Hi guys, my Dad and I recently dug out his old, old Dawes Chevron. I was looking for a new city bike to ride about on, and we thought this would be a fun Father-Son project to restore.
There's no denying it – it is in a pretty sorry state. I thought I'd get some advice from people before we start to see if it's worth it and even has some potential without it being a endless pit we throw money into.
What are your guys thoughts? I'd appreciate any advice/tips
by Zealousideal-Bed-445
4 Comments
I would sand down the frame to see how much rust damage there is and then repaint it.
I wouldnt feel comfortable riding this frame without any conservation/damage assesment.
These look like cottered cranks, these are extra hard to remove if youre unlucly.
If you’re unlucky, the seatpost is seized, it’s pretty far down in the frame.
The stem looks ok, its already almost completely out, so you should be able to get that out.
Tl;dr,
you will need lots of elbow grease, regular grease and penetrating oil.
I’d say
1. Take photos of everything, every detail, especially everything you’re gonna disassemble
2. Check what you can already disassemble. Every screw that resists a little too much, bath their head in WD40, maybe once or twice a day, let it sink down the thread and then let it sit like this for a couple of throuple of days. If not, placing the socket or hex bit directly on/in the screw you’re trying to unscrew and giving 1 big hit with a hammer can help break the rust that settled. If not, heat it up. If not not, bore through, but that’s ultimate last resort. Pretty sure everything should go with WD40 and heat. In my experience as classic car restoration technician the only thing I’ve ever had to bore through was an aluminium screw in aluminium caliper assembly that rusted for 30 years straight…. Spend a couple of days on all 4 to do everything on them.
3. Same for the pins on the cranks, lots of WD40 on the nut and time. Rather wait a few days than break them and potentially have trouble finding them. To disassemble them once the nut is loose, put the nut back on the threaded bit, so that the nut and the bit form a flat surface (their tops on the same plane), give it a big hit with a mallet.
4. If you have the same models, replace every screw you can with new. For the ones you can’t find, or every axle, special nut… Bath in WD40 as well.
5. Don’t put WD40 on the rims ever. Wouldn’t risk it personally even if some brake cleaner might remove most or all of it. So make sure to protect them when you spray on other parts (common sense).
5. For the chromed or polished parts like the seat tube, the brake levers, the calipers, the handlebar : brake cleaner or WD40 or glue/sticker stripper to clean, high speed rotating metallic brush (turret is best) to remove the superficial rust, not too hard tho to not go through the chrome, then polishing with the turret as well, you can easily buy the polishing wheels (no idea for the English name) and polish. Takes some time but you can get some very nice results.
6. Preferably, find new brake pads.
7. Obviously new chain, new brake and shift cables and sleeves. Check all the tooth and determine if you can keep the cassette/cogs. If not, well you know ! Grease the metallic cables a little (with solid grease) before you slide them in their sleeves.
8. Check every bearing, open the axles, the crankset etc… Thoroughly clean, degrease, check for rust, if preserved (thanks to grease and ok storage conditions), regrease, reassemble and keep. If you see some carved spots/holes/small cavities in the parts in contact with the balls, change the part, even if you reassemble well it’s gonna wear out quick or provide a bad ride quality until it gives up rolling.
9. Never forgetti
Mom’s spaghetti
Lefty loosy
Righty tighty
10. Pls change the tyres haha
Voilà that should be a good start already !
Just one more thing, check out this restoration of a similarly equiped bike, especially the cottered crank.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGG1jB3v5MU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGG1jB3v5MU)
Hope it helps and you and your old man have fun together.
By “dug out” I’m assuming it was literally buried in the back yard for 40 years…
That is very rough shape. Everything is rusty and even if lovingly restored to perfection is going to be an archaic machine. And with those steel rims it will be highly unsafe if ridden in the wet.