The Devil makes work for idle hands...

[Sittingduck]

OK so I have been thinking about stripping down my old Raleigh MTB for a while. The bottom bracket is shot away, I think. Rear wheel has a slight kink in it too but not too bad. Rusty in places and seems like it's made of lead when I pick it up now (although this is probably just due to carrying the new bike up the stairs for the past few weeks and noticing how light it is in comparison).

Anyway, I didn't really have anywhere to work... until this afternoon. Decided to convert a section of the bedroom into a sort of basic workshop

Carted the old workhorse in from the back yard about 3pm and prepared myself (as I clearly have no idea what I am doing). The scene looked a bit like this @ 3pm:

I know it looks like a piece of **** that's why I am going to try and strip, spray and rebuild (changing a few bits)

So here is how I spent the afternoon....

A tweak here and a tug there...

Keep on tinkering...

Maybe a bit too late to turn back now Here's how I left it @ 6pm:

I hope I can see this through to the end and manage to get something resembling a working cycle back, in a few weeks! I will post some updates of the progress. Wish me luck

 

[Dayvo]

Seems like a fun and healthy project, SD!

Doubtlessly you'll discover and learn a lot from it.

Just make sure you have a constant supply of hot tea/cold beer near to hand!

Good luck!

 

[Angelfishsolo]

This kind of project is great fun. I am soon going to start moding my Apollo Kaos. You learn a hell of a lot as well.

 

[fossyant]

Don't get oil on the carpet -you'll get shot !!!!

 

[Sittingduck]

Thanks for the encouragement fellas

I will be sure not to oil the carpets but to be honest the landlord needs toi change them in my opinion so maybe this will be a good way to force this!

I hope to learn a lot and am already thinking about the components I will be swapping out - might get a single chain-ring for the front.

p.s. Dayvo - I was enjoying some cold beers this afternoon and it seemed to soothe the surgery on the old bike!

 

[domtyler]

Is that wood chip?

 

[fossyant]

Ah...no other half in the place that will shoot you - lucky you !!!!

 

[Sittingduck]

Yes Dom

This place is cheap and the location is good, so I can live with the dodgy decor

 

[snorri]

dodgy decor

Dodgy decor?
Dodgy decor we can live with, but no mudguards?????

 

[Sittingduck]

A bit of an update:

Today, I resprayed the main section of the frame and gave the chainset a good clean. Bottom bracket bearings & grease are ordered and should arrive early next week

As per Sheldon; I am going to attempt to replace the 1/4" bearings that are encased in (sleves?) in the BB. The spindle looks OK as do the cups. Sheldon's page told me that if there are less than 11 bearings for each side of the spindle, that I should replace them with loose 1/4" ones... 11 in each side ideally. I plan to do exactly that when they arrive!

I need to "touch-up" the slightly dodgy spray paint job I did on the frame this afternoon... see the 2nd pic down

Cheers
SD

Prepping for the cut-price paint job. Lets face it - can't look much worse than it does already.

Ooops, looks like I missed a bit

The offending bearings...

Hmm - Ninja style!

 

[Angelfishsolo]

Sittingduck - Not too bad at all mate. Look forward to seeing the finished machine

 

[Sittingduck]

Quick Update:

It's getting there Rebuilt the bottom bracket this evening with loose style bearings and a load of Finish Line Teflon grease. Reconnected it all and the cranks back on but the bloomin' thing still has a lot of play

Looks like I willl have to take it down a LBS and ask them to replace with a sealed cartridge BB!

Anyway here it is now:

Starting to resemble a bike again. Next lesson will be teaching myself to true the wheels now the spoke key has arrived (finally!) Read a couple of tutorials and seen vids... doesn't look that hard

 

[Landslide]

Next lesson will be teaching myself to true the wheels now the spoke key has arrived (finally!) Read a couple of tutorials and seen vids... doesn't look that hard

Take your time over it! Small turns on the spokes.

 

[Sittingduck]

Tis done (replaced the bearing in the cup&cone BB to no avail so I'll have to get a bike shop to replace the BB with a new one I think. Anyway I hadn't done anything for weeks but finished it off over the past 2 evenings...

I think I'll keep it after the BB gets replaced and use try to use it on some trails etc... fancy getting a bit of mud on me

 

[Dave5N]

Put a new BB yourself, it's dead easy.