This year we worked on this 1960s Peugeot bicycle donated by Will S., which came to us in really rough shape: lots of rust on a bike that clearly spent several years outside, all cables stuck in their housing, grease all dried up, many parts stuck to each-other with rust. We took it completely apart, cleaned and polished each part with steel wool, repacked the ball bearings with fresh grease, changed the chain, brake pads, cables and housings, and decided to replace the non-standard steel rims with more modern alloy Mavic rims in a 700 23C standard size. We put some cool thread-less Thickslick tires on it.

This project gave a chance to a group of very clever and motivated 7th grade girls and boys to learn and manage the rebuilding of the wheels, from taking them apart, to sizing spokes, cutting and threading them, weaving the them through hubs and rims, and finally truing the wheels. All this was possible thanks to the excellent mentoring of veteran club members: Alexis, Arabella, Nathan, Silas, and Jeffrey.

This year we worked on this 1971 Schwinn Town & Country adult trike, which I bought for $100 from an old lady in Fulton who use to do her grocery shopping with it (Basket not pictured here).

It was a little dorky looking, and had thin wheels with annoying Schwinn non standard wheels. So after taking it completely apart, a deep cleaning, and a fresh lubrication, we adapted a springer fork on it, and rebuilt the wheels with some standard 24" 24h thick chrome rims imported from California. This allowed us to put standard white-wall balloon tires on it. We found the gear shifter cable from new old stock at the Cyclery on Erie Boulevard, still with its 1983 price tag on it! This was a two-years effort.

Auction Bike finished

We finished our Customized 1960s Raleigh Record 10 speed bike! Wanna buy it? It's going to be on sale at the MPH Gala auction on April 17 - The perfect gift for a graduating senior, or to get dad back into exercizing! Thanks Colin, Farouq, Nathan, Devin, Silas, Jesse, Owen, and Jonathan, as well as last year's group for bringing this project to completion.

Luxurious leather Brooks B 17 saddle, for style, natural comfort, and resilience.

All systems detail cleaned, lubricated, and adjusted to perfection with new cables.

New brake pads, and perfectly trued wheels for smooth braking. New rims, rim tapes, tubes and tires.

Nice cork handlebar tapes for maximum vibration absorption.

1960s Raleigh 10 speed

This fall we've worked on refurbishing parts and finding replacement vintage parts for this 1960s Raleigh Record made in Birmingham, England. The bike was originally found in a trash pile by a teacher and brought to us a couple of years ago. It was in rough shape. The rims were completely rusted, and had to be replaced by new ones. This gave Jesse and Nathan (respectively in 6th and 8th grade) a chance to learn how to build wheels. Colin, our most experienced mechanic, supervised the re-assembly of the most delicate mechanical systems such as the ball bearings on the fork and crank, the derailleurs, and the brakes. Last year, we repainted it silver, and it will be silver and red. Silas, Owen, and Devin all participated in the rebuild, as well as Jonathan, who joined us for the first time last Monday. We're hoping to finish it soon, and to have it ready for the auction at the MPH Gala. Stay posted!

Three speed cruiser almost finished

Last week, John, Brandon, Jessie and I finished putting back our cruiser together. It's now only missing two top tube cable housing clamps, which should arrive soon. In the end we put together a bike with parts from the USA, England, Japan, China, Germany, and France.

We rebuilt the back wheel to change a faulty Shimano hub for a sturdy 1950s Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub, made in England. John built the wheel for us.

We put some real cork grips to give it a vintage look.

We rigged the cable of the 3-speed hub through a cable stop and a pulley.

Finally, we passed the cables through white cable housing to match our MPH color theme, and adjusted the brakes.

Three Speed Light-Weight Cruiser

This year we've been working on restoring this 1980s Columbia three speed cruiser. While a small group, the Bicycle Mechanics Club draws from all three divisions, with our youngest member in fourth grade, and the oldest a senior. John, Brandon, Farouq, Jake, JJ, and Jessie have been working on this project since the winter. We started the project by taking the bike apart to its most elementary components, and repainting the frame, which was originally silver, a sporty candy apple red. With its light color tires and silver metal parts, we can easily recognize the MPH red and white colors.

John and Brandon pose as they started rebuilding the bike

 

new pedals with clean original crank

new seat and seat clamp

detail cleaned brake calipers

new brake pads and new Schwalbe Delta Cruiser cream color tires

vintage 1950s Sturmey Archer speeds lever

Yellow Fellow

John and I put back together this 1970s Japanese made Royce Union, after four coats of paint, and a single speed conversion. The bike is designed as a nod to the Yellow Fellow, made by Stearns Bicycle Agency in Syracuse NY in the mid 1890s: