Learning how to restore vintage roadies… what's best?

[Diamant_Don]

Hi guys,

I've been trying, over the last few years, to improve my bike maintenance/restoration skills… :facepalm:

I've restored headsets, replaced brake levers, cables and pads, straightened wheels, replaced stems, bars and pedals etc. But ideally I'd like to do the lot.

So here's my question: is it possible to service hubs, replace cassettes, bottom brackets and hubs, and do all the complicated stuff that needs to be done with only You Tube videos as my guide - or am I looking at a course here?

I'm midway between novice and pretty good - and only interested in retro roadies - so I don't know what course I should go on.

Any advice out there?

 

[Jamiedyer]

Sounds like you've already done it bit by bit over time, now you just have to do it all together.
Think of it the same, just one easy small job after another. A couple of maintenance type books means you can have them with you in the shed rather than a laptop.

Jamie

 

[john88]

hubs greasing, bb changing and cassette removal only needs some tools, thats simple

 

[cycletothesea]

You might look up a YouTube video to see how things go back together, but the best way to learn is just to take it all to pieces, very slowly making a note of how it all goes back together. There isn't much that can go wrong, if worst comes to the worst just take all the bits to the LBS and ask them to put it back together. But trial and error usually wins through in the end.

 

[Diamant_Don]

Thanks for the replies - I think it's fear of wrecking stuff that's kept me from doing these jobs. :facepalm:

On the hunt now for a good, thorough restoration book. I've got the basic Haynes Guide, but that's pretty pants.

All the above gives me confidence! I've been overly concerned, maybe!

Cheers!
Don

 

[cycletothesea]

Old bikes aren't like old cars, don't see how it's possible to wreck anything at all. The worst is that you might have a piece which you can't recall how to re-assemble - but you can almost always work it out with a bit of patience. A bike is just variously sized pieces of metal and rubber which needed assembling in the right order - there's not much more to it.

My one and only nightmare so far was disassembling and old campag freewheel and realising that it was impossibly fiddly to get the 3 sprung pawls back into the freewheel housing by hand. When I eventually gave up and took it to the LBS, the mechanic's specialist tool was a thin piece of stiff cardboard cut to shape which held them in place while sliding back into the freewheel.

I'd bet the maintenance manuals don't describe that technique.

 

[cycletothesea]

. . . . and if there's something that can't be done, it usually means you just don't have the right tool !!

 

[Diamant_Don]

Re:

Cheers, I've found a couple of old steel wheel to practice on (not going to start with the Campag hubs on my Ian May), so it's YouTube and hub maintenance tonight!

My biggest fear is bb, cranks, chainrings etc replacement, but that's a later job...

 

[NeilM]

Re:

Look up Sheldon Brown's web site, it has more information than you will ever need.

If you want a book, find Leonard Zinn's book on road bikes.

It sounds like you already have the mechanical aptitude, now all you need is patience and experience.

By way of encouragement; I used to like (as a kid) tinkering with engines, I have never had any formal of training but went from adjusting plugs and point to eventually building and restoring British motorcycle engines and even building and rebuilding racing car engines (nothing exotic, only Formula Ford 1600 and 2000).

 

[latman]

just don't take apart shimano STI levers ,they cannot be rebuilt ! , just drown em with solvent instead , I took apart some top end Shimano single pivot calipers recently and found there is a plastic washer with a dozen tiny ball bearings in it (and I promptly lost some on the ground) so my advice is to do stuff over a rag and catch anything that falls out !