Bikes Of 2024: Dorado Sherpa

 It's another late December here on the blog. You know what that means? Yep! Another round of my bikes I used in 2024. This round-up will not include some of the bikes I did not use this year much, or at all. I focus only on the bikes that played a big role in my riding during this year.  As always, any changes or future plans for any bike I feature will also be detailed. I hope that you enjoy this year's round-up. 

The Dorado Sherpa after the first snowfall of the 2024/2025 Winter season.

The Sherpa has been a commute to work bike for most of 2024, which is exactly what I had intended it to be. That and for short errands. However; I did use it to commute to a conference in early August which was all the way across the urban area I live in.Probably a 20 mile or more round trip.

While I could have used any of my bikes for 90% of that route, it was the last bit that the Sherpa was really the best choice for a bike I could have made. The reason being was that I ended up doing a bit of bushwhacking around the venue the convention was being held at. 

That venue had no approach to the building that was outside of car-centric amenities. The parking lot was busy, and so I ended up scouting out an approach to the venue that entailed a scaling of a steep, grassy hill, then across a gravel parking lot to a back door where there was a bike rack. In the back of the building! I mean, you couldn't get to it without doing the car dance out front, and well...... Should I be surprised? 

That's another story, but the Sherpa was and is a perfect bash-around bike that can be locked to a rack without any concerns that someone else would want it more than I do. Plus, it doesn't even look like anything "modern", which is great. The Sherpa's weirdness is a theft deterrent!

So, I really like this bike. It rides so smoothly, works all the time flawlessly, and does a great job of getting places other bikes I have would struggle to get to. That final point due to the Sherpa's geometry, gearing range, and overall degraded condition, meaning I don't have to worry about scratches or what have you. 

No plans to change anything here. Just basic maintenance going forward.

Bikes of 2023: The Dorado Sherpa

It's another December here on the blog. You know what that means? Yep! Another round of my bikes I used in 2023. This round-up will not include some of the bikes I did not use this year much, or at all. I focus only on the bikes that played a big role in my riding during this year.  

As always, any changes or future plans for any bike I feature will also be detailed. I hope that you enjoy this year's round-up. 

This late 80's Dorado Sherpa has become one of my main commuter bikes.

Late into 2022 I picked up a rare, weird mountain bike from the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective. It was from a brand known as "Dorado", which turned up in my searching as a brand sold through Costco stores in the late 1980's. 

This model, the "Sherpa", is a very good representation of mid-to late 1980's mountain bike design. Many consumer brands hadn't caught up with the leaders in the field yet and were making MTB's with much the same geometry as they had from the late 70's/early 80's. Essentially, the copy of a Schwinn "balloon" style cruiser geometry, which was the basis of the first popularized mountain bikes emanating out of California.

This bicycle also features a trendy set of brakes which represents the short time span of their popularity in 1987-88. These are "roller cam brakes", so called due to the use of a flat plate cam and rollers affixed to the ends of each cantilever arm. This design morphed into the common "U" brake, most often seen on BMX bikes these days. 

Another quirk of those times is the mounting of the U brake or roller cam brake underneath the chain stays. This was done because the U brake and roller cam have so much leverage and power that they can easily flex and twist seat stays. The beefier chain stays were a preferred mounting spot to enhance these brake's characteristics. 

I can tell you that a proper set up on a good pair of roller cams is going to out-brake about anything you can name outside of the best hydraulic disc brake set ups. They are that good. It's very ironic that this bike, and many others of its day, were set up with brake levers that get their inspiration from motorcycle brake levers. Those were used on the earliest MTB set ups back when steel rims were the norm. Longer levers meant more brake power, and you were going to need that with steel rims and typical touring cantilever brakes. But with aluminum rims, those goofy "four-finger" levers are simply not necessary with these roller cam brakes on the Dorado. 

I completely overhauled this bike with new bearings in the rear wheel and a new bottom bracket. I added a rack, fenders, bags, and my old Brooks B-17 Special. It's rolling on Bontrager 26" tires presently, but I may switch those out to studded 26" tires for Winter ice situations soon. 

I do have to do some clearancing on the fenders at the brakes to gain a bit more clearance with these fenders. Other than those things, this bike is set to roll on into 2024. I plan on using it frequently for commuting and errands. 

This is the bike that took over commute duties from my old Schwinn High Sierra. I was afraid I might miss that bike, but this bike has done well and I do not regret the switch one bit now. It rides every bit as sweetly and this set of roller cams works far better than the Schwinn's did and the drive train, a full 3 X 6 set of gears, has come in handy and works perfectly. The scratched and rusted patches of the frame add to the "urban camouflage" keeping many from wanting to lift this bike from me, but I do appreciate the bolt-on wheels and locking the bike up is easier since I can carry a decent lock in the bags.

So, a great addition to the stable and I suspect it will be used for years.

Search & Rescue Mission

Black Hawk Creek near the Ansborough bridge

Friday was another cloudy, very windy, and rainy day. I had thought I might get outside for a bit in the afternoon for a brisk walk perhaps. But then I noted a post on the Nextdoor app and saw that a Board member of the Collective had lost their glasses in the Green Belt which is very near to where I live. 

So, that ended up becoming the excuse for me to round up my Dorado townie and go schlepping through the woods for a while looking for something I thought might end up being a bit of a wild goose chase. The person indicated where they thought the glasses might be, but, you know.... Weeds, dirt, underbrush, and whatever else might be out there could easily conceal something as small as eye glasses and the chances of them being right on the tread of the trail was probably really low.

