Bicycle Rescue, part II - The Trek Lives Again!
(Second guest post from Tony the bike magician)
My previous note describes finding and beginning the cleanup on an abandoned Trek 520. This is the first time in a long time that I’ve taken a bike all the way down to a bare frame and built it back into a functional bicycle. (The last time was when my Raleigh Sports got hit at a parking meter and needed a new frame. 1980??) I gathered pieces for the Trek bit by bit over the course of 2 months, and then finally last week found the last thing I needed, and got to work.
It has been fun to recondition some parts from the original, and then look for just the right things to match the character than has evolved: weathered but gleaming city bike. I looked in several stores for a front wheel, new as well as used, but nothing jumped out at me. Then I went to Phil Altman’s wacky store in Framingham, and found a really nice bolt-on wheel for $38. The high flange hub reminds me of the Normandy hubs that came on French bikes in the ’70s.
I told Community Bikes that I was looking for an alloy North Road handlebar, and sure enough, a couple of weeks later when I stopped in for something else, one of the owners said “hey, we got that handlebar for you” and it’s perfect.
What does this say about me?: When my ex-wife kicked me out of the house in 2001, I took some small solace in simplifying my life. The waterford? the wedgewood? who needs it. The furniture? that much less to move. But the bike stuff? not on your life. The bag of chain rings from the International, which was wrecked and discarded in 1987? From my cold dead hands. And so it was that I just happened to have the right chain ring for the Trek.
And of course, it’s a 3-speed. The new Sturmey-Archer hub was the last piece to fall into place, and I built up the rear wheel while watching “American Idol” with Lizzie earlier in the week.
And now I have to follow through on the excuse for this whole project, and give the bike to Ingrid. I think she’s pleased with it. I’m sure she’d be afraid to hurt my feelings if she wasn’t.
The Trek before and after, by Tony.
Bicycle rescue
(this is a guest post by my beloved bikenut fiancé Tony, I couldn’t bear to have it only available to his FB friends.)
Another bicycle renovation
(originally a Facebook note posted Sunday, February 22, 2009 at 10:58pm)
Feb. 1st: found an abandoned bicycle on West Dedham street. no wheels, rusted derailleur and chain, blighted with spray paint. horizontal drop-outs, so it’ll work as a 3-speed for Ingrid. I brought it home, of course.
Feb. 3rd: what is it? One of the “Trek” decals is still visible despite the spray paint. Vintage-trek.com has lots of helpful details, including where to look for the serial #: remove the cable guide from under the bottom bracket. By serial number, it’s a Trek 520 from 1983. butted alloy frame, either Reynolds 501, or Tange 2001.
Feb. 8th: Removed derailleurs and chain. The flat-black spray paint is ugly and it feels dirty. “goo-gone” takes a tiny bit of it off, but not much. I really don’t want to have to completely repaint the frame.
The brakes are stuck. I backed off the lock-nuts a tiny bit, and now they’re fine. i removed the brakes to be able to work on the frame more.
Feb. 9th: Rubbing alcohol softens the spray paint a little without damaging the underlying Trek paint! I’ve got it smoothed out, and you can see the other “Trek” decal. perhaps good enough?
Feb. 20th: disassembled the headset and removed the cranks. The fork-crown race is a little pitted, and the bottom bracket (BB) axle threads are a little corroded. Packed everything up to take to western MA.
Feb. 21st: A friend in Turners Falls runs a tiny bike store. He told me to just repack the headset with loose ball bearings instead of the retainer-clips that have fewer balls in them, and not to worry about the threads, they’re good enough. big savings! I still might replace the BB axle if i can find a shorter one. The bike came with 3 chainrings, and the longer BB axle required for that. It’s probably going to be easier to get a straight chain line with a shorter one.
#localday
May 1st is Local Day on Twitter. I’m really curious to see how this experiment goes.
The rules are simple: Tweet your ZIPcode (preceded by #), find out who your neighbors are.
I’m #02116 (Boston Byootiful South End), also have a home in #10026 (Harlem USA, baby, as of 10:45 Eastern, I was the only Local Day Tweeter from there). Born and later educated in #02138 (the OTHER Cambridge), grew up in #06457 (Middletown, CT)
Can’t wait to see who else turns up.
Go to Twitter Search (even if you don’t have an account) to watch the fun.
