Lord Gruntfuttock Posted May 5, 2019 Posted May 5, 2019 Never had one of these as a kid, and saw one semi local (same island) with a buy now of $30 so pulled the trigger not knowing anything about it, apart from one blurry pic on TM. thought if it was rubbish I'd just use the frame to build a special. Mate picked it up for me and delivered to home so I could check it out... Think it's early 80's version going by graphics and chrome carrier, (date code on brake lever says hub was made in 1980)... and was pleased to see it has the Sachs Duomatic coaster hub, had assumed it was a poverty spec single speeder so that's a win (these hubs go for decent money Stateside). It's all there, apart from grips, and seat & tyres are fucked, so looked for bits... Ali let me down for grips surprisingly, but found some retro white ones via eBay France with cheap postage so grabbed them, then looked for tyres. These came with the 20" x 1 3/8" rim in NZ (37-451) so are a little hard to find. Found some whitewall Michelins in Italy that looked ok, and for $62 delivered it was a done deal. Also grabbed a seat from @MightyJoe on here, $10 bargain... Chain was seized almost solid, it bent in about 3 places, so 15 mins on the wire wheel and it looked much better, gave it a bath in old ironhead oil afterwards... 1 Quote
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted May 5, 2019 Author Posted May 5, 2019 So though I never had one I did ride ride mate's ones as a nipper, now I'm a fat old barry grownup they seem to have shrunk. Good excuse to look on Ali for replacement seatpost and steering stem for a little extra height. Pulled stuck seatpost out, would clean up ok but longer Ali alloy job only $19... Steering stem and bars cleaned up ok, but my knees bashed em, so Ali longer stem again... Rims, had decided to use the originals as they seemed ok, then was looking on Ali and accidentally bought a couple of 451 alloys (delivered for $62 was too good to pass up). When the tyres arrived I was tempted to just bung them on the original rims and ride, but with several bent spokes thought I'd see how seized/rusted the nipples were. Oddly enough they undone really easy, so got carried away and dismantled both hubs. Measured the spokes as 210mm R and 216mm F, and with them out of the way could measure the hub and rim dimensions... New alloy rims are a bit deeper so spoke lengths calculate at 200mm and 206mm - ordered some from Ali and will hoard/sell old hubs/spokes as they are pretty sound really. New spokes arrived and looked pretty good, was home sick so tried to lace one up and failed terribly. Put it down to being under the weather so pulled apart and tried again with same results... Real WTF moment so looked at it properly, seems somehow I had begun with the correct long front spokes then started taking short rear wheel spokes from the other pile, so was never going to work... Anyways, once I'd separated and sorted spokes right they went together piece of piss... and I trued them up on a wet Sunday arvo in front of the telly. The whitewalls look bloody neat on them too... Too flash? So now thinking again about stripping the frame...? Although the patina with clean running gear and lighter alloy bits is attractive (and cheaper)... 7 Quote
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted May 6, 2019 Author Posted May 6, 2019 Regards wheels, the oddball size makes it a bit spendy to replace rims/tyres, so the standard bmx 20" rims are an option (20" x 1.75" - 406mm). You can get some pretty cool ones but they are a little smaller, so the pedals can ground out. Not ideal with a back-pedal brake, which is why I grabbed the correct size. Being alloy they are heaps lighter and the front brake should work better too... 1 Quote
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted May 6, 2019 Author Posted May 6, 2019 Seat pics before and after a wash... came up sweet... And frame with eBay/Ali bits in place, might drop front stem a little yet, will see how it goes with wheels on... 3 Quote
Vintage Grumble Posted May 6, 2019 Posted May 6, 2019 I don't remember selling you that seat? 1 Quote
azzurro Posted May 6, 2019 Posted May 6, 2019 so flash! have those michelin tyres on mrs_azzurros Healing Cruiser - probably the most expensive bit of all my cruiser/20 fleet armada 1 Quote
nzstato Posted May 6, 2019 Posted May 6, 2019 V cool, did something similar ~12 months ago and have spares if you get stuck... What's the bottom bracket like? The cups like to seize, I built a tool to take them off with a regular spanner. 1 Quote
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted May 6, 2019 Author Posted May 6, 2019 BB spins nicely, didn't want to take apart if I wasn't painting it so we'll see how it goes. I'll chuck the wheels and chain on and see how things feel. Always nervous getting 40 yr old cotters out... Quote
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted May 6, 2019 Author Posted May 6, 2019 Wheels on and looks ok proportion-wise... Will try to get chain on today for a hoon. 2 Quote
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted May 7, 2019 Author Posted May 7, 2019 And lunchtime hoon achieved. gears brakes etc work sweet... Pretty happy with the clean Ali bar setup. Had to drop stem slightly due to brake cable length... And ready to roll. Will prob replace brake cable and sort guard gaps, but happy with overall look... Pub bike sorted... 6 Quote
Chris.QCR Posted May 7, 2019 Posted May 7, 2019 Looks damn cool mate. If there was voting for what to do next id vote for leave that sweet patina frame and roll with all ya shiny new parts and just start collecting photos outside sweet old southland pubs. Nice work 3 Quote
kicker Posted May 7, 2019 Posted May 7, 2019 Looks sweet as is, one of my favourite sets of bicycle wheels were some nice golden rusty rims I laced up with brand new spokes and hubs, I dig shiny new parts next to old parts 1 Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.