SC1800 still rolling in 2023!

 I think it's been 19 year since I started this 'experiment'. 

See above for a recent picture of the original test subject. It still rolls, and I try to keep up maintenance on it. Truth be told mileage is way down, because I primarily ride that MEC Skyway for most short hops around town. They are both good beater bikes, but the Skyway is on the front porch and good to go and the SC1800 lives in the back yard. At this point it is really more of a study in corrosion and neglect than how it rides. It's amazing all I really have to do is oil the chain and pump up the tyres and it is still quite ride-able. I do occasionally (maybe twice/year) squirt TriFlow onto the derailleurs and brake mounting studs.

I think I put a new tyre on the front wheel a couple of years ago. The replacement Kenda Klaw has been gnawed on by a squirrel and made a hole that couldn't be booted. Darn squirrels. The new tyre came from Uncle Jacob and is a Maxxis that works okay. It was super hard to get bike parts in the summer of 2020 and supply chains got messed up, but Jacob always came through - I think he was getting inner tubes and stuff straight from China or something.

I am likely the only person on earth that still cares (do I ?) about this blog but since the machine is still rolling, I will try to update it once/year out of habit.

Cheers :)

Almost lost track of this blog

Well here we are 5 years later and the Skyway is still running. . . broke a Gates belt when a stick went in it, but it's still rolling. New Mavic Open Pro rims replace the soft aluminium Alex brand rims it came with. ..

Still have the SC1800, but don't ride it very often because there are now 16 nice bikes in the herd.

Both odometers have gone by the wayside, mostly because I glued them on and then when the battery died I just gave up.

Here is a nice bike:

I think it's a CCM Targa, definitely 1977. Got it without any wheels, but built up 27" Sun CR18's on Campy high flange hubs.Repacked Ashtabula/cottered bottom bracket. Nightmare. Worst of both worlds. The Lyotard pedals look identical to Phillips pedals of old, except the bearings knock around much more easily. It's almost like a plain bearing/bushing in those Lyotards. Crap. I can only ride it on wide open roads because the Weinmann brakes are so weak. The front derailleur setup was a nightmare. There is a cable guide that has the cable rubbing on the tire one way and the chainring teeth the other way and only .5 mm of sweet spot to it works. Maybe I'm using the wrong cable guide which is weird because it's the correct Huret one that came with the bike. Still it's a good waay to remember the 70's - no helmets, no seat belts, no sealed Tylenol bottle. Somehow we survived.

SC1800 24233km

SC1800 is running well through severe duty. Regularly exposed to salty water, temperature around zero Fahrenheit and damaged roads, the machine is still riding well. The only maintenance since the last post was to lubricate the Shimano BRM432 brakes because a bushing was corroding, making the brake pad constantly drag on the wheel.

Lubricant of choice at the moment is Boeshield T9.

The light of choice right now is a Cygolight Metro 420. Works awesome so far. On the back is the Planet Bike Superflash, they been working quite well for awhile now.

SKYWAY km 2073.6

OK so..so...

In November of 2012, this writer received a new machine to test ride.

It is a 2012 1/2 MEC Skyway - high lights are Gates Center track belt drive, Reynolds Chromium Molybdenum steel frame, etc . . .

The half year model denotes a running change where some models under the same stock keeping unit will fit fenders and others will absolutely not.


Upgrades within a month of point of purchase are: Wheels Manufacturing solid steel bolt on axles, swapping the drop handlebar for a regular MTB zero rise handlebar, 48/58mm reach brakes, Oury grips, Cygolite Metro 420 light, Planet bike fenders, luggage rack,etc.

At km 800 the belt failed when a stick went in it, derailed it, and then forced back on to the chainring.

Running pretty good right now, though there is quite a bit of wear and tear on the rim brake surface despite running soft salmon Kool Stop brake pads.

