Rampar Rapide Progress

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Above: Rapide shown with the new TekTro Quartz brakes. I did have to re-drill front and rear mounting holes to accommodate flush mount brakes. The fork only required the rear hole to be re-drilled.

Above: The rear brake mounted backwards (mixte style). I did this for a couple reasons. First the shoes line-up better with the rim this way. Also it puts the adjusting barrel and anchor-bolt on the same side that the the cable braze-ons (frame) are on, making for a cleaner (more aerodynamic) cable routing. Actually with the smooth side of the caliper facing forward. I think "technically" that would make the rear brake more aerodynamic as well. Looking at a few of the mixte bikes in the shop. I saw nothing special or different about how the rear forward-facing brakes were mounted. So I figure "what can it hurt"? If it makes the brake fit better "Go for it"

Above: I did end-up re-using the three piece cotter crank. It IS in near perfect condition. I also cleaned up the front derailleur with Clean-Streak and a little brass brush. I did switch the adjusting screws from another Sun-tour "sprit" derailleur. The new adjusters are longer and have springs. I was not able to get the "high-gear" adjustment I wanted with the shorter adjust screws. I had a damaged "Sprit" derailleur with longer adjusting screws. So that worked out nicely. Thats why I hate to throw anything away (:

Above: The Sun-Tour rear derailleur needed nothing but a little cleaning and polishing. I did not even have to remove the jockey wheels for cleaning. It should always be this easy.

Above: I did go with the Tek-Tro Aero-Levers again. This time with the glossy black levers. I also switched the handlebars. These might be a little lighter
but they are definitely thicker. I don`t like the feel of a really thin handle bar.
I took great care to make sure the cables are very secure to the handlebars. Wrapping each side in 4 spots, going around the bar at least 3 times with black electrical tape. On the rear brake lever (right) I did not route the cable around the far side of the head tube. This is again because of the location of the braze-ons for the rear brake cable. They go down the lower right side of the top tube. This would make going around the far side of the head-tube a bad idea. As it would have required me to bring the cable back to the right side of the top tube after going around the far side of the head-tube. That would not have "worked well" and would have looked awful too.

Above: I replaced the Chrome-plated steel stem with this old Delta alloy stem. The original stem did not look like it belonged on a road-bike. So I polished this old stem up as good as I could and used it. This stem looks "right at home" on this old lugged frame bike. The Sun-Tour stem shifters cleaned-up real nice with just a little clean-streak and brass brushing. I looked around the shop for some down-tube shifters but did not find any. Most of the college kids seem to like the shifters up high anyway. Don`t ask me why that is though, I have no idea :)

Above: I think these pedals might have to go. I have another set I think will look better. I just think these look too cheap. They were on the Centurion when it came in. Maybe I`ll wait and see how they look when the bike is finished.
Well thats all for now. I am just waiting for the new post to arrive. And I need to run the derailleur cables. Also I have to decide if I want to use black or natural colored cork. The saddle will be black and the other set of pedals are alloy and black. So I`l leaning towards black at this point.
Till next time, RIDE SAFE! And remember to always RESCUE,RESTORE&RECYCLE :)
Cheers,Hugh