Over the last few weeks I’ve acquired a small pile of “projects”--meaning bicycles with just enough charm to hide their decrepitude. With the place to myself for the weekend, I had high hopes for dealing with a good chunk of them.
I made some progress... I also drank a lot of coffee.

Project I, my wife’s mixte. An old man a the corner of Salmon and 15th let this department store 10-speed go for a cool $50. I got it knowing that I’d have to drop a little more cash on it ($13 on a new one-piece crank, $8 on a chainring (making it a 5-speed), and $3 on a used set of handlebars). I was even cool with buy new wheels if I had too. Yeah... It turns out “26 x 1 3/8 e.a. 3” wheels aren’t really 26”. They aren’t even Schwinn’s 26 x 1 3/8. But oh well, it took a little extra time, but I think I might have found some tires and a used wheel that’ll work. That leaves just finding a new front wheel and grips/brake levers.

Then I turned to Project XII: my Old Green Bike (my main way of getting around town). It’s a Frankenstein’s Monster of sorts, and not all the bits make sense together. For example, the shifter and the derailer do not work in concord, which forces me to use the bike as if it were a single-speed. It also had a front fork with shocks for no apparent reason. I replaced the fork last night with self-confidence inspiring ease, so why not make it a real single-speed too? I tell you why, because bike-shop dudes don‘t think it‘s a good idea (see Crashbox’s post on this one. And I‘ll add to his comment with the observation that there seems to be a strong can‘t-do/moronic streak to these guys. “Can you take this cassette apart for me?” “Why?” Because I want it taken apart, jackass. Then he acts as if I‘m asking him to split the atom...). So the Old Green Bike is in pieces still.

But all in all the weekend was saved by Project II, my Schwinn Collegiate. My wife got a pair of matching Schwinns for free a couple years ago. I put some air in the tires of mine and have been riding it all over SE Portland this weekend. It weighs a billion pounds, and it’s “fast” is really... not fast, but I really dig it. It needs new tires and brake pads, but that’s about it. I want to make the shiny parts shiny again, but I like the scrappy look of the pain/decals.

The other Schwinn will have to wait for a bit. I looks like it fell over a few times too many...

Alas, that's all I'm getting done this weekend.

Upgrades for the Klein

Well, ol' Black finally got some lovin'.

This was the first ever bicycle I attempted to build from the ground up: it started out as a truly battered white-and-salt-corrosion frame from the East Coast with no fork or bottom bracket, and had a cracked seatpost tube; but with some time and effort, paint and parts from many new and used sources, she was all patched up and over the last year-and-something has carried me through a few hundred miles of SoCal streets and trails. It was high time for some upgrades however, and today while AC and the little one were sleeping, I took some photos:

New chain (the old one was a rusty beater used one with kinks in it)

New bar with more sweep and a 1.5" rise; 3" cut off each side. So much more comfortable!

13 tooth rear cog to replace the 14 that was on there for a slightly taller gear ratio to accommodate my desire for speed and manly calves(!)

Installed my old rear fender from when I lived in PDX ('cause I'll be living there again soon!)

The rest of Suzi's motor has been consigned to Paul for the final massages.

"We'll spec it, I'll run the flat hone through it, we'll see if we need to bore out.  Chances are it only needs rings.  Yeah, that carbon deposit on the cylinders is normal.  Looks like hell, but it's normal.  Engines get that after about 10 minutes of running.  And you were burning oil anyways, since your valve guide seals were shot."

"So what about planing the head?"

"Typically we leave the gasket surface alone.  It's aluminum on aluminum, and shaving it down will change your compression, your timing, really mess it up.  No, I don't plane it.  Now if this was an aluminum on iron, like a car engine, that would be different.  Your head and jugs are both the same metal so they both warp at the same rate, no need to mess with it."

"One last question.  Do I need to replace the oil pump?"

"Nah, those are really simple lobe type rotary pump and unless you blew something up and hard parts got run through the pump, there's no need to replace."

Well, that's $90 I didn't need to spend.  Too late now though, the order is in the mail and a 20% restocking fee applies.  I might have to ask if he wants a NOS oil pump for an '82 GS1100....

Now, only to paint the two minimal plastic parts that are going back on the bike and it's back to the Eternity of Waiting for Paul to Finish The Motor.

Maybe it'll take less time for him this time, since it's not fiddly like the head.  Maybe I'll get the engine back by Christmas...

