Fork Alignment

 Sometimes I come across a bike that doesn't track straight. If I try to ride with no hands, the bike will veer off in one direction. This is usually caused by a misaligned fork. I made a simple tool to check the alignment of the fork blades:

 

 This was an old curtain rod that I crushed flat in a vise. The round end goes into the steerer tube, and the flat end sits between the fork legs. The cross bar fits across the fork to hold tension on the tool and keep it in place while you measure. These two pieces are loosely bolted together with an M5 nut and bolt. You could also make something similar with two pieces of 3/4" by 1/16" steel or aluminum flat bar stock.

To use it, first unbolt the front brake and slide it out of the way:

  

Then, insert the tool into the steerer tube, and rotate the cross bar so it sits across the fork legs. The spring pressure from the backward bend in the middle bar will keep it centered in the steerer tube: 

 

 Now you can measure and compare the two sides:

     

This fork is misaligned by 1/8" of an inch. That was enough to affect the bike's handling. If your fork is steel, you can carefully bend it back into alignment by pulling or pushing on the fork legs while bracing the head tube with your foot. If it isn't steel, then you'll need a new fork.

Saddle Top Repair

 The original saddle from my Miyata 100 was peeling away from the foam underneath. This can be fixed using lots of contact adhesive sprayed in the gap between the two layers:

  

 After waiting a few minutes for the adhesive to become tacky, I could pull the top cover tightly over the foam and press it back into place. I then wrapped the saddle up with an inner tube overnight to make sure it was secure:

 The repair came out well, and the top was no longer peeling away from the base:

Reviving a Derelict Miyata

 I picked up a Miyata 100 that was evidently sitting outside unused for many years. Since I have a fair collection of used bike parts, I figured why not try to get this one working again with what I have. 

 First, I had to cut off the rusted chain with an angle grinder (there was no way it was going to move). 

 Even the freewheel was stuck and refused to rotate backwards. I actually unscrewed it from the hub when I put a chain whip on it. I still wanted to save it though, because it is a SunTour Perfect freewheel with a 32 tooth low gear. That's pretty rare to find. After soaking it in automatic transmission fluid and torching the outer bearing race, I was able to unscrew it for disassembly. Inside, the ball bearings were all rusted and the pawls were sticking. After cleaning everything up, the pawls moved freely again. I threw out all the rusty ball bearings, and added all new ones (1/8" size). Upon reassembly, the freewheel worked perfectly.

 The seatpost was a bigger problem. It's an aluminum post that was fully inserted in the steel frame, and thus was essentially welded in place. I soaked it for days in transmission fluid, and heated it repeatedly with a propane torch: 

 

 My poor little bench vise still wouldn't budge it. However, a pipe wrench with a cheater pipe attached was able to rotate it slightly: 

 I thought I had won, but that was only the beginning. There was still so much corrosion holding it in place that I needed to bring the frame to a friend's house to use his sturdier bench vise to twist it out. It put up a big fight, and we had to stop and let the seatpost cool down in the snow from all the friction from twisting the frame around it. As the aluminum warmed up from friction, it expanded and created a lot more resistance. We finally got it out after an hour of wrestling with it, and then had a well deserved beer.

The bottom bracket was another problem. Water pooled up inside, and rusted the bearings:

 There's no way to reuse any of those parts. The spindle and cups were way too pitted from rust.

The lower headset cup was very rusty on the outside. I couldn't fix the pitting with rust dissolver, so I ended up replacing it with another similar cup that I had. I removed it with a tool I made from EMT conduit years ago:

 Installing the replacement cup with a vise:

Next I moved on to the wheel bearings. The quick release skewers didn't want to come off, so I used a vise grip and a towel to unscrew them:

Fortunately the bearings inside didn't look too bad:

 

I cleaned them up with mineral spirits, and replaced any balls that looked pitted:

Next I reassembled the bearings with fresh grease, and reinstalled the freewheel:

 

 

 

 I used an M5 tap to restore the threads in the quick release nut. I simply held the tap in my vise, and then spun the nut onto it using pliers to turn the nut:

 

 The QR lever was also very sticky, and needed to be disassembled and cleaned:

 

 Back to the headset. I soaked the bearings in mineral spirits, and then packed them in grease:

 

 

Next I reinstalled the fork and screwed in the upper bearing cup:

 

 Then I tightened the lock ring after adjusting the bearings so that the fork can move freely without play:

 

 Finally I could tighten the top nut:

 

 

This was a good time to touch up the paint and give it a coat of wax. It's really impressive how well the original paint held up. It doesn't even look faded. Well done Miyata.  

 

Now it's time to install more bike parts. I took a set of bottom bracket bearings from my parts stash, and greased them up with new ball bearings: 

Next I installed them in the frame with a replacement 115mm spindle:

 

 Then I reinstalled the cranks (the steel chainrings and bolts cleaned up well with rust dissolver):

 The right side pedal was super stuck, so I used a tip from the great Sheldon Brown and tied the left crank to the frame. This let me use a cheater pipe on a wrench to unscrew the pedal:

 Damn you, galvanic corrosion. Fortunately, the pedal cracked loose and left the crank threads intact. I replaced the rusty pedals with nicer looking ones from my local bike co-op (my hobby wouldn't be possible without them).

