Restoring my steel racing bike

During my time as a PhD student in Sweden I bought a bicycle. A 1983 Crescent racing bike to be precise, which had had a single owner before me, who kept it in mint conditions and never rode it in the rain. I rode it, a lot, in the rain too; which meant it was in need of some maintenance. And so I began the process of completely stripping it down, disassembling every single piece, which sometimes involved the use of a very large wrench.

I was actually lucky as the previous owner also gave me the original user manual from 1983, which included the exploded diagrams of most of the components.

Having stripped and degreased all the parts, it was now time for re-assembly. The wheels needed to be dished and straightened, so I built a tool for the job using some recycled wood and old L brackets for shelves.

It was now a rush for the finish line, with lots of coffee and a dubious look at the original saddle - will I replace this?

And after putting in new cables, tuning the gears and the brakes, adjusting the steerer tube to remove any play, and cleaning up, it was finally time for some long rides in the Swiss mountains.