Oh, some trivia:

Total parts cost first order: $180 (misc stuff like R/R, spark plug caps and seals)

Total parts cost second order: $200 (Fuel tank emblems, intake boots, misc hoses and gaskets, and the unnecessary oil pump)

Total parts cost to refurbish head: $300 (eight exhaust valves and guide seals)

Total labor cost to refurbish head: $300

Total parts cost for cosmetics: $50 (2 cans flat black, 2 cans stripper, several paintbrushes, scrapers and tack cloths)

Total project cost, approx: $1000

And I haven't yet spent $300 on new rear suspension, sorely needed; haven't replaced the turn signals or bought bar end mirrors, and there's no guarantee the damn thing will even run after I get it all put back together. And furthermore, I'm doing about 1/2 the stuff to the bike I originally intended.  What I'm doing amounts to a top end, only. This could so easily have been a $3000 project....

So if any of you should perchance be considering the complete overhaul of a big-bore, 16-valve, late 70's/early 80's musclebike: be forewarned. This isn't your grandpa's dual-sport.

(Although to put it in perspective of performance numbers, to overhaul an 70's Lamborghini, if even possible, would cost....)

Mark Passed Out in the Bike Seat

This seat works great -- it's the bobike mini. Mark's passed out in it a couple times now -- it's that comfortable.

Bicycle Inventory / Status

(pictures to follow)

Ok, here's the official To-Do list for our fleet (we have five now!) of bikes:


the Wife's 3-speed

-- true front wheel
-- locking top for crate
xx baby bracket
-- permanent lights


my Utility/Baby Hauler bike

-- switch brake levers *
xx new shifters
-- buckets on pedals
xx rack
-- crate (on rack), removable?
-- replace front brake pads
xx kickstand


Fixie

-- build up rear wheel with flip/flop hub (ordered)
xx big chain ring (a 52!)
-- put vbrakes, levers on from K2
xx baskets on pedals

The "--" items are left to do, "xx" are things I did today...

* I am fully convinced that Right-hand Front-Brake, Left-hand Rear-Brake is the right way to go. Read Sheldon Brown's article if you don't agree with me and report back.

Now that I am finally finished with the bikes I have been working on lately, I find myself suddenly without projects! This is a very strange place to be for a person like myself, though I have complained and whined and wished to be in this condition for a long time...it seems so wonderful to not have anything putting pressure on me to 'get it done'...but I am having trouble not dreaming up some new mechanical undertaking just to feel normal.

Now, there is always the upgrade on my old Klein single speed (waiting on the new handlebars), and of course, the Volvos. There is strong desire to start really fixing up my patient, loyal, old cars, especially the 142; but there is just too much to be done on her, and eith one will take too much money for me to be able to start anything right now. I think I will have to wait a while to undertake a project of that magnitude. So except for the occasional adjustment or small repair, the creative outlets have been, for the moment, quieted; after all, the new bars for my single speed is only a matter of a few minutes. I want something serious.

A delicious and powerful daydream has been growing over the last few weeks to actually design and weld up my own bicycle frame. This is a really far-fetched idea, but I want to build a track frame imitating the American racing frames from the 1920s; beautiful, though somewhat primitive bikes---very simple, small, all steel, on the slightly heavy side, but oozing that 1920s enthusiasm and sense of invention.

I know, I know; dream on you say...

Thrift Store Find: Schwinn Varsity

A business trip took me to my hometown Minnesota, and the best thrift store in town, Unique Thrift, had hidden away a Schwinn Varsity for the givitaway price of $35! Excellent fodder for a fixy project I'd been imagining for a while. JG025701 is the serial number on the head tube and signifies that bike was made in Chicago, in September of 1971. This places the bike squarely in the middle of its long production run of 1960-1986. While I thought I'd just post some pics and leave it at that, I am finding out that the history and engineering behind the bike is truly fascinating, so I thought I'd write a bit on that.

The Varsity has an interesting place in American bike culture. In 1959 less than 1% of lightweight road bikes made up the US consumer market. By 1987 (just before the dawn of MTB) they were over 60%. The Varsity was produced from 1960-1986. Thus, in the words of the linked author, "The Varsity is the single most significant American bicycle." While I'm not prepared to defend this claim, it served to pique my interest. Basically the Varsity, along with its upscale Continental sibling and the rare racer (and gorgously revived) the Paramount, were the American roadbike stars for the 60's, which were unfortunately overproduced into obsolencence like the Beetle or Model T.

What is also notorious about these bikes is how heavy they are! I'd say mine weighs at least 30 pounds. The reason for this is primarly the 1010 steel tubing, but was is of interest is how this tubing was constructed via the "electro-forged" process. As you notice there are no visible weilds on my bike--this is how it came from the factory.

