Kharkovskaya Lastochka - FINISHED

[SpikeFC]

So first - The name - in russian means Swallow from Kharkov - a now Ukrainian (earlier Soviet) city where for this day the best known Soviet bicycles that go by the brand "Ukraine" are made. Swallow is the factory's mascott that is featured on all emblems.

Second - the bike:

It's a XB3 (Kharkovskyi Velocipednyi Zawod - Kharkov Bicycle Factory) YKPAUHA (Ukraina - Ukraine) from 1979. Bought it with another Soviet-made bicycle back in 2005 for a gigantic amount of money... something like 15$ It was in very poor shape, made it kinda-ridable, and even rode it in the winter of 2011-2012.

After that i just took it apart (mostly) and it just layed in my basement/garage/attic/workshop, and just deteriorated over the years. After i dug it out from the workshop it came out like this:

Also - a friend of mine made me some cool pinstripes back in '09:

And those also have kinda deteriorated trough the years

I still need to dig out some parts from the workshop, and wait for some parts to be shipped. Since it's a long holiday here in PL (1-6 May), and this one stayed at the shop, I can't do much of a progress with it in the following week.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Cool stripe work! Looks even better with the age on it.

 

[OddJob]

Nice RaT-ina on that frame and parts. This one already has caught my eye.

RaT oN~!

 

[macncheese]

 

[SpikeFC]

So I was going to take the truck today and move some stuff for my boss, and asked him:

- Hey, Peter, can we go for a moment to our shop?
- Well if you want but why?
- I need to pick some parts for the RRB Build-Off...
<Insert dramatic face of my boss right here>
- I got the keys to the shop, get in the truck, we have no time to loose!

So I picked up some parts today.

Found a set of old wheels to use the rims off of them:

The rear one had still a genuine "Made In USSR" tire

Also a new hub for the front - something that I found in the box labeled - "Reusable Junk":

And the rear hub - something I bought real cheap a month ago to use on this one, and on one of my other bikes. Classical SACHS 3 Gang, 3 speed with coaster brake.

But what are the wheels without spokes? Therefore I picked two sets of silver Sapim Leader spokes, and black Sapim nipples to go with them.

So at this moment I have most of the parts, just need to order some lights for it.

 

[SpikeFC]

What can you do, when you can't sleep, wake up at 8:00am, and don't want to do any noise, cause your girlfriend is asleep?

Eyup! You silently go to the livingroom and make a wheel!

The setup of the wide, rusted rims (1" or so), silver spokes and black nipples works great.

 

[Starnger]

I LOVE where this is heading to!
There is a cool youtube channel of the guy from Moscow, specialized on restoring of old soviet bikes. He even has the bike with similar pinstripes to yours in one of his videos You might find it useful.
Also feel free if you need a help of a Russian-speaker, to research some Russian internet forums for useful info about those beauties

 

[sdframe]

You work in the perfect place for us ratters.

 

[SpikeFC]

I LOVE where this is heading to!
There is a cool youtube channel of the guy from Moscow, specialized on restoring of old soviet bikes. He even has the bike with similar pinstripes to yours in one of his videos You might find it useful.
Also feel free if you need a help of a Russian-speaker, to research some Russian internet forums for useful info about those beauties

Wow! Totally need to see that! Also thanks for the help, I can read only a little in Russian, and I will definitely need some help with my other Ukraine bicycle that I want to convert to a trekking-ish thing.

You work in the perfect place for us ratters.

Thanks Actually I was surprised to get this job, since I always wanted to be a full time bicycle mechanic, but never had enough confidence to try that as my full time job.

Tommorow is the big day! All the work in the shop was made before the long holidays so I will have a lot of time to work on this one, and the second bike from Class 2

 

[arty dave]

I have a soft spot for the Sachs 3 speed coaster hubs... actually I like most internal gear hubs, but the Sachs has cool looks and function. They made a great front drum hub too.

 

[SpikeFC]

Who is the derp? Spike is the derp!
I thought that my camera charger was at my workshop. When I came to the shop I realised it was home all along So my old Samsung cellphone had a tough day today cruising between a charger, and taking photos.

@sdframe I made a photo of my wokrshop in the shop for you

Also have another workshop downstairs for "heavy & dirty" work where we make most of the bikes. Will take a photo of it tommorow.

So today was marked with only one gigantic word - PROGRESS.

First of all - Centered the wheels, and their "kinda" striaght. At least enuogh centered as I could make them on those old rims, and enough so that they will not bum the frame and fenders.

Also put tires on them, and new tubes. Tubes are Continental 28" Wide, and tires are 28"x2.0 Retro.

Next thing - fitted the rear one into the frame, and put new bolts for the fender mounts.

The clearence is just stupid. There is like 2mm clearence on both sides on the lower and upper fork, but that is exactly how I wanted it to be - nice and fat.

I definetly need a new headset, don't you think?

