I'm Not Kidding Around!

Kids Bike: Strip them down and rebuild project

For quite a while, I've been rebuilding kids bikes and giving them away to hopeful youths.  I would pick up a discarded bike on the street, in the ditch or in a dumpster and wheel it home or one-hand it as I rode my bike.


Most of the bikes were rusted, trashed, hopeless pieces of crap. I guess that's why the kids or BMX'ers chucked them. Several were left beside condo/apartment dumpsters when families moved out and on to greater things in their lives.

Finished Up: Bearings are smooth rolling now.

I always hated to see these "disposable bikes" thrown away like the garbage. They once offered so much fun and hope for the kids that rode them. Maybe I felt good if I could fix them up for a new life again OR maybe I could scrap away the rusty scratches and I would feel like a kid again? Life's weird sometimes.


A few years back there was a church guy who would pick up the refirb bikes and ahaul them down to Mexico to a Mission. From there the Mission would give them to kids there. That dried up. Local rider Mike Tull (OFR rider) had some connection in Baja also and I thought perhaps he could find a outlet, but that never developed. So now local kids around San Marcos can get a fresh experience if desired.

Kids Bike: This one didn't make it

Most of the junk was Chinese welded heavy-slag quality with a Mongoose BMX or GT 20" thrown in for good measure. I'd take them all. Strip 'em down and help them to another ride. Usually the seats were ripped, pedals broken and of course the wheel and BB bearings were dry with pitted races.


Many had "safety brakes" and I'd have to take the rear axle apart , clean/grease and then figure out how to put everything back together again. Some had cheapo caliper brakes with rock-hard pads and frayed cables. Tires were usually worn & flat, with multiple puncture wounds to the tubes. Some tubes were patched with duct tape, which isn't easy to get off.

Nice Mongoose BMX bike

After a while, I made a list on the back of a cardboard box what would be needed to bring a bike back to life... tubes, new tires, pedals, seat, etc. I went scouring the internet for super deals... $50-80 per bike. Sorry, that didn't work.


Next up was 2 fer 1. Use 2 bikes to make one ride-able one! That works better. As my collection of used kiddie-parts grew, it was easier to meet the new goal of "no out of pocket expenses". Monster Tape for some seat tears, swapped tires so they matched well and patch, patch, patch those tubes. I also thought about painting them up with some exotic designs, but that soon gave way to a wipe down and a quick coat of Pledge instead.

These bikes are ready to go to a new home

One day, a couple down the street ask if they could "find a home" for their tired Nishiki MTB. The seat post was stuck. Sure, I'll check it out and find a home for it. Well, after many weeks of trying various ways to pull out fused seatpost: spray catalyst, slide hammer, pipe wrench, Coke a Cola and finally Caustic Soda, I bagged it... stripped it down and chucked the frame.

Sometimes neighbors would need help on real bikes

My neighbor Big John, brought over 3 BMX bikes, all Mongoose brand. They looked good from a distance, but needed the usual help including bearing grease, cables, full brake rebuild and other stuff. Around 8 hours per bike.


After enjoying the kids rebuild for many years, I figured it was about time to turn in a different
direction. Time to clean out the garage and move on to another hobby.

- randorides

"Oatmeal" In The Tubeless Tires!

A few week back, we stopped at The Bike Shop to see Joe(l)

A few weeks back, a few of us randos rode up to visit buddy, Joe Morgan at his shop in Temecula. It's not really "his" shop, but he was hired on to set-up the whole thing after The Bike Shop was liquidated and sold to the new owner Rick. He started with a few shelves, the shop tools and over a period of several months, built it up into a nice, neat, respectable shop in Temecula. I thought it would be a good idea to ride up and check it out via the official "Old Highway 395" rando route. Troy, John, Bill, Keith & myself showed up at 0700 and had a nice ride up and back that day.

I had ordered a few things from Joe then, so another trip was in order for pick-up. OFR didn't have much going for their weekly Thursday ride, I opted for a trip up to see Joe instead. I've been riding the nice Specialized Diverge Gravel bike of late and did so earlier this week. I ran over a utility blade and sliced the rear tire up bad, so I chucked the Schwalbe G-Ones and put on the set of slightly used Specialized Trigger Pros that came with the bike (got these back from John M., who maybe was going to try them out someday). The rear brake squealed real bad only when coasting and I tried everything to correct this (even with a few tips from Joe). So I put on my slick Stans Gravel wheelset with the WTB 650b's on for the ride north.

Buddy John Mestemacher gave me some Finish Line Sealant

I love this set-up as John lent me some Finish-Line Sealant a few months back to seal them up with.When I pulled the wheelset down from the hooks, they were a little low on air, but a few pumps and I was heading northward. Leaving at my normal 0700 from the 7-Eleven in San Marcos, I arrived early and went over to the Stagecoach Park via the gravel equestrian paths to stretch out a bit and wait for the Shop to open at 1000. The paths were nice and comfy riding. Mmmmm? I decided to check the air pressure with my carry-along digital gauge. OHoh. 12 & 16 lbs? Over to the bike shop I go.