This is the description of the process as described by Schwinn fan Marc Miller : "Schwinn... used coil strips of steel to produced its own tubing. The strips were fed through a series of rollers which shaped and sized them and prepared them for the final rollers, which passed an electric current to the edges. This was a continuous process, so immediately after welding, the bulk tubing was cut to the appropriate lengths. Having the capacity to make tubing was crucial to the viability of E/F frames, as the savings over buying pre-made tubing were enormous. Material handling, transportation and scrap costs were slashed to the bone by bringing this operation in house...To produce a typical E/F frame joint, the ends of two tubular frame components were held nearly together and clamped in copper jaws, which acted as anodes and cathodes. The edges of the adjacent parts served as electrodes and filler material. The edges had to be closely alignedn them. The relatively thin edges of the tubes became molten and the two parts were pushed together by hydraulic rams, amid a shower of sparks. This left heavy slag around the joint, but that was removed by belt sanders, lathes or scarfing pliers. During the joining process nearly 3/16" of adjoining material was burned away! The actual welding took only a few seconds compared to several minutes to weld or braze each conventional joint. With potential cost savings such as this coming into view it must have been exciting times at the Schwinn factory" Pretty amazing, huh! Simarly the head tube, bb, all the stays, and the rims were made by the "E/F" process.

Needless to say, I"m very excited about this find! Here are some pics to end this rambling post:

Home-made Uber Lock

So this is a slight departure from bikes proper -- but still in the same field. I was at the hardware store a few weeks ago, and these jumped out at me: HUGE ORANGE HOOKS.

Since I was in the market for a new U-Lock, I bought one. It was WAY cheaper than a new U-Lock, so I sprung for it. After a few attempts to drill out the stopper's cotter pin-hole, I decided to just use a smaller lock. Even my new cobalt drill bits were having a tough time with it.

So now I have the coolest, home-made, U-lock on the block.

Now the V-strom has 27,000 and change on her odo. This has to be one of the higher mileage counts on an ought-seven. Cam chain still rattling like a can'o pebbles below 3700 r.p.m. - so I just don't drive it at less than 4000.

Hee hee hee. 2000 miles in two weeks. I rock.

At this rate I'll be having that valve service done next week....which means I can get the tensioner fixed.

Oh, I have to put in a shameless plug for a cool group of people, if one is into motorcycling with "clubs"....the Star Touring and Riding Association Chapter 258. They're a Star club, but all makes and models are welcome. They're a down to earth bunch of family people who like big touring motorcycles and they're about riding them, too - a typical club ride takes all day! They welcomed me into their midst most cordially and although I'm not part of the family yet (I generally suck at being part of any family), and don't own a Star, I've had some good times.

So here's the link:
http://www.venturastartouring.com

Also, I successfully canceled the half of my order for Suzi - all that stuff I won't be needing now that I'm not doing the bottom end. Couple hundred bucks right there that can be spent on...well...something else. I still need to get the wrong flywheel puller sorted out or otherwise taken care of.

From now on in, the majority of work to do is cos-metical. All I need to do is motivate my lazy butt enough to attack that frame with a liberal amount of Simple Green. I've really lost motivation what with waiting for parts, money, and what not....

AC is still riding, a day after her due-date...

We rode about six miles today; went to the bank, the bike shop, thrift store and coffee shop, and her newly assembled blue machine performed excellently. Cycling is great, and I'm glad (and impressed to the point of almost being intimidated!) she is still up for it, but we want our baby!

While finishing up AC's newest bike (one with a small frame to replace her old uncomfortable oversized single speed) I was taken by surprise when I ran into the same problem Dz did on his fixed/single speed project---that lame '80's under-frame rear brake was right in the way of the chain line, now that it sports only one gear. Unlike our previous bikes, she needs the rear brake to stay, since there will soon be a baby along for the ride, either on her back or in a cart being pulled behind; so it was necessary to somehow make it work. After contemplating grinding the brake arm and all sorts of other equally crazy ideas I came up with a solution: the biggest chainring and the stack of cogs from the disassembled cassette were still sitting around, and the only real advantage to keeping the drivetrain small is a tiny amount of clearance and weight savings; so if the current setup with a 34 tooth chainring and a 14 tooth cog = 2.4:1, (which is the desired ratio) the left over 46 tooth chainring needs a 19 tooth cog to achieve the same result. A bit of switcherooing, and presto! it clears! I will be posting some pictorial evidence of this triumph tomorrow...

First on Google for "K2 Comfort Lakewood"

When it comes to selling on Craig's List, it's all about the pictures.

