Old bikes worth restoring ?

Poncherello

I have come accross two old bikes that must be 30-50 years old perhaps more. Just speculating I will get some pics up.
They have been sitting in an old shed for god knows how long.
Pretty rusted up as u would expect.
Would they be worth restoring ? Are the frames salvageable in that type of state ?
Thx

blorg

People spending decent money on old steel frames these days, generally to convert into fixed gears.

Harrybelafonte

Poncherello wrote: »

I have come accross two old bikes that must be 30-50 years old perhaps more. Just speculating I will get some pics up.
They have been sitting in an old shed for god knows how long.
Pretty rusted up as u would expect.
Would they be worth restoring ? Are the frames salvageable in that type of state ?
Thx

Depends on what they are I'd say. Run of the mill stuff I'd sell as is, but if it's stuff with nice detail etc I'd try and refurbish it and move it on. I'm looking for a frame at the mo as are plenty on here, take sizes & photos and throw them up I guess.

redmaxi

The general rule is only repaint if it's absoutely essential. Better to keep it original if you can. Sheldon Brown had some class old yokes with all sorts of stuff bolted on. See his 1916 bike here. His motto was function over form - dead right too.
I'am doing up an old Wes Mason(bought off the forum) at the moment. Great pastime, I managed to track down Mason himself who posted me over decals free of charge. Will post a few pictures soon.

Wibbs

blorg wrote: »

People spending decent money on old steel frames these days, generally to convert into fixed gears.

There was atime you could pick up gorgeous stuff before the fixies spotted the advantages. And depending on the steel frame in question some are pretty valuable. Usually new old stock stuff though. Italian stuff Colnago, De Rosa etc can fetch big money and you can get all the decals for these pretty much.

redmaxi

Getting the stuff is expensive alright. You might get lucky on e bay but most of the campag stuff goes for crazy money.
Hilary Stone on LFGSS has a rake of good stuff at sensible prices. Anybody know somebody similar In Ireland ???????

mike12

Hi,
Sorry a bit off topic and hijacking the post a bit i have a old racer not really sure what make it is it has falcon hand made in england on the cross bar proline on the other bar shamano exange booex on another i got it a few years ago so not really sure if is any good I have just got a new bike on the bikes to work scheme so dont really need it so would think about selling it if it was worth anything so anyone have any idea what its worth if anything.
Mike

Harrybelafonte

redmaxi wrote: »

Getting the stuff is expensive alright. You might get lucky on e bay but most of the campag stuff goes for crazy money.
Hilary Stone on LFGSS has a rake of good stuff at sensible prices. Anybody know somebody similar In Ireland ???????

The guy who sells all the Puch stuff on gumtree has the odd decent bike at a decent price. There's always the odd chancer selling italian frames at massive prices, but at the same time if the market is there.

Weird thing is I found LFGSS cos I was looking into old racer frames to build the kind of bike I wanted in the 80s and that's how I got into the FGSS thing. I've looked at prices in Itlay/Germany etc and all of them are quite high. At this stage it's cheaper to get a Dolan track frame and go with that.

Wibbs

You would imagine there is a pretty big store of 80's quality stuff in sheds and garages all over ireland, considering how popular racing cycling was at the time with Kelly, Roche etc. I remember kids I was at school with that had some unreal machinery. I recall one kid who came to school on a 753 frame. :eek: Another had a colnago, campagged up to the nines. Id say the amount of stuff that rusted away or more usually ended up in skips would break your heart now. A mate of mine in the building trade while dropping a stuff off to a local dump, saw a Rossin steel frame of obvious quality that had been recently squished by been thrown in a skip.

BostonB

I went looking for an old cheap racer mid last year, to see if I liked drops, and couldn't find one anywhere. I think the fixie/SS craze has cleaned out all the old racer frames. Though I'm sure you'll get the odd one popping up from time to time. Rothar said they don't get many in, and they are snapped up almost straight away. Maybe put the word around with friends and family that your looking for old bikes.

You'd have to weigh up the cost and effort in fixing up an old bike, vs buying a new hyrid/road bike from somewhere like halfords for €350.

Harrybelafonte

Same tends to happen with cars. At least someone has them out of the barn and uses them. Restore beats Halfords every time

jaqian

Saw a nice old Peugeot racer pass me out on O'Connell Street converted to a fixie. Cool looking bike. Seems every second person has a fixie these days, they're everywhere

BostonB

Harrybelafonte wrote: »

Same tends to happen with cars. At least someone has them out of the barn and uses them. Restore beats Halfords every time

Just because something is old/new doesn't mean its good/bad. Everything on its own merits.

