# TOC 1908 ( I think ) Racycle restoration



## filmonger

*TOC 1903 Racycle restoration*

I have some rather crusty kelly bars from my racycle and am curious as to how I should clean them up - Should I use Steel wool and treat it with oil afterwards?? orrrr are there better suggestions! The grips look like toast to me - but maybe some of you have some suggestions. The Lucky 7 seat post seems Ok and should clean up easily. The rat traps look like they will cleanup well - though one has a broken bolt hole for the missing footstrap. All suggestions appreciated. Will keep you all posted on the rest of the bike as well as it progresses.


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## bikiba

i guess it depends on your plans. You mentioned restoration [ restore back to original ], but do you really mean preservation [ clean up and keep in the current state ]?

if it is preservation, i think the chrome [ or is it nickel? ] looks shot. If i were you i would derust it in one of the typical solvents and steel wool it.

if it is restore, just blast it[ sand everything off ] and get it recoated with metal of choice


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## fat tire trader

I would like to see the rest of the bike before making any suggestions.


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## Iverider

Look at all that rusty junk!  I'll be watchin' this build!


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## filmonger

Here is the Saddle - Leather is all gone and just the wood base.....seems solid enough. Metal is pitted and rusty but I have seen much worse.


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## filmonger

Fork and front Wheel - the wood wheel is slightly warped but I think I can get it true...so I will have to do a Nick the Cut job on it - front Hub looks good - Paint is slightly iffy but you can see the detail of the nickel points. Tire is shot


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## filmonger

Frame and Rear Hub & Wheel - Frame is fairly rusty on the top tube....the down tube you can still see remnants of the R - fairly rusty by the rear wheel. Head badge looks good. This is kind of a tough call - think I will go the preservation route to start with. The Rear wheel you can still see some of the pin stripes - tire shot. Morrow hub looks good. Crank should clean up OK - Narrow thread block chain should also clean up ok - can't quite make out the markings on it though.


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## filmonger

Crank - Looks like it should clean up ok.


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## filmonger




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## Freqman1

Great bike. I can't wait to see that one rolling again. I have one TOC bike and if I ever get another it will be a Racycle Pacemaker. V/r Shawn


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## Wcben

Cool bike! Just curious, how did you get to 1904?


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## Nick-theCut

I personally like the nickels age as is.  If you gotta do something, go refurbish.  Stay light with your scrubbing.  Yes to 0000 steel wool, no to hard wire brush.  Soaking parts in CLR before steel wool makes it easier.  Be nice to what nickel is left.  Scratch marks look funny.
I like that you wanna keep the original rims.  If you have any questions, PM me.  
Is this refurbish to display, or to ride?  You could always do a separate wheelset for riding. 
Good luck and take your time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## filmonger

Awww - I meant to say around 1908ish ..... But It really is a guess at this point!

Going to make her a rider if I can and will most likely have to use two pair of wheel sets.


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## mike j

Great project, good luck with it, I think this gets you into the Miami Merkel club, I'm jealous!


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## JOEL

The bars seem to match the rest conditionwise. Steel wool will knock off a lot of that loose nickle plating. I would simply wipe it down with an oily rag and go with it.


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## filmonger

Ok Pulled the Tires and the white rear tire is pretty pliable where the red front tire seems slightly harder but is looks like it has a little squish to it - so I thought I would try and put air in them.... Not sure of the valve? Are those caps or are they the end of the valve. Also interesting is the red Knobby Ironside tires have a Pat date of Nov 1903 on them ! How should I fill them - should I treat them with something first?


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## filmonger




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## bricycle

I reccomend John Deere Ultra Guard rubber treatment. Works wonderful! Light wash first, let dry thoroughly, then treatment. I layed mine on black poster card stock, sprayed on, massaged/rubed on, then covered with clear plastic to retain warmth (lay in sun) all day. treat at least 3 times, or as needed.

..of course after this you won't want to part with them....


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## walter branche

*valve caps*

that is a removable cap , that forked top ,is the tool that removes the valve from the stem ,for cleaning or adding slime etc.


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## filmonger

Is there a trick to the removal of a Racycle Crank? Just want to make sure of the process before I start messing around with it. I remember seeing it here on a thread but I cannot find it.


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## Wcben

Hey Will, sorry for the delay, at work... Remove both center screw in caps(the covers on each side with the two drive holes), you'll see the center drive bolt has. a 1/4" square drive, IT IS REVERSE THREAD, so turn it opposite of what feels correct, don't over tighten it, they warned even when they were new about breaking the bolt... It should all come apart at that point.  This may help:


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## filmonger

Ummm - good news and bad news. The dust covers came off fine and the bolt unscrewed very easily in the clockwise direction. Did not have to force anything - BUT once I pulled the Crankside with a little bit of sliding back and forth it popped out and as soon as I pulled it out two pcs tumbled on to the floor. Looks like the shaft at the end ( that should be three pronged ) has been broken sometime in the past and two of the prongs turned out to be the pcs that fell to the ground. Not sure how I can approach this problem. Secondly I cannot get the cones to unscrew as they start to unscrew and then seem to be obstructed in some way. Also I cannot get the crank arm off from the non-sproket side even though it has pulled free of the cone - I have pulled the lock nut as instructed after the first dustcover. Bummmed! Pictures to follow.

