Boxes in the garage...

... can only mean one thing!!!

After the required greetings at the door, hugs kisses and general catching up, I was allowed out to my shop.  Two large boxes were sitting there.

I opened the first to find two new 28" wheels laced to the hubs I had collected over the last few bikes I'd upgraded.  They looked ok at first glance, but they were not packed all that well for bicycle wheels.  I got the rim tape, tubes and tires on them and mounted them up...

The chain had been lubing up in a tray the whole week after a good de-greasing and wire brushing.  It looks new!  The 3-Speed Coaster Brake hub is gorgeous and seems to work fine.  It will need some adjusting for sure, but seems to shift pretty well.

The only disappointments I have are these:
First... The wheels are not true!  Either they got banged around a bit or the spokes stretched during shipment... I have some work to do on them. 
Second... they shop forgot to send the brake shoes.. so I don't have those.

I get the chance to practice some patience...

Here is the glamor shot, with her wheels on and a vintage brooks B-66.  Still a ways to go, but its coming together.

~ charles

Ladies Tourist- parts on the way

OK... I expected a good turn around from Wallingford Bike in NOLA. All I needed to do was enter in what I wanted online and the parts shipped. Last time I looked, they were in east Texas somewhere on an 18-wheeler crossing the country. A Brooks Team Pro in black with the chrome rails and a pair of 28" Delta Cruisers in creme and some tubes to fit.

The Team Professional will be the saddle that I put on the Faggin road bicycle that I have set up for nice weather. I recently took this bike out on a round the island ride with my neighbor. Suffered with the stock saddle on it. I have two Broooks B-17 on my touring bikes, but this bike is racier and I wanted more of a road race saddle. The Swift and B-15 looked a little too racy.

The thing I'm really surprised about was the call I received about two hours ago... from Yellow Jersey. "Your wheels are built and ready to ship along with the other bits you requested..." I was frankly in shock. I shipped the hubs to them on Monday. I actually didn't expect the package to even reach them by today... And the wheels are DONE!! "We went through the hub, which was dried up, relubed it and adjusted the gears, should be good to go." I have to admit, I like this kind of service. Next time I'm in Mad-town, I'm swinging by the place for a visit -just out of respect.

So, next week, I'm traveling all week on business. The parts will probably show up during the week. I know the stuff from WalBike will be here on the 16th. The wheels may take a couple days longer. But... By end of the week next, I should have all the parts I need to restore the Ladies Tourist. I can't wait!

~charles

Making progress- Ladies Tourist

The Ladies DL-1 Tourist is coming along, slowly but surely. I've been working on cleaning the frame and the chrome bits. There isn't too much more I can do until my two big orders come in. I'm waiting on wheels and rod brake connector bolts from Yellow Jersey. I have a set of Delta Cruisers and a saddle coming from Wallingford Bike in NOLA.

I did order a couple small bits from Jon at Gentleman Cyclist- a steel cable roller and steel cable stop to replace the plastic ones that were stock on this bike.

Here are some pictures of her at this stage...





Here is the steel cable stop from GC... Nothing too exciting, but they don't break and the stock one was a bit cracked.





This is the steel cable roller from GC. Again, the stock one was plastic and trashed.





The shifter was missing the plastic cover. Luckily, I had an extra really nice clean one from one of my Twenty rebuilds.





"P" had sent along two sets of the "oval" pedals. They were in pretty bad shape and I needed to go at them with a wire brush mounted on a drill to get most of the rust off. They look pretty trick now. One has a slightly crackled reflector, hardly noticeable though.

That's it for now. I'm very much looking forward to getting the wheels back on this girl. I'm thinking I will immediately put on the 21 tooth rear sprocket on the hub. My wife isn't going to be riding this one fast. She'll appreciate the lower gearing, at least to start out with.

~charles

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Mixte Progress

Making some headway...  This is the bike I'm working on for a co-worker's wife.  The bars are now converted, new brake levers, shift levers, new cables and housing for both shift and brakes, new tires and tubes and general cleaning and polishing.  It is coming along real nice!

So the question is... I'm in it for a couple hundred now.  Extras MIGHT include: basket, saddle, new pedals, but would add to the cost.  Let's chat Hal..











~charles

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

DL-1 Tourist: Update

Spent all day yesterday working on the loop frame. Here is a breakdown of activities and a few pics:

- I got the fork aligned. One very disappointing thing about the shipping was that the fork got bent. I took it to Recycled Cycles in Seattle and they trued it up for $20

- Got the chain off and into citrus degreaser. One nice thing about bolt on seat stays... You can take the chain off without having to separate a link

- General cleaning and a coat of Turtle Wax. The chainring had build up grease and dirt that required a wire brush on the end of a drill.

- Boxed up my 3-speed coaster brake and front hubs for shipping to Yellow Jersey in Madison.

Here are a few pics...






Here she is on the stand right out of the box from Toronto.  Hard to tell from this angle, but the form is bent a bit.  One tine is a little lower than the other.




Here is the SA 3-speed coaster hub in the frame with the chain on it.  The chain looks serviceable, but desperately needs to be degreased, cleaned and lubed.




Fork, stem/handlebar unit  and chain removed.  The bottom bracket spins freely and since I do not have the tools to remove it and repack the bearings, I'm leaving it as is.




Here is a view of the frame from the head tube down... The headbadge was lifted up a bit on the right side (as you ride the bike) so I used some maximum strength construction cement and clamped it down.  Worked pretty well.  I had to trim a bit of residual off the frame.  You can see the many scratches... My current plan is to just leave them as is and not try and repair the finish.  I've never had good luck doing this.




Looking down the chainstays.  Look at the grease and dirt!!




The crank arms are pristine... no rust, just dirty grease.  They polished right up with my favorite tool... WD-40 soaked 000 steel wool!




Here is the bad part... The paint has taken a real beating.  There is pitting all over the frame, scratches and nicks.  The frame is true - no dents or bends though.




Since the back wheel is gone, I cannot date this girl.  There is no serial number that I can find either.  The cable stop and the cable roller are plastic though (I've already ordered the steel replacements for these parts from Gentleman Cyclist)  The chain guard is "hockey stick" and there are NOT braze ons on the frame to hold it on.  According to Sheldon's guide, this places it in the 1962-1967 range.  The finish decals are identical to my DL-1 Gents version, which according to the hub is a 1980.  Did they keep the decal set the same for all those years??




The fork (now true) and hockey stick chainguard




There is a bit of rust on the brake levers that doesn't clean up completely with WD-40 and steel wool... too bad... but it isn't that noticable.




The shifter looks dirty, but workable.  It's missing the plastic cover... luck I have a nice one left over from a Twenty rebuild!!




Here are the grips... in cream.  They are pretty stained and dirty.  I wonder what would clean these up??

~charles

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone