Fixed Up A Bike!

One of the year's most unexpected Christmas surprises came in the form of a great project for this red-headed cyclist: a 1997 Cannondale R900 road bike that my Uncle Jack had bought new but was no longer riding. Although it had not been ridden for several years, it seemed to be in great shape under the dust and mildew.

Since being the beneficiary of Cervélo's decision to shut down aluminum frame production (thus receiving a more valuable full-carbon warranty frameset when my frame cracked), I'd been seeking a way to have a more commuting-friendly (i.e. less expensive) road bike that I could take to work, ride in the winter/spring muck, etc. This bike would fit that bill precisely, so once I got the steed back in my 'shop' in St. Louis, I got to work:

(Yes, I forgot to take a "before" picture, but here's a shot post-cleaning and post-stripping-nearly-everything-off-the-bike)

The only core piece that needed replacing was the headset, which had pitted from the bearings. This bike was probably one of the last models to use a threaded "quill" stem, which means headset availability can be tricky (but there's something sleek and classic about this Cinelli quill). The A&M Cyclery up the street from us had me fixed up in no time though, smooth as ever with a new headset.

(Brinelling of the lower headset race)

Next came the wheels. Both got the royal treatment: thorough cleaning and overhauled hubs. No problems with the races here, and everything cleaned up great:

(Grime grime grime)

(Clean clean clean)

(Grease grease grease)


(Happy hub)


(True!)

Remarkably, and definitely to my uncle's credit, all the components looked essentially brand new after a good cleaning. For mechanical parts that were assembled when I was probably 11 years old, that's amazing.

New cables, housing (gold, naturally), chain, and cassette, and things started to look good. I noticed quickly, though, that the right shifter did not shift. Kind of a key function... The general diagnosis for malfunctioning Shimano shifters is "replacement" (at $130+ even for an identical 15-year old pair of Shimano 600s...eek). With some helpful encouragement from Google though, I found that I only had to remove a few caps, nuts, and springs before getting enough access to the innards to unleash a deluge of TriFlow spray lubricant. It took a lot of spray and working it in everywhere, but things eventually started to ratchet properly. Success!

(Partly disassembled shifter after being soaked with TriFlow)


(Reassembled and ready to go!)

The final trick was getting the brake pivots to quit binding (which left the lever with a disconcerting dead space for the first half of the brake action). The pivot functions around a plastic washer that sits around the pivot bolt, within the brake body.

(The washer sits on the bolt, hidden against the inner face of its hole in the brake arm.)

The bolt threads through the back arm of the brake to allow the front arm to snap back into place once cable tension is released. A locknut on the back holds this finicky adjustment in place. Cleaning and more TriFlow seemed to do the trick here too.

Ta-da! A spare saddle of mine, some newer Look A 3.1 pedals (these, but black) donated by my dad, fit measurements translated from my other bike(s), and here it is, still in the basement:


A million thanks to my uncle for a terrific gift - it's a great bike, and was a fun project. Rides really well and shifts great. Even the frame pump still works!

Now, what bike project would be complete without a series of gratuitous, artsy photos??