New guy, couple questions.. appreciate any/all help

hey guys hows it going, im new here (Obv) read around the beginners guide but still have some questions..

well a friend of mine recently gave me one of his older bikes, he joined the military. whereas im not new to "cycling" I am however new to all the fancy stuff going on and sourcing parts besides going to the local bike shop whos prices just seem rediculous. im simply trying to get the bike back to perfect working order.. dont need any amazing parts just to get me on the road, safety and everything working efficiently.

the bike is a standard frame bianchi, model i do not know...it just an steel frame round tubing.. nothing carbon, nothing crazy.
the wheels ride true and straight but the bearings seem to be going bad at the front wheel doesnt spin very well and the rear as well. the rear cassete seems to be grinding against the plastic "guard" on the rear wheel.. the "guard" as i dont know the tech name seems to be deformed from either heat or other...
so im guessing the easiest thing to do since the tires and tubes are in peffect order is to get new wheels? the size is 27x1 1/4 the local shop wants more than 200$ for both and i was wondering where maybe online i could get a set cheaper.. the rear is a 5 gear setup, tallest gear having 28 teeth, smallest 14 teeth, im guessing this is a easy to find setup.. or at least easy to find something close.

as far as other parts on the bike, the double chainring seems fine.. but the gearing that is setup seems very "weak" the larger front gear is 54 teeth and riding 54F/14R just seems far too easy and i feel a larger front would be ideal as getting a smaller rear would be hard to find im guessing. this is a minor problem but figured i would note it.

the gearing is "shimano light action" everything works well just needs to be adjusted by a pro or i could find somewhere that gives a diagram and be able to adjust myself.. ive tinkered around with it figuring a couple things out but as with everything a diagram goes a long way.

the handle bars are fine, brakes work fine.. just again need to be adjusted a little. grips are nice and new.

the seat is very harsh however, looking for possibly a slightly more comfortable seat with the cutout in the middle .. to helpo relieve some uncomfortable pressure.lol.

other misc.. the front derailler has a bolt missing at the tip. doesnt affect anything but i figured shimano most likely sells a replacement... the pedals are beyond uncomfortable so i was thinking maybe new pedals with the strap up front to hold my feet better.

thats about it.. i know its a lot but i figured everything thats wrong is minor.. really only need to order, wheels/seat. i know how to mount a tire... so thats not a problem. changing the seat is easy as well. the adjustments i figured with a diagram i could adjust myself and then the bike would be complete and safe to ride on the road without worries..

thank you in advance, all your help is appreciated.

riley

Hi Riley,

I am going to assume that this bike is the right size for you. Everything that you need can be found at reasonable prices, usually, on eBay. You just need to know what the part is called so you can use the eBay search feature.

You can also try these on-line parts and accessories retailers:
http://www.nashbar.com/
http://www.performancebike.com/

Starting out with the wheels, you might not need new ones, it might just be a matter of greasing them. If this bike is one of your friends old ones, it probably has not been maintained well and would probably benifit from a complete tune-up, i.e. lubricating everything that can be lubed and adjusting anything that can be adjusted.

The following two links will help you with the maintenance. Sheldon Brown is the world's most widely published bicycle expert and is an easy read. He puts a lot of comedy in his serious subjects. Park Tool is the premier bicycle tool manufacturer and they have a section of their website dedicated to helping do-it-yourselfers.

http://sheldonbrown.com/articles.html

http://www.parktool.com/repair/

You are going to have a hard time finding a chainring larger than a 54T. They are made but they are difficult to find and they are expensive. You would be better off replacing the freewheel/cassette with one that has an 11T cog.

I am going to recommend that you go to a bicycle shop for a new saddle. Everone's posterior is different, so finding the right saddle is a matter of trying them until you find one that is comfortable. Find a bike shop that will let you try out different saddles until you find the one that best suits your backside.

As for the bolt in the front derailler, go to the LBS for this also. It is difficult to get parts directly from the parts manufacturer.

Concerning the pedals, look on eBay for these. A lot of people are going to suggest getting "clipless pedals" which require a special shoe and cleats. What you are describing is a platform pedal with toe clips and toe straps. I use these myself because I am too clutzy and fell a lot when I tried to use clipless pedals. Great pedals are Shimano 105 or Shimano 600 pedals from the 1980's. After that, you pretty much had to use quill pedals made for mountain bikes or clipless road pedals. Now just about everything is clipless.

Just one last thing, please get yourself a helmet if you don't have one. Happy riding!

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thank you very much, ive been trying to ebay the wheels and such but without the exact words to search i just get a lot of random non sense.. so thanks for the tips and help. for the rear wheel.. should i be looking for one w/ the cassette already on it? and then i should be able to find one with the 5 speeds hopefully with a 11 tooth gear? like i said i have common sense but dont have the exact knowledge of each part and how they're sold. im going to try and do some more research in the next few days and hopefully figure everything out otherwise ill be back with another post,


thank you again for taking the time to type this out for me..

riley

Wheels and cassettes are generally sold separately. When you go to eBay, search for "Bicycle wheelset" with the catagory set in Sporting Goods. This will yield about 9 matches. There is a good entry level set for $125.00. You will still need to get a cassette. Look on your existing rims and tires for the size, probably tire size of 700C X 25, and get rims that will accomodate them. You might want to check out Sheldon Brown's section on wheel sizes before you go to eBay just so you know more about what you need.