Stay posted for more observations . . .

km 23442.76

Back on like James Bond! Service interval of October 26, 2012 * Cateye odometer failed at 23233 after 923km. Failure due to open circuit in wyring harness. Replaced wih original Filzer Dz2L with a fresh LR43 battery. (apparently the LR44 also works adequately, but went with the original spec instead) Note: add 23233 to future odometer readings * Replaced broken back axle with cro-mo one...aligned dropouts more precisely this time. * Repaired back fender with Planet bike 'eyebolt'. * Replaced one broken spoke that failed at head * Replaced worn front brake pads. * Repaired failed weld in luggage carrier with tightly wrapped mechanics' annealing wyre. Service interval of November 28, 2012 * Repaired worn back tyre. Cords in outer casing had split, causing tyre liner to show through and ride wobbly. Back tyre is pre owned generic Kenda semi slick kindly donated by generous patron. * Removed badly damaged back mudflap from Planet Bike's 'Freddy Fender' * Noted wear on chain and oiled with Prolink * Noted missing paint and finish wearing off crankset * remarked how original front derailleur still works perfectly with no play between pivots, original grips in pristine condition, sticker still attached to stem.

Odometer stalled...

...around June of 2012 due to a fender failure (threw a rod holding on the back one). Since then, the 1974 CCM Galaxie 500 has proved an adequate replacement with it's Sturmey Archer AW 3 speed transmission and solid all steel construction. Looking forward to getting the SC1800 back in action ASAP and apologies for the delay in the observations in this experiment. dc

km 22835.1

22310 base





Observations are now taken from Cateye odometer that was repaired around mid-February, 2012.

Then, on March 2, 2012, the back derailleur was replaced with a Shimano RDTX35 (DATT model) (MEC part sku#264068 $12). A new drivetrain was hooked up from spares that included a new freewheel (MEC part#5020159 $13.50) and chain (MEC part 5006382 $14.50). This means the SRAM PC-830 was installed for 2431km, though it really was indicating worn out around 2000km. At that time the Filzer odometer indicated 6486km + 16000 (base km) which means the procedure was performed at interval 22486 km.

At that time the new Cateye odometer was indicating 176km which means there is 22310 base km to be added to future observations. The Cateye odometer is the same as a previous unit, except that it took this long to figure out how to change a battery (2032 type) to an instrument that is glued to the handlebar with cyanoacrylicate. Suffice it to say, it involves dental tools and patience. This procedure was performed just before the battery in the Filzer unit failed around the 23000 km mark. This means the unit ran for almost 6500 km at an average of about 20kph which means a run time of about 325 hours for the Filzer Dz2L with OEM battery.

Todays mileage reading is at 525.1 which means the machine has travelled 22835.1km.

To follow up on a previous observation: On May 13, 2011 a new back wheel and drivetrain was installed at interval 20055.1 km. The back wheel is spec'ed as [single wall aluminium rim, 36 spoke, Q/R aluminium hub] (MEC part sku#286592 $42). It was replaced as the solid axle in the old wheel was badly bent due to damaged dropouts. The dropouts were repaired and the new wheel is working out ok except that the brake surface is already 50% worn with 2780km on it. Also there was a single broken spoke repaired on March 2, 2012 at km22486, it seemed to fail due to having an 'elbow' of about 3mm even though the hub flange is only 2mm! Also on the same service interval the chain [SRAM PC-830] (MEC part #5016386 $14.50) and freewheel [Sunrace MF-M20] (MEC part #5020159 $14.50 at that time) were replaced.

The other maintenance involves disassembling, cleaning and lubricating the Shimano brand brake calipers. There is a bushing that corrodes quite easily and means that they can be closed to apply brakes, and then will not spring back to the open position. With regular maintenance this is not a problem, except that this services is being performed seasonally. Tried three different types of lubricant on the brake caliper bushing the results are the same. Stay posted to see if the 'Phil' brand grease will keep it from corroding by mid summer.

Other than all that maintenance, the rig is running quite right and tight with mightily gripping brakes and a solid hookup from the gears. The clock on the instrumentation is running on daylight savings time.