To Fixie or not to Fixie?

[DebW]

Very cool. I had a Stronglight crankset in 1974. Totally wore out the rings and had to replace it, but I loved that crankset. Can we see pictures of the hubs, rims, and spokes? Please? I looked up those derailleurs: Huret Challengers. A nice step up from the Huret Alvit that came on cheap bikes in the early 70s. I'd guess the bar end shifters are Suntour and didn't come original on the bike (maybe a shop swap at time of purchase). Whatever you choose to do with this bike, it will be sweet.

[pll]

So cool...

Here's another 70s Stella: http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Fra...a_bicycles.htm

And a 1974 review:
http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/...ing-1974-11-A/

[gnat23]

Very cool. I had a Stronglight crankset in 1974. Totally wore out the rings and had to replace it, but I loved that crankset. Can we see pictures of the hubs, rims, and spokes? Please? I looked up those derailleurs: Huret Challengers. A nice step up from the Huret Alvit that came on cheap bikes in the early 70s. I'd guess the bar end shifters are Suntour and didn't come original on the bike (maybe a shop swap at time of purchase). Whatever you choose to do with this bike, it will be sweet.

AH! Yes, ok, I knew they weren't the Jubilees, but I couldn't find any other references except the Alvits all over the place; good call! The shifters are indeed Suntour and look kinda forced in with the bartape. To be truly classic, I suppose I could throw on some downtube shifters.

New pictures are up. This thing is starting to feel like a pinup girl to me.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gnat23/...7605031222215/

pll: thanks for those links: that '74 review looks so close that it might be it!

GLC1968: I'll try that trick next laundry day, thanks!

-- gnat! (Now: somebody please rescue me off the Shelden Brown pages before I spend WAAAY too much money doing this.)

[DebW]

The hubs are probably Normandy. They say Schwinn approved, but Shwinn didn't make hubs. Weinmann rims and brakes were pretty standard. Those bar end shifters will give you a very slow shift because of the cable length and housing compressibility. The bare-metal housing is original with those shifters, but you'll get a quicker shift if you replace it with modern non-compressible derailleur housing, or switch to downtube shifters. (If you want to get rid of the the bar-ends, I'd buy them. I had a set just like that in 1976, and I've got an older bike I'd put them on.)

BTW, you really need to replace ALL the grease in the bearings of this bike: hubs, bottom bracket, and headset. Old grease becomes hard and very non-grease-like.

[smilingcat]

...

BTW, you really need to replace ALL the grease in the bearings of this bike: hubs, bottom bracket, and headset. Old grease becomes hard and very non-grease-like.

This is where WD40 spray comes in handy. It's a pretty good solvent to desolve that gunky grease. And do wear a rubber glove.

Don't use WD40 for any other use on a bike.