Specialized Hotrock 20 refurb.

[MikeW-71]

My brothers little boy is 5 and the Halfords 16" bike he has is rapidly deteriorating. We are doing our best to make it survive another 6 months until he can move to the 20" size.

With that in mind, bro went to see a Hotrock 20 today and snapped it up for £70.

Good things:

• It has just been serviced by a bike shop, BB has been serviced and is good, new chain, new cables, headset serviced.
• Frame is sound.
  
• 6 speed rear sprockets are in great shape.
• Shifting works, but needs indexing.
• Suspension fork works.
• Wheels run true.
• New saddle.

Bad things:

• Bearings in both wheels are shot.
• Surface rust in places.
• Cosmetic wear and tear.
• Spokes rusty.
• Fork stanchions rusty in places, though only on the areas above the travel.

So, we have plenty of time to do a bit of restoration work. From what I can see, worst-case scenario is that it needs 2 new wheels, but what we want to do is to strip the bike, clean up parts with surface rust and re-paint, service the fork, touch up/repaint the frame. I reckon it could do with some new brake pads, new tubes and tyres and new grips, which doesn't come to a lot of money and leaves us with a good little bike that will give his lad a good couple of years (at least) of use and can be sold on later. I'll update this thread as we go along.

Questions:
Does anyone know what size ball bearings I will need for the wheels?
If I need to buy new wheels, who stocks them?

And finally, some pictures so you can see the situation.

 

[Globalti]

From the generally weathered look of the components and the fork that's a bike that's been left out in the rain very many times and then tarted up for a quick sale. The chrome plating has gone completely on the fork so there isn't much you can do although I'd be tempted to throw the fork away and fit a rigid steel replacement or better, a carbon replacement if you can find one. Kids don't need suspension and the reduction in weight by about 30% will make the bike much nicer to ride. You can paint the handlebars and other black components with a good quality enamel paint. Fit some street tyres and pump them up hard, give the alloy bits a polish with Solvol Autosol and even spray the black plastic parts with lacquer from a rattle can, which will restore the black. Wheel bearings are probably rusty thanks to being left out so yes, take one along to a bike shop (not Halfrauds) and get new then fit them with some decent grease. You could rub the spokes down with wire wool and re-paint them with the same black enamel; the braking surfaces look fine.

 

[Globalti]

PS: Use matt black enamel paint; it won't show the brush marks as much as shiny paint. I used to have a tin of paint that I used on my Land Rover chassis, it would have been perfect for that.

 

[PatrickPending]

you could try this for the rusty chrome

http://www.ehow.com/how_4457299_remove-rust-from-chrome-coke.html

neverr tried it myself but I've heard it in numerous places....

 

[young Ed]

I'd be tempted to throw the fork away and fit a rigid steel replacement or better, a carbon replacement if you can find one.

I'm 14 nearly fifteen and I don't have a pair of carbon forks or frame! Now send me a pair of forks or a frame in the carbon variety now to make things fair and square. If not why does a five year old need carbon forks?
Cheers Ed
P.S not jealous at all over here!

 

[Globalti]

Hello? Hello? That sounded just like my own son aged 14 nearly 15 moaning about what he's got and hasn't got!

 

[young Ed]

but really carbon forks for a little kid? even if you had loads of money etc etc
Cheers Ed

 

[young Ed]

but I'm not telling you what to do.
apart from telling you to pop some carbon forks over my way
sorry
Cheers Ed

 

[MikeW-71]

Dad and I got a lot of the bike stripped tonight, and some of it is rather worse than it first appeared.

Stripped the wheel bearings, cleaned everything and popped in some fresh balls and grease... Not a lot better, the hubs are shot, so new wheels are required.

Got the fork out with the help of a block of wood and some hefty hammering. Headset bearings are shot, they certainly haven't been recently serviced, there was some orange gunk
in there that was probably once grease. New headset bearings needed.

