New Project

I went to a quasi-local NFP yesterday to look into doing volunteer work. I figure, if nothing else, at least it can go on my resume as something good. The "store" is a bike shop that is entirely run by volunteers, and is only open a total of 7 hours a week. They repair and sell bikes, and have them at little to no cost for kids, and reasonable amounts for adults.

I helped with a few things, and also got a 'new' bike frame. (They actually gave it to me, largly because it was probably never going to get built there and sold, and had been hanging there for a few years...)

So, now I have a new project for myself this winter.

This is a 1998 Mongoose (Brunswick, NOT Pacific) Maneuver CX. As a whole, new bike, it had an MSRP of $260. Not expensive, but this was a Bike Shop model, not a Big Box bike. It did come with the headset, fork, a BB, and the QR for the seat post. That's it. The bike shop that donated it stripped the poor thing down to near nothing.

For my first day working on it, I pulled the fork off and re-greased the headset bearings. They seem to be ok, and I don't think they will need replaced for a while still. The BB is something I am going to need another tool to remove, a spanner of some sort I believe. Regardless, the BB will be replaced with a sealed cartridge style.

I couldn't find my good adjustable wrench, but I found out that the giant wrench I bought for dealing with BB's was the same size as the top lock nut for the headset. (Well, the wrench is imperial, not metric, but it worked.) I think the wrench set me back a whopping 15 bucks a few years ago, but it was worth it. Yeah, those are my largest channel lock type pliers that I have next to it. It is not a small wrench.

One concern going into the build was shifters. This morning, after sleeping on that problem, I remembered that I still had this:

This happens to be the OEM parts from my 200x Schwinn Voyageur that I got rid of a few years back. I had the shifters and brakes changed over to trigger shifters, but kept the original parts. Since the Schwinn was a Hybrid, the shifters and brakes should work for this build, and since the Mongoose was originally a 21 speed, the shifters are basically similar to the original. (Possibly better, as they are 10 years newer.) I will still need to get a new wheelset, cassette/freewheel, crankset (likely JIS) with BB, and dérailleurs, but the drive train has a start.

Aside from the tool for getting the old BB off,

I am a dumbass sometimes. I was playing a youtube video to find out what the tool I needed was, so I could order it. The video then says, then you get to the lockring, and you can use a lockring removal tool or... I have a fixie. I have a fixie that I have changed the rear gear on. I have a freaking lockring tool. It is the same freaking size, also. Found the tool from the fixie shelf, and 30 seconds later, I have it off. The BB is out and... what the.....???

The bottom bracket.... was wearing a rubber? Ok.......

Actually, the bearings don't look all that bad. Sure, I could put 20 bucks into a new BB, but I think I will just regrease and put it back in. It actually looks pretty good, all things considered. Sweet.

(Yeah, I could have probably just edited the entire blog, as I did keep walking over to the bike and tinkering with it as I typed this, instead of just using the strike-through option, but I like to show how my mind works sometimes. )

For today though, decent progress on the bike. I think my next goal/subgoal will be to get a quill stem, bars, and new shift cables.  This shouldn't be to expensive, the cables will have to be new, but they are cheap. (I guess I could get housing as well, that isn't too expensive either though.)

Day 1, total spent: Zero.
I wonder just how cheap I can keep this build.