This thread is for people building vintage bikes, touring bikes, townie bikes or cross bikes.

Use this thread for two different things:

1) post before and after pictures of your projects or even post ongoing photos throughout the process of your project bike build.

2) post photos and ask for technical help for your ongoing bike build.

i will post some of our recent projects soon to keep this thread moving.

That bike's awesome! I especially love the handlebar wrap!

i don't have before photos of this one but we just finished it. it's an old Specialized Sequoia designed by Merz. we got it totally neglected. it had no seat, no wheels, no handlebars and it looked like it had been buried in a dirty garage for decade or more. the bars are Nitto Noodles with white cotton take, clear shellac and finished with blue hemp twine.

lets see other projects! even if they are not finished. dont forget to take before shots if at all possible!!

Wow. That Sequoia came out great. Hopefully some people get great ideas. I'm working on a Trek 950 for my wife - slowly, since she's 4 months pregnant. I'll post a "before" photo soon. You guys will see it at the shop soon to pull parts off.

Very interesting frame. Nice resto!

Spent last weekend cleaning up and fixing my wife's late 80's huffy mtb (she's had longer then me) and soon the upgrading on my univega mtb to get it to expedition ready, love to camp and love to ride so why not do both at the same time eh?

This is not so much of a "project" per se as it is a new acquisition that I'd like to make some mods to. I scored this bike earlier this week on Craigslist for super cheap. It's a steel-frame Trek 720 Multi-Track made in 1991. Not exactly a thing of beauty, but it seems highly functional and not too likely to get stolen if I happen to leave it locked to something for a while. I plan on making it my bomb-proof, do-it-all kind of bike for the city and even some light trail riding.

So I had a couple questions for all of you bike aficionados out there...

1.) I noticed the wheels are slightly out of true. I can see a slight amount of wobble when I look down at the wheel as I'm cruising along, but it does not seem to affect the handling or the overall ride. Should I be concerned about this, or can I just leave it alone? I checked the spokes and none of them are loose.

2.) Would it be a lot of work and/or money to convert this thing to a 1x7 setup? I'm thinking about some kind of bash-guard on the outer chainring, a new, slightly larger chainring in the center, and then losing the granny gear and the front derailleur. Is there more to it than that? All of the chainrings are bolted on so they should be easy to remove in theory, but I've never done this type of stuff before.

Thanks in advance for your help. This website is awesome and I check it out frequently, just don't always have time to post!

Thanks for the quick response Velo Cult!

If I have time this weekend I'll bring it by the shop. I gave the bike a mini tune-up on my own and everything seemed to be in good working order. Some of the cables are a bit rusty so I plan on swapping them out eventually, but for now they work fine. The dude who owned it before me actually put new shifters and grips on it. It shifts perfectly and the ride is quiet, but one of the brakes is a little squeaky. Any advice for fixing that? I think I've heard you just get in there and sand it with some sandpaper??

Here's my current project - Rawland mountain/cyclocross/all-rounder 650B/700c adventure bike. I hoped to finish it during my Spring Break, but here I am back in my office surrounded by bike parts. Just need some cable end stops and then I can lace it up and take it through the canyon. More when its finished this week.

how about a Nitto fillet brazed and chromed stem? sure would be sexy on that.

This is finally starting to look enough like a bicycle again to do a post on it. It's a 1955 Huffy Sportsman, made entirely by Raleigh in their Nottingham works. Almost every part is stamped with "Raleigh Industries" and the chain ring is the "R.I.N." variety, for Raleigh Industries Nottingham. I redid the paint on the top tube, chain stays, and fenders. The one-piece bars/stem are off a J.C. Higgins because I had to destroy the original stem to get the stem bolt unstuck (long story, it was no great loss, the original stem was in pretty bad shape, but I saved the bars). I've obviously got some more to finish, but I'm really happy at how it's coming along, so I had to share. I'll post again when it's finished.

Hey thanks, that's just what I like to hear! Been working on it since November, so I'm *really* happy it's finally coming together, and so well. Still waiting for something to go horribly wrong...