I figured it probably would end up being just an adventure, and it was going to be okay. But then again, I believe that if you listen, there is a Spirit that can guide you. So, why not?

The Dorado has a rear rack now.

 This would be a great chance for me to see how the Dorado would do as a bike to plunk around on in the woods. I've found that the front end geometry is really interesting in that you can track stand the bike quite easily and it does slow speed turns really well. It has stability that is uncannily good, not the kind that causes you to feel the bike is sluggish or a tank. But yes, it is not light! It rides "light". 

Anyway, I tried to listen for that "still small voice" and let myself be guided by that and I ended up near the area that the person had indicated that they thought they had lost the glasses, but then you have to actually find them. And that was when I found myself staring straight at them. You can say what you want, but I'm pretty sure I know why I found the glasses. 

Well, after that was done I thought, "Let's see what this ol' bike can do!", so I pointed it down a short chute of single track that headed toward the dike. Once I got to the steeply pitched dike I tackled it by taking a bit of an angled line up, but I found that the low gear was good enough and I actually turned into the incline a bit more. 

So, the bike climbs alright, and I think it actually probably would be okay for lower speed plunking around woodsy thing. I'll think about maybe doing that for fun someday. One thing about the bike - Rollercam brakes, when set up right, feel about as powerful as disc brakes do. It's amazing. I can see why they ended up getting spec for a couple of years in the 80's.

Oh, yeah- the glasses.  I made a connection and got them returned to the happy owner. Search and rescue mission: Success!

Search & Rescue Mission

Black Hawk Creek near the Ansborough bridge

Friday was another cloudy, very windy, and rainy day. I had thought I might get outside for a bit in the afternoon for a brisk walk perhaps. But then I noted a post on the Nextdoor app and saw that a Board member of the Collective had lost their glasses in the Green Belt which is very near to where I live. 

So, that ended up becoming the excuse for me to round up my Dorado townie and go schlepping through the woods for a while looking for something I thought might end up being a bit of a wild goose chase. The person indicated where they thought the glasses might be, but, you know.... Weeds, dirt, underbrush, and whatever else might be out there could easily conceal something as small as eye glasses and the chances of them being right on the tread of the trail was probably really low.

I figured it probably would end up being just an adventure, and it was going to be okay. But then again, I believe that if you listen, there is a Spirit that can guide you. So, why not?

The Dorado has a rear rack now.

 This would be a great chance for me to see how the Dorado would do as a bike to plunk around on in the woods. I've found that the front end geometry is really interesting in that you can track stand the bike quite easily and it does slow speed turns really well. It has stability that is uncannily good, not the kind that causes you to feel the bike is sluggish or a tank. But yes, it is not light! It rides "light". 

Anyway, I tried to listen for that "still small voice" and let myself be guided by that and I ended up near the area that the person had indicated that they thought they had lost the glasses, but then you have to actually find them. And that was when I found myself staring straight at them. You can say what you want, but I'm pretty sure I know why I found the glasses. 

Well, after that was done I thought, "Let's see what this ol' bike can do!", so I pointed it down a short chute of single track that headed toward the dike. Once I got to the steeply pitched dike I tackled it by taking a bit of an angled line up, but I found that the low gear was good enough and I actually turned into the incline a bit more. 

So, the bike climbs alright, and I think it actually probably would be okay for lower speed plunking around woodsy thing. I'll think about maybe doing that for fun someday. One thing about the bike - Rollercam brakes, when set up right, feel about as powerful as disc brakes do. It's amazing. I can see why they ended up getting spec for a couple of years in the 80's.

Oh, yeah- the glasses.  I made a connection and got them returned to the happy owner. Search and rescue mission: Success!

Roller Cams On The Brain: Final Update

It's a rollercam thing. You might not understand.

Okay, well I think I've made up my mind here about the Dorado Sherpa MTB which I have been fettling with off and on over the past several months here. I'll get this out of the way right now- It's a keeper. 

I've waffled back and forth on just what I wanted this bike to be, but I've stuck to the guideline to "service what you have first. Maybe then make modifications/upgrades. So, I ended up just fixing what needed fixing on this old Costco bike. 

It is not anything remarkable outside of the pair of rollercam brakes. That is enough for me, and the fact that old MTB's make for really comfortable city bikes. That's why I've been using an old Schwinn High Sierra as a townie for many years. That's another not very special bike without those rollercams it has front and rear. But for some reason, I've never been able to get the front one on that bike to work correctly, and it has bothered me for many years. That and there is precious little clearance for tires and fenders on that bike. 

That's where keeping the Dorado comes in. It has everything the Schwinn had, plus tire clearances, and room for fenders. Plus it even fits me better than the Schwinn does. The rollercams actually work correctly, and they were easily set up because they aren't crustified from years of usage. They have some surface oxidation, but nothing that inhibited their performance.

Now decked out in accessories for a trial period.

Anyway, there it is, all gussied up with some accessories I had laying about. The big thing here, in my opinion, are the fenders. They fit well around those big 26"er tires, (temporary placeholders), so I know anything I get that is urban/pavement oriented will likely fit fine, since those tires will likely be narrower. (Extraterrestrials probably wouldn't fit without fenders on this bike, by the way)

The fenders, Planet Bike models seemingly out of production now, are the type that have stainless steel stays and are held in place on the bike mainly by these rubber straps. Almost like a mini version of an old car rack strap. The fenders are sort of a hybrid in that you can attach them at the chain stay bridge and brake bridge using hardware and a bracket, like most fenders. Anyway, they were odd, and for the front, I had to modify the stays and fork mounting holes to get that fender to work. 

