Yet another 1992 Marin Eldridge Grade!

[gradeAfailure]

Looking good - your BB was much worse than mine though!

As for tyres - get the IRCs that I've got - £20 a pair off eBay... ;-)

 

[nporternz]

Looking good - your BB was much worse than mine though!

As for tyres - get the IRCs that I've got - £20 a pair off eBay... ;-)

IRC's are always a good choice!

we should do an eldridge grade trip to marin!!!!

 

[hamster]

Do you have any problems with punctures on the Fire XC pros? I have a friend who says they were great if you could put up with constant flatting.

Never flatted one yet, done good service all winter. Mind it depends on where you live - not many hedges round here so few thorns lying around. The gorse that killed my Break / Enter Kona tyres doesn't seem to have touched the Fire XC's though.

 

[Weon]

As for tyres - get the IRCs that I've got - £20 a pair off eBay... ;-)

Let's just build exactly the same bike! The only IRCs I can see on eBay are all steel bead. I'm pretty keen to get folders and keep some more weight off (I'm carrying enough of my own as it is!).

we should do an eldridge grade trip to marin!!!!

That's a nice cheap group ride!

 

[nporternz]

probably cheaper for me

i may have some old skinwall marin tyres rolling around at home - i'll get the old fella to check!

 

[nporternz]

just decided to put mag21s on mine as i had them lying around doing nothing!!

 

[Weon]

Progress has been a little slow on the Eldridge recently. With one thing and another I've not had much time to spend on it but now I've got a few more bits sorted. Firstly my new 7sp freehub arrived so I was able to finish building the rear wheel. Now I just need the Fire XC tyres I ordered to arrive.

Next up were the brakes. The cantis are in pretty good shape but they had been badly set up and so the pads are completely ruined. I'm waiting on some new Kool Stops to arrive but in the meantime I have cleaned up the cantis.

The LX lever shifter combos are still in good shape - I had to glue the little gear indicator window back together but apart from that they just needed a bit of a wipe down.

The front mech was pretty grimey but a ten minutes with some Gunk and a toothbrush sorted that. In fact it looks great, especially considering it's 17 years old!

Finally I attacked the rear mech. This was super grimey so I thought I'd totally strip it down before cleaning it. Having removed the circlip I set about removing the breakaway bolt. Sadly I am a total spanner and I failed to keep hold of the top cap. The spring underneath fired it up and into oblivion. Despite searching the garden I can't find it.

Quick Plea! Does anyone have a knackered old mech that I can scavenge for bits? How about selling me the bit I need? I also need a rubber seal from the top jockey wheel (that one wasn't my fault!).

So I finished stripping it down and I cleaned it all up and put the bits I had left back together. It looks awesome!

Tomorrow I'm planning to clean the frame and forks up. Watch this space...

 

[gradeAfailure]

Looking good... You're making me think I didn't clean mine enough when I stripped it!

 

[sniperworks]

I love a build like this, nice to see you take all the effort to show all the progress, and it is really nice to see how everything is transformed into something... well new...

 

[Weon]

Looking good... You're making me think I didn't clean mine enough when I stripped it!

My main problem is that I find it hard to stop cleaning bits! That's what led to me losing the bit off the rear mech. I didn't really need to strip the breakaway bolt off but wanted to be thorough. Regretting that now! Still, the joy of RetroBike means that someone is firing me the bit I need!

Also, I haven't worked out where I'm going to store the finished bike yet so taking my time is probably a good idea!

I love a build like this, nice to see you take all the effort to show all the progress, and it is really nice to see how everything is transformed into something... well new...

Thanks mate - trying my best to make it look shiney and new(ish)!