I am a little concerned about you getting new wheels. Most of the new wheels use a freehub and cassette. I don't know how old your bike is, but I'll bet that it has the previous generation freewheel which threaded onto the rear hub. I am almost certain of this as you stated that you have 5 gears on the rear and the first commonly used freehubs were for 6 gears on up.

The freehub wheels are a little wider than what you have. You can spring a steel frame to a point to use a little wider hub, but you have to be careful. If you do go this route though, you may not be able to use the same rear shifter and derailler as you will have an extra gear, or two or three. You will also need to replace the chain with a more narrow one. It gets kind of sticky!

I really suggest that you stick with the wheels that you have and service them. I'll bet that they have loose bearings and all you have to do is disassemble them and clean out the old grease. You can either reuse the old bearings or replace them with new ones, bearings are cheap.

On eBay, look up "Bicycle Freewheels" under the catagory Sporting Goods and look for a New-Old Stock (NOS) 5-speed freewheel with an 11 or 12 tooth small gear.

You might want to go to your local bookstore and buy a copy of "The Bicycling Guide to Complete Bicycle Maintenance & Repair" published by Rodale Press. It costs about $20.00 USD but it is also the best resource for someone who is not familiar with bikes yet. You will be after working on your bike. The only problem is that after looking through this book, you will be searching eBay for a new bike !

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wow even more info. thanx.. i pm'd you as well...

going to get that book tomorrow for sure.

If you have a 5 speed freewheel, the new wheels you see at stores and on ebay will almost always be too wide to go in your frame even with forcing your frame apart each time. Your choices are 1) fix the old wheels, 2) get new wheels and have a shop spread your frame apart permanently for about $50, 3) find another pair of old wheels.

I just went through the process of getting new wheels for a 6 speed Bianchi. In the end, the shop laced a new rim to an old hub.

If you look for an old wheel, keep in mind you want 1) a freeweel-type hub, and 2) hub width of 120 mm (measure the width of the dropouts, and you should see 120 mm.

I paid $100 for my wheels. Anything more than that, and the bike would not have been worth it. Do not pay $200 for new wheels to put on a basic old bike.

That piece is the spoke protector or "pie plate" and as long as your rear derailleur is properly adjusted it is disposable. I don't keep the spoke protectors on any of my bikes but that means the rear derailleur limit stop(little set screw) has to be set properly so you don't shift off the top of the largest rear cog and drop the chain into the spokes. Anyway, I'd make sure the chain doesn't overshift or have someone help you with that and then throw away the warped plastic plate.
Actually 13 tooth cogs were common even in the 5 speed era and you might be able to find a freewheel with a 12 tooth small cog. Check the Sheldon Brown links given above and consider a custom freewheel from Harris Cyclery that gives you a 12 or 13 on the top and whatever you think you need for the low gearing depending on the terrain you'll be riding. Your wheels are almost certainly freewheel and not cassette equiped. In other words the ratchets are connected to the gears not to the hub and the gears screw on as an assembly as opposed to cassettes that slide onto splines in the hub and the ratchet resides in the hub itself. Again check out Sheldon's site, there's a wealth of info there and it'll help you figure out your options. And the poster above is right on the money, your bike is spaced for a 5 speed or Ultra 6 freewheel and newer cassette hubs set up for 7,8,9 or 10 speeds in the rear are wider. Tends not to be a big problem on a steel frame since you can just spread the rear triangle to get the wider hubs in but it is definitely a pain and 5 speed rear wheels are hard to come by so just rebuilding your existing rear wheel is a better option.

Good luck,
Dave

Welcome to the joys of cycling and bike mechanics!

You can take the rear wheel to the LBS and ask them to remove the freewheel for you. The rest is easy to dismantle for servicing, and easy to reassemble without the spoke protector or with a new one.

One way to get a higher gearing is to put on bigger tyres. If the existing tyres are 1" (that's thin), then going up to 1 1/4" will make a big difference.
Edit: I re-read your post and you already have 1 1/4" tyres! I guess it is the 13 tooth then. I am surprised that you find 54/14 too low, the norm is 52/14 and yours is tall for that era.

It took me years to get accustomed to a high peddaling cadence. I used to heave up hills in 3rd gear on my old 3-speed and look down on others who used those fancy low gears wearing out their knee joints while sitting down. Now I do the same! It has something to do with fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibres.

Cheers.

alright guys, i got the rear apart removed the guard and then before reassembling i lubed the bearings w/ white lithium grease.. and put together... i then adjusted the front and rear derailers which werent that bad, one screw moved the inner most point and other moved outer most.. just had to get them perfect so even when shifting 2 gears down it didnt pop off or vice versa.. now i just need to get a seat and im good to go.. thanx a lot for all the help

riley

Glad to help. Let us know how rides!

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