Here's my Wife's old bike, which we are selling, pretty much in mint condition, like when we got it. I just don't see it going anywhere for us -- we got its worth out of it for us, and now we're onto the vintage bikes!

"you-have-ONE-new-voice-message"

Thank you Phone Company. Dialing password.

"Hi this is Paul at Paul's Motorcycle. Your head is all done & ready to pick up, give me a call at xxx-xxxx. Bye."

Glory, glory hallelujah. After six (?) months and change and a great deal of pain and misery trying to find the right parts, the cylinder head is finally done, machined to perfection.

Now I must make time to stop by the ATM to amass the needed cash for the work and head down there.

***

Next day, traffic was heavy on the 126 and Vineyard and it was one of those days where my motorcycle was making an imaginary vibration at 4200 RPM, the shift lever was imagined to be misaligned and I was not, just not on top of my shifting game. Stop and go, stop and go, dodge the garbage trucks, see the sheeted fields, smell the celery and find sixth gear. oops, find it again. Gol I hate false neutrals. I really have to fix that shift lever.

It's funny when you are driving down a three lane road how when the light turns red it's the right lane that keeps moving, because that's the one that has all the trucks in it; then when the light turns green the far left lane starts moving first (because the right lane has all the trucks in it). If it weren't for the barrier middle lane I could just keep rolling...

Paul's shop is down an alley in the bowels of Oxnard. It's a little place tucked away in an industrial labyrinth of chain-link fence, staking out vacant used-car lots on one side. A brick wall stakes out a trailer park on the other side. (Oxnard tries so hard. They had a movie theater and a very nice little coffee shop plaza constructed out on Fi'th Street, but no one is fooled. Oxnard Boulevard has lots of fig trees and restaurants and is swept occasionally but, again, no one is fooled. The interspersed pawn shops, 80's graffiti and one-eyed motels still have a heavier presence than any newly-powerwashed pub-and-grill.

I pulled up next to the shop and dropped the kickstand. A 4x4 Chevy truck stopped simultaneously alongside the opposite wall. "You might want to move down behind here, bud, we have fools come rushing through this alley all the time." I agreed and moved over behind the truck.

Paul's shop is an interesting and dusty collection of hardware from all eras of motorcycling. Roof lighting adds to an aircraft-hangar feel. A parts washer hmmms in the background. Paul emerges from a shack across his tiny lot.

"How you doing Paul. Came to pick up that head."

The box was down in front of the dusty counter. Paul showed me the collection of old parts. The cams, he said were nowhere near out of spec. The rocker arms wear first. I ran my finger over the rocker arm faces - no pitting or scoring to be noticed. The cams have a hardened coating on the lobes, and there was no indication that coating had been compromised. Sweet. At $150 a shaft, I'm not complaining at all.

"So Paul, I'll bring you the jugs and pistons for some attention pretty soon here" I counted out $360 worth of twenties. "Also if you could check out the specs on the crank bearings. I'll bring in the crankshaft."

Paul didn't think that was a good idea. "If you haven't noticed any slop at the conrods - it wasn't making any funny noise was it? - there's no point in tearing the bottom end all apart. Those roller bearings last and last. Your tranny is going to go first, specially second gear because that's the one everyone rolls on. I wouldn't worry about it. You're not going to find anyone who can rebuild that crank anyhow; there's very, very few shops have the tooling for that. It will be expensive. Those bottom bearings go, your motor is done."

I guess that indicates he couldn't do it for me if I DID bring it in. Well, that's good news. Saves me two months and lord only knows how much money. And although I want to do as much as I can while this motor is out of the bike, I'm also reluctant to fix what ain't broke on a 26 year old machine. Sort of like not changing the transmission fluid on a car if it hasn't been done for 10 years...putting new stuff in might do more harm than good.

So, next stage is honing and reringing, rebuilding the oil pump, and well, that should about do it for the mechanicals. The cam chain stuff I'm probably going to pass over; I'll ask Paul to measure the original and see if it's out of spec. If not, I'll leave it. If the cams were in good shape, it means the top end was getting good oil, and the chain is probably fine. Never heard of anyone snapping a cam chain on a non-thrashed bike. I might still install a manual tensioner, though.

But hey ... the end is in sight! Light is visible at the end of this tunnel, and there might be a prayer that I get her buttoned up before the winter rains strike....

Yet Another Bicycle

I've been looking at too many pictures of Retrovelos.

So when this bike hit Craig's List, I had to get it.

I intend for this one to be my Child-transporter, so I'm not sure how many or what combination of gears I want on it. I suspect I'll be leaving both chain rings, and maybe just keeping it at a ten-speed for now. Nothing like hauling a 20-pound kid and 30-pounds of groceries to make you wish you had gears. Now you can see why I've been drooling over the Bakfiets.

