# 10 posts, now here is my bike pic



## Hot Rail (Sep 22, 2011)

Just picked this up over the summer. Thought it would be fun to ride around in campgrounds and do some light rail trail riding. We have been having lots of fun riding and we are getting used to riding again.










The price was right and the frame seems solid. Thinking possibly of building it up a bit with a front suspension. I definitely need to do something with the brakes. The back cantilever is not very effective. The rear hub is set up for a drum brake but I am not sure that is the best solution, maybe convert to a disc or Magura rim brake. I joined the forum because I saw a few other Quatrefoils on here.
Pete

PS: Mine has 26" tires and not those silly 700Ds.


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## Okayfine (Sep 7, 2010)

Nice GT. The drum brakes aren't generally used as normal brakes (ala disc, or the cantis) but as a drag brake. If you have a long/steep decent and you don't want to hold the brake levers on all the way down, you'd engage the drag brake.

There are ways to convert to disc. I converted a hardtail KHS tandem to disc with a Brake Therapy bracket, and that worked well. The front is easier, with perhaps a Marzocchi Dirt Jumper series fork - 100mm so it won't upset the geometry too much and will take the weight, as well as having a disc mount.


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## Hot Rail (Sep 22, 2011)

Thanks Ok,
I understand the drag brake and did not think it was what I need. Just a bit better overall stopping power. I do not expect to do any heavy off roading with the bike so the Marzocchi should be just right.
Pete


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## Okayfine (Sep 7, 2010)

Oh, whoops. Just noticed you have what looks like a 1" threaded fork. Going to be difficult to find something for that. There were a few suggestions in another recent thread here, I'll see if I can find it.


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## Hot Rail (Sep 22, 2011)

Thanks OK,
The guy at the bike shop said it was 1 1/8 and I almost bought the Marzocchi on sale for $149. Would have been a great deal but I measured it myself and it is smaller than Sheldon Brown's quarter. Looks like I am out of luck on the front shock.
Pete


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## saint urho (Aug 24, 2011)

Maybe I don't know anything.. but I wouldn't be adding a suspension fork to a frame that wasn't designed for it.. you should be able to get a rigid fork with disc brake capability...

That back brake should be plenty strong.. try new pads (koolstops) and make sure it's adjusted correctly. Paul's components (google them) has some brake options that can bolt right on.

Great bike though!


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## Okayfine (Sep 7, 2010)

saint urho said:


> Maybe I don't know anything.. but I wouldn't be adding a suspension fork to a frame that wasn't designed for it.


I've done it on a KHS, and people do it on Cannondales all the time that came with a rigid fork from the factory. It does alter the geometry, but it alters it much less than if you have the same change on a single bike (due to longer wheelbase).

Ventanas are designed around a 100mm suspension fork, but that doesn't stop people putting on longer-travel forks. There are compromises no matter which way you go.

To the OP - I never did find that thread about the 1" forks. It's here in the tandem forum somewhere - you might try PMing PMK as he was the major contributor to the thread and he might remember which thread it was.


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## Hot Rail (Sep 22, 2011)

Saint, you are right. I should just leave it alone and enjoy riding it but like the others on here, I like to upgrade and improve my toys. It started out looking to add the drag brake that is common on tandems but the price exceeds what I paid for the bike. Thinking for that money I can upgrade the brakes and go with a suspension fork. I have seen another Quatrefoil with a RockShox Judy SL and Magura hydraulic rim brakes. That looks like the ideal setup for the riding we do but I think the Judy may be hard to find.

Also, I have researched and it seems that my bike is a 1993. That was the last year for that model and the only one to have 26" wheels instead of that stupid 700D setup. 
Thank you all,
Pete


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## bme107 (Jul 23, 2008)

Hey now the 700D is today's 650B. Tires and rims are not hard to come by once you know what you're dealing with.

The rear U-brake setup is plenty strong. I'd suggest some new pads, cleaning/light sanding of the rim and adjustment of the cables. Ours is sufficient for the type riding you describe.
The canti's on the other hand........ I'd swap them out immediately for V's if it weren't for the brake/shifter levers that are all-in-one units.

I've pondered adding suspension and could with the headtube built for 1-1/8" threaded. The advantage my bike would have would be to drop to 26" wheels in the front to not throw off angles as much. Though I'd probably also then want to switch to 26" in back, which would then require disc brake tabs added to the frame like Plum did to his. Catch 22. So in the end it will probably stay like it is for the amount we use it.

1991 Quatrefoil.


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## Hot Rail (Sep 22, 2011)

Thank you BME,
I just put new pads on front and rear and cleaned the rims. It does seem a bit better. The front brake is a V brake and grabs pretty well. I think the looooong cable is the issue with the rear brake. We have been having a good time with ours. It gets lots of attention riding around in the campgrounds. I can't tell you how many times I have heard "She is not peddling"...
Pete


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## bme107 (Jul 23, 2008)

In addition to cleaning a light sanding of the braking surface on the rim will knock down any stuck-on or embedded junk that has built up over the years. If you ran it with the old pads for a while once you got it there may be build up of the old material that burnt off the first few times you tried to stop. 400grit wet sanding followed by a wipe down of the rim with a clean rag will get rid of that.

