gatesoli.blogg.se - Recycle a bicycle

#Recycle a bicycle how to#
#Recycle a bicycle full#

Good quality mask for when working with paint or chemicals.

Masking tape for covering areas of the frame prior to spraying.

Wet & Dry paper (I used 400 - 2000 grit).

Aluminium oxide paper (it's better than wet&dry, lasts longer, I used 80-240 grit).

Metal tin, toothbrush and paintbrush (for cleaning parts with the white spirit).

Hammer (useful for 'persuading' stuck parts).

Pliers, side cutters (for deailng with cables etc).

Clearly there would be a lot of work to be done! There was also paint all over the cables (which were rusty and splitting), and over most of the parts of the bike that should definitely not have paint on them! To top it all off, there was some gharish pink handlebar tape. There had been little surface preparation between paint jobs over the years, so it was very lumpy and some had been applied with a brush. There were many rust spots visible on the surface, and the bicycle had been subjected to multiple coats of paint. All moving parts were very grimy and had not been regularly lubricated. The gears were in good working order, although extremely dirty. The rear brakes didn't function, as they had been bodged. The pictures show how the bicycle originally looked, but I'll give you a bit of a description too.

The 1st item on the list is of course the bicycle! I'd never owned a racing bike before, so I picked up (for £40), an old 'Puch Alpine', which is an Austrian road bike from the 1980s. Some of these steps are much easier if there's two of you, so worth involving them in the project! With the nice summer weather recently, it's been a treat to spend the evenings and weekends out in the garden working on this project, and I've enjoyed writing it up to share with you too. If you're stuck, try asking in your nearby bicycle shops (I was helped out for parts and advice by two near me), or asking friends.

#Recycle a bicycle full#

I started with buying (for £40) a racing bike from the 1980s, and after about 5 weeks of work, it was really satisfying to finally go for the first full ride today!īear in mind that there is a lot of variation in the specifics of different makes of bicycle, so not all of this might absolutely apply to your own project, but the principles and steps will be the same.

I feel much more motivated to ride regularly now that I've spent a few weeks working on the machine. By restoring an old bicycle you can save money, as well as gaining a really good understanding of how your bike works, and also have the chance to personalise it.

#Recycle a bicycle how to#

For many people including myself, the high cost of quality new bicycles is a discouragement, so in this Instructable I will show you how to take an old second-hand bicycle, and to clean, repair, and improve it. Cycling is a great way to exercise, and to explore your area.