Unfortunately I had some other obligations this Thursday evening, so I
could only put in a quick ~45 minute stint at the co-op. Given where
I left off the week before, I really had exactly one goal - get those
front axle bearings back in order so I could take my first proper test
ride!
Adjusting axle bearings is pretty straightforward in principle. Start
with the cones too loose. Tighten them a little bit. Check for play
in the wheel or for roughness in rotation. If there's play, tighten
the cones a little and repeat. If the wheel doesn't roll smoothly,
loosen them a little and repeat. Make smaller and smaller adjustments
until you home in on the sweet spot where you have as little play as
possible with things still feeling smooth when you spin the wheel.
It's conceptually very easy but it takes patience and a delicate hand
because the final adjustments are very fine indeed and it's easy to
get trapped in a loop bouncing back and forth between too tight and
too loose. I haven't done an awful lot of this and historically I'm
pretty bad at it, but I was very happy that I got what I felt was a
good enough job done pretty quickly today, and I resisted the
temptation to rush it just so I could finish in time.
I got the front wheel back in the fork and took off for a careful
brake-free test ride along the gravel path near the co-op. It felt
fantastic to be able to actually ride a bike that I had put together
almost from scratch! After being surprised at how far leaned forward
I was on last week's tiny, naughty test ride, I cranked the stem up
quite a bit and this time felt a lot more comfortable. It was only a
short, slow ride along level ground, but everything felt very nice,
it was easy to balance, easy to steer, the drivetrain felt nice and
firm, there were no weird noises or wobbles or anything, so I have
high hopes that once I spend some time dialing in the saddle and
handlebar positions it will be a really nice bike to ride.
With my last little bit of time I started hunting for parts so I could
start work on the brakes next week. Levers were the first port of
call, and to my delight I found a pair of Mafac levers, very probably
salvaged off whatever bike also provided the Mafac Racer calipers I
have. They are "drillium" levers, with a very nice vintage racer vibe
about them. I wasn't able to find any cable hangers, which is a bit
of a concern, but maybe I just didn't know where to look.
Before I install the front brake calipers, I'm going to have to
finally decide if I want to keep the current fork or swap it out for
another one. The current one is obviously not original, it's a
different colour and is welded rather than lugged (it's a pretty ugly
weld job, too). These things don't bother me as much as the fact that
it has no eyelets for fenders or a front rack, though, and it would be
nice to have those. I'll have to unscrew the top of the headset to
put the brake cable hangers in anyway, so I don't think it would be
much extra work to put a new fork in if I can find one I like. The
reason I'm not sure if I want to bother is that I don't know if the
current headset is original to the bike or not, and therefore I don't
know if uses the weird slightly non-standard old French dimensions or
not. If the previous owner went through the trouble of finding a rare
for that fits, maybe I should just use P-clamps for any accessories
and leave it as is.
