How to Restore a Bike

The weekend before I married Claire, I was awash with nerves. When I’m restless, I reach for my pen; I find writing taxing enough that it tends to calm me down. That weekend, I wrote out a plan to restore my Wester Ross bicycle.

As I wrote earlier this week, I’m restoring my first bicycle to the glory it deserves. In 2026 or 2027, I want to ride l’Eroica on this bike, so aesthetics and period-correctness are paramount. That means sacrificing a smaller wheelset (which would probably fit my size better), different brakes (which would fit fenders more easily), and easier gearing (which would require removing a gorgeous Campagnolo crankset). But it also means I get to revel in old (and old-looking) touring gear since this bike features (one of?) the only touring groupsets made by Campagnolo.

It’s a fun goal with a lot of work in between. How can I make it happen? I have a tendency to lose steam halfway through a project, so I want to be realistic about how much effort this will take as well as find intermediate stopping points that leave me with a rideable bike. I find timelining with a Gantt chart helpful for stuff like this. All timelines end up wrong but, to appropriate George Box’s quote about models, some timelines prove useful.

This plan will let me know if I’m losing steam, estimate how much is left, and help others share in my ideas. Also I love mermaid diagrams 😀

You’ll quickly notice that Tuesdays and Thursdays are the only open days on this chart and all work marked SBK occurs then. That’s because my local bike co-op, the Somerville Bike Kitchen, only runs open shop on those days. The space, tools, and experience of the staff are what gives me the confidence in completing this project: when I say to them that I want to restore it, they either get really pumped up or they take it in stride; no one second guesses that it’ll be too difficult.

gantt
  axisFormat %b %d
  tickInterval 1week
  excludes monday, wednesday, friday, weekends, 2025-03-06
  todayMarker off
  section legend
    home :active, 2024-12-25, 2025-01-01
    SBK :2024-12-25, 2025-01-01
    vendor :crit, 2024-12-25, 2025-01-01
  section Disassembly
    Wheels, seatpost, saddle :active, 2025-01-01, 1d
    Cables, housing, brakes, stem, handlebars :2025-01-07, 1d
    Fork, chain, derailleurs :1d
    Crank and bottom bracket :1d
  section Frame work
    Sandblast :crit, 2025-01-16, 2025-01-21
    Add mount points :crit, 2025-01-23, 2d
    Powdercoat :crit, 1d
  section Rehab components
    True wheels :2025-01-21, 3d
    Replace tires :active, 2025-01-29, 2025-01-30
    De-rust small parts :2025-01-30, 3d
    Replace bottom bracket, crank, cables, housing :1d
  section Re-assembly
    Chain, derailleurs :3d
    Fork, brakes :1d
    Wheels, seatpost, saddle :active, 1d
  1st ride :milestone,
  section Cosmetics
    Apply decals :active, 1d
    Install rear fender :2d
    Cut front fender :1d
    Install front fender :1d

Following this timeline, I’ll be finished before my trip to Italy in late March. Avoiding a long trip in the middle would help me keep momentum. Plus, I expect my trip will influence my taste and maybe introduce me to bike brands I don’t know about.

My goal is that this timeline doesn’t end up being very strict. Consulting has taught me to always pad your timelines—doubling them being the recommendation—and to cut each task as small as possible to make it more defined and easy to estimate. I’ve done that here where I feel less comfortable with the amount of time each task will take, for instance stretching the wheel truing process to 3 work days. Other tasks, like replacing the tires, I’ve kept as single-day tasks since I feel confident about the work involved. I’ve also left some time for other activities–dinner, drinks, movies, cozying up in front of Netflix—on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Building out a plan as precise as this makes some dependencies very clear and surfaces a few questions to research further.

Dependencies

1. Contact vendors to ensure that they can accept and turn around work in time. I plan to use Pike Powder Coating for sandblasting and painting and leave the mounting points for Royal H Cycles to add on. I’ve contacted them in the past to estimate their timelines but need to follow up now.
2. Purchase components that I plan to replace
   • bottom bracket (can’t purchase until I can inspect the shell)
   • chain
   • tires: 27” x 1 1/8”, which is 1/8” narrower than my current selection; the 35mm fenders that will fit beneath my brakes demand tires no wider than 30mm
   • cables
   • cable housing
   • Selle Anatomica saddle
   • decals
   • bolts: I’ll try to change as many as possible to one size head
3. Purchase SBK membership so that I stop feeling bad using them without paying
4. Purchase solutions that SBK doesn’t have
   • EvapoRust
   • rust preventer
5. Purchase fenders

Open Questions

1. What mount points can and should be installed?
2. Can I cut fenders myself or could Royal H do that as well?
3. How can I figure out what I’m missing? I don’t have a restoration expert on call, so talking through each plan with the relevant vendor or SBK staff, with online fora for more niche topics, is probably my best bet
4. Can I make the gearing any easier?
5. What exact parts do I need?
6. Do I need more or different parts to stabilize the rear brake, which refuses to stay centered?
7. How can I print the decals available on the Wester Ross Cycles Facebook group?
8. Will Pike Powder Coating let me split sandblasting and powder coating into 2 stages so that mounting points can be added?