PhillB
GT Fan
So, I'm not often found around these parts... my cycling history has been BMX and Mountain bikes for the last 40 years I love restoring classic Mountain bikes....BUT I was strangely attracted to this rather sad looking road bike
and so I bought it. The reasons were perhaps not the best, I'll be honest, I thought it was an early Fransecso Moser (turned out it is not!) and I wanted to see what an Italian Road bike was like to ride.
When I finally got it, it was clear that it was in need of a complete restoration. Whilst many of the Pantographed parts were not in bad condition, rust had got into the frame and the paint actually rubbed off on your hands. Whilst you can't really see this in the original photo, it needed some attention
So I stripped the bike and repainted - 3 coats of primer, 3 coats of red, some Spray.bike kierin flake (for a bit of sparkle) and then 3 coats of SprayMax 2k Clearcoat.
I managed to secure some replica decals from a company in the Netherlands (https://www.unlimitedwebshop.nl/) and applied those (before the clear coat obvs ;-))
I painted in the heart shaped details on the lugs by hand. It came with an old Mavic Wheelset which were shagged (technical term). I fancied making it quite blingy so I bought some chrome rims from Brick Lane Bikes and laced them to some large flange Campagnolo Nouvo Tipo hubs ( I'm a sucker for a large flange).
Meanwhile I cleaned and polished up the aluminium parts and restored all the components with Autosol and Mothers. The pantograph elements were repainted using a black acrylic paint pen. Everything was stripped down, cleaned up, regressed and reassembled.
Once the clear coat had hardened, it was time to put it back together: The old Iscaselle Saddle was not to my taste so I replaced with a Concors Saddle.
Bar tape added and Dia-Compe Guidonnet Brake Levers ( I don't like traditional drop bar brakes, but that' s another story)
and then I left it for 6 weeks. partly because I had other projects but mainly because I wanted the clear coat to properly cure.
I took it out for a proper test ride this evening. It is awesome. very smooth and fast. there are a definitely a couple of things I need to fine tune .
I hope you think I have done this old Moser justice in it's restoration. I'm not sure whether it is 100% accurate in its build and to be honest I don't care too much, I've used a bit of artistic licence
I've since learned that it is not a Fransesco Moser, but rather a Moser Cicli bike, but other than that I don't know much more. I'm not even sure it was made in 1978, but it is certainly from around that time.
If there are any of you that know anything about these bikes, I'd love to know more
When I finally got it, it was clear that it was in need of a complete restoration. Whilst many of the Pantographed parts were not in bad condition, rust had got into the frame and the paint actually rubbed off on your hands. Whilst you can't really see this in the original photo, it needed some attention
So I stripped the bike and repainted - 3 coats of primer, 3 coats of red, some Spray.bike kierin flake (for a bit of sparkle) and then 3 coats of SprayMax 2k Clearcoat.
I managed to secure some replica decals from a company in the Netherlands (https://www.unlimitedwebshop.nl/) and applied those (before the clear coat obvs ;-))
I painted in the heart shaped details on the lugs by hand. It came with an old Mavic Wheelset which were shagged (technical term). I fancied making it quite blingy so I bought some chrome rims from Brick Lane Bikes and laced them to some large flange Campagnolo Nouvo Tipo hubs ( I'm a sucker for a large flange).
Meanwhile I cleaned and polished up the aluminium parts and restored all the components with Autosol and Mothers. The pantograph elements were repainted using a black acrylic paint pen. Everything was stripped down, cleaned up, regressed and reassembled.
Once the clear coat had hardened, it was time to put it back together: The old Iscaselle Saddle was not to my taste so I replaced with a Concors Saddle.
Bar tape added and Dia-Compe Guidonnet Brake Levers ( I don't like traditional drop bar brakes, but that' s another story)
and then I left it for 6 weeks. partly because I had other projects but mainly because I wanted the clear coat to properly cure.
I took it out for a proper test ride this evening. It is awesome. very smooth and fast. there are a definitely a couple of things I need to fine tune .
I hope you think I have done this old Moser justice in it's restoration. I'm not sure whether it is 100% accurate in its build and to be honest I don't care too much, I've used a bit of artistic licence
I've since learned that it is not a Fransesco Moser, but rather a Moser Cicli bike, but other than that I don't know much more. I'm not even sure it was made in 1978, but it is certainly from around that time.
If there are any of you that know anything about these bikes, I'd love to know more
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