Ok got the Non sprocket side out and it to has a broken prong too! The good news is it is easily pre 1911 so I can narrow down the date slightly still think it is between 1904-1908.... any suggestions on a fix for this one or am I going to need another Crank.?????? The Guy must have hit something dam heavy for this kind of failure - or maybe just bad metallurgy!


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## Wcben

Will, if the bearing cups thread into the Hanger, with a spacer in between, that places the bike to pre 1904.  If the cups thread onto the spacer and then the whole bearing assembly slides into the hanger, that's the "improved hanger"...1904+.


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## filmonger

Thanks Wcben..... based on your info - it could be 1903/4 right before the changeover on the Hanger - the reason I say this is that the Frame has the extended lengthened slits for the bolt squeeze on the frame and the literature says this was an improvement made from the smaller slits of 1902. So I guess the information you have provided plus the slit info must make it a 1903/4. Here are the pics of the hanger now that I was able to get the cones out of their crusty nest. I used the 1904 manuf.  instructions to take it apart and it was spot on. Copper Spacer - not threaded as you can see in the picture. Though some of this info seems to conflict with each other - neither of the cones are nurled as in the Berlin recycle 1904 Cat.


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## Wcben

Yours is a Miami Cycle Co Racycle, a lot of confusion happens around the differences between the Miami's and the Berlin's.... Berlin licensed the manufacturing rights (and I'm sure bought some parts) but what they did overall didn't necessarily co-incide with what Miami did.  Mine has been nailed down as 1903 specifically by the Sager rear suspension which it seems was only made for a few months in '03, but I have the knurled bearing cups.... I agree, yours is '03-'04.


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## filmonger

Thank you as always for the info!!!! Awww yes I see..... Berlin does not equal Middleton - get it now. Started to clean the Frame Hanger bracket and found it had a serial number 88667 hard to read and not sure I want to scrape it down - though I am still considering a whole restoration rather than wipedown now that I am going to have to get the Crank machined or welded in some way.


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## Wcben

Cool! Mine is 78596.... No-one has yet deciphered if the s/n's for Racycle are sequential or, if they also indicate model/year yet but our numbers are not that far apart.... I'd now venture to say yours is late 03 or 04....


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## filmonger

Ok... I thought the crank bars and the connecting cylinder shaft with the three prongs would not have been machined together - but as far as I can tell they are all one piece. Sooo my question to all the cabe guys is how would you fix the broken prongs on both the left and right shaft?


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## filmonger

*Lefever Arms Co Block Chain*

The Racycle's Chain is a Nickel Steel Lefever Arms Co Chain - might help date her..... Also the Rat Traps are Record after looking at the 1898 The Wheel I was able to ID them. Not saying that they from 1898 - just this is how I was able to ID them. Both the Lefever chain and the records had ads in the wheel.













Just found that the 1903 catalog mentions that they use either diamond or lefever chains made of nickel steel .... To me this does add to the idea that the Racycle is a 1903 or 1904 now!


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## Wcben

Interesting on the chain..... Their logo was quite similar to Racycle's,  I wonder if Racycle contracted Lefever for chains?

Here's a Racycle link as an example:


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## filmonger

*Kelly bars*

Just had a clean of the Racycles Kelly bars and the bolt has an inscription on the inside face Pat applied April 19 98 - Just thought it was interesting.

_THE KELLY HANDLEBAR COMPANY.

Adjustable handlebars are now not only the usual equipment of highest grade bicycles, but the riders of medium and lower priced machines are coming to demand that the same convenience be allowed also to them. This is quite reasonable, since there are a number of makes on the market, and the additional cost is so slight as to be unfelt. A worthy pioneer is the Kelly, made by the Kelly Handlebar Company, of Cleveland, Ohio. Its introduction dates back to 1895. The essential feature of this design is a divided bar with sections

pivotally connected to the stem, and provided with serrations which engage and interlock with corresponding parts in the head of the machine, being held from slipping by means of a clamping bolt. This bolt has, for 1900, taken the place of the old-time cap-screw with good effect. All working parts are made from dropsteel forgings, and the stem is of metal untouched by fire after forging. Thousands of these bars are in satisfactory use in the United States alone._


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## filmonger

*Morrow Hub Deconstruction*

I am guessing that The Racycle Morrow hub is one of the earlier examples if not one of the earliest as we seem to have narrowed the bicycle date to around 1904 rather than the later 1908 based on the BB construction. The Nickel seems to be in Fairly good condition - Couple of questions on wear and usability though...... Is the Hub in a condition that I can just clean and re-grease and use as a rider ???? Does the wear seem excessive? Could I use it as a rider after the service? If not, then is it possible to rebuild it? Or should it become a display only hub and kept on the Orig rims. I will restring it to the old wood rims that I am also restoring. I had to cut the spokes - It was a shame as I reallllly wanted to keep them but there were too many issues with pulling them intact. In the process of sanding and re-gluing the rear wood rim. The rims are very beautiful and very similar to the modern wood rims that I used to make. They must have had a very fine saw blade to make a joint in the fashion this one is made! I will post pictures of the rim restoration process later. Do any of the numbers on the hub have any meaning - the number 2 on the shell and the 49 on the brake arm?