Harrybelafonte

BostonB wrote: »

Just because something is old/new doesn't mean its good/bad. Everything on its own merits.

This is true, but you made direct reference to Halfords, whose products I would have no faith in, therefore restoring an older bike and perhaps including newer parts is a far more agreeable result for me.

BostonB

If its a nice old bike thats one thing. But if its a bit rough, not that special, and you pay 50~100 for, then end up buying tyres, maybe a wheel and a saddle, it all adds up. Thats before you spend some time on it. Theres good and bad bikes in Halfords.

Harrybelafonte

Ok, I concede.

BostonB

I'm not disagreeing with you, just saying well it depends...

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055830847
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055847464
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/mountain/product/virtuoso-09-34691

Certainly the old bike might be more interesting. If thats of interest.

blorg

Harrybelafonte wrote: »

This is true, but you made direct reference to Halfords, whose products I would have no faith in, therefore restoring an older bike and perhaps including newer parts is a far more agreeable result for me.

Halfords have decent bikes, the Carrera and Boardman stuff in particular, it is the assembly that can be a bit hit and miss. Generally (if properly assembled) the newer stuff will work with less hassle than an older bike. This is not to say there are no benefits to restoration of course.

BostonB

I think you have to look at what you money is buying you.

Wibbs

BostonB wrote: »

If its a nice old bike thats one thing. But if its a bit rough, not that special, and you pay 50~100 for, then end up buying tyres, maybe a wheel and a saddle, it all adds up. Thats before you spend some time on it. Theres good and bad bikes in Halfords.

+1. OK if you happen to pick up say an early 90's steel colnago master frame in good nick for a song(unlikely, think a grand upwards) and throw modern high end components on it(throw the guts of another grand at it), you'll end up with a bike that's a serious piece of kit that's going to last decades and be actually lighter than many more expensive new aluminium jobs, but even in the 2nd hand game, like in everything else quality costs. At the lower end, either the new halfords stuff or second hand new stuff would be a better bet.

I'm trying to get fit again(sweet god its painful :)) and to that end was looking at maybe new. But I have my old bike that I kept in mothballs and in tip top nick. Its an 80's italian steel columbus SLX yoke with old stylee campag stuff that wieghs just under 19 lbs. Doing some research I decided feck new I'll use that as Id have to spend a lot more to get similar(and I found aluminium very harsh for my old arse). Though having seen the price of the vintage stuff the temptation was to sell it bit by bit and put new campag stuff on it:D If I had say a standard Raleigh of the time laying around Id be going new. No doubt in my mind.

SubLuminal

Pics of the old bikes? I'm into fixing up old bikes, post us some pics and we'll let you know if they're worth doing up

Poncherello

Here they are appears they are both the same ladies bikes ?

redmaxi

Lovely old 'high nellies', there all there anyway. I remember coming across a site one day of a fellow in Longford I think (advert on 'done deal' perhaps) who restores these and sells 'em on. They looked fanstastic all newly painted and shiny.

BostonB

There seems to be a growing interest in really old bikes like that. I guess they are more antiques than just simply old. What they are worth I have no idea. I didn't think they'd be that old.

sexpot

Hey Poncherello,

I'm in the exact same situation as you, I have a high nelly I'm looking to do something with but it looks like it will cost a bomb.

I reckon, new wheels, new paint job, new hubs (if gears are needed), new brakes, new everything really aparts from the frame.

Here's a good site for the brakes and all.

Ebay is also great for all the good parts.

I had planned to try do one of these for a friend but it's looking like it may cost up to €400, where as dutchiebikes.co.uk do great ones for fairly cheap.

Poncherello

bump..threw the photos up there over the weekend

Would be interested in doing a job on one of them for the Mrs but would it be too heavy for a slight girl not used to cycling who might only use it for a wee jaunt down the Phoenix park ?

Harrybelafonte

Poncherello wrote: »

bump..threw the photos up there over the weekend

Would be interested in doing a job on one of them for the Mrs but would it be too heavy for a slight girl not used to cycling who might only use it for a wee jaunt down the Phoenix park ?