Chainguard is done, just not on the bike yet. Didn't turn out as well as the rest, but better than it was, for sure.

The fender is a concern for more than just aesthetic reasons, as I think the tire is going to rub on the *back* of the fender when the bike is under weight (esp. since this will be rear-load grocery bike when finished). I'm thinking rather than space out the end near the BB, as you suggest, I'm going to have to somehow extend the rear braces to force the back of the fender out away from the tire a bit more. I've had luck on another bike using metal plumber's tape (the kind with the holes) to create a brace extension, but the way this one is set up, I don't know if that'll work.

Alas, no pump, but repros are available, although I don't know how well they work. I especially like the look of a chromed pump on a black bike, very classy. I might have to try to source a NOS or other original to finish it off.

Not sure who makes them, or how good they are, but Menotomy has them here:

http://OldRoads.com/bikepart.html

and Yellow Jersey has them here (bottom of page):

http://www.yellowjersey.org/eastbits.html

Hey, Thom - said this on flickr - but that thing came out reall niiiiice.

that dent was put there by the factory to give more clearance for the chainrings. most frames have some sort of indentation there for this. it's fine. i'd say bring it to us to be sure everything its "true" and then go get it powder coated.

Just cleaned up a craigslist Nishiki mixte for my wife.
She shined up real nice (the bike not my wife).


Just bought some SKS fenders for it and I think it's ready to go.
I'm really looking forward to putting a child seat on it in a year or so!

sweet build you got going there. fenders will really finish off the look. other cool things would be a wicker basket up front, brass bell and nicer quality and larger tires. man, i dig mixte bikes!

I signed up and introduced myself here but didn't bookmark the page and of course, i always think "i just myspace velo and ask what the site it" when I'm no where near a computer. Anyway! I have a couple of bikes that I'm SLOWLY working on. Two questions- where the heck can I get a french threaded bottom bracket in San Diego, not a phil woods please. Next, where can I go to fully understand a internal 3 speed hub. I'm looking for a sturmey archer one and once I do....I'd like to know how to fix it if need be and where to get wheel build help.

I'm sure you guys will know.

Thanks!

<blockquote><cite> trudtildeath:</cite>I signed up and introduced myself here but didn't bookmark the page and of course, i always think "i just myspace velo and ask what the site it" when I'm no where near a computer. Anyway! I have a couple of bikes that I'm SLOWLY working on. Two questions- where the heck can I get a french threaded bottom bracket in San Diego, not a phil woods please. Next, where can I go to fully understand a internal 3 speed hub. I'm looking for a sturmey archer one and once I do....I'd like to know how to fix it if need be and where to get wheel build help.

I'm sure you guys will know.

Thanks!</blockquote>

VC
or
Tom at www.oldbikeblog.blogspot.com.

They can tell you about internals of 3 speed hubs.

nice, i love it. it's not kooky at all!

im going to get more of those in stock. it's just a good minimalist size.

Just got this off ebay (sans pump) and need to do a little work on it. First thing is new wheels, they're steel so I'd like to swap them out for aluminum ones. If anyone has a set they want to sell (27") let me know. A few other changes may come down the road, the saddle has a couple of tears so that may be replaced and as much as I love keeping things original, the feel of those grips bug me. The bottom bracket and cranks could also be upgraded. Sheesh, it's really turning into a little money pit, isn't it? But it IS cute...

Starting a project this weekend.
Hopefully I will have some pics to share soon.

we once stocked those fenders in the store. if others are into them we'll do that again. i think they're pretty cool looking.

surlygurl: whatcha doin' with those 27" steel rims when you take them off? Ahem, hint, hint...

Considering how heavy they are, I suppose I could use them for bicep curls.

Seriously...I may wind up selling the bike, I haven't decided if I want to put more money into it. And I'm horribly obsessed with the Soma mixte. (WHAT is with my fixation with mixtes???) If I keep it and can find some used aluminum rims, the steel ones are history.