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## filmonger

More Photos


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## filmonger

This was the Introduction of the New Morrow hub - might help people date things a bit. If my bike is a 1903/1904 this would make the Racycles hub a fairly early one alright. This article is from The Bicycling world May 16th 1903


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## filmonger




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## filmonger




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## filmonger

*Rear Wood Rim restoration*

Here is a photo of the unrestored wood rear rim









Tire removed - Just peeled it away from the rim by hand by rocking back and forth.....Still holds air!





Years of Glue - Looks a lot like pitch and very hard to remove so..... I think I will just take off the loose glue and leave the remaining layer the stays after sanding - as it will be covered by the new tire once I glue it on. 





I started to pull each spoke in order to save them - but I found due to the Glue / pitch used it was almost impossible to extract them in tact…So I was forced to clip them in order to save the rim.

I then pushed and pulled the spoke stubs out via a few careful sharp blows at the stub end - this worked great…..until the last spoke when the joint came apart. This is most likely a blessing and allows me to re-glue the joint after I have finished cleaning the rim for the rebuild. Also it is interesting in the fact that I get to see how the rim was constructed. The Joint is very fine and interesting it its design. Now for the Clean up of the rim

Interesting enough on closer examination - I had thought the rim was pinstriped ….as it turns out it is a different wood with in the lamination process giving the effect of a pinstripe. The Varnish or oil layer seems to come off with a little elbow grease and leaves the rim almost looking like it was sanded. I plan on a partial sanding of the rim before I re-glue the Joint


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## filmonger

*Starting the cleaning process*

A wet rag and a little elbow grease in order to determine the condition of the rim - started with a small section first and here was the result. Note the middle layer of wood made of Maple I would guess.





Here are a few pictures of the Joint after a quick wipe down before any kind of serious cleaning - Interesting construction













Next water and 000 steel wool before sanding - did a great job....I try and wipe the water off fairly quickly....this is a messy job.


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## filmonger

*RE-Glue of Joint*

Here is a photo of the re-glue.... I used Gorilla wood Glue and it was great. But i made a mistake and when I clamped the joint I left it overnight and the clamp slipped allowing the joint to slightly move and leave a larger gap than I wanted. Not much i could do about it other than fill the small gap with glue. Did not affect the rim in any way other than being able to see the joint slightly more - Bummer but these things happen.





Rim & Joint after Sanding.... starting with a rough grit and ending with a fine grit..... Worked fairly well and looked great









Next to my Modern Wood rim that I used to produce with OSMO finish - Ready for It's first coat of Tung oil.


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## filmonger

*Tung Oil*

Here is the first coat of Tung Oil - it was a very thirsty rim!





Finished Rim after 5 coats of Tung oil - ready to make sure it is straight and then onto stringing to the Orig. Morrow hub after that has been rebuilt.


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## Iverider

Rims look great! did you oil the tire gluing surface as well? I have a rim straightening project in my future.


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## filmonger

Yes I did.....My reasoning was this would help feed the wood a little ( _not that much of it would get through with the remaining pitch / glue ....on the front rim I will remove the pitch / glue in total as an experiment_ ) - before mounting I will again sand the surface to rough it up for the glue and tire to help promote adhesion. Now on to the front rim! The front rim is very different from the rear. I am guessing the front rim has been a replacement and that the rear might be orig based on the hubs and existing tires.


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## Iverider

I used a wire wheel on this steel clad wheelset to remove all of the black gunk.

Did a nice job, but you can see that it did leave some small grooves in the wood surface. I used a bench mounted model.

The grooves should actually help the glue bond, they're not too extreme where you couldn't leave them as is, but if you want it smooth you could always sand after wire wheeling.



Steel clad rim refurb by VW Sightings, on Flickr


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## filmonger

Coool - Great tip....Great job aaaannnnnnd Lllooookkkkkin good!!! Look forward to seeing the end result with your metal clads. That Black stuff is nasty stuff I have to say.


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## Wheeled Relics

*helpers*

I'm not sure if this is useful crank parts for your racycle but just in case it is: 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Prewar-Anti...s-Crank-Set-Miami-Merkel-Flying-/121403266058

-David

PS- Looks like this may could be broken as well. (crack in the middle)


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