Bicycle Restorations with Minimal Environmental Impact and a Totally Unique Look.
This is a Step by Step Guide that covers most of the work that Mechanarchy completes when restoring a Bicycle. The only difference here, is that I take the very worst condition bikes I have, and turn them into something totally unique, with the least Environmental Impact possible. This page will give you a guide as to how much time and effort it can take to achieve this aim, it's why most places, would simply trash these bikes.
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The Bike

This 5 Speed Ladies Step Through was produced at some stage during the mid to late 1970's. During this restoration, I'll be doing some 'detective' work, to try and find out more about this bike. The kinds of things I am interested in, are, a more accurate understanding of its age, exactly how much it has actually been ridden during its life, and, how it was treated once it stopped being ridden.

I know from the frame stickers, that it was made in Taiwan for 'Woolworths Australia'.

Some of the components already give us a hint to its age. It has Cotter Pin Cranks, 'Roots Industries' (very early 'SunRace') running gear and 26" x 1 3/8" Rims. This bike is somewhere in the region of 35 Years old, and yet, as we'll see, it's hardly been used.

Day One

I begin the process of stripping the bike down into all of its individual components. As each one is removed, I take careful note of the condition, it can tell me a lot about the bikes history.

Here for example, we can see that the chrome on the handlebars is severely rusted, but that the chrome on the Head Stem is not. This would indicate that this bike has been lying on its side for a very long time. Why? Most bikes that stand upright on their wheels for even a relatively short period of time, in Rain, develop very badly rusted Head Stems. The reason being, that the water runs down the vertical Stem and gets trapped in between it and the Front Fork Tube. This Head Stem came out very easily and has minimal rust. Also, the rust on the Handlebars is more severe on the 'right' side than the left, which might suggest that the bike has been lying on its right hand side.

The Seat Post backs up this conclusion for exactly the same reasons. It came out very easily, and, as you can see, in comparison to the top half of the post, has almost no rust.

The Seat has a number of 'puncture' holes in it, most likely made by a very bored dog.

Whilst the Seat is in poor shape, it shows very little sign of being worn out through a good deal of riding!

Whilst it is possible that components like Seats and Pedals could have been replaced during this bikes life, it is more likely, that they were not. These pedals were standard features on earlier bikes, especially those considered 'low end'.

The 'Tread' on these shows next to no wear, and as we will see, when lined up with every other component on this bike, that it has had very little rider use before being left out in the Weather.

The Pedal that came off the right hand side of the bike (pictured here on the left), has far more rust on the bottom side of its 'End Cap'.

This Pedal has almost certainly been touching the ground, confirming that the bike has been lying on its right side for some considerable amount of time.

The Front and Rear Brake Shoes have lots of rubber left on them. They could have been replaced, but the wear on the wheel rims, which would occur if someone had used up a previous set of brake pads, is not evident. These would be the original brake shoes.
This Bottom Bracket Crank Bearing has never been serviced. I can always tell those that have, because the 'U' shaped recesses in the outer ring, will have been slightly 'burred' through removal and re-fitting. This 'burring' is more pronounced, when incorrect tools are used.

The ones here, are in perfect condition. Once again, it is possible that this bearing was replaced, but the evidence from all the other components, suggest that it is also an original part thats hardly been used.

The Bottom Bracket Axle Bearings and cups, before and after cleaning. Though this bike had been lying on its side, (which would normally allow rain to enter the Bottom Bracket), it had sufficient fresh grease in the bearings and cups to prevent them or the axle from rusting. Washed and cleaned, they are in almost perfect condition.
After cleaning, the Rear De-railleur is found to have a lot of rust on the lower cog inner housing. Why isn't there rust around the upper cog housing? Because the very large rear wheel spoke protector, shielded the upper area from the rain when the bike laid on its right side.
You can see the position of the Rear De-Railleur when the bike arrived at the Mechanarchy Workshop, in the very first photo on this page. Because of the shielding that the spoke protector gave, only the lower portion of the inner housing was continually exposed to rain. And because the bike was lying on its right side, the outer faces of the De-Railleur which would have been off the ground (seen in the photo on the right), are in very good condition. This inner plate will be removed and de-rusted when the cog bearings are checked.
OK, so I think it's time for a Chain replacement!

Unfortunately, because chains are not generally 'chromed' or 'galvanized', they tend to rust badly. Because of this, it makes very little difference if they are directly exposed to rain or not, they simply tend to rust over the entire chain.

I have a very large box full of old rusted chains. I do not re-use them for bike projects, instead, they get used for a variety of other handy items.

Before I do other work, like dismantling and cleaning the Front and Rear Hubs / wheels, I start getting other components ready for the Phosphoric Acid derusting treatment. These are the before and after shots of the handlebars following this treatment.
These handlebars were so badly rusted, that they required a good scrub with a soft wire brush. Normally, when the rust isn't too bad, a good quality steel wool pad will do the trick. Once this is completed, the handlebars are painted with a weak Phosphoric Acid Solution and left to sit overnight. The acid is then washed off in water, which neutralizes it, and the chrome is then polished. The 'finish' is what most people would consider 'not asthetically pleasing', the rust is totally destroyed but in its place, there is a black and blue tinge, as you can see in the photo on the right.

However, Re-Chroming is one of the most Environmentally Toxic processes on the face of the Earth, which is why I don't do it!

On a bike like this however, where many chrome parts have considerable rust, the overall effect of the de-rusting, begins to create quite a unique look, as we will see in the final photos. It's also worth pointing out, that the original rust, rarely compromises the components as it is often quite superficial. If it does, they are not used in the restoration.

The before and after shots of the mudguards
Although the Tread of the tyres on this bike were still in good shape, the walls of the tyres had rotted. They had been left to go flat and so water had made its way inside the tyres and, as you can see, started to rust the rims.

Because this bike had been lying on its right side, water had entered where the Rear Freewheel screws onto the hub. It is rusted solid. I have many Freewheel removal tools, but unfortunately, this Freewheel is so old, I don't have a tool to match it in my kit. These two factors led me to put it to one side whilst I soaked it in a small amount of WD-40.

Whilst waiting for that to do its work, I dismantled the front wheel, removing the axle and bearings, then the spokes.

The front rim has come up exceptionally well. The left side of this photo shows the rust and dirt on the rim, the right side demonstrates how easy it is to remove it with a pad of steel wool and some soapy water.

This rim will still need treating with the de-rusting acid, otherwise the rust will rapidly appear where it was before, this will be done at the same time as the 'inside' of the rim where the tyre sits.

Once done, it will be polished with a high quality Chrome Polish, before the wheel gets rebuilt.

Unlike most bicycle shops, if I have a set of used spokes in very good condition, I will re-use them on projects like this instead of buying new ones.

To save time, I cleaned and de-rusted a bunch of other Front Hubs, along with the one for this bike which is sitting just left of centre in this photo.

These other Hubs will be lightly oiled before heading into storage for future projects.

So far, Day one of this Restoration has taken up a Total of 8 Hours. At $15.00 / Hour, the Labour cost, when added to materials such as cleaning agents, steel wool, de-rusting solution, oil and grease etc, already exceeds the value of the bike.

In the Local Newspaper just a day ago (5.10.2011), the Supermarket Chain 'ALDI', were selling cheaply made Mountain Bikes with Front and Rear suspension and entry level Shimano Gear Sets for AUS$199.00.

Most of them will end up, precisely where this one did all those years ago, but I doubt I'll be fixing it in 35 years time!

So why do I do it? If you have read this far, or for that matter, the rest of this website, the answer to that question will be obvious. Next up, Day 2 and the numerous challenges it brings!