Join Ollie on a journey to restore a cycling gem!
In this first episode of Ollie’s restoration series, he rolls up his sleeves and gets to work, stripping away an iconic 1986 Italian Bottecchia 989 steel bike of its worn components and giving the frame a thorough clean.
While doing it, he takes you through the craftsmanship hidden beneath years of wear, as he prepares this vintage beauty for a new lease on life.
Whether you’re a bike restoration enthusiast or just love a good transformation story, this series will take you through every detail of bringing this classic bike back to its former glory.
00:00 Restoring a 1986 Bottecchia steel bike on a budget
00:56 The retro Bottechia 989
01:24 The history of Bottecchia
01:56 Features of the Bottecchia 989 bike
03:28 Crankset and derailleur
04:13 Wheelset
04:34 Freehub sound check
04:50 Saddle
05:03 Cockpit
05:46 How to buy an alloy/steel frame bike
07:31 Stripping the Bottecchia 989
08:49 How to check if the wheels are true
09:50 Removing the brakes
10:29 Stripping the handlebar
10:55 What Bottecchia bikes are known for
11:53 Checking the bottom bracket
12:20 Removing the chainset and rear derailleur
13:49 Removing the crankset
14:23 Removing the bottom bracket
15:54 Removing the shifters
16:03 Removing the stem and headset
17:37 Removing the seatpost
18:08 Cleaned parts
18:59 How the bike will be painted
19:44 Why Ollie is excited to restore the Bottecchia 989
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What do you think of Ollie’s bike choice? 👀
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32 Comments
What do you think of Ollie's bike choice? 👀
Waiting for Ollie to suddenly ‘find’ a new, old stock Dura-ace group set in his cupboard.
Just Like Cuthbert did!
Get John Cannings back on set to paint it🫣😂
3:17 . 1986 shimano 105 didn't have concealed brake cables. They can't be original
He obviously had no idea that the square taper BB would have a sealed bearing when he was saying he couldn’t wait to see what the bearings look like! 😂😂😂
Pleeeeease! Get rid of those mountain bike gears and put a proper old school racing block (nothing larger than a 21t) or even more macho.. a straight block, 53-42 front and a proper short cage racing rear derailleur! You can do it Ollie!!!
There’s never been a better time to buy a classic steel bike frame. There’s loads of top – and I mean TOP – hand-built road frames out there for stupidly low prices because sellers can’t shift them for decent money.
I know this cos I can’t stop buying them. Help, I need another shed!😮
I wouldn't fix the paint. Clean it up and add a nice thick layer of clear over everything. Polish it up and bask in the clean and fresh patina.
omg, only less than 5 mins of video I watched and you made so many mistakes. Are you even trying to make quality content or what? make another attempt while recording of you failed, or is it so hard for all your team to find anyone who truly loves and understand vintage bicycles who wont look as tik-tok era zoomer talking about tape audio player?
okay, when he moved to a workshop there was only BB thread facepalm and headset bearing thing donents calls "race", its a cage.
About painting part – please, ask this guy a lot of questions about alternative solutions and advice except the way that he will chose. Self painting is very complicated topic and if you have someone who know the topic – use him as much as possible to get the info.
Everything is in such good shape from beginning
And another great thing about selling that mech, Ollie, is that someone out there is likely looking for it and will be happy to see it offered for sale or auction. And yes, Greg LeMond was not really in demand in '89, great that he got a ride in the Tour on that small team in '89. Three months earlier, at the DC stage of the Tour de Trump, I wanted to meet Greg before the stage but I got there soon before the start and figured, O well, he will have a huge crowd around him. But no, it was Greg and a few fans, literally, at the side of his mini-van, not much interest in the rider who had won the Tour three years earlier and the rider who had the starring role in those Sunday CBS Sports anthologies of the Tour de France with John Tesh at the mic and the keys earlier in the decade. And one of John's great lines in the '85 Tour, just before commercials, was "Who will decide, Roche or his coach?" when Greg was on the wheel of Stephen Roche while Bernard Hinault was faltering behind them on that climb. And then Greg's tears at the top because he had followed team orders and given up a likely Tour victory with Paris nearly in sight. And then, ha, boo hiss, Bernard tried to run away from Greg in the next Tour, like, what have you done for me lately? 😀
Good to see video of dealing with average bikes used by average riders. I have a 1990s TCR that I have maintained pretty well. There's always something to learn in restorations.
4:14 I love Ollie's enthusiasm, but maybe he should slow down long enough to read the label that says "Mavic MA" before misidentifying the rims as Mavic Open Pro, which have a very different rim profile from the MA series rims.
Those brake levers are not original to a 1986 bike. Probably none of it was save for the headset.
can you imagine trying to fix/use a modern day brifter 40 years from now? those downtube shifters are so cool.
Don’t forget that old steel frames rust from the inside out 🤷🏼♂️
I have the very first excellent carbon frame bike made by Kestrel. Still going strong after being a neo pro cyclist and touring many years after.
Shame it isn't a bit older. I have a couple complete Shimano 600 groupsets I would part with.
this bike looks new.
More vids like this please!
Awesome,lucky the seatpost wasn't compl siezed,I serviced my Tange Levin Alloy threaded headset with fresh grease and it's really smooth now.Good luck with the restoration.💯✌🏻🚴♂️
I've been cycling for Donkey's years (over 40) so this type of bike (and earlier) were the kind I could strip down and restore easily. I still have my lovely 1999 Casati Monza which I restored during lockdown. It also has very narrow bars and a long reach stem. When I rode it recently it felt very weird to begin with but it wanted to go! Handled beautifully in fact and I intend to change out the cockpit with wider bars and shorter stem in the new year. At 64 I need a little more comfort as I'm now used to a more modern Giant Defy Advanced 2. I can't let that lovely piece of Italian hardware go though.
I have an early 90's 105 groupset that is New in the Box.
I have been looking for such a project.
Would make an excellent fixed gear coffee shop bike. Campy crankset!
Would make an excellent Temu Chinese components modern classic.
Every Italian bike from the 80's had peel a way paint. There was such a rush to supply the states with Italian road bikes. Thanks to the movie Breaking Away, everyone wanted an Italian racer.
If that bike was "trash" to you to begin with take a look at my projects…
Proud original owner of a 1989 Bianchi. Well loved, much ridden, it's moving on to be my indoor trainer bike. Love seeing you fix this one up!
nice
Will you join the secret group of gentlemen connected to @red_dread?
HELP PLEASE! I pulled the same bike out of some ones garbage. Penetrated the hell out of it and rides a shifts fine – – really love it! But over the winter I want to take it apart and clean it up. But the back derailleur looks way out of alignment. I screwed an old back wheel into the mounting hole and measured all around, the hanger is fine. The derailleur shows no sign of being dropped on. When the chain is on the big free wheel sprocket it looks much better, but when on the small back sprocket it looks way out of plane with the wheel. Really want to save the Campagnolo derailleur. I was wondering if that's the way it's supposed to be? (?)
The 105SC parts on there are from the early '90s. The frame may be from '86, but if so, those aren't original parts. More likely, the whole bike is from the early '90s.