a weekend project
Sunday, August 15, 2010 at 7:27PM I decided to restore my fathers old road bike which has been lying in our stables over the past few years. The main use for this bike will be getting me from one side of the River Tay to the other on my daily commute to university.
And here it is!
It's fair to say that it needed a decent amount of attention. So to begin with a total strip down was required along with a good wash and any removal of rust which was beginning to build up.
Each individual part was washed and rubbed down with various chemicals to get them looking like new again. The frame of the bike was again washed and then polished to bring back that lovely dark red. The decals I decided to retain, as I'm not sure how many bikes today have both 'cobra' and free spirit' written on them!
The next part involved a trip to the local bike shop and handing over some cash for various parts. Back to the workshop i returned with:
- brake pads
- brake cables
- shift cables
- inner tubes
- tyres
- saddle
- handle bar tape
- bike chain
- bike lubricant
Thankfully with the expertise of my very knowledgeable father we managed to put it back together to something which resembles a road bike and what a beauty she is!
Tweaking will begin once I get a decent chance to get out onto the open road and begin to acclimatize my body to cycling over 10 miles a day.
I hope you all had as much fun as I did this weekend!
Adam.