Tales of a Terrible Bike Mechanic

BigDB67

BigDB67

Well-Known Member
Many of the members on this forum have blown me away by posting some amazing bikes, both old and new, that have been tweaked by your own hands into (IMO) showroom quality bikes. I have been inspired to take a turd Craigslist bike and do a complete overhaul until it is something I can be proud of.

The problem is, when it comes to bikes, I am a terrible mechanic. Around the house, I am a pretty handy guy. I can hang drywall and do the finish work, put in a toilet, change breaks on a car, and etc. But for some reason, if I need to do anything on a bike, it ALWAYS turns out terrible.

Hopefully through the genius of these forums and other internet avenues I will be able to put together something that is:
1.) Safe
2.) Vintage
3.) Unique
4.) Sweet looking

The first step in the process is to find the turd that I can polish. I wanted a road bike that was made prior to 1985. After a grueling 30 minutes of searching Craigslist I came across this gem. A late 70s/early 80s Kabuki road bike.
Kabuki1.jpg
Kabuki2.jpg

The emblem is so legit, once I saw that I had to buy it.
Kabuki3.jpg
Kabuki4.jpg
Kabuki5.jpg
Kabuki6.jpg


For any interested, here is a link to Sheldon Brown’s webpage about these “gems”: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/japan.html#kabuki

I pick it up tonight after work. First step will likely be to strip the bike down and see what is salvageable. I will let you know how that goes when I get there.
 
check out the "what have you done to your bike today" thread. i did some restore in there and i think a few other people did as well. you can bring back a lot of the metal to super shiny with a little WD-40, super fine steel wool and time.

you gonna repaint?
 
clarkenstein said:
check out the "what have you done to your bike today" thread. i did some restore in there and i think a few other people did as well. you can bring back a lot of the metal to super shiny with a little WD-40, super fine steel wool and time.

you gonna repaint?
Click to expand...

That thread was 90% of my inspiration!

I plan on repainting the frame and polishing up as much of the original components as possible. Likely sticking with the same blue. I gotta keep that emblem though!

I might upgrade to 700cc wheels if i think it would not be much trouble with the brakes.
 
700c probably better way to go if you actually plan to ride the bike. Steel rims don't stop when they get wet.
 
good luck, I have a Kabuki Submariner, one of the first stainless tubed bikes, heavy and slow like a Delorean
 
So I realize that since I started this thread I did not do ONE followup. But there was a slight reason for it, my wife was laid off last October and we had to tighten our budget. I had to put all bike projects on hold. But now that she is working again, I can spend money in ill-advised bike projects again!

The Kabuki project is up next, but I was able to finish another project in the last 2 weeks. Sorry I did not post anything as I worked on it.

Beware the Rocket Blast

I wanted to build up a loaner 29er for the cheap. Last winter @Kirt donated a Kent Thruster frame and @axcxnj donated some wheels that would serve as the main components.

I was able to get the below items cheap through this website or the interwebs:
  • SR Suntour XCT Suspension Forke - eBay ($20ish)
  • Grips and Pedals - REI bargain bin ($5 each)
  • Deore XT Crankset and Bottom Braket - MTBNJ Silk Road (50ish?)
  • RaceFace 32t Chainring - Amazon ($25)
  • Brakes - ebay ($35)
  • Deore Front Shifter and Rear Derailleur- ebay ($50)
  • Seat, seatpost, handle bars - eBay FOR SO CHEAP, I am not sure they are even safe. ($35ish alltogether?)
  • BIKE TOOLS - I bought a cheap "kit" on eBay for $25... it took about 2 months to ship from China
  • $75 of labor from bike shops
Since I did not chronicle the assembly with pictures I will spare you the details! I was able to do most of it on my own without too many problems.... until cables had to be run. The Thruster was originally set up as 3x8 and the folks at REI set up the brakes and front and rear derailleur.

After realize that 3x8 blows I set it up 1x10 by myself, but I went to another LBS (Erlton Bike Shop - Cherry Hill) to fine tune the rear derailleur.

The rear wheel I was donated was in pretty bad shape, so I scooped up a a rear wheel on craigslist for about $5 and slapped that on! After a few test rides I took the Thruster too the trails! It is a decent ride for the price, overall I dumped about $325ish into it. I know I could have bought a 2nd hand bike for cheaper, but i wanted the experience of wrenching on my own bike!

raw
raw
raw
raw
raw
 
Just so you are aware for the headbadge on the Kabuki, even though they appear to be hollow rivets, the way to reattach it after you are done is with 'drive screws'. They are special fluted fasteners just for attaching pieces of sheet material to a base layer.
 
Thanks!
wschruba said:
Just so you are aware for the headbadge on the Kabuki, even though they appear to be hollow rivets, the way to reattach it after you are done is with 'drive screws'. They are special fluted fasteners just for attaching pieces of sheet material to a base layer.
Click to expand...

I love that headbadge, that is definitely going to be part of the rebuild!
 
I think somebody has to write a tutorial on how to add images to posts.
 
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