Gears won't stay indexed and will often jump 2 cogs when shifting down the block. Derailleur looks like the bike has been dropped on it a few times, so possibly a new one is needed. Once the wheels are sorted I'll try it again before buying parts now.

I've now got a fork to see what I can do with. If we can tidy it up and make it presentable then it will do, but I will look into what a rigid fork would cost. Definately wouldn't replace it with another suspension fork for a 5 year old. We have no time pressure on this as I don't think he'll be big enough for it for another 6 months.

 

[Globalti]

Wheel bearings: a bit of roughness doesn't matter if the balls are new and not binding or grinding.

Headset: needs to operate smoothly and easily and a new one is not too expensive or difficult to fit.

Fork: every decent bike shop has a selection of forks hanging from the ceiling. Your biggest challenge will be in deciding what length you need to compensate for the loss of the suspension fork and keep the handling more or less right. Have a look at eXotic carbon or on Ebay.

Gears: don't spend money until you've had the derailleur alignment checked as this could have got bent when the bike was dropped. The cables look new; the condition has a big effect on gear changing.

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

Re the forks, why not just leave them? If they're seized they're effectively rigid anyway, if not a couple of jubilee clips on the stanchions will lock them in place.

Re the hubs, if the wheels turn easy enough, it'll be good enough for a 5 year old.

Re the gears, remove the derailleur and look down the length of the bike, the hanger should be in line with the chainset, for that bike - rack of eye will be good enough. If it's bent it'll be persuaded back into place with an adjustable spanner. Once the derailleur hanger is sorted put the derailleur back on and again line up with the chainset (the jockey wheels should line up with the chainset), once again it can be persuaded with an adjustable spanner as it's steel, be gentle mind.

Re the gears jumping, strip and clean the grip shift, there's plenty of online videos and it's not too difficult on that type. It sounds like water could of gotten in there, or if you don't fancy a full strip try some wd40 and lots of wrist wrenching (twist the shift back and forth many many many times) it might free up.

If the gears won't play fair then strip all the the gear changing stuff off and use the mech screws to lock it into place (I.e., single speed it) and as he gets stronger change the gears using the mech screws.

Personally I wouldn't waste any more money on the bike and for £70 you'd have gotten a better deal on ebay.

 

[fabregas485]

Re the forks, why not just leave them? If they're seized they're effectively rigid anyway, if not a couple of jubilee clips on the stanchions will lock them in place.

The point of removing the forks was to reduce the weight and improve the handling. But good idea anyway :P

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

Ok fair enough, do you think he'll notice? I know my two wouldn't have done at that age, in fact kudos for getting a five year old to ride a bike these days.

 

[young Ed]

Re the forks, why not just leave them? If they're seized they're effectively rigid anyway, if not a couple of jubilee clips on the stanchions will lock them in place.

The point of removing the forks was to reduce the weight and improve the handling. But good idea anyway

the forks are also rusty (see second from top photo)
Cheers Ed

 

[Crackle]

Dad and I got a lot of the bike stripped tonight, and some of it is rather worse than it first appeared.

Stripped the wheel bearings, cleaned everything and popped in some fresh balls and grease... Not a lot better, the hubs are shot, so new wheels are required.

Got the fork out with the help of a block of wood and some hefty hammering. Headset bearings are shot, they certainly haven't been recently serviced, there was some orange gunk
in there that was probably once grease. New headset bearings needed.

Gears won't stay indexed and will often jump 2 cogs when shifting down the block. Derailleur looks like the bike has been dropped on it a few times, so possibly a new one is needed. Once the wheels are sorted I'll try it again before buying parts now.

I've now got a fork to see what I can do with. If we can tidy it up and make it presentable then it will do, but I will look into what a rigid fork would cost. Definately wouldn't replace it with another suspension fork for a 5 year old. We have no time pressure on this as I don't think he'll be big enough for it for another 6 months.

I was afraid you might find all that but hoping you wouldn't. Look into finding a donor bike, it will be cheaper.