Phillips Rod Brake Roadster Bicycle Update

Here is just a quick update on the Phillips project. The wheelset now has its rim tape, tires, and tubes. I've cleaned out the bottom bracket  and prepped it for reassembly. The good news: the cups can be re-used and are in great shape. The bad news: the spindle needs to be replaced, but I do have a decent Phillips replacement at hand for the task.

I also de-rusted and re-painted many of the "small" parts that needed to be totally redone. This includes a couple of the fender stay holder parts and the rod brake clamps/stops. These will "wear in" gradually to resemble the rest of the project. These parts were in pretty rough shape. However, some Evaporust and a good wire brushing cleaned them up for basic painting. They don't need to be perfect - just work with this particular project.

As a tip - if you're using original screws (do it if you can re-use the originals), keep careful track of where they belong. While some screws interchange, others do not. There are some subtle differences in some of these screws because of how they have "worn into place" over the past 85+ years. Sometimes the screws might seem like they'll interchange, but if you get them all mixed up, you hit problems trying to re-assemble.  Here, each set of screws is right above the particular clamp or bracket they match.