Looks Like...A Bike!

Things are coming together nicely in between breaks to watch the Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain) and putting some stuff together for the new school year. The cables and housing for the brakes and derailleurs, along with some tape for the handlebars is all that remains to make the Mirage roadworthy. Reassembly is going smoothly, partly because I know what I'm doing, but also thanks to some helpful notes I took while taking the bike apart.

After installing the saddle bracket the other night, I took a measurement from my Trek road bike of the distance from the center of the bottom bracket (where the pedal axle goes through the frame) to the top of the saddle. This would give me a great starting point to find the correct riding position on the Mirage, but it will probably need some adjustment when I am actually able to sit down and pedal.

Yesterday morning I started with the headset by lubricating the bearing rings and inserting the fork steering tube. I found out the screws for the badge poked out a bit too far, so I clipped the points off to give the steering tube room to pivot. After making sure there was no play in the fork, I cinched down the lock rings with the bracket for the center pull brakes between them.

I then fit the mount for the headset derailleur levers onto the stem and inserted the bar assembly into the steering tube. I may have to fine tune the height and centering of the bars, but I started off with the top of the bars level with the seat. I climbed back on the chair to look down to see if everything was centered.

I greased the bearing rings for the bottom bracket and pushed them through the bottom bracket along with the pedal axle. I carefully threaded the adjustable bearing cup and tightened it to remove any play in the axle horizontally and vertically before securing the lockring. The pedals and crankset installation were simple but "old school unusual", with cotter pins that you insert through the side of the crankarm into a flat slot on each side of the pedal axle. The pins wedge into place and have a nut to secure them tightly.

I was a bit uptight about attaching the front derailleur because it involved clamping onto my newly-painted frame, but I was careful to spot it in the correct location. I made sure it was just a couple millimeters above the large chainring and parallel to it, so that I wouldn't have to damage the paint by having to move the clamp after it was tightened the first time. The rear derailleur was only a matter of securing a bolt in the rear drops. I finished up the drive train by reinstalling the chain.

After attaching the front and rear brake assemblies, along with some new brake pads, I completed the day's work by putting on the wheels. At last the bicycle is looking close to hitting the trails!