Another Planet Bike accessory, the Snack Shack top tube bag, is there along with a couple Banjo Brothers bags as well. That should suffice for most of my errands/commuting by bicycle trips in the future. 

I know I've gone on about the handlebars, but with that oddball ID for the fork steerer, and my inability to come up with a stem that would work the way I want it to, I am resigned to using the set up as it is. Honestly? It feels great to ride. Maybe I just need to get over myself concerning that particular aspect of this bike. 

The plan is to take this on a three month trial and see if it will do the tricks I need it to. (It probably will) I will need to make a few minor adjustments, I am sure, and I may add a rear rack. We'll see about that. I know I definitely do not want a front basket, and I know that from experience. This sort of bike has such a slack head angle with such a high trail figure that anything like a basket will be a chore to live with. So, no front baskets! 

 Well, that's it for now on the Dorado Sherpa mountain bike/townie. What do you think of it? Let me know in the comments.

Roller Cams On The Brain: Final Update

It's a rollercam thing. You might not understand.

Okay, well I think I've made up my mind here about the Dorado Sherpa MTB which I have been fettling with off and on over the past several months here. I'll get this out of the way right now- It's a keeper. 

I've waffled back and forth on just what I wanted this bike to be, but I've stuck to the guideline to "service what you have first. Maybe then make modifications/upgrades. So, I ended up just fixing what needed fixing on this old Costco bike. 

It is not anything remarkable outside of the pair of rollercam brakes. That is enough for me, and the fact that old MTB's make for really comfortable city bikes. That's why I've been using an old Schwinn High Sierra as a townie for many years. That's another not very special bike without those rollercams it has front and rear. But for some reason, I've never been able to get the front one on that bike to work correctly, and it has bothered me for many years. That and there is precious little clearance for tires and fenders on that bike. 

That's where keeping the Dorado comes in. It has everything the Schwinn had, plus tire clearances, and room for fenders. Plus it even fits me better than the Schwinn does. The rollercams actually work correctly, and they were easily set up because they aren't crustified from years of usage. They have some surface oxidation, but nothing that inhibited their performance.

Now decked out in accessories for a trial period.

Anyway, there it is, all gussied up with some accessories I had laying about. The big thing here, in my opinion, are the fenders. They fit well around those big 26"er tires, (temporary placeholders), so I know anything I get that is urban/pavement oriented will likely fit fine, since those tires will likely be narrower. (Extraterrestrials probably wouldn't fit without fenders on this bike, by the way)

The fenders, Planet Bike models seemingly out of production now, are the type that have stainless steel stays and are held in place on the bike mainly by these rubber straps. Almost like a mini version of an old car rack strap. The fenders are sort of a hybrid in that you can attach them at the chain stay bridge and brake bridge using hardware and a bracket, like most fenders. Anyway, they were odd, and for the front, I had to modify the stays and fork mounting holes to get that fender to work. 

Another Planet Bike accessory, the Snack Shack top tube bag, is there along with a couple Banjo Brothers bags as well. That should suffice for most of my errands/commuting by bicycle trips in the future. 

I know I've gone on about the handlebars, but with that oddball ID for the fork steerer, and my inability to come up with a stem that would work the way I want it to, I am resigned to using the set up as it is. Honestly? It feels great to ride. Maybe I just need to get over myself concerning that particular aspect of this bike. 

The plan is to take this on a three month trial and see if it will do the tricks I need it to. (It probably will) I will need to make a few minor adjustments, I am sure, and I may add a rear rack. We'll see about that. I know I definitely do not want a front basket, and I know that from experience. This sort of bike has such a slack head angle with such a high trail figure that anything like a basket will be a chore to live with. So, no front baskets! 

 Well, that's it for now on the Dorado Sherpa mountain bike/townie. What do you think of it? Let me know in the comments.

Roller Cams On The Brain: Update 3

The last time I wrote here concerning the old Dorado MTB with rollercam brakes I was telling you all about the snafu with regard to handlebars and the stem which prevented me from swapping things around. I also had done a wheel bearing repair on the rear wheel. 

Well, maybe you may have thought I'd forgotten all about that Winter project, and you'd have a valid thought there, except for that I did not forget about this project this time. I know.......crazy, right? 

Since that last update I found a pair of tires that would serve as a test set, a pair of brand new rim strips left over from the T.I.v5 sponsorship, and I had pilfered my Brooks B17 Special from that old barn-built Trek I have as a saddle to try out on this along with the Fyxation pedals from the same bike. I had everything lined up that I needed to reassemble this bike and see if it was going to be something I'd want to keep around.

It ain't pretty, that's for sure!

So, without further adieu, here it is. The Dorado Sherpa. Ah.........this is an ugly duckling of a bike. No doubt there were a ton of bikes out there that looked like this in the mid-80's, but now? This seems like a prehistoric anomaly. Okay, okay.....That's just my opinion, but really, just look at the thing! 

What's really odd is that this bike looks way too big for me, but it isn't. It fits like a glove. The rearward weight bias is quite notable, and while I did not have time to really mess about when I did my test ride, I feel like this could be a wheelie machine. This bike simply begs for a drop bar, if it weren't for that ancient steer tube ID. 

