BuffsVintageBikes

This kid is just something else... WOW

Making some slow progress with the Western Flyer's restoration. So far I've completed the stem, shift levers, front & rear derailleur & brake levers. I made a start on the brake calipers over the weekend but was rudely interrupted by my eldest daughters appendix that decided it wanted to come out... immediately Here's a few pics of the progress: 1. the stripped brake levers before starting the cleanup & polish... commonly referred to as Suicide levers 2. The before/during/after Shifters 3. Before/After rear derailleur 4. The before/during/after Brake calipers. The cheaper model brakes were designed not to be pulled apart but that was hampering the clean up so out came my trusty Dremel to grind off the peened bolt thread and allow me to strip it completely. That made life a lot easier getting into those hard to reach places. Next up is to finish the other caliper and make a start on the wheel set. That will take a while as it needs a lot of TLC

Rook's Instagram post today states "The first year of owning your Rook, our workshop is open to any and all tune ups". Sounds like they'll take good care of you

Yes

The way inflation is moving in SA, the 20% interest that you're paying over the settlement period with probably still be less than the 35% increase in the bikes cost over the same period.

You only live once, buy the damn bike

Well done, that's a great initiative

So last night it was into the garage to get the strip down started and see what nasty surprises await me. It came apart surprisingly well, including the headset, seat post and BB. Zero stuck bits to fight with is always a bargain on these old bikes. Findings: The chrome work needs lots of attention. In some places it's rusted through to the metal but I'll clean it up as best as possible. These old groupsets where built not to be pulled apart and have rivets where others have bolts. It's going to make the cleaning challenging, especially on the brake calipers. The seat is cracked where the one rail mounts to the back so it will need replacing. The tires & tubes are destroyed. It'll probably need a new headset and maybe BB. The hubs are so loose I can remove the cones by hand so I'm not expecting their condition to be wonderful. The rest just needs TLC.

So with the Peugeot so to say done (besides the bar tape), it was time to look for something new. I’ve got two long term ideas in mind, one is to build a fixie from the old DHC frame I picked up who’s components are rusted beyond salvage (and the frame might be close to it as well) and the other is to find a good frame and build it up with a Shimano 600 Arabesque groupset which I have in storage. The DHC requires lots of time & effort because the stem & seatpost are rusted into the frame and I’m really not sure if the frame will be safe after a restore because it’s so badly rusted. I’d still like to have a go at it though, the thought of throwing a frame away bothers me The “good frame” will cost me a bit of money because I’m looking for something decent, like an Eddy Merckx or Colnago for the Arabesque groupset. Sadly I don’t have too much green stuff lying around at the moment due to the 450 motor rebuild. So that left me with option 3, find something cheap to restore and take up my spare time… and so I came across this red rocket while browsing Gumtree during the WC XC race on Sunday. It ticket the boxes… cheap & original with nostalgic value. I made a quick offer and after the racing it was off to Boston to collect it. Those of you from the 80’s & 90’s will identify with this bike immediately. Before the BMX craze hit us, Western Flyer’s and Raleigh’s were the number 1 school boy racing bikes in SA. They were cheap, heavy and generally bomb proof but they had 10 or 12 speed drive chains and they made us look like Pro’s… or so we thought. Judging by the Suntour Hero groupset on this bike, I’d guess it to be an early 80’s model. The frame shows very little damage beside faded paint and some scratches and small rust marks but nothing that can’t be cleaned up. The groupset and wheels need a lot of work. Most of the parts are chromed and rusted, so it’s going to be time consuming work getting it cleaned up as best as possible. It's certainly not a rare or a top end bike but it has nostalgic value for those of us from that era so it's worth saving. Let the fun & games begin

LOL... both my kids are girls and neither of them are keen to get their hands dirty In this instance I stripped the hubs of their axles and bearings and sprayed them with DWF and left them to stand for a few days. Then I climbed into them with petrol and a tooth brush to get into the hard to reach places. They cleaned up surprisingly quickly, I've had others that are an absolute mission. Thanks for the link, I've followed Cameron for years, he does some amazing work I'm documenting the rebuild of the KLX450 on the Wilddog's site. You can follow it here if you're keen. Warning, it's just a lot slower than my bicycle builds. http://www.wilddog.za.net/forum/index.php?topic=226792.0

Holly molly, that looks the bassets danglers I'm a huge Yamaha and KR fan so that's right up my ally, I absolutely love it

Weekends mean time to work on bikes... or find old bikes to buy and then work on later This weekend was a little different. Between my bicycle restoration hobby, I'm also trying to find the time to restore a KLX450 dirt bike to race in the Tankwa 3 day Rally later this year. My mechanical knowledge of 4 stroke motorcycle engines is somewhat limited so I've got a friend helping out when he has a spare moment. So Fri night was taken up with me cleaning the motor and Sat was spent pulling all the covers off the motor to respray them and prep the motor for a new piston & rings. But I digress... my Peugeot Mirage is basically done, just some cosmetic updates to come like the yellow bar tape and gum-wall tires which I ordered The bike cleaned up really well and all the bearings were good and only required a good clean and fresh grease. All cables and housing were replaced and it's rolling and shifting beautifully. The only struggle I had was fitting 7/8 speed master link to the 6 speed chain It required some fine dremel work and a lot of patience but I eventually got it fitting perfectly. I'm really looking forward to taking it on a coffee shop ride soon. Here's some before/after photos:

