Bike Project (8/9yr old Hybrid)

[smmr89]

History

So I thought I'd show my bike here mainly for any suggestions for improvements etc. I bought the bike from eBay for £15 - here's the link with the original pics: Click Here

Since, I've done work on the bike detailed below. The bike was manufactured by SJS Cycles, aka Thorn Cycles as a winter racing bike. 8-9 years ago. Having read up on Thorn Cycles, I found them to be a high-quality manufacturer and was very happy. Check them out here: http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/ and http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/

Work done on Bike

- Cleaned the bike as much as I could, but there's just so much old hardened mud that I couldn't get it off. So I tried my best.

- Trued the wheels (this was a LOT of work as I had to use home-made truing measures and it took me a while to get the hang of what was actually happening). I'm not fully satisfied as it isn't perfectly true, and I suppose there's only so much you can do without a professional truing stand?

- Changed the tires. I put 32C continentals on the rear, and 30C schwalbes on the front. Continental because they were really thick walled so good against puncture resistance from extra weight on rear. And I chose 32C and 30C because I read somewhere that having a slightly thicker (or slightly deflated) rear tire gives added comfort to the ride?

- Bought an awesome Selle Royale gel cover. Added some mudguards and lights. Also had to change one of quick release skewers as it had the springs missing and the extra bit in the middle that fits according to the shape of the quick-release side of the skewer (this part was missing and was wearing against the aluminium whenever the wheel was taken on and off). And I added cable ends on a few places (!) and tonnes of halfords oil on the chain (way too much, i need to degrease or something)

- disassemble and re-assemble of handlebar as some parts would shift under my weight so I had to dry everything before re-assembly (I think water got in from cleaning).

- Adjusted the gearing to a brilliant smooth transition between all gears now. This was the highlight which was just accomplished yesterday!

Future

Anyway that doesn't sound like much, but it has been a lot of my free time behind it. Have attached some pictures so I know there is a LOT more I need to do for maintenance checks for wear and safety etc but I think I'm just going to have to learn this stuff slowly I dunno. I sometimes get this annoying problem on front tire rubbing against the brakes, so I have to open the quick-release and realign the tire roughly tending to the left side and lock it in again. Now that's a temporary fix I believe, and the real solution is to have a properly trued tire? I don't think the problem is at the bearings because there is no play when everything is tight...

Check out the pictures and any suggestions for improvements or next steps etc? In total I spent £100 on purchasing the bike and all modifications. But a lot of that is on equipment which I would have bought with any bike anyway (e.g. bike pump £20, and mudguards £15 and bike lock for £20)

Pictures

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By the way, check out that awesome reflection/glow from the rear Continental tires - it's a great feature to have especially for night-riding!

[DaveM]

Excellent.
I'd say first priority is figuring out what's going on with the front wheel. You should be able to put the wheel solidly into the fork on both sides of the axle and have it end up centered between the brakes. If it's not, first adjustment is to center the brakes. Your brakes should have a centering adjustment screw. If the rim is not centered in the fork up by the brakes, then you should adjust the "dish" of the wheel which is similar to "truing" except your moving the rim over to one side rather that making it straight.

Fresh brake pads might be in order if they haven't been replaced recently, this can make a big difference in brake performance.

After that, the next steps are probably to start inspecting, cleaning, and regreasing bearings. Not major, but you want to have a little time and the right tools before you dig into that for the first time.