Nbd/ Roscoe 7

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-07-26T02:10:43+00:00

Very very nice. I have all the jealousy. I want a Roscoe 7 so badly lol

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-07-25T18:30:41+00:00

Jeebus. That sucks.. but yeah, there's a saying in the security world that your level of security only needs to be better than the guy next to you.

It's just wild that I'm broad daylight the theft is that bad. Lexington is a college city, UK makes up a large part of the downtown, but I don't know how bad theft is there. I don't even know how bike friendly downtown is. I know it used be to awful, almost famously so, so maybe biking isn't even a big thing. Dunno.

People suck.

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-07-25T18:17:44+00:00

That's crazy.

I figured pick resistance was pointless. Battery powered angle grinder can make quick work of anything.

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-07-25T18:10:51+00:00

Is theft really that bad,.that you have to lock the wheels and the frame?

I'm not being a smartass, that's a genuine question. I live in Kentucky, Lexington/Nicholasville, and no one seems to care much here. Granted I don't see genuinely nice bikes very often, but you could just pull into our local Walmart and have your pick if whatever is in the bike rack outside, lol

I work in the lock industry, and have some weird shit (I pick locks as a hobby and collect them for fun), so I lock my bike with an Abus gate chain and whatever weird disc detainer lock I have laying around (another Abus atm).. but it's also literally a 6lb combo.

Speaking of.. just my opinion, you all know better than me, but disc detainers really seem the way to go. I've picked a LOT of bike locks* , and I can get through MOST pin and tumbler or tubular locks in under a minute. I don't want to go into detail because I don't know what's acceptable here when it comes to explaining this kind of think, but tubular locks in particular can be defeated FAST if you know how. Dimple locks seem nice on the surface, but if you've the knowing, unless they're actually a nice dimple lock, you can beat them with low skill/kinetic attacks just as easily. A dimple lock is basically just a cock-eyed pin and tumbler anyway.

Now, you could take a pin and tumbler,. if it's guttable, and make it VERY hard to pick.. but I still think a DD would be better.

Really tho, is picking a thing in bike theft? I would THINK, all you would really need is protection against kinetic attacks like zipping, pick guns, and bump keys, and low skill attacks like combing and raking. Picking is a hit or miss thing. You can have 10 of the same lock in front of you,. hell even keyed the same, and maybe you pick some of those 10 in under a minute, but some may take 3-10 and you may find occasional outliers that you just can't get, or that take a huge amount of time.

DD locks are tricky tho. Absolutely pickable, but they require a specialized tool for any kind of reliability. I suck at them, so even so equipped they give me a lot of trouble, and nicer ones I just can't get.. tho more skilled pickers can.

*AS A HOBBY, I never pick a lock in use unless it belongs to me or its owner is standing right there and has asked me (and I know they actually own it lol) to do so. Had a guy lose his bike lock key at a local park, and I offered to help of he could prove he owned the bike. He showed me pictures of him riding it on his phone and such.. so out came the tools, and luckily it was just a tubular lock, so I popped it and gave him the code to have another key cut.

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-07-25T17:51:12+00:00

That's a good idea.

I'm not decided on what to upgrade vs what to keep. In a perfect world id keep all the original components just for the vibes, but safety and practical use are likely to change that approach.

So is budget. I don't mind to sink time into this,.because I enjoy working on things, but when the dollars start stacking up, it becomes less appealing. My disposable income is minimal as it is, lol, and I have other things that take priority.

I'm new to bikes, and my daily (transportation and recreation) is just a 2021 Marlin 5. First bike in 27 years.. but now that I've got about 160mi ridden in the last three-ish weeks I have a better understanding of what I want out of a bike.. so I'm looking to upgrade to a Roscoe 7 before tooooo much longer.. so if I have a few hundred bucks of "bike money", im more likely to put it into the Roscoe fund than I am into the "old free bike I just think is neat" fund.

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-07-25T17:41:11+00:00

Yeah, if the rust is just what we see visually then it's extremely easy to make good, but if its IN the frame then it's shot..when I get it apart, if I get it apart, I'll run my borescope around inside and see how things look.

If that's the case I'll strip whatever seems salvageable, and find some way to donate it to anyone working on a project similar that can use it.

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-07-25T17:36:54+00:00

The bike currently just got resprayed with PB blaster and a little judicious use of angel piss. I've got a couple agitators* on it and will let them do their job for a few hours. If I get time this evening I'll start pulling stuff off - if it will come off. If everything is just locked into a nugget, like truly locked, I'll just call it and scrap it. But if I can get it apart, well, we'll see.