It may be hard to believe, but this saddle was a nice green color when new.

Everything works fine, by the way. The rollercams worked and adjusted up well. The right thumbie is actually indexed. Crazy! Shifts just like a Sun Tour bike does. (If you know - you know!) I did swap out the original rear derailleur for a newer Sun Tour XC Pro I had laying around. The original had a lower jockey wheel I could not get to work as well as I'd want it to. 

I confess I screwed up the cable routing on the down tube, but no big deal. This is merely a test. If I decide I want to live with this bike it is all coming back apart for deeper cleaning anyway. I'd like to score a drop bar stem and set this up with drop bars if I decide to keep it also. I'd have to go with bar end shifters, but I have a plethora of those sitting around, so no worries there. 

This is a mock-up and I will probably run it around here a bit. Then I'll decide what I want to do. If a stem and drop bar are found that will work, that will help swing the decision. I know I really don't want to keep it this way. Until next time.....

Roller Cams On The Brain: Update 3

The last time I wrote here concerning the old Dorado MTB with rollercam brakes I was telling you all about the snafu with regard to handlebars and the stem which prevented me from swapping things around. I also had done a wheel bearing repair on the rear wheel. 

Well, maybe you may have thought I'd forgotten all about that Winter project, and you'd have a valid thought there, except for that I did not forget about this project this time. I know.......crazy, right? 

Since that last update I found a pair of tires that would serve as a test set, a pair of brand new rim strips left over from the T.I.v5 sponsorship, and I had pilfered my Brooks B17 Special from that old barn-built Trek I have as a saddle to try out on this along with the Fyxation pedals from the same bike. I had everything lined up that I needed to reassemble this bike and see if it was going to be something I'd want to keep around.

It ain't pretty, that's for sure!

So, without further adieu, here it is. The Dorado Sherpa. Ah.........this is an ugly duckling of a bike. No doubt there were a ton of bikes out there that looked like this in the mid-80's, but now? This seems like a prehistoric anomaly. Okay, okay.....That's just my opinion, but really, just look at the thing! 

What's really odd is that this bike looks way too big for me, but it isn't. It fits like a glove. The rearward weight bias is quite notable, and while I did not have time to really mess about when I did my test ride, I feel like this could be a wheelie machine. This bike simply begs for a drop bar, if it weren't for that ancient steer tube ID. 

It may be hard to believe, but this saddle was a nice green color when new.

Everything works fine, by the way. The rollercams worked and adjusted up well. The right thumbie is actually indexed. Crazy! Shifts just like a Sun Tour bike does. (If you know - you know!) I did swap out the original rear derailleur for a newer Sun Tour XC Pro I had laying around. The original had a lower jockey wheel I could not get to work as well as I'd want it to. 

I confess I screwed up the cable routing on the down tube, but no big deal. This is merely a test. If I decide I want to live with this bike it is all coming back apart for deeper cleaning anyway. I'd like to score a drop bar stem and set this up with drop bars if I decide to keep it also. I'd have to go with bar end shifters, but I have a plethora of those sitting around, so no worries there. 

This is a mock-up and I will probably run it around here a bit. Then I'll decide what I want to do. If a stem and drop bar are found that will work, that will help swing the decision. I know I really don't want to keep it this way. Until next time.....

Roller Cams On The Brain: Update 2

Some oddball standards have redirected me.

 Last time I left you with an update on the old Dorado MTB I am building back up, I was showing you the wheel bearings. I needed to order new ones, and I did. 

Only I ordered the wrong size because I misread my calipers. Doh! 

So, I had to re-order the bearings and while I was waiting I got busy building up the rest of the bike.  Things started out a bit rough. That's to be expected after a bike has been neglected for years. 

I have mentioned that this was pretty much sat in a barn for a certain number of years. The bike is probably a 1987 model. After closer inspection of the parts, I am going to say that this bike was parked in the late 1980's and never ridden again. Sure, I could be way off on that, but regardless, this bike hasn't seen much action. 

Well, other than a process of slow decay. Time has a way with that. The evidence of decay was to be seen here and there. Rust on the handlebar. Crud on the components. Even the quick release seat mechanism was not working right. 

So..... What do you do? Today you'd most likely just toss that old quick release and get a new one, right? But back in the 80's, lots of components were serviceable. Yes - Even quick release seat binders. So, I tore the component down and found that, to no surprise, it was bone dry. No lubrication and lots of oxidation and dirt. A bit of clean up, some grease where it belonged, and reassembly later and the SunTour QR was working smoothly once again. 

The rear derailleur was indicative of the amount of crud everywhere.

Now the bike's frame could be hung in the work stand and things went smoothly for a bit with the install of the new bottom bracket and the old crank set. The serviceable bottom bracket that was in the bike originally was just too pitted to be reused, so I found a suitable cartridge style bottom bracket to use instead.

The crank set was so clean I didn't bother trying to do anything to it yet. Another reason I feel this bike was ridden very little. There is a bit of oxidation, but I'll spiff things up if I decide to keep this bike. I won't know that until it is built and I've ridden it.

The next check came when I looked for a quill stem that I could use a drop bar with. I'd like to use a drop bar, but I wasn't sure that the seated position would work out.  Only one way to find out, right? Well, about that.....

Derailleur overhaul time.

