- 9 hours ago
Road bikes can have a hard life and in this video Sam Gupta decides to give his boss' bike some much needed TLC after it had sat neglected for quite some time. Sam strips the bike down, cleans it up, gives it a full inspection and service and then surprises his boss at the end of the video with the finished build. Let us know if you think Sam did a good job!
This video was created in partnership with Zefal and Hunt Bike Wheels.
This video was created in partnership with Zefal and Hunt Bike Wheels.
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00:009.6 kilos. This is the Cycling Weekly Megabase and this is where we keep all of the bikes and
00:07products that we get sent in for testing. However, there are a few personal bikes here as well,
00:13one of which is actually my boss's bike. He owns a Varenzi Kilmerston and it's fair to say that
00:20this bike has not seen much love and is in dire need of some TLC. So I'm going to steal
00:26it,
00:27I'm going to get it into the workshop and I'm going to give it a new lease of life.
00:38Well, first things first, we need to get this bike stripped down and now that the sun is out and
00:42shining and it is warm, I don't see any need for these mud guards. So we're going to whip those
00:47off,
00:47we're going to get the wheels off, we're going to get everything off that we're going to be replacing
00:51and we'll go from there and we'll see what we're left with.
01:03Oh, that is grimy. Wowee.
01:08Right, that's my guards off and I've got to say there is a lot of built up crud underneath there
01:12in the frame. We're going to get the chain off next and then it will be time to give this
01:17bike a deep clean.
01:24Now, to help me out with this bike restoration, ZFAL have stepped in with a bunch of their products
01:30and to help clean the bike, I've got their bike shampoo. So I've just filled up their bottle with
01:34700ml of water and I'm going to squeeze in this bag of kind of like jelly, but then we're going
01:41to use that
01:41as the bike shampoo and get this thing looking beautiful. Now, this is a whole litre of bike
01:47shampoo and we've still got two more so we should be pretty sorted for bike cleaning around here for
01:52quite a while. Let's go get this bike cleaned.
02:01Oh yeah.
02:11Right, the bike is now clean. It's back inside. I really do want to pay some attention to the paintwork
02:16because some of it's looking quite dull, but first I need to get it really dry. So I've got the
02:21compressor,
02:21so let's get this thing dry.
02:39Now, as I said, when I clean this bike, I could see a lot of like marring under the paintwork
02:44and white
02:45paint really isn't good for it because it holds so many of the stains. So I've got some paint restorer
02:51here. So I'm going to work quite methodically from top to bottom, just taking my time to
02:55see how much of a shine we can bring back.
03:07Now, after about 30 or 40 minutes of polishing, I think we're finally there. The bike is looking
03:12better. It's subtle, but it is better. One thing I did also notice was that the rear mech was a
03:18bit loose
03:19because the mech hanger bolts, they were rattling around. So tighten those up. So now,
03:24when I come to index the gears, that should be running a whole lot smoother. The next job though,
03:29is we need to get some wheels in this bike. Now, the old wheels, they were good, but I think
03:34we can
03:34do a bit better. And happily, I have had a delivery from Hunt who have come in to save the
03:39day.
03:40Hunt are actually one of the very few brands now that still make decent quality alloy rim brake
03:47wheels. So these ones here are the four season aero wheels. I think they're going to be better
03:53performing than what was on there previously. So we'll get a new cassette on there, new ties,
03:59and then we'll get them fitted. Here we go. Envelope full of parts and accessories, new skewers in here,
04:06which is going to be really good because the old ones certainly weren't quite right. In fact,
04:10I think the rear wheel was a turbo trainer skewer. So I'm glad to see the back of that,
04:15but here we go. Here are the wheels. Oh, lovely. Good stuff. Yeah, these, these will be bang on.
04:39So, tyres are done. We've got some shroud tyres on there. Now though, it's time to fit the cassette,
04:44so we'll get this unboxed, we'll get it on, should be pretty smooth sailing, and then we'll get these
04:49wheels into the bike and continue with the build. There we go. That's looking good. Let's get this
04:59nipped up with the free wheel tool. Oh, beautiful. Look at that. Nice. Right, the wheels are in. I also
05:11reattached the brake calipers and re-centred and re-adjusted the brake pads. The brake pads themselves
05:17actually have quite a lot of life left in them, so there's no need to change those, and now that
05:23they're re-aligned, the brakes are feeling really strong. So, next job is to get the chainset sorted.
05:31Now, the chain rings are actually quite worn out, so we've got a couple of replacements which we're
05:36going to get onto the chainset. We'll get that refitted, then we can get the chain on and then
05:41index the gears, and then actually we're quite close to the home straight at that point.
05:51The bolts are off. The chain rings, they are looking very worn, especially the inner chain ring.
05:57Those teeth are looking very shark teeth-like, very pointy, so I'm glad we've got to these now.
06:03Happily, I've got some new ones, so we'll get these unboxed, we'll get them fitted, and we should be
06:09looking a whole lot better. In fact, I think this chainset is going to look much smarter,
06:13because these new chain rings are completely black, so it should be a nice visual upgrade too.
06:30Right, chainset is back together, so we're going to get this back into the frame,
06:36nice and easy. The bottom bracket's actually feeling really smooth, so there's not much we need to do
06:40there, so we'll pop this crank on back on.
