Derailleur advice, retrofit old bike to new gear, Test Ride

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Great video. I've got threaded rod thru the drop outs already to keep spacing as I make any moves.

May try to buy a bolt that fits the hanger and use that to tweak it. Or a big adjustable.

Haven't given up on the 200GS, I was looking at Sunrace 7 speed freewheel.
 
I'd buy the bolt to fit in the hanger to save the shape and threads inside the hanger, but I'd use a big adjustable wrench or the DAG-2 to straighten the hanger itself. The hanger takes an m10x1 bolt, fyi.
 
Was at the shop today swapping tires and removing accessories from my girls bike, figured I would snap a couple pics of it to share as I did some modernizing and upgrading to the drivetrain on it. She wanted a commuter for rolling around the city, we found this old Specialized Hardrock from the late 80s/early 90s, and updated it with a mix of components, mostly Shimano 9spd stuff from the late 90s. I find these components to be fairly durable, run smooth, and are inexpensive as all the others around here want 11 or 12 speed. I used newer Acera shifters, 3x9 so she has versatility in her gearing, she doesnt like being limited to one front ring, an older 105 9spd road rear derailleur with a long cage, believe I used a Sram cassette and chain, LX front der, and Coda Expert cranks with the Shimano Octalink style bottom bracket. Went with a set of cheap Vbrakes as well which I plan on ugrading at some point in time. It runs well, and is a decent mix of more modern parts on an older frame.

Doing something like this requires changing a lot of parts though. I was lucky enough to score a decent deal on a used Cannondale that I sourced most of these parts from, making the upgrade a little more wallet friendly.
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keep the rubber side down!
 
Chainstays are bent, pushed 2mm to the left. String triangle, looped around head tube. 34.5mm on the right, 36.5 on the left.

Also looks like the right chain stay is pushed up 1-2 mm.

Had to go buy a 3" line level, found one with a v notch back that sits nicely on tubing.

I'll get to work on this with my favorite frame straightening tool. A shovel. Plenty of leverage and the wood handle is easy on tubing and paint.
 
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Got the rear straightened out, pretty tough frame, the shovel was flexing pretty hard so I had to go with a steel pipe. Slow movements.
Hanger is vertical, dropouts are vertical and parallel, chainstays are even with string around head tube, measured to seat post.

So here we go. Bottom bracket felt a little odd, I had regreased it last year but its original. Pulled it apart and a few of the balls were loose in the cages. May try to source new bearings or just get a new sealed BB. I had an NOS suntour on the shelf but it's 68x113, spindles too short.

While I had the bottom bracket out, flipped the bike upside down and filled the seatube with oxalic acid in an attempt to free up the aluminum seat post that's been stuck since the 90's. Oh Boy. If this soak doesn't work I'll try ammonia.
 
Try Zep 45 or PLS, if you can find it. We used it at the marina when I used to work on boats and if that stuff didn't work, you were going to a torch (usually worked). Not cheap, but you'll get every drop out of the can.
 
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Any opinions on these shifters /lever combos. Shimano EF 51.
7 speed trigger shift, they are v brake levers and I have canti brakes, which I think I can dial in just fine.
I could also just get the shifter and keep my existing brake levers.
Considering a 7 speed shimano freewheel, my suntour freewheel is straight gear, not ramped.
 
You're not going to wanna use long-pull levers with canti brakes. I'd keep your oem levers and just get shifters a la cart. Anything new and 7-speed is going to be lower-end, but those shifters should work just fine. Even cheap Shimano is still Shimano; they'll do just fine.

Also, like I'd said upthread, Shimano 7 shifters won't index with Suntour clusters; the spacing between the sprockets is different. Go with a Shimano or a SunRace; they're both spaced the same.
 
Appreciate it, can't decide on grip shift or trigger. I've ridden plenty of grip shift, never a trigger. All personal preference I know.

The suntour freewheel on it, has a wobble, needs a refresh. Was trying to get it off last night and broke the casting on my benchtop vice, weird, but it's a vintage vice.

