Posts Tagged: Jon N – UK

Cola Cleaning Cranks and Crank Arms

On 21 April 2021 0 Comments - Tips

By Jon N from the UK

Basic tin foil and cola were all I used to clean the rust off this crank and crank arms. If you pour some cola (doesn’t have to be a main brand, any cola will do) into a cup, take a piece of tin foil about the size of your hand, fold it over so the shiny side is on the outside and then dip into the foil into the cola and leave it for a few seconds. Then take the foil out of the cola and start to rub it on the affected rusty areas as if it was sandpaper. You don’t need to be heavy handed with it as the chemicals in the cola will do the hard work, for hard to reach areas an old toothbrush can be wrapped in foil (remember to have the shiny side out). The sprocket and the arm took me about 20mins and maybe a meter of foil. Be careful if you soak nuts or bolts in cola as if you leave them in there tool long the cola will eat away too much and could affect the thread.

Garel/LeRun/Max Skateboard Truck Details

On 12 April 2021 0 Comments - Garel, Garel/LeRun/Max/AXL, LeRun / LeRun Jr, Max Skatebike, Reference

Jon’s Garel Monocycle, his LeRun Skatebike and Max Skatebikes use an unusual skateboard truck. The mount is much smaller than traditional old and new school skateboard trucks. Minson trucks are Old School – 2 1/2″ X 1 5/8″. LeRun truck holes are 1 5/8″ X 1 1/4″.

Jon took some photos of the original LeRun truck for reference for this site. The bike has not had any work yet. As you can see the bushings in photo one are cracking.

Thanks Jon.

Important: AXL Skatebikes use a similar but different skateboard truck setup. 

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Garel Monocycle – Jon N – UK

On 12 April 2021 0 Comments - Garel, Garel/LeRun/Max/AXL, Project

Jon N. from Manchester, England recently bought two skatebikes on eBay. The first I had never heard of before, a Garel Monocycle. Garel Monocycles were made in Italy.

Yves Garel patented his skatebike on June 18, 1981. He licensed his patent to LeRun which is why there is such a similarity. This agreement was dissolved later and fell into litigation.

Garel Monocycle “Run” Seat

Garel Monocycle Label

Jon’s words.

I purchased the Garel Skatebike from eBay thinking it was a LeRun Skatebike and had the intention of restoring it as the previous owner had changed the front truck to that of a skateboard truck. When I received the Skatebike I tried it out in my local park and the skateboard truck was far too flexible and made it unusable so I tightened it as much as I could and managed to get some straight runs and a few wide corners before one of the front wheel coverings peeled off as it had become brittle and cracked over the years, so they will be on the list to be changed as part of the restoration. You can see that the hole spacing on the skateboard truck is larger than the Skatebike mounting holes and additional holes have been added to the skateboard truck in order to fit correctly.

The pedals are not really to my taste so I will probably change them too, I’m not sure if they are original or have been changed over the years like the skateboard truck. I took the rear wheel to a local bike shop for them to true the wheel which did improve the stability, however I may try and have some of the spokes changed as some are bent.

It has a 12 inch rear wheel, a 32 tooth crank, pedal backwards to brake and skid, 25.4mm diameter seat post that is 350mm long, the saddle has ‘run’ printed on the sides and back. At first I thought it was a faded and partially rubbed off ‘Lerun’ however Wiki shows that the Garel Skatebike was also called the ‘Run’ which would suggest the saddle is original.

I was considering sanding off the green and respraying it a different colour however as I’ve not been able to find any pictures of other Garel Skatebikes I am tempted to leave it green and try to remove as much of the rust and weathering as possible, change the trucks, tighten or replace some of the rear spokes and take it for a ride!