- Okay a bit more of an unusual one this week.
You might notice this fine specimen
of a bike in front of me here.
This is a 1993 Diamond Back Sorento.
Why have I got this? Well, this week is our freak week.
Doing a whole bunch of weird and wonderful things.
But the point is I was asked to buy a second hand bike.
One for myself, one for Blake and one for Neil.
I picked this bike up for 125 quid.
It's a bit of a bargain and it
makes an ideal run around bike.
Of course, I don't really fancy riding into town
on my expensive Canyon or Nuke Proof and
locking them up despite how good locks are.
So this actually going to become
a bit of a commuter bike for me as well.
So, it's a really good thing for any of you to buy at home.
Buy a second hand bike just as a rat bike.
Running around sort of thing. And when you do buy one
I'm just gonna show you all the safety features
you need to check out on your bike.
Now, to see if it's in good condition or not.
Now where always I learned this was working in bike shops
growing up was working from front to back.
Doesn't matter what your method is
but just makes sure you have an accurate method
of working on the bike so you don't forget anything.
As I said, I'm going to start up front and work to the back
of the bike and run you through it.
The first thing I'm drawn to is the tyre.
So these are actually ancient Tioga Psycho 2 tyres.
So that's a second edition of what
wasn't a very good tyre to start with.
Unless you are John Tomac, of course.
Amazingly for the condition of it,
the rubber is not perished, that's what you're
really looking for in a tyre as old as this.
Gonna make sure it's not likely to fall apart.
Inspect the sidewalls of the tyre as well.
You just want to make sure they're in good condition.
Of course, a tyre is fairly cheap to replace
just for a run around bike like this.
So you don't have to work too much but it's nice
to keep it as it is if you can.
Then we're gonna be starting to look at the wheels.
Have a run around, make sure the wheel's not too buckled.
Doesn't move too much side to side or up and down.
Make sure the spoke tension is
fairly even throughout the wheel.
I'm quite astounded at the condition
of this bike just from looking at it.
It's going to be interesting to see
what sort of things crop up as we look at the bike.
All of these spokes feel pretty good.
There is a bit of movement in that rim but nothing too much.
So unlike modern mountain bikes that have
some kind of axle system in the front fork,
it's just a simple quick release on this.
So this is a stainless steel quick release lever.
Works on a cam system just to hold the front wheel in place.
Make sure the lever is facing up or to the back of the bike.
You don't want the lever facing out front because
that could snag on stuff and undo when you're riding.
Now there are tabs on the bottom of the forks
so if the quick release does undo
it means you've got a last ditch attempt but
don't rely on that just make sure you keep an eye on that.
Now, if I spin this and I hold the fork,
I can feel there is noticeable vibration
coming through from the front wheel.
So I suggest that the bearings are quite smooth
and there's no sort of play side to side.
Whilst we still have the front of the bike here
you want to look at the cockpit and make sure
the handlebars are attached to the stem properly.
In this case there's a six mil bolt
here attaching to the stem clamp.
Make sure it's not over tight and
make sure the bolt isn't corroded or broken in any way.
Of course, make sure the bars are nice and straight
and there's no cracks in them.
On this particular bike you've got
some Altus 4 finger brake levers here.
There are monsters compared to what you're used to nowadays.
But just make sure they're in place properly
and the barrel adjusters haven't broken off of them
because you do need that when adjusting the brakes.
Something that does make me laugh on this
is firstly it has a pair of Yeti handle bar grips on there.
Quite expensive considering the calibre of this bike.
And also it's got Shimano groupset on the bike.
But whoever owned this bike previously
put some Sax thumb shifters on.
Every one is indexed as you would imagine.
But the front shifter is not, it's a friction based one.
Which means there's no spring pulling
the front mech in either direction.
You're just using the cable tension.
But it means it's infinitely adjustable as well
which is quite a good thing because
anything bends on the ride you can sort of change the gear
to sort of make sure nothings dragging.
So as I explained in the beginning
the fork and the whole front end of the bike is very
different to what a lot of you are probably used to.