Will the ramped gears on the shimano cluster, give a noiceable shift improvement? Is it worth spending $15-20 here instead of sonmewhere else.

I'm thinking, new freewheel, 200GS derailleur, new shifters, old brake levers, new cables. Or should I go a different route?

New bottom bracket will be in tomorrow.
 
I never updated seat post. 24 hours oxalic acid soak, heated up the seat tube with heat gun as much as I felt was safe with the paint, too hot to touch.

Fluted aluminum seatpost, really wanted to save it. Old Stem on the post and a long bar, slowly worked it loose. Polished the post, derusted the inside of the seat tube. All greased up and reinstalled.
 
Indyjps said:
Appreciate it, can't decide on grip shift or trigger. I've ridden plenty of grip shift, never a trigger. All personal preference I know.

The suntour freewheel on it, has a wobble, needs a refresh. Was trying to get it off last night and broke the casting on my benchtop vice, weird, but it's a vintage vice.

Will the ramped gears on the shimano cluster, give a noiceable shift improvement? Is it worth spending $15-20 here instead of sonmewhere else.

I'm thinking, new freewheel, 200GS derailleur, new shifters, old brake levers, new cables. Or should I go a different route?

New bottom bracket will be in tomorrow.
Click to expand...

You're going to want to get a shimano-spaced 7speed freewheel. all of'm are cheap... not sure how much you'd save by finding a 7speed Shimano-spaced freewheel without ramps, especially considering that'd likely be a vintage item. Shimano or Sunrace will both be ramped and spaced right; the ramps definitely make a noticeable difference for indexed shifting, but you can index without'm, too.

I think the "new freewheel, 200GS derailleur, new shifters, old brake levers, new cables" strategy is a good one. I'd add new Kool-stops to the list and see how she runs once she's properly tuned and lubed.
 
Took me a while to get parts ordered, lot of reading and comparing.
Shimano 7 spd freewheel 13-28
Set of altus M310 trigger shifters, keeping my original brake levers. Parts arrive Wednesday.

Bottom bracket arrived and I'll get it installed over the weekend.

Need to figure out bars, I'm running a BMX front load stem, and bmx bars, fine for cruising but will be too tall for trails.
I'm looking around for bmx low rise cruiser bars, or I may swap back to mountain bike bars and string enough cable that I can swap bars later to a little higher rise.
 
Indyjps said:
Took me a while to get parts ordered, lot of reading and comparing.
Shimano 7 spd freewheel 13-28
Set of altus M310 trigger shifters, keeping my original brake levers. Parts arrive Wednesday.

Bottom bracket arrived and I'll get it installed over the weekend.

Need to figure out bars, I'm running a BMX front load stem, and bmx bars, fine for cruising but will be too tall for trails.
I'm looking around for bmx low rise cruiser bars, or I may swap back to mountain bike bars and string enough cable that I can swap bars later to a little higher rise.
Click to expand...

I vote moto bars... get some gently used Renthals or something.
 
Im thinking my old suntour freewheel doesnt want to quit.
Broke my antique 4" bench vice with freewheel remover clamped into it. Went out and bought a new chinese 4" bench vice, broke that today.

What the heck, Im a weightlifter, but not hercules. I guess these things dont like rotational force.

Really weird, gonna see if i can get a refund the "new" vice tomorrow. I dont have much room for a vice larger than 4" here at home, got a monster at my other shop.

Bought some MX bars:)
 
Sucks, but that's what happens when decades' worth of torque tighten the threads on a freewheel and all you have to remove it is a goofy little pronged tool. I've been there, and it's no fun.

If you're still married to the idea of indexed shifting, you'll need to get all compatible Suntour stuff OR look into destructive methods of removing that freewheel.
 
Got a new vice. Gonna try again. Ive cut bmx freewheels off before. 4 inch grinder for the big chunks, then smaller cutters to get down to the base.

Havent thrown any heat to it yet, will try that before cutting.
 

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