Refurbishing second-hand bicycles

Refurbishing second-hand bicycles

My Wife and I moved in December to our new home - which we intend to be our long-term home - and this was much nearer to my office than previously.

Way before this, since we had bought the house months before moving in, I talked about this with my Team Lead - he also stays nearby - before we moved, and he actually cycles to work pretty much daily. When I mentioned in passing that I would probably try the same, he very kindly offered me one of his spare bicycles; apparently there is such a thing as having too many bicycles in Singapore.

A little while later, I also had the opportunity to buy over a nicer bicycle from a friend who had built his own bifold and trifold bicycles, and I figured that it would be a nice project for me to try. Very much out of my usual domain of expertise, but something interesting to learn and useful to have on hand. Spares are good to have in a pinch, and my wife likes to ride too, so it would be good for her to also have access to a bicycle.

So come January, I now had two bicycles which were both in usable, but non-optimal states. I will refer to them by their Deraileurs; Claris and Tourney.

Claris

The Claris is a nicer bicycle in general. Aluminium frame, sleeker, smaller wheels but bigger gear set. My friend threw in a bunch more spare parts along with my purchase, which included a new crank set and carbon fiber handlebars, and lent me his bicycle tool set for a long-term loan. I will probably have to buy my own eventually, but this helped to get me off the ground.

For the most part the Claris was usable, but there were a few pieces I definitely had to change, and a few more I really wanted to. The tyres and center bearing were completely worn out, and those had to go. While I was at it, since I had to remove the crank set, I decided to also replace it with the new one that he gave me.

Center Bearing and Crank Set

So I went and ordered a spanking new ceramic center bearing, and on the day I got it, I sat down with the bicycle and googled what to do. It turned out that the two crank sets were not the same, and it took a lot of effort not only to figure out which tool was meant for each part, but also to actually use the tool. As it turns out, a safe bicycle does not easily give up its crank set.

The center bearing was no less difficult, but once it was out, I was able to sigh in relief and clean up all the accumulated dirt and other things inside the center bearing, apply some grease on all the threads, and thread in the new center bearing.

The crank set was much easier to insert as well. The bicycles I had received both had the same kind of crank set; a two piece. This meant there was an axle on which both of them were inserted, and then a very sturdy dust cap was screwed into them. The dust cap was one kind of a nightmare to remove, but the crank set itself was ridiculous to remove; This required a particular tool that would thread into the crank arm, and then drive a bolt through the first tool to pull the crank arm off the axle.

For the Claris, I replace the crank set with what I think I will choose for the long-term, if I ever change the crank sets again. This pinch-bolt mechanism was much simpler to work with and both to install and remove.

Tyres

The next part were the tyres, which were totally worn down flat. I was recommended to purchase a set of tyres from Schwalbe, and so I did. These were not too bad to install, although a little tricky. I found that while putting in the new tyre, I had to push the air valve in as much as possible to prevent the inner tube from blocking the tyre. A little air in the inner tube helped too, too much would make the tyre impossible to insert.

Chain and Deraileur

And finally I had to change the chain. I was recommended to get the KMC EPT series, and since the Claris was an 8 speed bike, I needed nothing more. I got the KMC EPT x8, figured out how to size it, and threaded it through the Deraileur and crank set and snapped the master links on.

The difficult bit was the Deraileur. I clearly did not understand how Deraileurs work when I started this, and I am still not sure I fully understand them. Let me attempt an explanation for my future self.

The Deraileur is a spring-loaded, tension driven mechanism. The spring causes the Deraileur to spring outward, away from the largest gear on the Cassette, and the tension causes the Deraileur to spring inward, toward the largest gear on the Cassette.

The tension is mostly provided by the gear cable, which runs up to the gear shifter, and can be tightened either by pulling the slack out from the Deraileur, or by adjusting the gear shifter.

There are three adjustment screws on the back of the Deraileur; from top to bottom, B-tension, H limit and L limit. The B-tension screw seems to fine-tune the spring, whereas the H limit and L limit hard stop the Deraileur at the smallest and largest gear respectively (also called the hardest and easiest gear).

After fiddling around with all the screws, and spinning my crank arm till my back hurt, I finally managed to get the tensions adjusted and the gears tuned. It now should work, but I will have to test it out on a longer journey.

Tourney

The Tourney is a sturdier bicycle, a real classic workhorse. Unfortunately when I received it, I had no place to put it while renovations were ongoing, and had to place it near a balcony uncovered. It got hit by some rain, and some parts started to rust, most notably the crank arm.

The whole bicycle still worked; I was able to ride it to the office and back, and with some WD-40, the entire transmission ran much more smoothly. This served well as a workhorse, although it was heavy and definitely slower than some other bicycles.

Since I removed a working crank arm from the Claris, I decided to fit it onto the Tourney. The same crank set work had to be done. This time it was even harder, but fortunately with the help of a friend - and a lot of physical exertion - we were able to remove the first crank set.

Putting the new crank set on was fine. Even though the sprocket was bigger, the whole gear system seemed to accept it without issue, and the Deraileur wasn’t any worse for wear. I tried it out briefly, and everything seemed to run well. If I need to, I will change the chain with a spare that I received, but for now this works.

Once all these were in place, I went ahead and swapped out the seat and handlebar grips, and the whole bicycle was now in theme.

The Tourney will still continue to be my daily driver for now, mainly because it already has fittings for a rear rack and a basket, but the Claris will eventually become the primary driver once I am able to fit a laptop bag onto it.