I don't rally know that much about these kinds of bikes tbh, but I would say it's worth having a go at trying to restore them. They might be a bit heavy, but then again she might get used to it?

kumate_champ07

worth it for the satisfaction of seeing it finished and being used after finding it in awful/bad condition. I found A 40yr old raleigh racer, frame was rusty but got rid of it with sandpaper, the rust on the drop bars will prob need sandblasting or bar tape will cover most of it. Its work in progress.

Its also good to use something that can still be salvaged rather than dump it where it just takes up space in a landfill/garage etc

Poncherello

so what are the essential tools for getting stuck into something like this ?
Sandpaper ? Wirewool ? WD40 ?
Thanks

Caroline_ie

... Nitromors. great for removing pain ( and skin, wear gloves )

Wibbs

+1 to kumate_champ07 as far as recycling and satisfaction goes.

Other supplies would be, various grades of sandpaper, high build primer as a base for the paint and as its a steel frame, get some rust treatment gel/solution to treat any rust before you spray on the primer. When the paint has dried, some spray rust preventer(waxoyl is one) to fire into the frame tubes to kill the internal stuff and to stop it in the future(good bet on any steel frame). Rotate the frame so it gets into all the places it needs to. Motor factors will have all the above.

There's a trick I read years back that can brighten up chrome on vintage car bumpers that may be worth a try on bikes. Ordinary kitchen foil. Rub the shiny side of the foil onto the chrome. Brings it up well.

brianthebard

redmaxi wrote: »

Lovely old 'high nellies', there all there anyway. I remember coming across a site one day of a fellow in Longford I think (advert on 'done deal' perhaps) who restores these and sells 'em on. They looked fanstastic all newly painted and shiny.

We had two high nellies at home but I'm 99% certain they were thrown out a couple of years ago unfortunately. They were great bikes, took a while to build up speed but so good to cycle.

kumate_champ07

use wd40 with the sandpaper, extends the life of the paper and gives a more smooth/polished result

kumate_champ07

brasso is pretty cool, but addictive!

Harrybelafonte

Don't use Brasso on chrome though I don't think. It's an abrasive I believe.

Harrybelafonte

If you can get your hands on oaxlic acid it's supposed to do wonders on rust. Post here if you find it, it seems to be nigh on impossible to find this side of the water.

ednwireland

most rust convertor products for cars contain oxalic acid
it usually says on the label (the ones i have in the shed have anyway)

Harrybelafonte

ednwireland wrote: »

most rust convertor products for cars contain oxalic acid
it usually says on the label (the ones i have in the shed have anyway)

Any decent brands. I've been looking in woodwork stores as I believe it's used to bleach rust stains from wood.

Pigeon Reaper

try wet and dry sandpaper with soapy water for bringing back to bare metal. Very fine paper(1000+) can also be used for finishing paint work before using rubbing compound.

Wibbs

Harrybelafonte wrote: »

Don't use Brasso on chrome though I don't think. It's an abrasive I believe.

+1 and chrome on bike frames is usually much thinner than on things like cars etc. I polished the chrome on my bike over the years, didnt use anything particularly abrasive and while it looks shiny I suspect Im looking at the nickel "undercoat".

kumate_champ07

Harrybelafonte wrote: »

Don't use Brasso on chrome though I don't think. It's an abrasive I believe.

On the tin it says for brass,copper & chrome, my rigida chrome rims look beautiful after the brasso and have convinced me not to 'upgrade'!
I think its a mild abrasive

kumate_champ07

Harrybelafonte wrote: »

If you can get your hands on oaxlic acid it's supposed to do wonders on rust. Post here if you find it, it seems to be nigh on impossible to find this side of the water.

I dont recall the ingredients but theres a tool shop on camden street in dublin and it has stuff you put on rust and 10mins later it is paintable, think it just comes off as powder, it cost 7euro

dancer36

Hi, I have two old men's bikes that I am wondering if anybody would be interested in restoring? I have attached a few photos. Although they are quite rusty I think their frames are fairly solid.

BostonB

Don't know anything about restoring bikes. But nice looking bikes.

dancer36

...I also have a high nelly and another mans bike in similar condition to the ones i posted earlier.. ill add the photos later..just have to take them down from hanging in a shed!! Anyone know where would be a good place to advertise these bikes so that someone interested in restoring bikes could see them?

LastGasp

Save the elbow grease lads, go to Tallaght Powder Coating or similar. Complete sandblast back to bare metal, and one colour powder coat for about EUR120. Takes a couple of days.

dancer36

iv just added some photos of the 2 other old bikes that I have..