I thought I'd try something new to add a little French flair to the old Peugeot. It necessitated a trip to the local hobby shop to find some model paint in the colours of the french flag and a steady hand. I'm happy with how it turned out despite the "made in Japan" stamp on the seatpost

Hi Cois, wishing you all the best with this struggle you're facing, I can just imagine the internal battles you must be fighting daily. Keep that positive outlook and remain resolute to get better. Cancer can and has been beaten many times, as you well know. This little sticker on my desk is a constant reminder to me of "The Grace of God". A few years ago, friend of mines young daughter (8yrs old then) was diagnosed with a brain tumor and the Drs gave her zero chance after operating on as much of the tumor as possible. Prayer was literally the only other option. We had these stickers made up and we sold then to raise funds for treatment. Well, she's 13yrs old now, fully healed and living a wonderful life. Keep the faith brother.

Well done Chris, it turned out brilliantly and you're quite right, one can't put a price on the life experience by going this route. You now also have a bike that you'll be able to pull apart and service in your sleep once the laaitie starts hammering it.

The French made CLB brakes were pulled apart and given a good cleanup. This was also the first time I've pulled a set apart and it's quite interesting to see how they were constructed. They're also a lot lighter than I expected, which is impressive if you consider their year of manufacture. Sadly I don't have photo's of the strip down. For those interested, here's a link to a brief history of CLB brakes... http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/components/clb-griffith-comp.html The Tange "Loose Proof" headset was also pulled apart and cleaned up. It was still as good as new and just needed fresh grease. It's also a very interesting design and had me wondering why it never took off? The ratchet type spline stops it from working loose and also helps against over tightening.

Sounds good Jakkals, I'll give you a buzz when I'm up there again, my Mother still lives in Gonubie. The crank arms on the Peugeot turned out well. I hit them with various grades of wet/dry paper and finished them off on the polishing wheel with Autosol. I'm considering having the Shimano 105 logo laser etched into the crank arm but want to try it on an old crank first to see what the finish will look like. I'm afraid it might come out white instead of black like on steel or titanium. I'm impressed with this Tange tubing as well, a 30yr old frame with zero rust in the BB shell, you don't see that often.

Are there weight classes so the fat, old guys stand a chance as well? Sounds really cool, how many guys pitched at the last event?

For a DIY job I think it turned out brilliantly, well done. I love that red as well, it certainly pops

This colour scheme does it for me Following keenly I'll check my spares stash to see if I can find a quill stem otherwise check the Vintage classifieds, there were one or two on there a while back.

The latest bike on my work bench is an old Peugeot Mirage, probably from the late 80's or early 90's. The bike has been neglected but it seems to be all original although I'm not 100% sure. Many of the Peugeot's ran Suntour groupsets but this bike is running a full Shimano 105 6 speed groupset. I’ve got a soft spot for SA built Peugeot’s as my very first racing bike was a pearl white Peugeot Rapport, bought with my first month pay cheque for R850 from Oxford Cycles in EL in the early 90’s. That was then followed by an upgrade to a Peugeot Classique, built with Japanese Tange 1 tubing. It cost close to R2500 but it was running a prototype Suntour bar shifter type setup, the likes of which I never saw on any other bike. I thought I was the bees knees. My sister's father-in-law worked at the Western Flyer factory at Dimbaza outside KWT and he was able to source the Classique for me. So now I have a bee in my bonnet to restore one of each of the Peugeots: Mirage Le Mans Rapport Classique. There might be one or two others models I’ve forgotten about? As collected

Autosol metal polish, nothing beats it. I even used it on the paint work of the red Raleigh and then just wax polish afterwards

This old Le Jeune 531 was way too large for me but I picked it up at a good price so decided to breath some fresh life into it. The bars were hacked, the rear derailleur bent beyond repair (I tried) an the saddle poked. Getting the old BB out was almost mission impossible. After spraying and soaking it for a week without success, I eventually gave up and took it to Mark for help. What followed was something of a hack job involving hammers, hacksaws and lots of foul language. 2 x Shimano BB tools were broken in the process We eventually got the internals out i.e. axle and bearings , but the cup remained rusted tight. So it was off to an engineering firm who welded a thick rod onto the internal cup and then managed to remove it with ease. I think the heat of the weld helped. So then it was back to Mark to clean up the threads and fix a new BB. This wasn't a full nut & bolt original restore so I striped the bike and replaced the groupset with an old Exage300EX and RX100 7 speed groupset that I had lying around that was in great nick, replaced the saddle with nice white Silverback saddle and fitted new cables, handle bar and bar tape. This bike will also go up for sale now as it's too large for me to ride (60cm CT seat tube). Some Before & After shots

Thanks HeyYou. I'd love to focus on old MTBs as well but I just don't have the space available for all the bikes. I've already got a restored Chopper standing in my lounge that the wife gives me grief about every once in a while It might be time to extend the man cave somewhat... or sell a few

I remember them well but sadly haven't seen a Diamant frame in years. I actually bought Magnus's Collstrop outfit from him after that race, I still have it in my cupboard and still use the top on rare occasions