Nishiki Cresta GT and other stuff

I've been rebuilding a Nishiki touring bike...........things have been moving along kind of slowly. The bike has basically been stripped down to the frame. I have not removed the headset yet, but everything else has been torn down. The crankset, bottom bracket, freewheel and seatpost have all been cleaned up. The frame has been wiped down pretty well with a greasy rag but I still need to go over it with lighter fluid.............works great for removing all sorts of gunk, sticker residue and the like. Also started on the wheels. The rear has been trued. Front has some bent spokes that need straightening or possibly replaced. Hubs need rebuilding as well.

I would say it's cleaning up pretty well thus far. I have no pictures to prove it though. I ran out of Mudshine cleaner some time ago and have started using Simple Green as a replacement cleaner. I've been using a 10:1 ratio, as thats how it came mixed in the spray bottle they supplied. In the future I may ramp that up to a 1:1 ratio. The 10:1 ratio is no match for the results I was getting with the Mudshine.

I did a swap meet in early December and another in mid January. The Milwaukee Swap in December was kind of small and I did not sell much to speak of. The Madison swap in January was huge and I did much better than at Milwaukee, although not nearly as well as I did at Madison last year. I also spent more. I got there early. I was one of the first vendors in and got set up as quickly as possible, leaving myself about 45 minutes to shop the other vendors before the doors opened to the public. I bought....................a rare Park CCP-1 crank puller, a short 1 1/8 Salsa stem, an early 1970's Brooks B15 in very nice shape, a black Selle San Marco suede saddle also in very nice condition, an NOS 1990's Suntour bottom bracket fairly rare and an Ibis Mojo MTB frame from the late 1990's.

I have returned to full time work after being off for about 8 weeks so bike work will be progressing slowly. I have registered for a swap meet in Chicago on March 9th and I have at least 6 bikes ready to go so that will not be an issue.