Anyways, here's pics.

The Silver Bullet Rides Again

Well, now that we have off-street (and unpaid street) parking at our new place, we brought the Silver Bullet out.

Had to jump it at the farm, and again at the gas station (where I plugged the jumper cables in backwards to a stranger's car!!!), but now it's here, safe and sound.

Time to join Oregon Volvo Tuners, and dust off that IPD catalog.

Yes, that's my 'utility' bike on the front rack, custom made from my old curved handlebars. No, I didn't hit a bicyclist and run.

New Kid on the Block

We picked up this cutie 'bout noontime today for a cool $40. It's actually ready-to-roll, with tires that hold air and an internally-shifting 3-speed hub. Bought it from a Ukranian chap a few miles away. Now, the question is, what are we going to do with it? It has a few rust spots, so obviously a sand-and-paint job is in order...

And we have various accessories to bring over from my Wife's old bike -- like the little coffee bell.

Hmm. I think I'll just sit and look at it a bit. Oh yes. That seat has to go. Or something.

I am pleased to report that out of my list of to-do's for Suzi-girl a few have been accomplished. Such as reassembling/refilling the fuel tank (a moment of panic when I realized I hadn't tightened the petcock down quite right). Such as removing the front fender in preparation for painting, and such as (hallelujah!) getting ONE bolt removed from the flywheel assembly. MAPP-gas and air-wrench! Word, yo.

But alas, the flywheel puller I have is the WRONG size; I need a 35mm instead of a 30mm threaded adapter. Suzuki switched from 30 to 35mm on the flywheel shaft halfway through the 1982 model year, and I had no idea which one I needed. Now I do. Now it's another week waiting for a tool...

And, while I was at it, or rather while waiting for my helper to arrive, I did a perfunctory 25,000 mile service on the Strom. Oil change. The oil pan plug had a few shavings of metal stuck to its magnet. Maybe that cam chain noise is more serious than my mechanic told me it was (shudder) The manual says check and tighten chassis bolts but is blissfully inspecific about which ones. I checked the obvious ones. Same for the muffler and exhaust. I adjusted the shift lever down so I'd quit getting so many false neutrals. Damn, those slivers of metal bother me. The more so, since there wasn't enough metal to really justify worry. It's a sign, added to the loss of about 250 ml of oil every 3,500 miles, a sign of some impending doom which this motorcycle seriously does not need any more of. But the valve service isn't till 28,000 miles....

I mean, come on. A burnt starter switch, losing oil (though revs to 9,000 rpm produce no smoke) a rattling cam chain and now metal in the oil - and all this immediately after the Suzuki 1-year warranty has run out. This is unheard of. The Suzuki 650 v-twin is one of the best motors made today and has reviews and awards to prove it. Was it my fault? Did I not break it in properly? Or is this thing just...going to have problems?

First Post

Greetings all---

Andrew Lang, i.e. ho mathetes (handle = Greek for 'the student,') bidding my greetings and gratitude for being here.

I'm here because of my unabashed delectation of the automobile. Call me kitschy, I've got a '69 mustang I'm head over heels for (but my wallet isn't...which seems right). Her condition is derelict presently, but the spirited part of me knows it will not stay that way.

There's a long (and frankly tedious--save for the most devoted gearhead) road which got me here as a matter of historical accuracy.

But the automotive experience (and the friendship...again for another day) is the thing that is my fix and what I'd like my first post to touch on.

My particular satisfaction with the automobile is one of sensation. The sight of a car with striking lines, with stance, with presence. It purrs. It growls. These cars driven are visceral and captivating--there is an awareness of everything. Working on them gets your whole body on the ground, covers you with the work of your hands...there is something extraordinary soothing about this little combustion-driven world that seems apart the burden of everyday life (and yet it is so close to this life--I find this interesting).

It is something experienced and relished and much later (if at all) reflected on (nostalgia?). Driving the ubiquitous vanilla transporters which are today's car (perhaps not all of today's cars...once more for another day) pales afterward, such as do most women after a great lover (CB: "...you have worked on it, hated it, burst with pride over it, slept in it, cursed at it, caressed it, and ignored it...)...if you know what I mean.

So, yeah, I am a fan. Of bikes too--used to work at a Schwinn shop--and so I'm excited to see the recent posts up. I'm contemplating building a fixie after having a hoot riding crashbox's trek 520. We'll see where it goes...the ideal phrase to say on the right road on a Sunday afternoon...