Vintage Bicycle Find
 

So, I wasn't completely sure where this thread belonged so, I am putting it here.

So, we did some garage saleing this morning and I happened across this neat old bike. I did not previously have a bicycle, so this is a new and exciting thing!

It needs a bit of TLC. Does anyone know a lot about bikes? How do I begin the process of restoring this treasure? I am having a little trouble identifying the age of this bike, too. Here are some pictures:

http://caseoriginalart.com/bike/hiawatha1.jpg
A bit rusty, but nothing that is unsolveable, right?

http://caseoriginalart.com/bike/hiawatha2.jpg
This is on the back fender. I imagine the bike was made somewhere between 1960 and 1963. But I could be wrong, so I am trying to find out as much as I can about it.

http://caseoriginalart.com/bike/hiawatha3.jpg
I'll bet I can clean it up a bit.

http://caseoriginalart.com/bike/hiawatha4.jpg
This looks like I took it upside down, because I did, but I wanted to show the crank area. It says "Hiawatha" which, I think, is a brand made in the US. Does anyone know about Hiawatha bikes?

http://caseoriginalart.com/bike/hiawatha5.jpg
That is the serial number, I am guessing. I found it under the crank (if you can't tell.)

It also appears that several decals or brand labels have been removed. If anyone out there has any experience restoring vintage bicycles, please let me know. I would like to bring it back as close to original state as possible. (Now, I need to figure out what its original state was!)

You rang?

I can give you a lot of detail later, right now I am figuring out how to completely inebriate myself but still keep my airways open.

I promise I'll hook you up with the info.

Here ya go foots , a mailing label

It looks to me like the original state was North Dakota.

I'm sure he's very good at his job, but in this picture he looks like he's the German soldier in charge of repairing the SS's bicycle fleet.

HAHa That was me 25 years ago, and I was very good at my job. But those are Dutch Army surplus pants.

Why did you buy this bike? To ride? As a restoration project for profit? To restore and ride? How authentic do you need it to be?

Got to know your goal before you can determine if it's economically viable.

Bruce, you're talking crazy talk. It's an old bicycle, a classic. How can that not be economically viable to drop eight or nine hundred into restoring it.

What on earth are you thinking?

That's an adorable bike!

I used to have a 1965 Moulton Deluxe (UK folding bike) when I was in my early twenties. It was beautiful :)

Thanks, Dana. I have a love for all things vintage (clothes, bikes, furniture...I am looking for a vintage 60's console record player, too.)

Thank you, foot...if you have some info on the bike, I would really appreciate it.

Bruce, I hope to restore it to original for riding, but may sell it in the future. We'll see. I want to get it as close to original as possible.

Thanks all for your help.

Lovely bicycle - reminds me of the one I used to borrow from the neighbor all the time because we couldn't afford our own. It will be a fun project. Good luck!

Case,
Here's the deal. I deduced from the title of your jpeg that this is a Hiawatha, I couldn't read the chain guard. A quick search told me that this is probably a 60's vintage bike and really sharp. I will assume that you intend to repair as much of this as possible your own self.

If you want to do a "museum restoration" That entails cleaning up everything as much as possible w/o getting into repainting or rechroming and keeping parts as close to "stock" as possible. IMO, this is the way to go, don't rice up a great bike like this.

Your tool kit:
Rags, lots and lots, and then some more. The best ones are the kind that the gas station guys have. Find out when the UFirst guy makes his delivery and be waiting with a big "help me" smile. Tell him you are restoring a vintage bike and need several dozen rags and ask him to sell you a pile of rejects for one time use. He will probably hook you up the following week. I used to buy used bar mops they called "virgin one wipes". Ask him what he can do, you'll use a ton of rags and they are really cheap in the long run.

Don't bother with paper towels. They'll cost you ten times what a pile of rags will.

Formula 409 or simple green.
CitraSolv or similar concentrated orange degreaser. Citrasolv is the best degreaser you can get is is relatively green. Get a quart or it, your life will never be the same afterwards. Healthfood stores and coops carry it and some more enlightened hardware stores do too. Do not buy any of this shit at a bike shop unless you really want to "spread the wealth"

Neverdull
0000 steel wool (hardware store)
Happich Simichrome (online, hardware, or auto store)
Maroon scotchbrite pad (auto store)
WD-40 at least a 12 oz can (anywhere)
SuperLube (good hardware store, auto?)
Nitrile gloves lots of pairs and/or
Lemon GoJo hand cleaner (this is the best hand cleaner ever)
Rubbing compound (auto)
Polishing compound (auto)
Car wax (auto)
PhilWood grease or similar (bike shop)
"Anybody's Bike Book" by Tom Cuthbertson. Try to find an old copy because I doubt the new one has any info about a bike like yours. Make friends with hippies at your local coop and invite yourself over to dinner, then ask to use the bathroom and while you are ostensibly peeing, search their bookshelves and borrow it.

