Thursday, January 30, 2014

Gitane Cycles (Ca. 1970's?) Refurbishment and Tips -- Before Picture

Here's a before picture of my first Gitane (Second French Bicycle):

     As you can see Gitane decal is a little scratched, there's some scratches on the top tube from riders mounting/dismounting and some scratches on the fork.

Gitane Cycles (Ca. 1970's?) . Gitane is French for "Gypsy woman" : )
It will require quite a bit of refurbishment. Will post post-repair picture when I complete the job.

     All in all, shouldn't take me more than a couple weeks to repair then it's on to the next project. In the interim though, I guess I could do some research on Gitane. Thanks to the Sheldon Brown website, it's come to my attention that my derailleur is a Suntour Spirt. (Not to be confused with the Spirit or Sprint). It turns out this is a pretty special derailleur, when you press the lever forward the gears actually shift into a higher gear(Opposite your normal Derailleur). According to the Sheldon Brown site that derailler came out in 1966, that puts my Gitane somewhere in the late 1960's range or later.


Saturday, July 27, 2013

Bicycles No Longer Being Manufactured -- Araya



     Araya Used To Make Bicycles. Araya made many bicycles for other companies and put other companies decals on their frames. For awhile though in the 70's Araya made their own bikes. I came across one of those bikes and in my research I discovered there's very little information about them.

I found out a couple interesting things. Araya made a really nice bicycle, one model with Reynolds 631 tubing and downtube shifters. Eventually I emailed Araya and they sent me this neat catalog page. Pictured Below is the Araya Sport. I hope this helps you identify your Araya Bicycle.






   



Araya Sport --- (Tall 62cm Frame)

  Araya, a company with a long history.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Tips On Buying A Quality Used Bicycle (Or how to put a bike through its paces)

     This guide doesn't attempt to discuss bicycle fit. Hours of discussion can easily be spent on the subject. This guide is to ensure you find a bicycle of good craftsmanship that is repairable and I believe if you follow this guide you'll find a decent bicycle.
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    The used bicycle market is full of wonderful bikes(Classic road bikes, mtn bikes, Cruiser bikes and tandems). How do you know if the bicycle you want is good or not? Three elements make a great bicycle: Craftsmanship, Brand, components. If you can find a brand that was once sold in a bike shop you are on track, most of the bikes you'll find in bike shops are well-made and I'd argue are worth repairing. They won't let you down.

     Visual Inspection of the Frame: Check the frame for any cracks, scratches or rust. Rust and paint damage like to hide in the most conspicuous places. Check the bike under the frame where the pedals are and all along the down tube(see below).

  A bicycle built for heavier loads will have lugged welds like those below(Or TIG welding on Aluminum Frames). Double-butted and triple-butted steel may be found on touring bikes for added strength and durability, this is important when considering the extra weight loaded touring bicycles can handle.


-=scorch=- Flickr.
     Check the rear of the frame where the rear wheel bolts on to the frame. (This is called the rear drop outs, quite appropriately, because it's on the back of the bicycle where the wheel drops out). Bikes of very low quality will have crimped on rear dropouts like those below. (Caveat Empor)

No Welds  =(


     Here's a short and incomplete list of brands I trust. Like your Azuki, Peugeot, Raleigh, Bianchi, Giant, Trek, Gary fisher, Nishiki, Araya, Haro, Specialized, Puch, Miyata and that's all that come to mind. Brand can often be a sign of quality and craftsmanship but it's not de facto. It's all about craftsmanship and the components. Learn what the quality bicycle components are (Shimano, Araya, etc) and look for those parts. Beware of bicycles with parts that aren't branded or labeled, virtually all bicycles from a sporting good's store or bicycle shop will have components that are labeled. Not all branded parts are quality but it will give you something to Google. If your search returns no results, that's a red flag. Unsure about a part's quality? Check consumer reports, consult your local bike shop or other bicycle professional. Feel free to e-mail me, however, if it doesn't return a Google result normally it's unknown. Whether the part is quality or not can only be made by a competent mechanic or other bicycle professional and that's outside the scope of this article.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Destructive Removal of a Freewheel That Has No Freewheel Removal Tool

     In this article I will explain how to destructively remove a freewheel so as to save your wheel. The freewheels most commonly designed without proper notches for removal are often among the lowest quality. If your bicycle came with this freewheel stock chances are the wheel is also of low quality and you might take that into consideration when considering this repair option.

     Sometimes there doesn't exist a removal tool. Other times the notches aren't wide enough (See Picture Below). Notice how the notches on the outer ring are thin and shallow. I attempted to use a hammer and punch to remove it with these notches, but even with careful and skillful blows it only served to damage the soft metal. When it comes to this destructive removal is the only way to save the wheel.

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Tool's You'll Need:
  • Pin Spanner (Park SPA-2)
    • Or Hammer and Punch
  • Bench Vise 

     In the picture below you will see two holes, these holes are for a lockring that keeps the cog piece attached to the freewheel body, inside are about 50 tiny bearings. A park tool SPA-2 pin spanner is the easiest way to remove it, but I took mine off with a hammer and punch. Follow the arrow imprinted on the freewheel, if there is no arrow go clock-wise, they are always left-hand threaded. When the cone ring is removed bearings may spill out all over the place, and there's lots of them.




     Once the outer shell of the body is removed it exposes the main body that is threaded on to the hub. From here, simply tighten on to a strong vise(With some teeth) and turn counter-clockwise. This will unscrew the freewheel from the hub, thus saving it from the garbage and allowing you to thread a new freewheel on to your wheel.

Disclaimer: It is possible to reassemble these, however, these freewheels are so inexpensive that it really isn't practical and given their low quality to begin with no good mechanic would recommend it. If all bicycles were standardized, this repair would become obsolete, as all manufacturers wanting to build to standard would be required to make a freewheel removal tool slot that fit a Universal Freewheel Remover.

Updated: June, 29th, 2014

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Coming soon.

Articles on how to dissemble and service freewheels, tips for routine bicycle maintenance like overhauling hubs, bottom brackets and headsets, and tips for recycling old bicycles into functional modern ones.

Coming soon...to a theater near you.