That stem, which was in the bike originally, was an oddball Sakae forged "Bull Moose" style stem and the handle bar was clamped in at two points with removable clamps. This meant that the handle bar is a proprietary design too. This was one of the reasons I was thinking about a drop bar as well. 

But nothing I had would fit, even though they were "one inch" stems. That's because there are two one inch stem standards. The lesser common of the two is actually .833 of an inch, or nominally 22mm. 

So, yeah.... This was going to get complicated and I wasn't about to buy anything yet for this project. Remembering the "fix what ya got first" mentality, I decided then to go with the original parts. 

That meant I had to clean up the handle bar which had a good amount of rust on it, but a little elbow grease brought back most of that chrome shine, so it'll pass for the test of the bike just fine. I sure don't know where I'd find another handle bar to work with this stem right now, so it'll have to do. The good news is that the stem is fine and works as it should. It is a bit homely looking, in my opinion, but you sure won't see another one coming down the trail either as well. So, there is that. 

The jockey wheel on the left is not clean yet here.

I have the head set overhauled, the stem and handle bar on it, and the derailleur back together after a thorough cleaning. The lower jockey wheel is a bit stubborn yet, for my tastes, so I may pull that out again and polish up the bushing some. If that doesn't work I'll find something at the Collective I can replace that jockey wheel with. 

The wheel bearings should be here by the time you read this. Hopefully I ordered the right size this time! Ha! Anyway, if those go back together smoothly, and if I can find the dang axles again (!!!), I should have a rolling chassis and things will be a lot closer to being done. 

The next step will be overhauling the brakes and I think at that point shifters, cables, and throwing on some tires, a saddle, and a chain I might have laying about. Then I'll have this thing ready to see if it is worth my time to pursue as a bike for the stable, or whether it is going to get donated to the bike collective. So, stay tuned! I don't think this will take very much longer to figure out.

Roller Cams On The Brain: Update 2

Some oddball standards have redirected me.

 Last time I left you with an update on the old Dorado MTB I am building back up, I was showing you the wheel bearings. I needed to order new ones, and I did. 

Only I ordered the wrong size because I misread my calipers. Doh! 

So, I had to re-order the bearings and while I was waiting I got busy building up the rest of the bike.  Things started out a bit rough. That's to be expected after a bike has been neglected for years. 

I have mentioned that this was pretty much sat in a barn for a certain number of years. The bike is probably a 1987 model. After closer inspection of the parts, I am going to say that this bike was parked in the late 1980's and never ridden again. Sure, I could be way off on that, but regardless, this bike hasn't seen much action. 

Well, other than a process of slow decay. Time has a way with that. The evidence of decay was to be seen here and there. Rust on the handlebar. Crud on the components. Even the quick release seat mechanism was not working right. 

So..... What do you do? Today you'd most likely just toss that old quick release and get a new one, right? But back in the 80's, lots of components were serviceable. Yes - Even quick release seat binders. So, I tore the component down and found that, to no surprise, it was bone dry. No lubrication and lots of oxidation and dirt. A bit of clean up, some grease where it belonged, and reassembly later and the SunTour QR was working smoothly once again. 

The rear derailleur was indicative of the amount of crud everywhere.

Now the bike's frame could be hung in the work stand and things went smoothly for a bit with the install of the new bottom bracket and the old crank set. The serviceable bottom bracket that was in the bike originally was just too pitted to be reused, so I found a suitable cartridge style bottom bracket to use instead.

The crank set was so clean I didn't bother trying to do anything to it yet. Another reason I feel this bike was ridden very little. There is a bit of oxidation, but I'll spiff things up if I decide to keep this bike. I won't know that until it is built and I've ridden it.

The next check came when I looked for a quill stem that I could use a drop bar with. I'd like to use a drop bar, but I wasn't sure that the seated position would work out.  Only one way to find out, right? Well, about that.....

Derailleur overhaul time.

That stem, which was in the bike originally, was an oddball Sakae forged "Bull Moose" style stem and the handle bar was clamped in at two points with removable clamps. This meant that the handle bar is a proprietary design too. This was one of the reasons I was thinking about a drop bar as well. 

But nothing I had would fit, even though they were "one inch" stems. That's because there are two one inch stem standards. The lesser common of the two is actually .833 of an inch, or nominally 22mm. 

So, yeah.... This was going to get complicated and I wasn't about to buy anything yet for this project. Remembering the "fix what ya got first" mentality, I decided then to go with the original parts. 

That meant I had to clean up the handle bar which had a good amount of rust on it, but a little elbow grease brought back most of that chrome shine, so it'll pass for the test of the bike just fine. I sure don't know where I'd find another handle bar to work with this stem right now, so it'll have to do. The good news is that the stem is fine and works as it should. It is a bit homely looking, in my opinion, but you sure won't see another one coming down the trail either as well. So, there is that. 

The jockey wheel on the left is not clean yet here.

I have the head set overhauled, the stem and handle bar on it, and the derailleur back together after a thorough cleaning. The lower jockey wheel is a bit stubborn yet, for my tastes, so I may pull that out again and polish up the bushing some. If that doesn't work I'll find something at the Collective I can replace that jockey wheel with. 

The wheel bearings should be here by the time you read this. Hopefully I ordered the right size this time! Ha! Anyway, if those go back together smoothly, and if I can find the dang axles again (!!!), I should have a rolling chassis and things will be a lot closer to being done. 

