I was a career driver until a stroke left me unable to drive. Due to balance issues, I bought a Schwinn Meridian Tricycle as my primary means of transportation. Watching your videos has inspired me to learn how to maintain and repair some of the things on my trike. I've even started buying bike tools as I need them. I just want you to know that an elderly, disabled guy gets some much needed guidance and motivation from you and your videos. Please keep up your valuable work.

You are the Bob Ross of bike restoration

Does it have cop tires and cop shocks?

I’ve never found a bike restoration video more relaxing than this.

Squeek squeek, that's da sound of da police!

As the owner of a vintage 2003 TREK 7500FX, which has been hanging on the garage wall for better than 10 years, this video is super-helpful. Thank you for posting this stuff, your channel is just great.

HELLO BIKE FARMER! I've been in the industry for a little over three decades as a salesman/"tech" and recently retired. More accurately, I lost my job when the shop owner got fed up with the industry after 10 years and closed the business up for good. It's good to see guys like you are hangin in there. Our shop (Wiggle Bicycles in San Francisco) did a LOT of the same things you're doing, resto-mods & custom builds along with new bike sales. I've experienced just about everything you've described customer-wise and then some! One of the more positive experiences I had was a customer looking at *new* bikes, when she described her *old* bike I stopped her right there and told her to bring it in for an assessment, I told her "You might not need a new bike." My boss gave me a look but... and you know what margins are for new bikes. Any rate... We took her *old* Trek, made a couple of modifications, tuned it up and essentially made it a whole different bike. She was pleased. The shop also made more on that resto-mod than it would have made on a new bike. Oftentimes trying to sell the latest & greatest isn't right for everyone. You're right, bike mechanics are viewed as a$$hole$ by a LOT of people! My personal rides are a Salsa Fargo with a hideously expen$ive wheelset built around an Onyx hub at the rear and a dyno hub up front. My version of a go-anywhere touring bike. My more sedate ride is a Kona Rove ST with a straight bar. At 72, I think it's time to change the bars on the Kona again!

You are the Bob Ross of bicycle repairs! & man I looked up your shop as a Wisconsin native… I’m only an hour away from you! I’d love for you to do a tune up on my bike 👍🏽I enjoy the calm “Bob Ross’ness” of your videos they help me wind down for bed or a nap on a Friday evening. Glad I found your channel I love what you do 🤘🏽

I never even relubed cables, just replaced them, your videos made me think about that

As one who overhauled my first real bike (1973 Raleigh International, (RIP)) numerous times, I find that there is something therapeutic about watching you bring an old bike back into service. I always pick up new diagnostic and service tricks from your videos. Also, I really want to add a pair of Park Tool shop scissors to my tool kit. If you can link that item to you channel, I would be happy to support it. Finally. my daughter just moved to Madison for work, and I sent her a copy of your wife's book, as part of her WI "onboarding".

I’m just beginning to take an interest in biking more seriously, and I just wanted to say thank you for the wealth of knowledge and humor you put out here for us, newbies and veteran riders alike. Your videos have been immensely helpful to me in figuring out how to choose and take proper care of a bike.

Have you ever tried using a clay bar to restore the luster of old paint? The transformation of some faded, dingy paint can be mind blowing just from a quick clay bar! Slap some wax on there after and it’s looking like new and protected for the future 🤙🏼

Dude, I'm so glad your channel came across my feed. Your videos are so therapeutic to me.

I like your style, where I live the bike shops do overcharge people and some not honest, your community are lucky to have you around.

When working on an old bike I always remove and lube the seat post. Also I remove and lube the handlebar stem, the fork steerer tube and check the headset bearings. Those areas can get corroded and may be a problem.

Great service. I would check the suspension, too. Rust and lack of lubrication inside it are common on these neglected bikes.

Thanks! I appreciate your bike rescue tutorials!

You can sometimes clean that silly little shifter window, using some metal polish like autosol or Wenol. It can’t fix crazing but will polish out yellowed clear plastics

I've been tinkering with a Specialized bike of mine and came up with a few challenges. I landed on your channel, watched this video and... You now have a new subscriber. Great video. Fun and informative. You make it all look so easy 👍

As a bicycle enthusiast, one that does all their own work I completely understand what you are saying.....I am also a licensed A&P mechanic, so I enjoy wrenching on things.

I have an old Trek that had spongy brakes. I took the noodle to the local Trek store to ask about it. They did not seem to know what I was talking about. But they did sell me one without the spring. I thought I fling nuts. Nice to see that it is real.

Tonight I nearly lost my mind trying to fit some new schwalbe marathons to my bike they were so tight! Luckily I had some zip ties in my toolbox so I could seat the tire inside the rim at the valve and the opposite side nice and tight making me just able to fit them. It did make me very frustrated! Then it took me 20 minutes to put the rear wheel back on as I’ve only done it once before and man I feel like a complete idiot! I learn something new when I watch your videos though each time so I hope to get better!