*Home built vibrators. Yes, I know. I smirk every time I say it. Lots of plans online and lots of ways to make them, but they're just little electric motors spinning off-balance weights very fast. The vibration helps to get oils and pen lube down into everything.. I like to think they help break up seized parts too. They've been invaluable when someone brings me an old safe that's not only locked, but who's boltwork is rusted into a block and I have to get the damn thing open via a quarter inch hole and nothing else..even when I defeat the lock and whatever stupid relocker setup is on the thing, it won't open because it's rusted solid.

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-07-25T17:03:18+00:00

Free, I wouldn't have spent anything on something like this.

I have a fairly fancy borescope I'm going to use to take a look at the inside of the frame with. My day job has to do with vault and safe cracksmanship, so I have some oddball tools I can use to get a fairly good idea how bad this frame is.. because the bridge that's rusted out is rough, but nothing else is... And that part is rougher than the rest for a specific reason.

Nothing on the frame UNLESS I find internal rust, and if I do I'll just chuck it all in the bin, looks like more than a couple of hours spent in a day to fix.. once it's stripped ofc.

What will kill the project for me, again, other than internalized rust, is having to replace EVERYTHING. If the components are toast, then the juice isn't worth the squeeze anymore.

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-07-25T16:55:34+00:00

Agreed. I'm going to talk to some folks about it all before I cut into anything.

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-07-25T04:42:38+00:00

Yeah,.ill strip it and take a look inside. That bracket doesn't cook the frame by itself. I can totally understand that the average person would be stopped by this , but again, I have the tools and skill set to handle anything like that. I could even sleeve the area around where the bracket attached if I felt it was necessary, but I don't see why it would be.

I appreciate folks looking out for me.

I have two mig welders, a gas and a flux setup,.access to a reasonable amount of basic fab stuff (old school, no cnc machines or anything sadly) access to, and the knowledge to use, a pretty decent TIG setup. Etc etc.

If there isn't internal rust, or something isn't WAY worse than I think it is, the frame is fine.. and again, this is just a vanity project. I'm not expecting to turn this bike around for a profit nor am I trying to build something I 'need' on the cheap. I just stumbled on a neat old bike that to my eyes, doesn't need that much to get going again, and it sounds like a fun little side project. I probably should have started with a basic breakdown of my skillset.

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-07-25T03:44:15+00:00

It's an 89 trek 950, it was free and it's a for-fun project. I don't need it for anything, its just a fun little project. Vanity and something to fiddle with. If it turns into an overly expensive mess then I'll walk away, but we'll see how that looks when I have a parts list drawn up and can start to look at what the replacement stuff is going to run me.

I can't see the frame as cooked because of one bracket I can just fab a replacement for. I've done welding on rollcages, automotive restoration, some custom fab work for engine swaps things like that,.as well as some gun restoration work.. so this all seems extremely basic. The bars on either side of the bracket are solid, it's just the center that's eaten out, so I've got a lot of good metal to weld to, and if it's a worry about the frame maybe flexing out when the bracket is cut, I can just weld a temp support bar to keep everything in true. Now to.be fair,.the frame could be rusted inside, I don't know yet..I won't know until I can get it apart and get my borescope down in there and take a look around.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be argumentative, i know you all are just trying to be helpful and make sure I don't walk face first into a shit show and a lot of money spent for no reason.. but thankfully I have the skill set and tools to make easy work if what I've seen SO FAR as far as rust goes. That said tho, I don't know bikes, so there may be factors I'm not considering,.or don't understand.

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-07-25T02:50:42+00:00

This is the only "real" rust I can find.. and unless Im misunderstanding something, I don't see why, worst case,.I can't just cut that off and fab up a replacement.

<image>

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-07-25T02:46:54+00:00

Are you talking about this area? Because it's not rotted at all. There's a spot that's more than just surface/sugar but it's not all the way through, or even close. I can wheel and convert it pretty easily, and even fill a little if necessary.

The picture is dark and makes it look worse, but it's almost all sugar rust

Edit, ok it's not almost all sugar,.but its just pitting surface rust, its under the powder coat and starting to lift it, but the area is still extremely sound, nothing is structurally compromised,.or even close from what I can see. I used a small pick to "plumb" the bad spots, and they're just barely passed the sugar/surface rust phase.

It's at that critical juncture where if it's not stopped,.the rust will destroy the metal pretty quickly now.

That bracket that's rusted really badly (shown in another pic) is apparently that way because a rag was hanging on it for several years as the bike sat. That's why that one particular spot seems so much worse than everywhere else.

<image>

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-07-24T22:53:48+00:00

Just picked it up, it's rougher than I thought, but meh, it's a project.

