I must be insane
Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 9:03 pm
As some of you know, I've been considering a new bike and have been a little undecided as to what I want. My head says hybrid/comfort, my heart says road. As a compromise I was planning on stretching the budget to a tourer.
Then I remembered an old Gitane Racer my brother had rusting in his back yard. So yesterday I went and had a look. After much soul searching, I decided the Gitane was a little far gone for now-but maybe later would be a great project-the frame and forks are straight, alloy rims and hubs seem in good nick, spokes are all rusted but maybe only surface, tyres are shot, front brakes are fine (alloy centrepull-no idea on brand), rear brakes are seized-might be just cable. Chain and seat are stuffed. Ok it's not a hard resto but I don't have time right now.
So I went looking to see what else was there. In the Shed was an old Ricardo-i used to ride one of these in my teens and remember it as a top bike. "keep looking" was the response from Bro-"thats ones mine!"
So keep looking I did-and I settled on an old Malvern Star SL Sport. Alot lower on the food chain than the Gitane or the Ricardo, but in one piece and not looking too bad. Front forks are bent back a bit and either the handlebars or the headstem is bent-see pics below. I grabbed the required parts from the big pile of spares.
Tonight i thought I'd try her out-just put some air in the tires, made sure the brakes worked and rode carefully around the block. All was fine so went around again faster-My god I'd forgotten how much fun a road bike is at speed! Even with the bent components she flew-compared to the MTB anyway. I ended up doing about 10 laps before stopping-I'll go longer once i fix a few things. but now i remember what i used to enjoy about riding. And this on an old steel framed bike, with steel wheels and about 25 (at a guess) years old. Magic!
Funnily enough, wheels seem pretty true, brakes are fine but will benefit from new cables and pads, Likewise gears could use new cables. Then a general lube and clean up, new tyres and replace the forks (unless someone can tell me an easy way to straighten them-I'd rather keep it original) replace the headset and bars and thats about it-unless I decide to repaint it which frankly doesn't seem necessary at this point. Oh-and of course a new saddle may be in order!
The Beast
Front
Bend in forks
Close up of lop sided handlebars
Brake Caliper-not bad these, Shimano Tourneys
Rear derailleur-Shimano Altus
So as you can see, pretty easy to get her in reasonable shape to commute to and from work. After that I can work out what I want in a new bike-or maybe live with this for a while. Might even be a good base to build a proper tourer-who knows? Or there's always the Gitane......
Then I remembered an old Gitane Racer my brother had rusting in his back yard. So yesterday I went and had a look. After much soul searching, I decided the Gitane was a little far gone for now-but maybe later would be a great project-the frame and forks are straight, alloy rims and hubs seem in good nick, spokes are all rusted but maybe only surface, tyres are shot, front brakes are fine (alloy centrepull-no idea on brand), rear brakes are seized-might be just cable. Chain and seat are stuffed. Ok it's not a hard resto but I don't have time right now.
So I went looking to see what else was there. In the Shed was an old Ricardo-i used to ride one of these in my teens and remember it as a top bike. "keep looking" was the response from Bro-"thats ones mine!"
So keep looking I did-and I settled on an old Malvern Star SL Sport. Alot lower on the food chain than the Gitane or the Ricardo, but in one piece and not looking too bad. Front forks are bent back a bit and either the handlebars or the headstem is bent-see pics below. I grabbed the required parts from the big pile of spares.
Tonight i thought I'd try her out-just put some air in the tires, made sure the brakes worked and rode carefully around the block. All was fine so went around again faster-My god I'd forgotten how much fun a road bike is at speed! Even with the bent components she flew-compared to the MTB anyway. I ended up doing about 10 laps before stopping-I'll go longer once i fix a few things. but now i remember what i used to enjoy about riding. And this on an old steel framed bike, with steel wheels and about 25 (at a guess) years old. Magic!
Funnily enough, wheels seem pretty true, brakes are fine but will benefit from new cables and pads, Likewise gears could use new cables. Then a general lube and clean up, new tyres and replace the forks (unless someone can tell me an easy way to straighten them-I'd rather keep it original) replace the headset and bars and thats about it-unless I decide to repaint it which frankly doesn't seem necessary at this point. Oh-and of course a new saddle may be in order!
The Beast
Front
Bend in forks
Close up of lop sided handlebars
Brake Caliper-not bad these, Shimano Tourneys
Rear derailleur-Shimano Altus
So as you can see, pretty easy to get her in reasonable shape to commute to and from work. After that I can work out what I want in a new bike-or maybe live with this for a while. Might even be a good base to build a proper tourer-who knows? Or there's always the Gitane......