10 Bike Restoration Tips & Bits For Your Vintage Build

so you got a vintage mountain bike or road bike or perhaps an old BMX bike that has been sitting around in your garage or in your shed or it was your grandpa's or your uncle's or your dad's whatever it might be I have 10 tips for you as you're on your road to making that old bike something new and awesome so let's get to it this first tip is somewhat of a hack so you've got your wheel off you want to upgrade to a 10-speed cassette and you realize even though you have a lock ring tool you don't have a way to hold the cassette to unscrew that lock ring the right tool would be a chain whip or cassette pliers without these you're going to need a piece of chain and some vise grips this is something I did all the time until I got a chain whip to do this you are going to wrap the chain around one of the cogs on the cassette then lock the two ends together with the vise grips and now you're ready to remove that lock ring and cassette next up while we're still taking the bike apart we're going to the one part that strikes fear into us mechanics that's removing the cranks at times especially on older bikes with square taper bottom brackets the cranks can be totally seized on to get those stubborn cranks off get out your propane torch and just heat them up a bit the aluminum of the cranks expand more than the steel of the spindle and voila they come off now that you have those old-school cranks off it's time to make them awesome with a little bit of elbow grease a good show to watch on Netflix some sandpaper and a buffing wheel you can give those cranks a mirror shine I like to start out with 220 grit sandpaper for those really scratched cranks and then work up to a 3000 grit before I go to buffing make sure you sand away all the scratches from the previous grit before you move on to the next one this is best done by alternating directions of the sanding between the grits with the frame stripped down and cleaned up you now can either repaint the bike or preserve the patina on the first build I did on my Ricci ascent I chose to keep that patina and chose to wax the bike to protect the exposed parts of the frame I could have also applied a clear coat of lacquer over the full frame to really protect it if I had wanted to if you choose to do either of these wax or a clear coat be sure to clean up the exposed frame bits with some steel wool first to get the loose rust and paint off before you wax or clear coat now let's say you want to refresh your bike and give it a clean new look I've found great success in using spray bike paint truly just following the guidelines on their website will help you on the path to an awesome paint job I highly recommend them they've also been a great partner for the channel so check the link in the description below and get yourself some spray top bike paint on your path to a fresh new look with your bike if you're looking to install on this new build a new fork or at least one that's new to you and it's just a bit too long for your setup I have two ways for you to be able to make a nice clean and straight cut on that fork so that your setup is nice and clean and even first get an old stem out and clamp it right to where you want it cut use it as a straightedge for your cut while you're using your hacksaw the second is for you plumbers out there get that pipe cutter out from when you fix the plumbing in your bathroom or maybe in your sprinklers in the backyard and put it to use on your new fork even if it doesn't cut deep enough on that steer tube to be able to make it all the way through it will give you a very clear and good score line for you to be able to use your hacksaw and cut it the rest of the way through it'll be a nice straight and clean look when you're done for a lot of you at home you may not be replacing a headset every day thus making the purchase of a headset press totally impractical so to avoid just pounding it on like Sam pilgrim or the way I did before I did this spend just a few dollars and get yourself some all-thread nuts and washers now with your homemade tool and a couple of wrenches you can get that headset on without a hammer now that you have your new fork you may want to also update your vintage cockpit with something a little less twitchy depending on the geometry of your bike a shorter stem and longer handlebars may give you that more modern feel on your ride that will give you maybe a slightly more slacked back relaxed and more controllable front end there's a lot of options out there for stems and handlebars that you can find online it's something worth trying and there's a lot of great ways you can update that bike with a new cockpit the last two tips are some additional bits just to finish off your retro mod built first dropper posts have been all the rage and rightfully so for a lot of those vintage bikes though it is next to impossible to find a dropper post that will fit little did you know though that there is a vintage option out there the height right I installed one of these on my Ricci ascent build and it is one of my favorite new bits on this bike and last for you today is the icing on the cake with all the effort you have now put into your vintage build you really need to top it off with something awesome there are so many great options out there for a fresh saddle but in my opinion it is hard to go wrong with either asal italia turbo or flight both these saddles are super comfy and will just complete your work like no other thanks for following along with me on these 10 tips today I know a lot of you out there are looking at ways that you can update those old bikes and I hope some of these tips are useful also some of you may have some other tips that you might want to share put those in the comments below and again look for opportunities to give those old things new life don't forget to Like and subscribe and I'll see you on the next video ciao you

Channel: oldshovel

Views: 266,091

Rating: 4.9180841 out of 5

Keywords: oldshovel, old shovel, bike restoration, spray.bike, mountain bike, bike, bicycle, restoration, bicycle restoration, mtb, Park Tools, Park Tool, vintage mountain bike, vintage mtb, retro mountain bike, oldshovel bike, restoration bike build, bike hacks, bike tips, bike repair, bicycle repair, bike diy, diy, mountain biking, cycling, biking, mtb hacks, funny, product reviews, mountain bike products, mtb gear, gear review, bike gear review, hite rite

Id: Uo9TbdDrHAQ

Length: 9min 1sec (541 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 17 2020