Friday 6 November 2009

Triumph Bicycle

I spent last week working on the Triumph bicycle that is sitting in the garage. I've spent more than what it's worth on it... =/

But hey, it'll be the use that I'll get the most value out of. The bicycle is actually filthy, as if it hasn't been cleaned in some 20-30 years of use, and there is LOADS of gunk on it. I managed to date it to 1969 by reading the writing on the Sturmey Archer gears on the rear wheel.

This is the front wheel - look at that muck on it! No pictures of the rear wheel, but its a LOT worse than this.


The bicycle:


I've taken off the rear wheel and started cleaning it... I've had to take it apart almost completely.


And look at the shine on the rear wheel after cleaning! (took 2 hours....)


This is what the gear stuff and chains look like! MANKY!!


Cleaning up in progress:




Look at that chain! much better, aint it?! Took like, more than 3 hours I think.... lol.

I'm such a fan of fixing/repairing/restoring things! Getting your mits dirty sometimes can be SO rewarding... this feels so good to work on this project. Hope to have the bicycle set up by sometime late next week and I can ride around.. yay! Another method of getting around, without walking and without my motorbike.

2 comments:

mw said...

emm..can I leave comment here? looks like I'm the first...sofa!
the firework looks so nice! you've got a really good camera=P...
I haven't been to london properly..always in a hurry..sounds interesting, maybe I should try staying there for sometime...

Happy birthday! ( 3mins before 12)

Tessa-chan said...

Yeah, ofc you can! (anyone can!)

my camera is so-so.. the saying goes something like "its the photographer, not the camera" - I ain't a professional - far from!

It was hard getting decent pictures - the 3 posted are from about 10 good pictures I had, out of about 30-40 I took that night. I always seem to get a few crap pictures (its natural), but for those pictures, I used a Shutter Mode option on my camera - this controls how long the shutter is open for. I set it to 1/3secs exposure time. You might also need to set the exposure - I think I set my camera to enhance the pictures a little, but only a little. Finally, the 2nd picture with people has been touched up in Photoshop using the Dodge tool, because it was too hard taking a picture with people -and- fireworks in good light, its a little bit of a cheat, but as long as I'm not rewriting history I think I'm OK!

I'll show you how to take a few good pics when I see you next week.