I pieced an old Diamond Back mountain bike together about a year ago. My wife needed a reliable yet inexpensive bike to use for commuting at school. She rode the bike for several months, but we had a few minor issues. One of the plastic fenders broke off from the bike being driven on the hitch rack down to Norman. Another issue was the ancient shimano derailleurs just weren't cutting it anymore. A couple of dropped chains/chain suck issues at inopportune times was getting old, so I started looking for something else.
We had a couple of bikes that Coatney's grandparents gave us a couple years ago. They had literally been sitting in a barn for 30+ years. At first I thought one of the bikes could work, then I thought it was too small. I originally thought it was a 24" wheel bike. I looked at it a little closer when I was looking for another school bike project and realized the wheels were 26 x 1 3/8", so I figured it would work.
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| The yellow bike pre- rebuild |
I basically stripped the bike down to the bare frame, tore the wheels apart, and gave everything I would be reusing a good clean up. I wanted to do away with the 5-speed derailleur system and install a shimano nexus internally geared rear hub. I've had one stashed away for several years with the shifter/brake lever/and roller brake combo. Plus it was the correct spoke hole count to match the existing 36 hole rim.
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| There was a pretty big wasp nest under the saddle |
I've saved up a ton of old stainless steel spokes from torn down road wheels, so I found enough that were long enough to cut and thread to the correct length to rebuild the wheels.
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| Rebuilt wheels looking like new! |
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| Rear wheel installed with rear hub and brake set up. |
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| Old school high flange shimano hub with wing nuts that I've had forever. |
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| Crank pulled out of the trash that had a bent spider arm and an old BMX chainring and sedis chain from my BMX junk pile. Original chaingaurd and pedals. |
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| The original seat post was way too short. The seat post, tires, tubes and rim strips were the only parts that I actually had to buy. The saddle is off my second road bike. |
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| The original aluminium fenders cleaned up real nice. The chain guard looks good from a distance, but it's pretty pitted out from rust. |
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| I made a quill stem adapter from a chunk of aluminum 1 1/8" steerer tube and an old aluminum quill stem with the stem cut off. I was then able to use an old easton stem from one of my old mountain bikes that was the correct length and worked with the original handle bars. I stuck the head set spacers in there because I thought they looked kinda cool. |
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| Slick original rear reflector still in tact. |
The bike has been working great for several months now with no issues. I got rid of a few parts that have been lying around forever so - Double bonus!
