Bicycle Tutor

Ok, so, I'm currently in Kuwait. I'll be here for about 9-10 months, and I bought a bike from another soldier who was leaving for 5 dollars. As you can guess by the price, it's not the best bike in the world. It's a 26 in Roadmaster Mtn Sport. It has no pedals, the rear brake doesn't work, doesn't shift to do sand, and has no grips. I believe both the front and rear derailers are made by TD_One. I only know that much because I've been reading around online on how to adjust them.

Below will be some pictures of just how awesome this bike is...

I would like to try to get this bike into some sort of working condition while I'm here. It's much nicer to ride around in 120+ degree heat, than it is to walk in it.

My limitations are knowledge of bike mechanics, (though I am here doing aircraft maint, so I do mechanical knowledge & tools) availability of parts, and cost.

Does anyone know of some websites where I may be able to find replacement parts or be able to switch from a twist shifter that's basically broken to something that's more rugged?

Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thank you.

-Rob

Do you have access to a high pressure water hose? And an old toothbrush? And a high pressure air hose (to further blast and dry the drivetrain)? I would thoroughly clean that drive train to see what I've got before ordering parts. Maybe all it needs is a good cleaning and lube and tune. Don't use WD-40. Replace the chain with new. The suspension fork would concern me. In the States we just replace them. Do you really need to shift gears? If your route is short and more or less level or rolling, you might be able to use the bike in even in that heat and humidity as a single speed and avoid the cost of really fixing the shifting.

Shopping: Amazon, bikeusa, bike parts USA. I don't know how they are about shipping to APO/FPO.

In my city, where today's forecast is 110 and humid and there is a major Air Force base and major Army post, I occasionally see basic Dahons on Craigslist that have been brought back somehow.

Yea. It's stuck in a decent gear right now for all around riding, so that's not really a major concern, the boots on the front fork are completely dry rotted out though. It holds, though I'm sure it's not as good as it could/should be.

(Aug 10, 2012 08:56 AM)rpm44 Wrote:  Ok, so, I'm currently in Kuwait. I'll be here for about 9-10 months, and I bought a bike from another soldier who was leaving for 5 dollars. As you can guess by the price, it's not the best bike in the world. It's a 26 in Roadmaster Mtn Sport. It has no pedals, the rear brake doesn't work, doesn't shift to do sand, and has no grips. I believe both the front and rear derailers are made by TD_One. I only know that much because I've been reading around online on how to adjust them.

Below will be some pictures of just how awesome this bike is...

I would like to try to get this bike into some sort of working condition while I'm here. It's much nicer to ride around in 120+ degree heat, than it is to walk in it.

My limitations are knowledge of bike mechanics, (though I am here doing aircraft maint, so I do mechanical knowledge & tools) availability of parts, and cost.

Does anyone know of some websites where I may be able to find replacement parts or be able to switch from a twist shifter that's basically broken to something that's more rugged?

Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thank you.

-Rob

Ok first welcome to the forums. Next your a mechanic in the military?? Well you have probably the best resources in the world! Good news is that the deraillers can be cleaned up with simple solvent you already have on base! As far as the cables I'm not sure but any stranded cable will work as long as it will fit into the black housing. Hmm the cable housing... Aircraft has something like that in them with cables right?
Ok now to cleaning the chain! In severe cases like you are in using the same solvent to clean parts is acceptable. The only thing is to oil it after with some sort of dry lube so it does not attract sand as fast as conventional oil. But then again if you HAVE to use the conventional oil sparangly.
Now we got the resource list together let me know when you are ready?

First, welcome and thank you for your service. I hope you are not one of the " one weekend a month my ass" guys. :-)

AS per the bike 10-4 to what Bill said , since you will be regreasing all the bearings (wheels. head , crank) Spray the bike down and let it dry. Than service all bearings and cables and pivots. See why the shifters do not work, most likely Klugged up with, ye sand. Once you go through the bike than take an assessment what you need. The forks have plastic absorbers in them and the top dust seals do not do too much on this bike. Try some rubber restorer on them. Do not spend too much money on it just your time. Few parts will be more $$ than the bike.

Dry Silicone spray or ceramic lub would be good to use on chain and gears, you do not want to use oil. Being in the desert I am sure you have some special secret dry lubricants.:-)

Just to add to the list of stuff: I guess inexpensive pedals will be good enough (though they'll double the price of the bike from USD 5). Careful: they have different threads on each side. To undo a pedal remember: "back off", that is counter clockwise on the drive side, clockwise on the non-drive side (in the direction of the rear end of the bike). You might also be able to source pedals from another bike fragment.

And: yes, oil might be a bad idea. After all oil with suspended particles is used for grinding...

Ye I'd sure be interested in how those pedals got like that. Hey in 120 degree heat I'd get a Camel.

Lol well there is a cyclist in every part of the world!

(Aug 13, 2012 07:28 PM)GeorgeET Wrote:  Ye I'd sure be interested in how those pedals got like that. Hey in 120 degree heat I'd get a Camel.

