakes with some long reach brakes so that the pads will reach the smaller 700c rim. I noticed that the front brake has a recessed bolt while the rear brake is the old nutted style. I'll probably drill out the rear hole on the brake bridge to accept a recessed bolt.

The reflector mount is shaped at the attachment point to fit the brake bridge. I might keep this and adapt it for use with a blinkie light.

I didn't realize until a few days ago that new brakes would not mount to an old bike without some minor frame modification.

I'd like to have the frame powder coated at the beginning of January.  

Univega Sportour Mixte

I've been searching Craigslist for the last couple of weeks looking for a bike for my wife. I was wanting a mixte or an interesting 3 speed. My wife could care less, she just wants something pretty. I found her a frame but it's not real pretty, at least not yet. It's a Univega Sportour mixte circa 1981 or 82. It's got some really interesting Shimano 600 EX or "arabesque" downtube shifters, and derailers. It also came equipped with SR crankset and Dia-compe brakes. The frame itself is  much lighter and higher quality than I had expected. 

I will probably have it powder coated sometime soon and re-install the existing components. I'll be posting my progress.

Random Stuff 10-27-08

I'm laying here recovering from the combined effects of a meatball sandwhich and a large brownie. Both are delicious but consuming one after the other was a deadly combination that should be avoided at all costs, at least by me (It's making me gag just thinking about it).
To take my mind off of my bubbling belly I figured I'd share some more stuff I've found online recently.

I'm looking for a good, inexpensive mixte framed bike for my wife. I had originally read about a bike makeover at Chic Cyclist which peaked my interest in mixte bikes. The purchase of this bike and makeover cost $55. I'm pretty sure they didn't include the cost of the saddle.

Here's some photos of mixte bikes on Flickr.

I also found this Flickr photostream from mschol30. He has lots of nice photos of randonet bikes including this one of a Schmidt E6 headlight mounted on a front fender stay. I hadn't seen one mounted this way before and thought it was interesting.

Then there is Paul out in Arizona (I believe he's in Tempe) cruisin around on his fix geared Surly Cross Check making a heroic attempt to post a video a day on his blog "Greater Than Cars". Paul is another blogger using a Flip camcorder for his videos.

That's all for now.