The Runwell Preview

Just a couple of teaser photos after a busy Saturday of work. Had a successful trip to the bike shop this morning and picked up most of the remaining essentials. Still have to place an order with Harris for the remaining, and to finish up a good deal of the "cosmetic" work. Unfortunately, along those lines, these photos show the limitations of my cleanup effort, especially due to deteriorated nickel and/or chrome plating and a bit of rust still showing on the frame. Oh well, still better than when I found it, for sure.

The Runwell: Day, Uh, 13? 14?

Honestly, I've lost track of the days. I've been working on sanding/chipping the old paint off the fenders, and priming, painting, and top-coating them. I'm about half-way through that process now. I also gave the frame a rubdown with rubbing compound, which really brought out the shine and deepened the color. No more pictures of the frame or fenders (well, maybe the fenders) until I'm all done--don't want to spoil the suspense!

My cork grips from Velo Orange arrived yesterday, and I promptly set about cutting them down so they would fit on the Runwell's smallish handlebars. Because I lopped about two inches off the end of each grip, I was left with open-ended grips that needed bar plugs (it was an aesthetic choice not to take the two inches off the already-open end of the grips). To match the color of the cork grips (and boost my DIY cred), I whittled two plugs out of some scraps of 1" wooden dowel I had laying around.

I'll varnish these separately, then put the grips and plugs on the bars and varnish them both together to create a good water-tight seal. I'll be running to the bike shop this weekend to hopefully get my tires, tubes, rim tape, chain, and new spoke. Then, it's an order from Harris Cyclery of rod-pull brake shoes, new block pedals, and perhaps a new seatpost (to replace the original angled post that seats me too far forward). Once all that is assembled, I'll give the frame a couple coats of polish and I'll be done. I won't say when that will be, for fear of jinxing the whole operation, but soon, I hope.

How to Dismantle a Suntour Bar End Shifter

An OBB reader and fellow Flickrer has posted a wonderful nine-photo sequence (link goes to first photo) on this very subject, complete with how-to and how-it-works notes. I'll have to take his word for it, but it sure sounds like he knows what he's talking about! Bar end shifters are quite popular these days, so it's definitely worth a look if you're thinking about a pair.

The Huffeigh's Stuck Stem Bolt: An Inelegant Solution

Last week, the Huffy/Raleigh underwent an operation to free the stuck stem bolt/expander wedge. You'll remember that the bolt was stuck fast, despite loads of penetrating oil (I even tried the WD-40) and about two weeks of letting it sit. To complicate matters, the head of the bolt was stripped so that I couldn't get a good grip with any kind of wrench, pliers, or grips. I finally settled on that ultimate in refined tools: the hacksaw.

I first sawed down through the washer, so that I wouldn't have to undercut the washer to get the head of the bolt off cleanly. I was also working partially on the theory that the head of the bolt and the washer, instead of being two pieces, were actually one. The photo below shows the status of things at this point:

Now, with a good vantage point to cut the bolt, I laid the bike down on its side and began cutting. I was able to saw through the bolt cleanly, flush with the top of the stem (I stupidly didn't get a photo of this). Turns out that the bolt and washer were indeed two pieces, but had partially fused with rust and an extreme case of over-tightening at some point. I then stood the bike back up (resting on the fork and bottom bracket now) and set about trying to tap the bolt down to knock the wedge loose.

Unfortunately, with the sawn bolt now flush with the top of the stem, it was quite difficult to hit the bolt hard enough to dislodge the wedge, and my efforts were not successful. I had already purchased a replacement stem and handlebars (a one-piece deal off a 1960s J.C. Higgins--very close in shape and spread to the original, but the bars not adjustable) on the assumption that I might have to do something drastic, like cut through the stem, in order to get the wedge knocked loose. So, I gritted my teeth and set about cutting through the stem to get better access to the bolt.

I again laid the bike down, resting on a couple of paving bricks padded with a towel, and started sawing through the stem near the top. I cut around the stem, rather than through the bolt in order to preserve as much of the bolt as possible to get a grip on. Here's the result:

Once I stood the whole works back up, I was able to grip the bolt with pliers and turn it loose, which it did maddeningly easily. So, the bolt wasn't rusted to the wedge after all! The problem turned out to be that the wedge was a bit too wedged in the stem tube--so much so, in fact, that just knocking the bolt (and quite hard) wasn't about to dislodge it.

With the bolt removed from the wedge, I was able to get a rather long and hearty screwdriver down in there and after a good deal of pounding with the hammer, managed to finally knock the wedge out. After that, I was able to separate the stem and fork easily, and I even managed to catch the loose headset bearings quite neatly as I pulled the fork from the head tube, allowing me to forego the swearing, muttering, hands-and-knees search for errant bearings.

All told, the only victim was one original, but very rusty, stem. I must say, I really hated to destroy the stem, but I'm not too broken-up about it, since I have the new stem already, and I can probably find an even better replacement at some point down the road. I might have puzzled through a better way to accomplish this whole operation, but I'm well enough pleased with how it turned out.

So, final verdict on a hacksaw as a bicycle tool: quite effective, if a bit drastic. Gives new meaning (or, perhaps, original meaning) to the phrase "bike hacks."

More on the cleaning progress soon, including a stow-away hiding in the frame.

The Runwell: First Photos

Here's the "before" photo from the Craigslist posting, and the rest are from today--I'm finished! These didn't really turn out very well, and I'll post some better ones later, but I just had to put these up! Actually the rackafratzin' left pedal is still stuck fast, so I've still got that to work on. Right now, the right pedal is shiny and new, and the left is dirty and old. Otherwise, I'm incredibly pleased with how the polish went on, how the fenders turned out, and just really totally psyched about the whole package, actually! The rod brake works wonderfully, as does the coaster hub, and the saddle is the only thing that makes noise, and that just needs a bit of oil in some strategic places underneath.

The Runwell: Day 7

I finally finished scrubbing the rust off the handlebars today, and found a chrome situation not to be envied. Well, it's not that bad, and it looks better in the picture, but there are definitely some spots where the chrome is gone, and the spots under the grips (not shown here) are quite badly rusted. I used fine steel wool and rubbing compound, followed by buffing with Brasso and a soft cloth. I think I've decided not to have everything re-chromed and re-painted just now. I really want to get the bicycle back together and try it out before investing that kind of money on it.

Next, I think I'm going to tackle the chain. A lot of people just chuck an old rusty chain without a second thought, but I've always had good luck cleaning them up and re-using them. I think this one is actually fairly new, too, and just looks like hell because it was stored outside. Well, I'll at least make a go at it, and see what it looks like under all that surface rust. EDIT: Never mind, I got to looking at it, and decided it's just not worth it to clean up the old chain, and that's saying something for a cheapskate like me.