The next step will be overhauling the brakes and I think at that point shifters, cables, and throwing on some tires, a saddle, and a chain I might have laying about. Then I'll have this thing ready to see if it is worth my time to pursue as a bike for the stable, or whether it is going to get donated to the bike collective. So, stay tuned! I don't think this will take very much longer to figure out.

Roller Cams On The Brain: Update

 When I last posted on this project about a month ago now, I stated that I had changed direction a bit and was wanting to just service the bike first and see what I had here. 

That meant that I wouldn't be sinking money into a project that may or may not turn out to be what I want. Not just in terms of the wheels, but in terms of the bike overall, which if you are not familiar with that, you can read about the bike here. 

I don't know how the bike will ride at all. I have no idea how it will fit me in a fine-tuned sense, which is what I'd want if I'm going to keep it around. And in my mind, I have nothing to lose but some time and a tiny amount of investment. See, if I build this up, and I don't like it, I will donate it to the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective and we can then just roll it out on the floor for a very low price. At worst, it will get someone some reliable transportation. 

My hope is that this Dorado Sherpa will replace my current Schwinn High Sierra bike, and if that Sherpa just turns out to be a home run in terms of fit and function, well I may then invest into a paint job and more. But first things first. The wheels needed addressing. 

A little finessing with a drift punch and a hammer, and then this happened.

The bearings were seized up from rust, and I figured if that was the case, well the aluminum of the hub and the steel of the sealed beraing may have bonded together a bit. So, out came my can of Kroil and I squirted a bit around the edges of the bearing where it sat into the aluminum hub shell.

A little careful tapping with a hammer and drift punch then displaced the bearings from their seats in the hub shell. One hurdle jumped! Bearings have been sourced and ordered. Next up, wheels will be assembled, tires mounted, and then I'll build up this beast into a rolling test bed. It won't be pretty, but I'll at least find out where I stand with regard to the direction this project will be going in.

Stay tuned.....

Roller Cams On The Brain: Update

 When I last posted on this project about a month ago now, I stated that I had changed direction a bit and was wanting to just service the bike first and see what I had here. 

That meant that I wouldn't be sinking money into a project that may or may not turn out to be what I want. Not just in terms of the wheels, but in terms of the bike overall, which if you are not familiar with that, you can read about the bike here. 

I don't know how the bike will ride at all. I have no idea how it will fit me in a fine-tuned sense, which is what I'd want if I'm going to keep it around. And in my mind, I have nothing to lose but some time and a tiny amount of investment. See, if I build this up, and I don't like it, I will donate it to the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective and we can then just roll it out on the floor for a very low price. At worst, it will get someone some reliable transportation. 

My hope is that this Dorado Sherpa will replace my current Schwinn High Sierra bike, and if that Sherpa just turns out to be a home run in terms of fit and function, well I may then invest into a paint job and more. But first things first. The wheels needed addressing. 

A little finessing with a drift punch and a hammer, and then this happened.

The bearings were seized up from rust, and I figured if that was the case, well the aluminum of the hub and the steel of the sealed beraing may have bonded together a bit. So, out came my can of Kroil and I squirted a bit around the edges of the bearing where it sat into the aluminum hub shell.

A little careful tapping with a hammer and drift punch then displaced the bearings from their seats in the hub shell. One hurdle jumped! Bearings have been sourced and ordered. Next up, wheels will be assembled, tires mounted, and then I'll build up this beast into a rolling test bed. It won't be pretty, but I'll at least find out where I stand with regard to the direction this project will be going in.

Stay tuned.....

Roller Cams On The Brain: Service What You Have First

Frozen: Not the movie either.....

 I have a side-hobby which involves learning about electric guitar amplifier repair. If you read my review on my new amplifier I got recently, you already know this. Anyway, one of the podcasts I have listened to quite a bit in the past was "The Truth About Vintage Amps with Skip Simmons". I found some parallels in philosophy on modifying old amps and old bicycles there. One of those parallels, which the featured person on that podcast often repeated, was along the lines of the following:

"If it works, or if you know that it did at one time, just service it first." 

That sounds obvious, but if you are a bike nerd, like I am, your mind can run amok with thoughts of , "Well, this would be cool to do with that.....". You know what I mean? You don't think about what it is so much as what you think it could be. And therein lies the beginnings of failed projects, troubles, lots of money spent, and broken dreams. 

Fix it first! See what you've got. If the bones are good, if the foundation is sound, okay then.... Maybe you've got a platform to customize from. Plus, you are not wasting time trying to make something into what it is not only to find out that the bicycle doesn't fit you, or that it handles oddly, or that you've spent so much on it you will never realize the benefit of your dollars spent. 

Not a lot of evidence of use here.

I have tried to internalize that wisdom I gained from Mr. Simmons, and I am going to apply it to this Dorado bicycle I have, which if you've missed seeing last December, you can go back and read about it here. 

This "fix what you've got first" mentality led me to stop and pause on my thoughts I had about the wheels and replacing them. The more I looked at the originals, and the more I thought about this wisdom I had gained, the more I came around to thinking about this project in a bit different light. I reconsidered a few things, and here is what I have found....

There is some patina here, but nothing detrimental.

A good hard look at the wheels revealed something to me. The evidence is telling me something here, and that is that this bicycle wasn't used very much at all. 

One thing I've learned over the years of service and retail bicycle work is that consumers are deathly afraid to use their front brakes. I guess catapulting off the saddle if you touch the front brake lever seems to be a myth that needs busting. That's not my point here. But since that seems to be the case for the vast majority of casual cyclists, you can readily tell if a bicycle has a lot of miles on it by looking at the rear wheel. That is, if it hasn't been replaced.

