The calculated way of driving

The little Fiat has had some attention last week. During the christmas holidays I changed the sparkplugs, oil and filters (less then € 50). The stupid gasket of the engine head still leaked oil like a drunken sailor. It seems to be a common problem of these engines. So I took a tube of silicon kit and puttied it till it never leakes again.
The tires are worn too. I had these tires since we bought the little one, almost two years ago, and they weren't very good. The profile was good but the front right tire had a puncture and was empty every three months.  And while winter is coming to us from the north (Groningen and Friesland are frozen in by blizzards), I bought a full set of second hand winter tires at Gijs Janssen's shop. Good service reasonable prices and a nice guy too.
For 50 euros I became a set and that's cheap. 14 inch wheels, so now my last years copricerchi, imitation FIAT wheel caps, don't fit anymore. Maybe I will look for some light metal wheels to put the tires on, maybe I won't.
This car still surprises me. Its a little rascal and for the purpose we need a car, just good. In our holidays we went to Maastricht several times, we visited Aachen and Nijmegen. Comfort isn't Alfa like, material in the car isn't too, but we're driving. When I make a short calculation this is what I find:

Costs up till now (from february 2014) 25.000 kms:
Maintenance
clutch and timing belt € 710
2x oil and air filter, sparkplugs € 52
oil due to gasket leak € 50
windscreen wipers € 20
APK (technical inspection) € 30
sub sum € 862

Extra costs
gasket engine head € 18
gasket injection unit € 16
used winter tires € 50
sub sum: € 84

Tuning & trims
gear lever knob € 20
gear lever cover € 16 and a lot of love
wheel caps € 38
sub sum € 54

Exactly 1000 euros for almost two years of driving, ex petrol, taxes and insurance.
Count that up with petrol (1,50 a liter =) 2500, taxes 616, insurance 408 euros the total amount of 25.000 kms or two years driving is 4525 euros. Per kilometre this is 0,181 cents total cost for everything. Oh wait, the car itself cost the proud sum of 650 euros.

So the total driving costs are
€  1000 maintenance and extra costs
€  2500 petrol
€   616 taxes
€   408 insurance
€   650 car Fiat Punto 60S, 1994
€ 5175 all costs / 25.000 kms is 0,207 cents for everything.

I figure some more costs are due this year. The front brake discs are gone. I have to change them, plus an extra set of brake pads and brake fluid. Don't know what more I'll find.
I looked the discs up, and a rediculous sum of 28 euros are the price of a set of two discs for the Fiat. Pads are not even 20 euros. So this repair won't alter my total driving costs very much.
In that respect the Fiat is a sensible car. It's practical, cheap in maintenance and driving (I calculated 1litre for 15 kms). I stiil like the looks of the little rascal for a small car. It's a good design. What I don't like is the interior, which is cheap and of a mediocre quality. But what would we do with an all new car and being cautious not to scratch or dent it?
This is another way of driving, very sensible. When the Alfa will be on the road, in spring time when the weather is fine,  we'll experience a whole different way of driving.

I'll keep you posted.

Meanwhile in my garage, therapy

To all my readers, have a healthy and good new year and stay on the road safely.

Since my health is getting better, I'm able to take a spanner and loosen a tight nut, my ambition to work in my garage grows. To start easy I took my old Raleigh racebike out of my cellar and dismantled it to find out how the state of the bike is.

When I was young, back in the seventies and eighties, the dutch racing team of Peter Post, Team Raleigh was succesful on the international tracks. I remember Joop Zoetemelk, Peter Post, Jan Raas, Hennie Kuiper, Gerrie Kneteman, Johan van der Velde, Steven Rooks, Gert-Jan Theunisse and Peter Winnen (later in Team Koga). Names engraved in my memory as the names of my parents. I remember watching the early days of Tour de France reporting on black and white TV. When my parents were able to buy a colour TV we saw the typical red, black and yellow team colours of the shirts and bikes. Their shining bikes in the French sun. and their successes kept on coming. This was the golden age of dutch cycling, at least for me.
I was around 15 years back then. By taking the papers out in my neighbourhood,  I earned about 800 guilders (would've been 800 euros by now) for a race bike. I bought it at Chrit Jaspers'. This was a renowned shop in our region for bikes and stuff. I remember how he sold me a Raleigh team jersey, partly in wool, and a short which was way too big for my tiny legs. The shop stil exists, ran by Chrit's eldest, Jannie, manne.

I always kept my Raleigh because I have so many good memories with it. I regularly went to the south of Limburg to climb the hills. Once I went for Luxemburg for a short vacation, on my bike. When I went for my studies to Nijmegen, I took my bike with me and rode several kilometres around the city to Arnhem, Millingen aan de Rijn, Kleve, even Wageningen and to and from home occasionally (Nijmegen - Herkenbosch: 100 km).

This is how my bike was stored in my famous cellar.
 Pip found it and brought it to my attention as a project again.

Now the Raleigh is dismantled, all parts are repaired, cleaned and ready for fitting on the frame. I've got a nice pair of wheels from my neighbour, who had a Gazelle in an impossible frame size. But all parts of this similar, time exact bike fit on my Raleigh. Here are some pictures of the work in progress, since the initial post was from a month ago. This is gonna look like an easy job, but I didn't photograph all steps. and for a therapy project, I had my hands full with this.

Double butted tubes! That was the hit in 1981 from Reynolds, the 531 tube. There was only one better tube, the 835 (?) tube.

My bike was the Rapide, a middle section and middel priced recreational bike in team colors.

Some dents and scratches give the old frame character. 

This is where the shifters handle sits on the angled tubed.

The fork of this one was not completely chromed, 

but the Suntour pads seemed to be special back in the eighties.

My box of spares and parts, after dismantling the neigbours Gazelle.

In the Land of Plenty it is easy choosing.

Before ...

... and after cleaning the Weinmann brakes.

The set up of the Gazelle Wheels is sufficient and even wel kept.

The Rigida rims are dull and slightly corroded. 

The spokes are chromed and are very well kept.

The crancks axle overhauled.

Here the frame is already painted. The cranck axle is due for mounting. 

I could not get is exactly adjusted. So some refining still remains.

Weinmann brake handles before...

... and after a good polish with Commandant 4 (see earlier posts on the Sportwagon)

..

The Japanese crancks fitted on the Gazelle are very nice time exact pieces: Super Mighty!

 This is the original Sakae handle bar. I sanded and polished it untill it shone. See below.

A rewarded price winning brand, it seems Sakae Custom

Road Champion!

The complete steering set up is polished.

The frame of the bike had become scratched and dirty over the years (I bought it in '81). Cleaning, light polishing and cleaning again gave a 'rat look' frame which I painted with clear varnish. 

The original parts were dismantled, cleaned and assemled again. This is a Suntour VX rear shifter or derailleur. This one sat on my neighbour's bike, since mine was slightly bended by a crash in 1984.

I never liked the original cranck, my neighbor had the right type I wanted. but again the chain wheels of my Raleigh were nicer. Luckely they were worn, so I had no chice mounting these ones. The size is bigger, mine had asetup of 52, 46. These are 54, 48. Alas the crancks don't fit realy good on the axle. So I have to look foor an other cranckset. vintage sets are expensive as hell, so I have to go to Jannie Jaspers, manne. Maybe he has some old stuff in his cellar?

The Weinmann brakes are simple though very efficient. 

I descended the Col des Aravis with this set. 

I'll look up the photo I took up there for a next post.

I love these brake handles. By polishing they look even better, but I don't bother them being scratched. That looks rather cool. The mounting of this type is with a srew on a fixed spot on the handle bar.