Fear not! I have a box titled "Used Headsets" And after a while I found a matching headseat. Some of the parts in it, are still Made in USSR!

Also decided that I need to clean up the chrome on the fork. Also had to drill and re-thread all of the fender mounts in it. "Ukraine" was a typical Utility Bike, and boy, did she see some "Utility" use in the past 40 years...

Then the time came to mock up both wheels.

And boy... do I like the looks of it!

Time came to mount the front fender, and since the clearences where the same as in the rear, that was a difficult job.

Good thing is that I keep all of the old washers out of used brake pads. They come handy in a lot of situations! Had to mount this fender mount upside down for propper fitment.

As some of you may noticed I used a Quando front hub with a disc brake mount, and that's where this little fella came in handy.

Eyup! Rear coaster brake, and front 160mm disc brake, that I found in the box labeled "Reusable Junk". That box is a gift that keeps on giving!

Also found this brake caliper, and after cleaning, and greasing all the screws it came out pretty nicely (yeah I have a fetish on greasing every thread I can find - it makes maintanace a lot more easier!)

Not much more to it - but hey! Now it at least works properly.

Next step - mount the front brake setup to the fork.

And yeah, again the old brake pad washers came in handy, and yes - you guessed it! The clearences here are also crazy - 1mm from the disc to the fork.

Step three - Found the original stem and steering bar.

Took it apart, cleaned a little bit from the rust, and mounted it. to the bike.

Spike:
"I think that's a little bent..."
Spike's thoughts:
"What? No... Just put it back together, there's nothing to see here... move along..."

Step Four - BB Axle, and crankset.

Found the BB Axle that was put there years ago. Nothing special, but hey! It's like the only part that wasn't eaten away by rust. Or at least not that much...

Problems started when I finally decided on a crankset. I Choose the old Shimano Alivio crankset that came out of my Girlfriends trekking bicycle. Had to change it, cause she totally wasted most of the teeth on the biggest & middle sprocket.

Looks normal right?

ERROR! As I put it in I remembered the problems that I had with her bike, when I put a new crankset, and tried like three different lenghts of the BB Axle untill the whole setup started working. Those cranks need a very stupid lenght of the axle. With this one (that was only 124.5mm) even the smallest sprocket came out waaaaaaay outside of the rear wheel sprocket. So back to the drawing board, and then I realised something...

When I changed the crankset I also changed the BB axle, and that means that I still had the old original Shimano Alivio BB Axle to match with these cranks!

Eyup! Totally better! The only problem that I needed to solve where the chewed sprockets. Also didn't like the size of it (42 on the biggest), and the fact that all of them are connected to one another, and you can't find new replacement parts (well duh! they made them more than 20 years ago) gave this stupid idea...

Lets marry the Alivio crank arm with the biggest sprocket of this used crankset that I found in the box labeled "Broken S$%^T ! Use ONLY for postapocalyptic Costumes!" And so let the butchery begin...

But that's the step that will happen on wednesday, cause tommorow is the day to work on the project from Class 2

But that's not all! Also decided, that since she's "kinda" a roller (still need to clean and change the grease in the rear hub), she deserves to see the light of day! So took some photos outside of the shop.

And yeah - here's a hint of what my goal is - a 3speed, disc brake... Board Tracker.

 

[arty dave]

Love the fit of the tyres under the mudguards !!!

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Love the fit of the tyres under the mudguards !!!

Absolutely! Looking very cool, I bet it rides nice too!

 

[Starnger]

Nie pij wódki, nie pij wina - kup sobie rower "Ukraina"?

 

[SpikeFC]

Nie pij wódki, nie pij wina - kup sobie rower "Ukraina"?

Close enough Nie pij wódki, nie pij wina, kup se rower "Ukraina"

For all of you who don't speak polish it means "Don't drink vodka, don't drink wine, buy a bike Ukraine"

And yeah, that rhyme on the frame toally stays!

More progress tomorrow

 

[sdframe]

Great looking tires and handlebars. It's coming along very nicely.

 

[SpikeFC]

Great looking tires and handlebars. It's coming along very nicely.

Thanks! I was hoping for it all along, that those Continental tires that I choose would fit in the frame & fork, since Ukrainas originaly ran on 28"x1.75. Also it was kinda an experiment since I have another one of those frames that I want to convert to a trekking-ish thing next year with the same size of tires.

At least now I know they will fit in the frame

 

[HuffnPuff]

That frame looks almost new in comparison to the rest of the parts.

 

[SpikeFC]

That frame looks almost new in comparison to the rest of the parts.

That's way there's a saying about Soviet technology - "Gniotsya, nie lamiotsya" witch means "It bends, but it doesn't brake"

 

[OddJob]

This build has so much coolness going on! Really dig the tires / fenders combo, disc front brake, 3 spd hub....

I used the Continental Retro tires on a build a couple years ago in Arizona. They ride like a dream! Fit your build perfectly!