This is especially true if the bicycle is a rim-brake type bike. You just look at the brake track and determine how much aluminum has been ground away due to braking. In the case of the Dorado here, I am not seeing any major, or much minor wear, at all. The next thing you examine is if the wheels are true and tensioned properly. True and straight is one thing, but a wheel could have been trued and that throws the tensions off on the spokes. In the case of the Dorado, I don't see anything that would lead me to believe the wheels had been abused, or ridden all that much. 

Just rubbing my fingers on the rim was enough to polish up this area.

Then you take a look at the overall appearance of the wheels. Are they stained? Is there oxidation, rust, (same thing, but you know..), or is there any grease leakage over the hubs? This can indicate heavy usage of the wheels, but again, I am not seeing evidence of any of that.

So, why replace these wheels? Why not just service them, clean them up, and place them back on the bike? Really, the only thing wrong here is that the sealed bearings in the hubs show damage from sitting and having condensation rust the bearings. Pop in new sealed bearings and I cannot find any reason not to use these wheels. At least not until I find out this bike will be useful in some way. Maybe then I'd upgrade. 

Obviously, from an expense standpoint alone, not building up new wheels makes a lot of sense here. Those sealed bearings will be a lot cheaper to get and less time will be needed to finish that job up than it would take if I built new wheels. On every front, servicing first makes more sense. 

I have found that the frame of the Dorado is a bit longer front/center than my current townie, which might actually be a good thing. We will see. But I am thinking that if this turns out well, I'll be swapping townie bikes. Any way it goes, one of these is probably going to the Collective once I am done and will be donated for someone else to use. 

Stay tuned.....

Roller Cams On The Brain: Service What You Have First

Frozen: Not the movie either.....

 I have a side-hobby which involves learning about electric guitar amplifier repair. If you read my review on my new amplifier I got recently, you already know this. Anyway, one of the podcasts I have listened to quite a bit in the past was "The Truth About Vintage Amps with Skip Simmons". I found some parallels in philosophy on modifying old amps and old bicycles there. One of those parallels, which the featured person on that podcast often repeated, was along the lines of the following:

"If it works, or if you know that it did at one time, just service it first." 

That sounds obvious, but if you are a bike nerd, like I am, your mind can run amok with thoughts of , "Well, this would be cool to do with that.....". You know what I mean? You don't think about what it is so much as what you think it could be. And therein lies the beginnings of failed projects, troubles, lots of money spent, and broken dreams. 

Fix it first! See what you've got. If the bones are good, if the foundation is sound, okay then.... Maybe you've got a platform to customize from. Plus, you are not wasting time trying to make something into what it is not only to find out that the bicycle doesn't fit you, or that it handles oddly, or that you've spent so much on it you will never realize the benefit of your dollars spent. 

Not a lot of evidence of use here.

I have tried to internalize that wisdom I gained from Mr. Simmons, and I am going to apply it to this Dorado bicycle I have, which if you've missed seeing last December, you can go back and read about it here. 

This "fix what you've got first" mentality led me to stop and pause on my thoughts I had about the wheels and replacing them. The more I looked at the originals, and the more I thought about this wisdom I had gained, the more I came around to thinking about this project in a bit different light. I reconsidered a few things, and here is what I have found....

There is some patina here, but nothing detrimental.

A good hard look at the wheels revealed something to me. The evidence is telling me something here, and that is that this bicycle wasn't used very much at all. 

One thing I've learned over the years of service and retail bicycle work is that consumers are deathly afraid to use their front brakes. I guess catapulting off the saddle if you touch the front brake lever seems to be a myth that needs busting. That's not my point here. But since that seems to be the case for the vast majority of casual cyclists, you can readily tell if a bicycle has a lot of miles on it by looking at the rear wheel. That is, if it hasn't been replaced.

This is especially true if the bicycle is a rim-brake type bike. You just look at the brake track and determine how much aluminum has been ground away due to braking. In the case of the Dorado here, I am not seeing any major, or much minor wear, at all. The next thing you examine is if the wheels are true and tensioned properly. True and straight is one thing, but a wheel could have been trued and that throws the tensions off on the spokes. In the case of the Dorado, I don't see anything that would lead me to believe the wheels had been abused, or ridden all that much. 

Just rubbing my fingers on the rim was enough to polish up this area.

Then you take a look at the overall appearance of the wheels. Are they stained? Is there oxidation, rust, (same thing, but you know..), or is there any grease leakage over the hubs? This can indicate heavy usage of the wheels, but again, I am not seeing evidence of any of that.

So, why replace these wheels? Why not just service them, clean them up, and place them back on the bike? Really, the only thing wrong here is that the sealed bearings in the hubs show damage from sitting and having condensation rust the bearings. Pop in new sealed bearings and I cannot find any reason not to use these wheels. At least not until I find out this bike will be useful in some way. Maybe then I'd upgrade. 

Obviously, from an expense standpoint alone, not building up new wheels makes a lot of sense here. Those sealed bearings will be a lot cheaper to get and less time will be needed to finish that job up than it would take if I built new wheels. On every front, servicing first makes more sense. 

I have found that the frame of the Dorado is a bit longer front/center than my current townie, which might actually be a good thing. We will see. But I am thinking that if this turns out well, I'll be swapping townie bikes. Any way it goes, one of these is probably going to the Collective once I am done and will be donated for someone else to use. 

