To go over these builds, I'll just in chronological order. First, pictured above, is the first bike I sold in Pittsburgh. It is a 1980s Zebrakenko 10-speed road bike that I received as a trade for refurbishing a pair of Motobecanes, which I completed days before moving to Pittsburgh.
The bike was in great original shape. The Suntour drivetrain was super clean and the original cloth bar tape was still usable. I gave the bike new tires, a new chain, and a new 6-speed Shimano Megarange freewheel, and it was good to go. I didn't technically sell it to a friend, but I did see the bike briefly about two years after I sold it, and it looked to have been taken care of quite nicely.
Next is this 1970s K-Mart All Pro 3-speed. When I listed the Zebrakenko for sale, I also made a posting for bike repair services so I could use up some of my inventory. I immediately regretted it after getting a few hits so I removed the listing after about a week. The All Pro was owned by a guy who seemed to know a little bit about bikes, not unlike me when I was building up my Superbe for the first time in 2015. He wanted the bike to be an attractive beater, so we ordered some new Schwalbe Delta Cruiser tires. Surprisingly enough, the headset of this bike was in decent shape. I was able to remove the slop without making the bearings bind. I also was able to use my leftover parts to repair the broken shifter to his Shimano 333 hub.
This 1978 Schwinn Varsity was also a response to the bike repair service listing. However, this bike belonged to Steve, who was my age and wanting to learn how to work on bikes. He actually offered to let me keep this bike if I could use it to teach him some basics. It sounded like a great idea, so I said "why not." We actually ended up becoming friends and would participate in the Dirty Dozen bike ride months later, which I guess I'll write about in another post.
1738, which means the 173rd day of 1978. Fetty Wap would approve.
One of my classmates, Yash, ended up liking this bike when he test rode it. He hadn't ridden a bike in almost 10 years and wanted to get back into it, seeing how nice of a place Pittsburgh was to ride. I installed a leftover steel cargo rack onto it, and also gave it the alloy 6-speed wheels from the Takara 12-speed since I was turning that one into a fixed-gear. The Varsity ended up getting stolen weeks after Yash bought it, so I let him borrow my other bikes for the rest of the two years we had class together.
It wouldn't be until June of 2018 that I would have my next commission. This is Sophie's bike, named Stella. Stella is a tiny, late '80s or early '90s Nishiki 12-speed that used to be blue and white, but was painted black by the previous owner. I was actually impressed at the quality and strength of the rattle can finish.
This bike was really nice to work on, and I finished it in one night. I wasn't sure of its age at the beginning, but what gave it away was the nice rubber seals protecting the bottom bracket and headset bearings. Everything was in great shape and I really just had to give it fresh grease and new consumables.
Soon enough, the white bar tape will match the darkened brake hoods.
Did I mention how tiny this bike is?
Jake was used to riding mountain bikes but wanted something faster for around town, so he had me install flat handlebars on the bike. He also wanted me to paint it red, which I did with Duplicolor Ford Redfire Metallic, just like the first Schwinn I repainted.
The bike was in really good shape to begin with but had a broken pedal for some reason.
The bike received 700c alloy wheels but retained its original Suntour drivetrain. I used Kool Stop Vans brake pads because Jake's biggest hobby was shoes. I also used some Dia Compe brake levers for upright handlebars from my parts bin.
Jake is happy.
In the fall of 2018, I built another bike for Yash. I found this 1971 Dunelt 3-speed locally for $29 just to save it and didn't really know what to do with it. The rear hub was seized. Since Yash wanted to ride it, I ended up giving it the 26x1-3/8" alloy wheel set that I'd had kicking around for a while with a 5-speed drivetrain. I used an Avocet Italian bottom bracket spindle - I can't remember specifically but I may have used smaller ball bearings for it as well - and a single 46-tooth chainring.
I can't remember where I got this Suntour derailleur from, but it worked well with this SunRace friction thumb shifter. Yash rode it until the following summer when we graduated.
This 1966 Schwinn Varsity that I thought I didn't care about followed me all the way to Pittsburgh. It sat in the parking garage for a year, and then my friend Ernest ended up borrowing it long term. I gave it the wheels and tires off the red Varsity above and he rode it until it ate the derailleur one day. I revived it and gave it some 1979 Schwinn fenders I had lying around.
Me on my 1948 Raleigh, Ernest on his Schwinn, and Ellita borrowing my '62 Dunelt during OpenStreetsPGH
However, by the time the summer of 2019 rolled around, the bike was in pretty bad shape because I hadn't been able to service it. The bottom bracket and headset threads had been seized since I got the bike, and as a result, they wore out and became loose and squeaky. The wheels were also rapidly becoming out of true. Ernest had been thoroughly enjoying the bike and I felt that it would be for the better if we finally scrapped it and built him something better.
So ... I gave him the 1971 Dunelt that Yash had borrowed.
Ernest still liked the flat riser bars that were on the Schwinn, so I swapped those over, gave the bike some new brake pads, and sent him off.
Less than a month after building Ernest's new bike, I moved and found that all of the kids in my new neighborhood were riding broken bikes. I spent a night fixing them to make sure they wouldn't get hurt zooming down our hill. One kid had an awesome Hot Wheels bike with a throttle that made a "brap" noise. I gave my BMX bike to my neighbor Karim because I only rode it ONCE in the past two years, which was to move it from the garage to my apartment. I figured the kids would get more miles out of it.
The most recent bike I completed for a friend was actually commissioned in June by Srinjoy, but things kept getting in the way and I didn't have time to give it a full overhaul. I finished it two weeks ago.
This bike was a 1980s Panasonic Sport LX we found at the local co-op. It had a regular 10-speed drivetrain with alloy wheels and appeared to have very few miles on it.
For some reason, one of the inner tubes, although original, was so stretched out that it could go around the outside of the tire.
Everything on the bike seemed to be fairly fresh, including the grease, but I still gave it new grease and new consumables for safety's sake.
The flat handlebars were Srinjoy's preference, and I threw on the fenders from my fixed-gear, milk jug mud flap included. And six entire months after the day Srinjoy first brought the bike home, I gave it back to him ready to ride.
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