A lot of people here, sadly have the mantra, if I can't have it, or make money off of it, no one else will either. So they find ways to strip, mutilate or destroy things so they're seeming not usable.

Ye aint that great , join the military and visit with the dark ages tribal clans. That love us. Ye my cows have died so it would make me happy if my neighbors cows died too. Watch your back......

I have seen pedals like that here in Germany. The cheap ones that are on this kind of BSO break really easily and then the axle becomes exposed. I guess in such hot climate the ageing process of the plastic is faster than what we are used to.

(Aug 14, 2012 12:05 PM)rpm44 Wrote:  

(Aug 13, 2012 07:28 PM)GeorgeET Wrote:  Ye I'd sure be interested in how those pedals got like that. Hey in 120 degree heat I'd get a Camel.

A lot of people here, sadly have the mantra, if I can't have it, or make money off of it, no one else will either. So they find ways to strip, mutilate or destroy things so they're seeming not usable.

Sad but it is true! So how's your bike coming along. By the way look around for an old bike and use its pedals. You just have to make sure they are the right size. BMX bike (usually 20") are different then MTB bikes.

Has anyone heard from this guy lately? Was he able to get his bike going? If not how about we here on the forum try to help this guy with parts. After all that's the least we can do since he's protecting us.

Great Idea, we got lots of parts guys here. I'd help with shipping. Although the thrill of bicycling in 120 degree heat might have wound down.

I think it would be cool if we could help him and others like him since they're serving their country.
It would be a way of giving back so to speak.

I got a fun fact. I am currently deployed in Kuwait. If I didn't know any better I would say I'm in the chu 35 feet away from this guy. I didn't want to have the same problem as him so I bought a Windsor Cliff 4500 for my desert treks. All was well until I jumped of a sidewalk and landed on a rock and broke two spokes on the drive side of my rear wheel. I found spokes that I believe will work off of a haji bike but I don't have any way to remove my rear cassette.
I'm a pretty decent bicycle mechanic so I had every intention to repair every bicycle in this god forsaken oil filled desert so I went on price point to order Sette's ST-41 Tool Kit but they wont send heavy items to an APO. I thought about ordering just what I needed for the repair but I have hopes of setting up some metric century rides through MWR or something like that. So I'm going to need allot of tools just to maintain my machine in this climate and for riders during the tentative races.
To shorten this up do you gentlemen know of any bicycle tool companies on this side of the pond that may ship to an APO. I'm to the point now after going weeks w/o wheels I thanking about giving some money to a foreign national to go buy tools on the economy but that is my last chance effort. Anything and everything is appreciated. Either way us soldiers could NEVER do what we do with out support from the home front so thank you and god bless from over here.

Thank you for your service. Is it possible to find a local bicycle repair shop that can take your cassette off for you? Surely they ride bicycles in Kuwait too. That be a lot faster than getting tools shipped to you. Cannot suggest shippers I buy locally. Did you try dealers in England or Israel?

If you know what tool you need for cassette let us know If I have one or can get one locally I'd be glad to ship it to you.

Ded_drunc, I'm located in BA7-11... Anyhow if you need help we've got pretty much a full compliment of tools at the airfield now, We have 3 people rolling around with 29's they've shipped from home.

As far as my bike, I've added some grips and new breaks that I got from Jenson USA on a pretty good deal, I've also made to the move to a set of Intense Micro Knobby Kevlar Bead Tires that were also on sale. So far so good, but I've currently got a bad tube in the front tire and the post exchange here only occasional decides to sell tubes...

To be honest George it is a pain to get off Camp Buehring just to get to another post for school or a meeting. It would probably be next to impossible to go out on the economy for something like. It took allot of research to find a "decent" tool kit with in my budget that I set at $150.00 (before shipping) for this task. Trying to find one from another country that ships to this one is going to add a few more variables which I'll look more into.

I'm defiantly going to continue to do some research on this and ask some civilian Americans that are contractors here. Who have much more leeway then we do for some advice. Some of the civilians have lived here since the Golf War. I just got to hunt them down .

I appreciate the offer on the shipment of the cassette tool but the Windsor along with all these other bikes have a crewed allot of other maintenance issues. Even though it would get me back on the road and evading the Military Police. (The average speed limit is 20 kph I can pass 6-10 cars daily on my bike) It wouldn't help out my fellow cyclist. Not exaggerating there is over 300 bicycles on Camp Buehring most of them in the same condition as the one posted above.

Thanks again if all else fails I'll have the tool kit mailed home and have my wife ship it to me in peaces which I'm sure is not going to be cheap. I just want to make sure I cover all my bases before I go and do something dumb.

Good luck, although RPM 44 had a head start and has tools there. ( you both posted at the same time) Sounds like you guys found yourselves on this list. Perhaps you can set up a battalion bike site and find all the other enthusiasts. Good Luck. Stay in touch and let as know how setting up rides goes.