Older style systems like this are far less reliable
a lot heavier, a lot clunkier and
do require a lot more maintenance. And if run loose,
can actually destroy the bearings quite easily.
This particular one actually feels pretty good
so I've got high hopes for this.
Now on top of the steer tube
is welded on to these forks is some threads.
There's a bearing here just like on a traditional
headset that you know and a bearing on the top.
The difference is there's a threaded nut here
and that screws on to the top of the
threaded steer tube and compresses it together.
Now on some headsets you have two nuts,
a lock nut and a tightening nut.
This thing just has a single nut.
So it's going to require a bit of fine tuning for that.
The stem itself has a quill design.
So unlike the lightweight stems you see
that clamp on to the steering tube
this one has a big quill that goes on the inside
and has a wedge that when you tighten the bolt on the top
it draws up and expands inside the steering tube.
Now the thing with the wedges is it can,
with corrosion and road salt and stuff,
pretty much bond to the inside of the fork
and become stuck in there. Or the opposite is
they never manage to grip tight enough
so the stem can actually move quite easily.
You really want to pay attention
to that cause that's for own safety.
At the same time as checking the fork
making sure it's nice and straight,
cast your eye over all of the welds of the bike.
And what you're looking for is corrosion
or any signs of the weld itself being cracked.
And again, the tubes as well, you're going to
make sure everything is straight, stiff
and not so corroded or cracked and damaged.
So something else that's going to cause you problems
if anything, on a bike of this age,
it's going to be the cranks and bottom bracket area.
If these cranks are not tightened sufficiently on the axle,
the axle itself is a square taper,
so if the cranks aren't butted up properly
against the taper they work their way loose.
And the crank itself on the inside is made of a softer
material than the bottom bracket axle is.
It will actually sort of deform slightly and
you'll never be able to tighten the crank properly again.
And it will creak and come loose every single ride.
Any rider of the 90's will be familiar with
that absolute pain so just make sure you look after them.
As long as they're tight, they're gonna last you.
So, on an old bike like this you want to
be making sure that you don't have to replace
the whole transmission otherwise
it defeats the purpose of buying a cheap bike.
And I just checked the chain on this
and interestingly there's not even that much wear.
It's got about half the amount of wear
I would have thought a bike of this age would have.
And again the ricker set looks okay
and the gears genuinely work really well.
The neck is straight and the hanger is straight.
But you just want to make sure you check all
of these things before you buy the bike.
Unlike the more traditional brakes you see these days
which would be disc brakes and in some cases V brakes
the traditional counter lever brake has quite a lot
more adjustment on it and one of the biggest things
you need to pay attention to is the arc of the pads.
So in this case, the rear left pad here is
actually contacting the tyre sidewall.
Obviously that's going to wear out your tyre sidewall
and it will give you a puncture or failure of some kind.
So it's really important to make
sure it's secure and tightened.
Now there are two types of cable set up on these as well.
There's the more traditional version which has a cable
straddle here and there's a single cable that passes across
the brakes and then a single brake cable
that comes down to the straddle and bolts into it.
In this case it's got the Shimano system with the
little yolk here for the cable for the lever passes through
the yolk and straight to the brake and has a built on cable
just for making sure you can undo the brakes
to release the wheel from the frame.
Again, this is another thing well worth checking
because if that's frayed, the brake fails
and you don't have any brakes.
The last things to check on this bike is the rear axle
just make sure it's tight and in place properly.
You want to check the bearings to
make sure nothings loose or rattly.
So there is quite a grindy feel to that
but nothing's loose and it goes round.
I suspect the bearing's surfaces
due to the age of the bike, are just pitted slightly.
So that happens if something's been overtightened
or just ridden until it was just absolutely done.
Hopefully my rundown on buying a second hand bike
like this trusty old Diamond Back that I've got here
has been pretty helpful for you.
At the very least you're gonna take away some
points and different componentry to you
that's not that common these days.
If you want to find out about
buying a second hand bike click down here.
Pretty useful video on all the things
you should look out for and how to spend your money wisely.
If you want to see another retro bike
check out the Proflex down here that Neil has done.
That is a seriously cool old bike.
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