Another thing to check, because I can't tell from your pic, is that the rear brake cross-over cable is routed like this:








It needs to be like that to get the proper pull angle on the U-brake arms.


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## Hot Rail (Sep 22, 2011)

I am not sure about the cross in the cables. I will check when I get home. Do you think the U-II was worth while?
Pete


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## bme107 (Jul 23, 2008)

What are you referring to? The bridge or the eccentric adjustment?


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## Hot Rail (Sep 22, 2011)

Actually I thought they might have been one unit. I was looking at the bridge and wondering if that would do any good for me. My pads seem to line up so not sure if I need the eccentric adjustment.
Pete


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## bme107 (Jul 23, 2008)

It's all one unit. See my thread here:
http://forums.mtbr.com/vintage-retr...rake-w-flex-guard-u-ii-adjustment-639356.html
Nothing to adjust to make them better. Once it fits your seat stays, that's it.


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## rose (Sep 29, 2006)

Very cool bikes!


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## Hot Rail (Sep 22, 2011)

Thank you Rose,
I am getting the bike out this morning. We are going to check out the trails along the upper schuykill river. 77 degrees and sunny can't pass up a weekend like this. 

BME,
I looked and my cables are crossed like yours. The U-II looks like a reasonable upgrade if I can find one. Seems they must be discontinued. I searched on Amazon.com and only came up with a fishing reel...
Pete


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## Hot Rail (Sep 22, 2011)

Thank you kvklay,

We had the bike out over the weekend. Road the RailTrail outside of Hamburg PA. I know it was kinda short but it was really cool blasting past all the other bikes. Then road around the campground a bit.


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## bde1024 (Feb 14, 2005)

bme107 said:


> Hey now the 700D is today's 650B. Tires and rims are not hard to come by once you know what you're dealing with.QUOTE]
> 
> Here's what Sheldon Brown had to say about 700D and 650B: 700 D Bicycle Tires from Harris Cyclery (ISO/E.T.R.T.O. 587 mm). It seems the 650B bead diameter is 3 mm smaller. Have you been able to mount 650B tires on 700D rims? I'm looking at a used Quatrefoil with the 700D wheels as a cheap option for trying tandeming with my wife, and don't want spend a lot of money changing wheels or rims.
> 
> By the way, for safety reasons, I wouldn't even think about using a Judy fork on the GT, they were marginal even on a single bike. An older Marzocchi Z series Bomber with 1 inch steel steerer and 75mm travel would probably be a better bet, and I believe some of them had I.S. disc tabs as well as canti studs.


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## Hot Rail (Sep 22, 2011)

bde, I have been very happy with my Quatrefoil as an inexpensive tandem but I was lucky that mine has standard 26" wheels. If you get past the 700D issue, I am sure you will be quite pleased. Thank you for the advice on the Judy. If I can find the Marzocchi Bomber, maybe I will give it a try. It all sounded easy at first but starting to be a major project so I will probably leave it alone.


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## JokerW (Nov 5, 2004)

> but like the others on here, I like to upgrade and improve my toys


and why not?

I added a disc to the rear of our KHS, along with a 105mm Marzocchi fork, albeit, not a Dirt Jumper, but we might go there eventually.
To add the disc was actually a little involved, but so worth it. I started by making an adapter to mount a 6 bolt rotor to our Shimano hub (threaded for a drag brake). I went with 1/4" SS plate, lasercut and tapped.









I then made a jig, which was a piece of 18ga SS, to locate the holes for the rear mount, per ISO standard. The disc mount tab itself is a piece of 10ga 304 SS, and I added a little 14ga SS brace between the seatstay & chainstay.









I added an Avid 203 adapter, and a little shimming, to get the BB-5 caliper to line up with the rotor.
I purposely made the rotor adapter "thinner", so that we could run the 203 rotor, in our narrow frame.
I'll have to add a picture of the final setup later.

For a look at our front end, 
https://forums.mtbr.com/tandem-mountain-bikes/dirty-sheet-refurbishing-ol-ride-736273.html


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## gm1230126 (Nov 4, 2005)

Hot Rail said:


> PS: Mine has 26" tires and not those silly 700Ds.


Now don't go knocking the 700D's. The rims are great and the 650B tires bead just fine and it's a faster ride that rolls over the bumps better.


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## bme107 (Jul 23, 2008)

bde1024 said:


> bme107; said:
> 
> 
> > Hey now the 700D is today's 650B. Tires and rims are not hard to come by once you know what you're dealing with.
> ...


Sorry it took a while to get back to your question. Yes I've mounted Kenda Nevegals 650Bx2.1 to the stock 700D rims. 3mm diameter difference, split between opposing beads is only 1.5mm. The molds for tires aren't accurate enough to worry about that small bit. They seat up just fine.
From this:









To this:


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## bde1024 (Feb 14, 2005)

bme107 said:


> Sorry it took a while to get back to your question. Yes I've mounted Kenda Nevegals 650Bx2.1 to the stock 700D rims. 3mm diameter difference, split between opposing beads is only 1.5mm. The molds for tires aren't accurate enough to worry about that small bit. They seat up just fine.
> 
> Thanks for the info.


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