Good evening.
Bit of an odd day, it stopped me getting bikes out into the yard with intermittent rain.
One minute sunshine, next rain, so I headed indoors to do a bit of much needed work on the Montesa cota 348.
As this is going to be used by me, and not for resale, I want to keep it low cost on renovation and as real as possible, as in where I can do, fit used parts to be sympathetic with time.
No point adding brand new parts as it will just look fake and a bit odd.
So with this in mind, I recycled a clutch lever that is period correct, just without damage, mine was bent forwards.
Having said that, it is much easier to say than do, I used my best Dewalt drill bit at 8mm, and set about opening up the part where the holding bolt goes through, it resisted for 20 minutes, nearly melted my drill bit in-between, but with the cooling down of both parts via a cold stainless steel sink, it was done. (I just sat them on it at intervals)
The next problem was the nipple off the cable, it also was a little big for the fit, so a 9mm drill bit cured that, and a lot quicker than the former part.
The end result is looking, after trimming excess alloy to fit, pretty good.
As much as I like and desire mint bikes, sometimes not buying new things, new parts, and recycling old parts is not only good for the wallet, it is for me good for the bigger picture of life itself, endless consumerism is not the way for me.
Here is how she sits now, still waiting for my 2 month old order from Spain.
I did refit the back wheel in the old farm house where nobody resides.
On a couple of those images you can see how badly bent forward that clutch lever was, but with a little effort, and some time, it is now sorted.
Hope you had a good day too. let me know in the comments below.