 I also scored a used pair of tires from the co-op as well. Check out the originals:

Its starting to look like a bike again:
 

For the handlebars, I cut off the rotting foam grips:

 Then I installed the bars and stem on the bike. As a tip for aligning the brake lever heights, bridge a yardstick between them so you can better see if they're the same height. They are slightly crooked in this photo:

 I wrapped the handlebars and installed the brake and shifter cables:

 Then I installed a replacement chain:

 Adjusting the derailleurs took a lot of effort because the set screws were rusted. I got the rear derailleur to shift reasonably well, so I installed a white saddle and took it for a well deserved test ride:

It was on my test ride I discovered that the ancient brake pads were grinding into the aluminum rims, and the rear derailleur was bent. The brake pads weren't a surprise. Sometimes you get lucky on an old bike, and the original pads still work fine. However, if a bike sits outside for decades then the rubber gets baked in the sun and ruined.

I considered replacing the SunTour AR derailleur with a better ARx model that I already had, but I wanted to try fixing the original one first. I pulled it off the bike, realigned the derailleur hanger using another rear wheel, and also carefully bent the AR derailleur back into shape on my work bench. Now it works better.

Ultimately, this bike came out better than it had any right to. Despite being an entry level model, it survived with most of its original components still working. Even 40 years later this bike looks great, although it took a tremendous effort to revive it. Cheers!

The Peugeot UO-8

 

I have kind of a love-hate relationship with the Peugeot UO-8. They have very ornate looking frames with beautiful decals. They also handle very nicely and feel a lot more agile than their 30 pound weight would suggest. They have the potential to be a very good bike. I say this because some of the bike's original components are poor quality, and should be upgraded if you intend to regularly ride a UO-8. 

 

In my opinion, the very first things to replace should be the AVA handlebar stem and the Simplex front derailleur. The stem often cracks at the slots near the bottom and can make the handlebars come loose. The Simplex front derailleur has a plastic mounting clamp that will also crack, and likely break off while riding. However, those derailleurs are rare to find these days. If you have a bike with an original Simplex front derailleur then it's a good sign that the bike doesn't have a lot of miles on it. Most of these were replaced back in the 70s or 80s on bikes that were ridden regularly.

 

   The next upgrade would be aluminum rims. I normally don't even mind riding on steel wheels. I like to use steel rims on some of my commuting bikes because they are immune to brake wear. Unfortunately, the original Rigida steel rims on the UO-8 are especially soft and prone to kinks if you hit a pothole.

  Once you replace these parts, you'll have a pretty good bike on your hands. If you have a plastic simplex rear derailleur, then keep a spoke protector on your rear wheel. These rear derailleurs shift surprisingly nicely, but they are flexible and prone to going out of adjustment.  

 Finally, unlike many suggestions on forum posts, I don't recommend replacing the cottered steel crank with a lighter aluminum one because you'll likely have compatibility issues with the french threaded bottom bracket. Instead, just service the bottom bracket bearings with fresh grease to protect them from wear. The cotter pins are 9.0mm in diameter, with a special taper. Try to reuse the original pins if possible. Otherwise, you'll likely need to grind down a replacement pin to fit.

Cotter Pin Misadventure

 I was fixing up a Peugeot UO-8 with super stuck cotter pins. My usual method of using a C clamp and a socket as a spacer didn't work this time. I added penetrating oil and let it sit for a few hours, then used a propane torch on the crank:

 

 

This still didn't work, unfortunately. Even after tightening the clamp and hitting it with a hammer, the pin refused to move. I left the nut loose, sitting slightly past the end of the pin. The pushing force from the clamp ended up stripping the threads off the threaded end of the cotter pin:

 With my first attempt unsuccessful, I left the stripped retaining nut loose and then rode the bike for about 12 miles. The next day I applied more penetrating oil and let it sit for another 8 hours. Then I rigged the crank up with a large portable vise, and cranked down on the handle:

This time, the cotter pin moved:

Next I could pull the pin out and slide the left crank off the spindle. Here's the old pin with the threads that I ruined earlier:

Onto the drivetrain side. The existing cotter pin on this side had already been smashed and bent over by someone else's unsuccessful attempt with a hammer. I decided to unbolt the chainrings, and unscrew the right side bottom bracket cup from the frame so that I could put this assembly on a work bench.

Taking a tip from the great Sheldon Brown, I used a pedal spindle to drive out the remnants of this cotter pin. It took a few hard hits, but it came right out after heating the crank with a propane torch:

At this point I thought I was done, but this crank still didn't want to slide off the spindle. I had to clamp the spindle in my small vise and heat it again with the torch in order to rotate the crank off the spindle:

I'm impressed by how much this crank was able to fight me. It was like trying to take an old rusty car's suspension apart. At least now I can service the bottom bracket bearings and clean out the 50 year old grease. Cheers.