Cool bike! You might not be a cyclocomputer teacher but you're certainly teaching me how to clean a bike!

its a trek 4500. i was a security officer , and we had a couple just like it. I had a trek 4500, but it was a blue one. i rode that thing all over moab utah. that is a really nice police bike.

Looks so much better with that second saddle on.

Just got my Giant Sedona back from the shop , had a Zoom adjustable handle bar stem extender and Kenda 26 x 2.125 tires and it rides so much better and my hands dont go numb after 20 mins anymore . That Trex looks like a nice bike but I would have to go with the comfort seat cause Im old and fat lol.

I always try to line my valve hole with the pressure recommendations, that way I know where to look for it. Different strokes I suppose.

only you would use Tri-flow as spray paint

Thanks! I enjoy your channel. Very relaxing. Much appreciated.

Man I love this channel. It's so cozy.

It doesn't look that bad for five years sitting outside. We live next to the ocean. Five years outside around here and much of the hardware would be rusted or destroyed. On a side note; local news showed police using bikes like this one during recent college protests turned sideways and held up to push the crowd back. Maybe old news for some but I'd never seen police bikes used that way. I thought they just rode them. Dual purpose, lol. Maybe his sentimental connection to the bike was riding it while in uniform? Another good one here. Cheers. 👍

Paint scheme on that bike is really cool. Awesome looking bike. I wish I had one, but one that was not left out and looked like new.

In the netherlands it's different: 6 months outside and some parts look worse than on this bike. like a complete brown noodle, all the new metal whatever vbrake parts are crusty and the chain was just barely salvageable. For me, anything can be used as rimtape, I just used 17mm electrical tape on a 24mm rim and as long as it covers the holes, it's fine. I just use a screwdriver to poke a hole when I'm done. If you never struggled with a tyre for a few days, you either know it all, are lucky or just don't experiment at all. Try fitting a 2.25 racing ralph to a 17mm rim and use a tannus armour insert designed for 2.25 or bigger without cutting it to size. I learned so much from that struggle. I kinda wanna put my hands to the test..I usually don't need a tyre lever to get it on. And the racing ralph, just the cheap model is strong AF.

My brain exploded when I first saw your DPW + Furniture Polish wash method. I tried it & it works great-even for caked nether regions! My brain just exploded again: Tri-flo on break pads!?!? I’ll give it a try on an old bike, in the parking lot, at VERY LOW SPEED. Flight of fancy: one blue & one red pedal. With the black frame & white logo it’d have the complete cop car color scheme.

Great episode! Bought your wife's e-book. Shout out from Chicago!

Great episode... Learned a few new things today, this will go a long way for my 98 gary fisher 3x8.

I think I mentioned on another video dealing with 26" MTB tires - get a Kool Stop Tire Jack. I work on the police/security bikes at work and the 26" tires are a nightmare when I have to fix a flat. The 29ers are a piece of cake, though.

Nice resto, "good enough for who it's for!" I agree on cable refurb vs replacement: if the cable isn't swollen with rust, clean it with steel wool and lube it. If it slides freely in the housing, and isn't kinked, let it give more service. My '73 Raleigh Sports 3spd still has the original cables and housings that were installed at the Nottingham factory, 51 years ago 😁

You avoid the step of removing dirt and sand first to scratch it all up when rubbing it down with a greasy rag.

Anti-seize is great for preventing rust. Great for cables and screws.

Thanks!

Very beautifully done too!!

You need to use a brush and water to clean old dirty hubs.

Great vid. Love the love you give on these old steeds.

You did a nice job. Fun to watch! ( But the saddle, it looked really chunky on this bike, nice you switched it in the end )

I learn something from each of your videos

could you hit the paint with a little rubbing compound?

The music is really relaxing

Neat! I finished a well corroded Trek Navigator 100 recently. 1982 by component dating. Had to spend a bit on a few replacement parts but it's ended up more than half decent.

With all the oil you sprayed around, I wouldn't be surprised if some of it went into the brakes ;)

Really cool Trek Police I saw this in an old Trek catalog a couple of days ago and thought if they are also sold to private persons. It really coms good around. Great work.👍

I have had bikes the such rusty chain you can hold the out straight. One thing I do when I get to a bare frame is a wipe with gasoline the hard factory paint can take it just be careful on the decals. I use Amor All or other tire black products on the frame and let it sit overnight at least. It's a great way to make a frame shine. You can also use it on black parts, new tires and seats. I highly recommend it. Tire black makes a great rubber lube when removing tires too. Or detergent. I'm telling you, use a 5 gallon bucket as your work stand when mounting tires. Trust me.

Love the videos. Just stumbled on ya. Thanks for a great video.