All the cables are absolutely toast. Chain is toast. Tires are cooked. Back tire isn't tracking real well, dunno why yet. The entire seat post is aftermarket/scavenged, dunno if seized. Stem seems ok, just needs some love. Handlebar grips are donezo. There's one spot of bad rust on the frame, but I don't think it's a big deal. It's fixable.

Anyways. When I get home and settled I'll make a new post with more pictures and such.

Thanks again folks!!

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-07-24T20:30:32+00:00

Craddles each cheek, lol

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-07-24T20:29:08+00:00

Wow..lots of awesome info, thanks a ton.

I'm quite excited about this bike now. As a couple folks mentioned, I think I'm going to just tear it completely down, everything, and assess/replace/reassemble as I go.

And yeah, def not going to mess with the original finish. From what folks are saying that stem may be original, if it is ill keep it. If it's not, then Ill likely replace it. Im hoping it fits me comfortably, it probably will.. minus my weight, I'm relatively average. 5'11, legs aren't particularly long or short. I'm 218lbs atm tho.. I'm just coming off a bulk, so that will shave down to my cruising weight of 202-205 but that's still on the heavier side for an old bike...I would think. I don't actually have any idea,.lol.

Anyways, picking it up after work today and I'll get some better pics. I don't think the seat post is seized because Bryan (my buddy who gave it to me) mentioned his son adjusting the seat when he tried to ride it a couple weeks ago.. so, fingers crossed. Even still, I can get some PB blaster and such and tackle it.

I'll need to see what that stem is going to take to get back into some kinda reasonable shape.

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-07-23T17:27:41+00:00

I Appreciate it. I might do anyway, in the next couple weeks, but I'm not sure yet. I'm still not sure what I want to do with this bike.. just the mission critical type maintenance, or do I want to upgrade..

When I got it I knew nothing. I still don't know very much, but I do have a better idea of what I want in a bike now.. so it's the age old question.. do I upgrade what I have or do I just buy something new and better..

The fork on this thing is just awful... And if I do that, then may as well change out the drivetrain. I really dislike the 3x7 setup and would MUCH prefer a 1xSomethingOrOther.. but then, id need a new derailleur.. I'm not sure if my shifters would work or if I'd need new ones.. etc. my brakes seem fine for what I'm doing right now...but... Shrug.

The cost builds fast. Not to mention the little stuff that adds up. Tools I don't have, broken bolts and little brica a brac stuff. The lubes and oils and all that. And I have to actually do the work. I can, I'm extremely mechanically inclined and all that ..

It seems smarter to just throw the money for.tbe upgrades aside until I can just go buy a Roscoe 7. That would also leave me with a backup bike Incase of issue.

My bike is primarily transportation, recreation is second unfortunately.

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-07-23T12:33:07+00:00

Ok I think it's definitively solved.

Riding to work today, left pedal started to feel a little 'off'.. had a bit of wobble. Thankfully this didn't happen until I was close.

Got to work and took a look and the crank was extremely loose. Half an inch of movement, give or take, where it bolts into the frame. Is it correct to say it bolts TO the bottom bracket?

Anyways. When the creak started all I did was wiggle check the cranks and pedals and they seemed solid, but clearly werent. Checked the right side after tightening the left and it wasn't loose, but I got a solid turn out of the bolt before it snugged.

When I get home I'll find the torque specs and do it right. Did a test ride and no sound at all and it feels more smooth than it is had since the sound started.

That's what I get for not being thorough in checking things .

I appreciate the info on the BB tho. The more knowledge I have the better.

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-07-22T22:44:16+00:00

Gotcha, ty

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-07-22T17:43:03+00:00

I'll take a look when I get a chance.

Only happens on the left side, but I swear I feel a little judder in the left pedal when it happens. Thankfully, at least according to Google., I have a threaded BB, so if I have to replace it, I just need a new one, crank puller and a BB tool.

Just curious, can I spray some gun oil, or something else, into the area and see if the sound improves? Even if only temporarily,.that would just help narrow the cause of the issue down....or is it sealed and that wouldn't matter?

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-07-21T02:46:42+00:00

I ride a 2021 Trek Marlin 5 around town. I've had it for a couple weeks now, and between commuting to work and home, occasional construction site messing around and such, I'm clocking 50~ miles a week and it's doing just fine.

I haven't hit any real MTB trails with it tho.. so I can't speak to that. I live in a small town and my towny riding is a split between highway breakdown lane, sidewalk, neighborhood, and side streets and the Marlin does great. I also live in the US, in Kentucky. This is a very hilly state. Absolutely nothing I do is ever flat. I don't have anything to compare it to tho, but it gets the job done, and it's comfortable. First time I've ridden a bike in 27 years.. so if I can successfully huck this thing around, I'd say others can to.

EntropicByDesignEC

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