You will also need some tools. Thses are outlinde in detail in the book but let's see what I remember.


First, you want to clean any dirt off. Dirt as in mud, clay, earth. Not old grease and grime. Use a scrub brush, 409, and water. A garden hose on full blast is great.

If you plan on keeping that Messinger Saddle you might want to hit it with softsrcub to bleach out the mildew stains, otherwise you'll chuck it and shop for a vintage looking or modern, hinder friendly gel type saddle. Mileage will dictate your needs.

Now that it is all clean, grab your WD-40 and start hosing everything down that isn't rubber. Don't worry too much abou the rubber, you'll prolly want to replace the tires...

Spoke nipples, any nuts and bolts, the stem, the seatpost. EVerything gets a good dousing with WD-40.

With your oooo steel wool, give any rusted chrome a good scrub. If you have stuff that won't come off easily with the steel wool, use the scotchbrite pad, add WD as needed. Keep wiping with rags to see your progess. Do Not do this on painted areas unless you plan on repainting.

If you are not going to rebuild the wheels clean every spoke and every nipple with steel wool, the rims as well.

If you have a bike stand this is a lot easier. Get all the rusted chrome first, before you start taking the bike apart.

Rust through paint requires a very light touch or you will remove paint. Use the steel wool gently, or try the simichrome on a rag first.
Start taking the bike apart and take pictures as you do so. Take them against a plain backdrop like a clean drop cloth so you can see. Take close ups too.


More later

Wow, foot! That is an incredibly helpful post. I will definitely try all of those things for my bike. I was not sure whether I should try and match the paint job or not, so I am glad to know that if I am truly restoring it, I should not paint it. what about the decals? How to I repair those? Also, where it is suppose to say Hiawatha on the side, should I try to put that back, or leave it? Should I remove all the stickers that were put on there, like the bike licenses and such?

I think the stickers give it street cred and I would keep them. As for the paint, the finishing touch after you do all the other repair, which we haven't gotten to yet, is to go over the bike with 409, then rubbing compound which is very gentle and only removes chalky film, then you wax it. It will look almost like new paint. But don't do that until you repack all the bearings etc.

More later.

Case,
Do you have a bike work stand (like in foot3's picture) or will you just try to work with it on its kickstand?

I don't have any sort of bike work stand. I will be using makeshift stands and the kickstand, etc.

Yes, I really like some of the stickers, actually.

I have one of these.

http://www.pricepoint.com/images/sty...0%20ULT8R5.jpg

You can borrow it for a few weeks (months?), if you wish.

Ooh, that would be extremely helpful...and very kind of you to lend it to me.

Here are some good ideas for makeshift stands you can make yourself for cheap. Or looking at these may give you an idea using stuff you already have around your place. I've used just a board clamped to a work bench, sticking out a little bit, and the bike cross bar resting on that board and clamped to it.

I love it when someobdy is asking something and somebody else knows a lot about that thing.

me too! Or when they are helping someone else and their suggestion also helps me solve a problem or issue at the same time.

Yes! Exactly, and when they post naked pictures of themsel... are you recording this?

perhaps ;)

Don't forget the accessories.;)

I have a pic of a really cool bicycle, and this was the most recent thread I could find involving bicycles.

This a cool bike...

Making ice that clear is a lot harder than you might think.

Vacuum? Boiling?

rapid freeze hot water for clear ice

Expensive commercial ice makers are able to make the clear ice by freezing the ice in thin layers to allow the air inside the water to escape. They basically spray a thin layer of water onto a cold metal plate in the freezer and keep doing that until it builds up into the size desired. These huge blocks obviously need a special freezer compared to cubes for a beverage.

Reproducing these results at home in an ice cube tray is really difficult. You need to start with distilled water and boil it a few times to try to drive out the dissolved air. Pouring and freezing in layers helps a lot but takes forever.

I'd say invent a vacuum freezer, it should freeze at a higher temp too.

Tonic water would add a special effect...

Cool bike, looks like a Pee Wee Herman special.

Foot, I have a question for you. (or for anyone who knows the answer.)

I took apart the rear wheel of a woman's ten speed bike I dug out of the neighbors' trash. I'm trying to fix it up real nice for my wife so she'll want to join the kids and I riding bikes. This is an old Sears Ted Williams Free Spirit woman's bike, made by Puch in Austria about 35 years ago. It's dirty, but it's kind of nice.

