Thursday 14th May, lockdown day 50. Nearly two months into UK lockdown, and in need of something to occupy my considerable free time I bid on a “Fixed Gear Bicycle” on ebay, that was sitting at £27. I set a maximum bid of £50, and hoped for the best.
Three days later, I won the auction with a winning bid of £47! I was now the proud owner of another bicycle. Unable to contain my excitement, I immediately went to pick it up. The first thing that struck me was how light it was. A steel frame but without all the gear-related paraphernalia. It was also a singlespeed, not a fixie but that wasn’t a concern. I was looking forward to cleaning it up, fixing some wear and tear and slapping some pedals on it.
The first issue to address however, was the broken spoke on the rear wheel. The local bike shop was very busy during lockdown so I had to make an appointment, the next available slot was ages away, on the 1st of June. That was about £25.
In the mean time I stripped the bike down, removing the brakes, cables, bar tape, bottle cage, and giving everything a good clean. With everything off, it was clear the bottom bracket would need servicing too, the cranks were not turning very well and felt quite “gritty”.
To aid in restoring the bike with it’s old school nuts and bolts, I ordered some tools: 2x wratchet socket wrenches, 14mm, 10mm & 8mm hex sockets, 8mm x 10mm double ended open spanner & electical tape. I also ordered a replacement brake cable inner/outer set. (£62.00)
Following some research I figured out what I needed to pull off the cranks, so ordered a Park Tool chain breaker and a Cotterless Crank Puller (alas, having waited 2x weeks, the crank puller never arrived due to stock issues!) (£29.76)
Not much work was done due to the delay with the crank puller. Went to my LBS appointment to replace the broken spoke.
On the 2nd June having waited two weeks for a crank puller that never arrived (and was now out of stock) I ordered a Topeak Universal Crank Puller (£12.53). However, this still took another week to arrive!
12th June, having finally pulled the cranks off I now needed to service the bottom bracket. Now I could take a good look at it with the cranks removed and research which type I had and which tools I would need: I ordered a Park Tool Bottom Bracket Lockring Wrench (HCW-5) & Park Tool Crank & Bottom Bracket Wrench (HCW-4). (£41.07)
With these tools I was able to remove one side of the bottom bracket and in doing so one of the caged bearings came out in pieces.
17th June. Having removed one half of the bottom bracket I now needed another tool to remove the other side, using a Park Tool BB Adjustable Cup Wrench (HCW-11). However when this order arrived, they sent a pair a shorts instead of my tool! So I had to send that back and get a refund. I bought an adjustable wrench instead which handled the job just fine. Bought this from a local Halfords (£11.79).
29th June I ordered caged bearings (£6.28) and new pedals which never arrived.
At the end of June I had two weeks off work so I could focus more on rebuilding the bike. With new bearings and a handy video by RJ The Bike Guy I was able to clean up, regrease and rebuild the bottom bracket. Then I reinstalled the cranks and gave them a spin. Now they turned smooth as butter!
I put the brakes back on and cabled them up. I ordered new bar tape and a chain (£28.38). I ordered new tyres, Continental Ultra Sport 3 (£36.97)
Reinstalling a new chain was a bit of a disaster. The first chain arrived but it was the incorrect width (too narrow). Singlespeed chains come in two widths and I had chosen the wrong one! Impatiently I went to the local Halfords for a gold half-link chain in the correct width, but I broke my Park Tool chain breaker trying to push the pin out. (£14.99).
I ordered another chain (full link, correct width) and bought another chain breaker from the local bikeshop. (£30.42) Finally, the chain was fitted and all that remained was the pedals.
I ended up swapping the cheap “commuter” pedals I had recently installed on my road bike to this one. I purchased new “hybrid” pedals from Halfords for my road bike, which have clipless pedals on one side and regular “flats” on the other.
Having added up all the expenses for this project, the grand total for the bike and all the tools comes to, £346.19. But this obviously includes tools I can use again & again. The knowledge and confidence gained in working on bikes is also invaluable!
I’m very pleased with the result. The bike is one I can use as a “daily driver”, a run-about-town for errands and meeting people. I can lock this bike up in town without too much worry nor stress. My road bike can be kept pristine and prepped for long rides and adventures out of town.
B'Cycle Rob Blog 