Stay tuned.....

Roller Cams On The Brain: Dorado Sherpa

'Nuthin' fancy! But it has roller cams!

 So, you may recall that I hinted around recently regarding the possibility of restoring/resto-modding an old mountain bike that I came across which was equipped with roller cam brakes. (You can read that post here if you want a reminder or missed it) Roller cams are odd-ball brakes but I find them fascinating and well......I just couldn't resist! 

So, I brought the thing home in pieces after inspecting it thoroughly and researching the frame and fork as much as I could. I didn't want to waste my time if it was going to be a bad foundation to work from. The bike had to have good bones first and foremost. I didn't need anything that would need major repairs or that was compromised by age and its accompanying rot and rust. 

I also did not want to be blinded to the facts that the bike had to (a) fit me and (b) have an end purpose to be worthy of working it up into a bicycle again. Roller cams are cool and all, but I don't need another bike, and roller cams are not enough to make me want to add a bike to the fleet. 

This thing seemed to pass all the test criteria I had. The frame seems to be a main triangle of 4130 CrMo steel, (or maybe its just a seat tube?) ,with high tensile stays. The fork is most likely a CrMo steel steer tube and high tensile fork uni-crown, but I could not find any specs to say one way or the other. So, it's no Ritchey, but I think it is good and high ten steel doesn't scare me. I toured on a high tensile steel fork and a frame that very likely had similar stays to this one I brought home. 

It's a true basket case!

Some of the spec on the bike will not be used in the finished product. I am leaning toward a resto-mod type build. My inclination is to convert it to a drop bar bike. But at any rate, I am not using the Sakae forged "bull-moose" stem because the OG handle bar, a steel one specially made for that stem, is pretty pitted out. 

The story here was that this bike sat in a barn for a long, long time. I had to be sure that this wasn't a bike that was rusted out or dinged up so badly from being kicked around that it had been compromised in some way. So, everything came apart and the first clue was that it came apart without a fuss. The visual inspection showed no signs of terminal damage. Just years of gronk on corners and a patina on the paint which can only be gained by sitting around for years. 

The welds and brazing all looked okay. there is paint there and it doesn't look all bubbled up or odd. It doesn't have the prettiest welds, but they are not terrible looking from what I can see. Speaking of paint, it is not in good shape. There has been a lot of scuffing, outright patches of paint scratched off, and it will need attention. 

It does have some pretty impressive investment cast rear drop outs which I found to be an oddity for a "budget" department store brand bike. (Costco, by the way). These rear drop outs have eyelets for rack and fenders, which plays into my purposes for the final build on this, by the way. 

Yes- That is a long steer tube!

The fork has low rider rack mounts, again something that plays into my designs for this project. I have my suspicions that this uses a BMX standard head set. I will have to do some finer measuring. That said, I see that good BMX threaded head sets are still a thing, so I could replace the one in this bike if need be. It's steel and pretty non-descript, so I am leaning on getting a replacement.

The triple crank set is in remarkable shape, and it looks little used, so that will probably go back on here. The free wheel is an old SunTour one, (of course it is), and so I think I will see if it can be revived, but I won't be broken hearted if I have to source a Shimano free wheel. Those old two-prong SunTour free wheels are not my favorites! 

Of course, the roller cams will be revived, it is kind of the point of the whole exercise, but not the deciding factor. Had the bike shown issues which I was not willing to, or could not address, I would have just bagged the brakes and sent the rest to the recycling bin. 

I haven't mentioned the wheels, but there were wheels with this bike. Old Suzue sealed bearing, nutted axle hubs. The bearings were pretty crappy, so those would have to be replaced. The rims are single wall, aluminum, silver anodized hoops that are not anything special. Additionally, I have a brand new Velo Orange free wheel rear hub which I can use to build a new wheel with, plus I have a set of wide 26" rims in silver waiting to be used up. I'll have to see if everything matches up hole-wise. I may end up with new rims, spokes, and a new front hub. 

 Okay, so what is my goal here? The "bones" of the bike are okay, but what would I build this up in to and how would I use it? 

Remember me mentioning the braze-ons on the fork and rear drop outs? Well, my vision for this bike is to build out the thing into a 26"er touring bike with friction shifters, a drop bar, and a leather saddle with platform pedals. I want to add racks and fenders and a nice, plump set of 26"er tires. Then I want to do a self-supported tour, over-nighter, week-long, or whatever I can. If I do this, here are a couple of other thoughts I have had.

First, I was looking at all these blinged out rides people have built up and I was thinking that's what I was going to do. Then I came to realize that this would be a huge mistake. I don't need a fancy-pants looking bike for a couple of reasons. One- If I am really going to do some self-supported, self-contained touring, my bike needs to be a tool. Not eye-candy which may cause trouble. Think about it...

Secondly, if it is more utilitarian in looks and in nature, I will use it more. I won't be afraid to drag it through the mud, ride it in the rain, or have gravel bouncing off the paint on the frame. A tough, durable finish then, with no real flash or anything to recommend it to the eye. That's going to be better than a shiny garage queen, I think. 

In fact, I thought about just sanding off the corrosion and touching it up with yellow paint from a spray can. Ha! That would be pretty "low-key" and low cost! But we'll see. This isn't going to happen quickly, I don't think. The wheels are the first big issue to tackle. 

Stay tuned....