06:46With this going on, it means that now we can go ahead with the chain, surprisingly, maybe unsurprisingly,
06:53but the cables themselves are looking really, really good. The condition of them is fantastic,
06:59there's no corrosion, they look pretty new actually, so what I'm going to do is I'm going to leave those,
07:03because I think they've got plenty of life left in them, so it does mean that I can get straight
07:07on with indexing, which will be really good, so yeah, not many jobs left now.
07:24Right, that chain's gone on, it's looking pretty good, but now we need to index it, so I need to
07:29grab a screwdriver.
07:45The gears now are running beautifully smoothly, which is fantastic news.
07:49The next thing, though, I really want to address is this saddle. I know that this saddle is not right
07:54for my boss, and he needs something with a bit more of a cutout, a bit more support and, you
07:58know,
07:58some wider wings. So I've got this one here, which I'm going to get fitted, which should, again,
08:03just make this bike a little bit better to ride.
08:22So we've got a couple of bottle cages from Z-Fal, super lightweight, and we've also got some Z-Fal
08:27bottles,
08:28which we can treat my boss to, which will be good.
08:44Right, bottle cages are on, bottles are in, we're going to take the bike out of the stand now,
08:49because we need to do kind of some final touches.
08:52I want to get the saddle bag on and fill that up with some goodies.
08:58I also need to sort out these handlebars and then put on some new bar tape as well.
09:02So there's still a few little bits to go, but I will say it's looking pretty good so far.
09:32I've never seen bar tape come off in so many chunks. This is ridiculous.
09:36Now, while this bike doesn't have any disc brakes, Z-Fal's disc brake cleaner is actually going to be
09:42perfect for getting rid of some of this salty gluey residue that lives underneath this bar tape.
09:49So we're going to give these bars a really good cleanup before we get the fresh stuff put on.
09:53But I must say that bar tape was, was no good.
10:04Right, the bars are now looking much cleaner. I'm going to get some new tape on.
10:09I'm not the best at wrapping bar tape, so I'm going to take it slowly.
10:13I'll take my time and hopefully we can do a decent job on this one.
10:19Yeah, wish me luck.
10:38Well, there we go. The bar tape's on, the bike is looking good.
10:42We've got the saddle bag with some bits in. I've got some lube for Rob as well, some Z-Fal
10:48lube that he
10:49can use over summer, but I want to make sure he's looked after in winter as well. And Z-Fal
10:53do actually
10:54make lights. So I'm going to give him a front light, 800 lumens, rechargeable, waterproof, and also
11:00a rear light as well, which is going to attach to the seat post nice and easily. So this bike
11:05is going
11:06to be totally sorted.
11:16So it's been a few days now since I worked on your bike, Rob. Everyone, this is Rob. This is
11:21the person
11:22whose bike I have been working on. But tell us about the condition of the bike when you left it
11:28here.
11:28Not good. I mean, it's a 14 year old bike that hasn't really been loved. I used it for commuting
11:34for a long time. Didn't look after it. I'm terrible at bike maintenance anyway. I've broken bits on it.
11:40I fixed them badly. The drive chain in particular, if I remember, was in really bad state. Greasy,
11:45muddy. I hadn't cleaned it, which a lot of people would be very angry about. And also during lockdown,
11:51I used it for a turbo trainer bike, basically a smart trainer bike. And so I sweated all over it.
11:57And again, I wasn't very good at cleaning it. So yeah, I feel a bit bad about it really. So
12:03I'm looking forward to seeing what you've done. Okay. I'm not expecting miracles, but I'm also expecting miracles.
12:13So it's looking a bit better, I'd say. Yeah. Yes, it is. It is the same bike, but it does
12:20look,
12:22actually looks really good. Really good. So starting from top to bottom, new bar tape. To be honest,
12:29I'm really happy because all the logos line up. That's arguably one of the best wrap jobs I've ever
12:34done. We've got the ZFAL F800 front light up there. So that's 800 lumens to keep you illuminated on the
12:40roads. A new pro logo saddle. I tee cut the entire frame. So it's definitely looking a little bit shinier.
12:47We've got a couple of ZFAL bottles in their ZFAL bottle cages. New chain rings, small and large. So
12:54you shouldn't be slipping any gears. I will say your old ones were very worn out. A new chain,
13:00of course, new cassette, same ratio, which actually quite hard to find, but I managed it.
13:07New Hunt wheels. These are the four season aero wheels. Of course, rim brake. Hunt, one of the very
13:14few brands that still make decent alloy rim brake wheels. New tires. These are from Schwab. These are
13:20three, six, five tires. So should work well, kind of three, six, five days of the year. And of course,
13:26at the rear, we've got a new rear light. This is the R150 ZFAL rear light. And in the saddle
13:31bag,
13:32there's a few little goodies. So we've got some ZFAL tire levers in there and we've also got a CO2
13:38inflator. So should you get a puncture, you'll be able to fix it. Marvellous. It still looks quite,
13:45it's quite pretty. Yeah. You've taken off the mud guards. I have taken off the mud guards. I mean,
13:50it is summer now, so I just don't think you need them. Exactly. And actually, it looks, it's the
13:55first time, it's the first time it has been naked. Yeah. So yeah, it looks great. Good stuff. Well,
14:01there we have it. I want to say a big thank you to ZFAL and Hunt for making this video
14:05possible,
14:06but let me know down below, what would you have done differently?
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