Very cool bike, i got hold of an older trek police with a cromoly fork - weirdest thing is i'm from Denmark and somehow it ended up here at a bicycle co-op. It restored quite nicely

More tune-up videos please, especially for 2020+ models (Giant Escape, Trek FX, Verve).

I've been putting in tubes wrong all my life. I see that with a little air they go in smoothly and won't pinch.

Tr-Flo on the brake pads? Thank you, doing that right now. Appreciate it.

great explaination of setting up a derallieur

Your a good bike mechanic I like your work

I really enjoy your videos but watching you work I sometimes wonder if you're aware that Triflow is basically just PFAS suspended in a solvent. It may work really well and smell like artificial banana flavor but it's pretty gnarly stuff in that it doesn't break down in the environment and we're really only beginning to understand all the potential health effects. I sometimes worry when I think about how much of that stuff I've absorbed through my skin over the years. I've personally switched to Boeshield T9 which is paraffin based and makes a pretty effective replacement. Sorry, I've been biting my tongue for awhile now but watching you spray that rack down was my breaking point 😬

I don't know if you know this but Navel Jelly does a great job of removing rust. Check it out sometime.

that's a nice bike it even has a 8 speed cassette easily upgradable with bigger cogs on the back and u can climb anything with it i love old mtbs

I love your total Bob Ross tribute at 25:04

They try to make snow flakes in high school now, but it's a little complicated for the kids. Great video Andy.

Thanks for another great video. Suggestion: maybe the video speedups are not necessary, because the slower parts are part of the relaxing watching experience.

Another one ready for the road. Good job!

How about a video on tire levers? I see the ones in the police bike video are not the small ones advertised for your bike pack. I hate the "3 by". I am one day going to a "1 by" front. I know I must change ratios in the back but haven't decided yet. I have it on my Specialized Sirrus but that bike started with a 20 speed. Never used all the gear ratios available. The 1 x 10 conversion I use the ratios more.

as someone who loves to clean, wipe, and shine my own Trek more than it needs, this is like candy to me. I guess a fork service may come later if the customer wants? If a coil shock it probably doesn't need much i guess.

Just use the furniture polish to get rid of grayed paint. It should work just fine.

Good video as are the others of yours that I've watched. Didn't register time so may have been in the flow state. Cheers from NZ/Aotearoa.

This was nice to see. Thank you 👍

The other day I was able to purchase a bike that I’ve always wanted a Trek 930 steel bike with a Rockshox. Thank you Andy for a great video today really enjoyed it. Keep up the great work and stay safe out there.

Was bought in Platteville WI. I wonder how many drunk college kids were chased down on this bike?

That really was a SADdle 😂

Wishbone frames🤘🤘

Awesome stuff man!! You are a great teacher.. and.. I 100% beleve people are just stupid..you asked 😁

On the one hand, it's inspiring to see you take such care with these Waterloo Trek (even though it's shocking you do tune-ups with old cables/housing)....but on the other hand, all i want to do is pull all the XT off that beercan before putting the frame/fork on eBay.

Shimano XT 🤘🤘

Great job. Salvaged another. Keep 'em out of the dust bin. Bikes need to be ridden, not junked.

28:30 Everyone who knew what you meant understood exactly what you meant.

Well done relaxing video.

Great video.

What do you call the things that hold the spock to the rim ?

Blues Brothers Bike😂

By the way, my 7500FX was hand-built in Wisconsin, which makes me proud of being a (former) Wisconsinite.

I heard from [retired Chief] how he was kinda disappointed in the bike experiment. The set-up policies and procedures, extra training for officers who wanted to ride, even approving uniform.changes. Then, it all just fell away. Limited use opportunities and not everyone willing to ride versus drive. Maybe he already shared that with you

If the steering yoke was turned 180' rearward, how would this affect the steering? "Handle bars rear of the head tube axis point"

I worked at a bike shop in Minnesota and we built a bunch of these for the Police. I wanted one for fun but they wouldn't part with them becuase it said Police on the frames, etc. Sad where this one ended up!

Have you ever considered keeping a vat of Evaporust around to just submerge all the rusty parts in? Seems to work wonders for Hand Tool Rescue and similar restauration people.

Swiss guy here, we did snowflakes in kindergarten as well 🙂

Awesome! keep it up!

There was a police auction with several police bikes near me. I wanted a couple, but I’m running out of bike space

Where's the Track Bikes and Fixxxies?

The bike farmer is an agent of chaos.

Lube it up baybeeeee

So is it actually used by the police, or it’s just the name? Love these longer videos btw!

Just wondering why dont you get a little metal polish for rusty bolts just give them a quick shine with some polish really bring the bike back I bought a track style bike from the police unclaimed auction A little bit of polish and cleaning my buddy cant believe its the same bike

That is why you need bar-end plugs. Just imagine being cut into like the end of those grips. 🤪

I'm sure they could operate their cycle computer.

It has to squeak you took the bell off