You could hear lots of nasty grit in the bearings of the rear wheel and cassette. So I took it all apart and cleaned it up. I want to put it back together now, but I can't figure out how you get the cassette back on.
Attachment 38895
Attachment 38896
The problem is these little pawls that engage the ratchet on the inside of the cassette. You can see in the picture that there are these little wire springs that push the pawls out. The springs are kind of strong. I can get the springs under the pawls, and hold them in place with my fingers, but then my fingers are in the way of putting the cassette, on, so I have to let go, and the pawls and springs pop back open again and are in the way of the cassette going on.

There has to be a trick to hold the pawls closed so you can put the cassette back on. The manufacturer had to put it together somehow. Do you know the trick?

I was thinking of somehow wrapping dental floss around the whole hub to hold them closed until I get the cassette on and then magically releasing the dental floss and pulling it out once I get the cassette on. But I'm not sure how to make that work. My knot/lashing skills are lacking.

Of course, I also will need to put the ball bearings back and hope the grease holds them in place while I'm gingerly putting it all back together again. But at least I understand in theory how to do that part. Should the ball bearings be put on the lip inside the cassette, and the cassette brought up to the wheel from below, or should they be put in the lip on the wheel and the cassette brought down from above?

It looks like you opened the freewheel mechanism rather than just taking off the cluster. I'm not entirely sure that was necessary, but what's done is done.

Sheldon Brown has a very thorough article on the topic, including a part on how to put it back together. Dental floss, yeah, but tie it to a rubber band: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/freewheels.html

Perfect!
That's exactly what I was looking for.

And I did need to take it fully apart. I should have taken pictures of the two rags and 30 Q-tips worth of foul grit and grime I got out of the bearings in the cassette. It moved, but sounded like there was a pound of sand in the bearings.

Looks like you solved this one, but I'll give you my two cents.
I took apart a freewheel a couple of times during my hyper vigilant OCD phase. When I worked at the shop we'd just rinse them in parts cleaner for a while and blow them out with compressed air. The sand isn't really a problem as most of the time the pawls are engaged and the free wheel isn't spinning, and when it is spinning it doesn't matter how messed up the bearing or races are for the most part. It's not like a wheel or Bottom Bracket where the bearings are under pressure while turning.

There is a bigger risk of things not going back together and then failing in use. Happened to a friend of mine whose freewheel suddenly froze and launched him off his bike onto his head. I wasn't there, that's what he claimed.

Thanks, Foot! I've solved it in theory. I've been too busy to get back to the project to put it together. Maybe this weekend.

Maybe in hindsight I didn't need to take it apart, but it feels good to know something that was so filthy is clean now. It's happier now. I just need to clean up the rest of the bike, fix a rubbing fender, and clamp the loose cable that goes to the rear brake to the frame. It's flopping all over the place, and is almost a foot longer than it needs to be. There must be a clip missing, but I can't figure out where it would have gone.

ground up and swallowed by the rear hub probably.

When you get it back together you can carry french bread. ;)

I finally had some time last night to work on this again. I tried the rubber band trick, but it didn't work. Rubber bands that were skinny enough to fit in the gap between the hub and the freewheel were not strong enough to compress the pawls against their springs. So I tried dental floss. It was strong enough, but kept slipping into the little grove that held the springs, and since that groove had a smaller circumference than the outside of the hub, the floss was too tight to remove later, and wouldn't come out of the groove. I needed something a little wide, but not very thick, and it had to be strong. I pondered that for a little bit, and came up with ribbon for wrapping presents. It was perfect. That's the trick! Use ribbon!
Attachment 38916

So then I put a little grease in the bearing chase inside the freewheel. And put the ball bearings in, one by one, and pressed them into the grease so they would stay stuck in place for now.
Attachment 38917

If I was called handhandhand, I would have taken a picture of this step. But since I only have 2 hands, you will just have to use your imagination. I held the flywheel with the bearings up, like you see in the picture above, so gravity would continue to hold the bearings in place, and I took the wheel and flipped it over so the ribbon was dangling down. I brought the flywheel up to the hub so the ribbon went through the hole, and I just gently brought them together. Then I flipped it all over and took a picture.
Attachment 38918

I pulled the ribbon, and it came out without too much trouble. Just slow and steady tension while I wiggled the flywheel a little in place. I tried turning the flywheel, and it turned just fine. I could hear the pawls doing their job. Click, click. Click, click. Click, click. Then when I turned it the other direction, the pawls engaged the wheel and the whole wheel would turn. It was working perfectly. So I put ball bearings in the top, and put the ring back on.
Attachment 38919

The freewheel was actually pretty loose when I used both shim washers under the ring. It had been that way before I took it apart. So I tried removing both shim washers. Then it was way too tight. So I put one shim washer back in. Oh, and then I poured a little oil in there to really lubricate everything. It's just about perfect now.

Love a good restoration. Thanks.

Wow. very cool. Good Job.