Progress on the Gitane

The weather being awful this weekend, no riding happened. So I spent this afternoon taking the Gitane apart.

Set up in the living room, borrowed a worklight from my dad, brought in a box of random wrenches and screwdrivers and set to.



Mostly everything came off fairly easily. It all needs a very thorough clean.



Once I got to removing the front derailleur cable, it was time to go to Bike Gallery to buy a tool - I need my own cable and housing cutter now, what with 6 bikes to oversee. I thought I'd take the Gitane along as well; and get the crank and bottom bracket removed - the new crank (Stronglight Impact compact double) will have self-extracting bolts, so I'm not needing to buy a special crank puller.



BG was very quiet. I practically had to wake Mechanic Mark up from a nap :-) Off with the crank. Off with the bottom bracket (a Campy clone, so it used the Campy tool). The original grease was still in there. Looked like mud. But the bottom bracket is in fine shape, and there is no rust inside.

For fun, Mark also pulled the freewheel, because he's got the Very Special Tool, although he mostly uses the bottle opener feature these days.

I forgot to have him remove the headset - it is indexed, and needs an adjustment as well as a cleaning and new grease and all that.

The rear freewheel is a 14-16-18-20-22-24. In concert with the soon to arrive 48-34, it still doesn't give me the gears I want.

This bike won't be for brevets or other long rides. It might be a daylight commuter, errand bike, and ride around to coffee shops on the east side sort of bike. Still trying to arrive at a combination of cogs that work. Yes, some are available. I'm thinking a 14-16-20-24-28-32.

What it will look like when I'm done. Well, less surface rust. Shinier chrome. I'm replacing the brake levers with Cane Creek SCR-5C in pewter/gum hood, and replacing the crank with that Stronglight Impact. It will have a new seat - a Terry-something. Probably black Bontrager handlebar tape, because my uncle tossed some in the box.

A rack. Fenders. But Planet Bike Cascadias or Velo Orange? Hard decision. Should I move the rack from Bleriot once the weather gets decent?