1005 AM and I was pumping up my tires to 45/40 lbs for the return trip back to San Marcos. Chatting with Joe a bit about the other wheelset rotor squealing under no load and picking up my goodies along with 2 bottles of Serfas Sealant, I was off before 1030, not knowing how much air I would be losing on the trip back. I arrived back in soft pressure condition, and immediately checked my pressure again. How low can you go? This called for a quick analysis.

4 oz of Finish Line Sealant turned to "oatmeal" in 2 months!

I put in the dipstick (the little stick gauge you get with Orange Sealant) and couldn't get a reading! Time to pull the tires off and see what's inside... OATMEAL! Yep, there is was lying in a chunk of gooey mass in the tire. So much for 4 oz of Finish Line Sealant not drying out. I couldn't say it actually "dried out", but it went somewhere? Enough of that Finish Line stuff, it's time for a redo.

I pulled the bead loose from one side of the 650b rims, and thoroughly wiped the oatmeal out. Might be enough for 1/2 bowl. Things looked good inside so I aired up and resealed the tires to the rims and then added 90ml of Serfas Sealant to each. Did the air up to 50psi and did the shake job. Let the rims lay horizontal and re-shook again. Job done.

Tried some 1" T-Rex Tape instead of Monster

Next morning, the front tire looked good, but the rear was flat! Time for some more work. Air-up and get out the soap-spray bottle. Leaking around the valve and some nipples. Well, I knew that meant the rim strip was leaking. Time for some  more work.

Poured out the Serfas Sealant, pulled the rear tire off the rim and did a clean job. Looked to me like when I pulled one side of the tire off earlier, the Monster tape cut-edge was caught and pulled back a bit. Not good. More work ahead.

Added 90 ml of Serfas Sealant per tire

Super clean job and I used T-REX super tape that was 1" wide this time. Took 2 tries to get it perfect and sealed tight. Plenty on the roll. No problem. Valve back in tight and after much effort, finally got the tire to seal up. T-REX Tape isn't a thick as Monster, but seemed to stick well. Added the re-used Sefas Sealant thru the valve hole and pumped up to 50psi, did the shake job and all was well again.

Time for a gravel ride to check things out.

-randorides

Jerrycan Bag Mods To Fit Diverge Gravel Bike

The mini Jerrycan bag, top tube mount.

You always need more storage for those long rides. No real usable space on the handlebar for a bag, especially if I mount the GoPro camera, Garmin computer and Cygolite there. The Diverge already has a nice Revelate "Gas Tank" bag. This works really well and holds stuff while not getting in the way of my legs.

I've been eyeing the other bag for the top-tube.. called the Jerrycan. It sits up against the seatpost. After an incident a few weeks back, where I should have lost my wallet & keys from my seat bag, the Jerrycan should work good for that. The price for this little bag was outrageous... from $42 to $56!

Not enough holding power on the Diverge top-tube.

Joe Morgan from The Bike Shop in Temecula to the rescue. Price was way down, so I ordered one from him. He also got one for his new gravel bike. Two days later,  I plugged in a rando ride up to Temecula to pick it up (among other things like tire sealant).

This well made little bag fits the top-tube/seat post real good. Revelate offers 2 models: one for 90 degree junction and the other for like 120 degree junction. I got the regular 90 degree one. I noted there is a additional loop to move the back (seat post) Velcro strap up higher on the bag for more secure fitment to the post. That was excellent.

Added a piece of glue-on Velcro and a few stitches

The bottom strap has a "gripper" back that sticks to the top tube. However the strap was way to long for my top tube. No problem there, as you usually trip the length to fit so it doesn't flap around and rub you leg. I also noticed that the Velcro only meshed for about 1" (only 1" of connection to hold the bag to the top-tube.) This wasn't adequate for me.

Solution: I'll add on a additional 1.5" of Velcro to the bag to lengthen the strap connection. I had
some commercial stick-on Velcro in my box I could use.  I prepped the side of the bag with alcohol and stuck on the trimmed down Velcro 1.5" piece. After 24 hrs dry time, the Velcro sticks well to the bag surface. Not good enough. I'll need some additional holding power with a few stitches. I've done this with several other bags and it's not that easy.

You can't just stick a heavy needle thru the stick-on Velcro. It drags the adhesive along with the needle and gums up the needle. I heated up the needle with a Christmas candle and made stitch holes first. Then came the heavy duty nylon thread to complete the task. Not easy, as there is little room inside the bag to work. After a few "pricks" the sewing was complete. After a final fitment, the extra long strap was trimmed to fit. Walla!

Now have a nice secure top tube strap and the bag can be moved to a bike with a larger top tube if needed.

- randorides