1985 Mongoose AT Pro- A Very Special Project
- Thread starter Dr S
- Start date
A rare day off on sunday allowed us to make a little progress. We also managed to get a few photos of our progress so far.
Cranks had the usual scuffs and scratches, but a half hour with fine wet and dry followed by copious amounts of autosol had them looking as good as new. The rings show hardly any wear too which points to this bike being really low milage. A story backed up by a lack of wear on all the parts and smooth bearings throughout.
Pedals have very little wear too and just needed a quick strip, clean and re-grease.
Cranks had the usual scuffs and scratches, but a half hour with fine wet and dry followed by copious amounts of autosol had them looking as good as new. The rings show hardly any wear too which points to this bike being really low milage. A story backed up by a lack of wear on all the parts and smooth bearings throughout.
Pedals have very little wear too and just needed a quick strip, clean and re-grease.
Next job was to strip the rusty spokes out of the wheels. Despite suspect looking spokes and nipples, only one gave trouble. Hubs were given a quick polish and the rims needed a quick clean in hot soapy water to bring them up like new. They will be rebuilt with sapim double butted spokes later this week. New rims strips, tubes and NOS cheng Shin BMX cruiser amberwalls will complete the package.
SR Large flange hubs.
SR Large flange hubs.
Rear mech was next. A quick degrease before taking it apart and handing over to Daisy for polishing. All parts show no signs of wear and apart from the logo being lost it now looks as good as new. I might see if Gil can do a decal for this, but if not I'm not too troubled. With the hour it was all back together for the girls to photograph. They then battled with bloody photobucket to bring you their pictures.
Next up- seatpost.
This was quite badly scratched and corroded. A job for Dad. Whilst the girls finished polishing the frame, I sanded the post diwn with 120 gradebefore moving onto 360. The original brushed finish was retained by spinning the post in the lathe whilst holding 400 grade paper around it. A quick polish and it was as new.
Saddle was cleaned upbut still looks a little scruffy, so wemight go for a nice black Brooks. Another eBay lesson to follow me thinks.
Next up- seatpost.
This was quite badly scratched and corroded. A job for Dad. Whilst the girls finished polishing the frame, I sanded the post diwn with 120 gradebefore moving onto 360. The original brushed finish was retained by spinning the post in the lathe whilst holding 400 grade paper around it. A quick polish and it was as new.
Saddle was cleaned upbut still looks a little scruffy, so wemight go for a nice black Brooks. Another eBay lesson to follow me thinks.
Bars, stem, levers and shifters had all been fettled the weekend before, so in order to take a break from all the polishing, in an effort to keep the girls motivated, we decided to build them back up.
Compared to the before pictures, you can see that its coming up nicely. The girls assembled a side each and completely without instruction of help. They even knew that hairspray would be needed to fit the grips! Grips are vintage Preston Petty motorcycle items.
Bars had the worst rust on the bike, but fine wire wool and autosol brought them back to life. A little wax polish should keep them looking good for a few years.
There are a few scuffs on the stem but i don't want the girls spraying paint everywhere so we decided to just cleam as well as we could. Bolts were rough but a few days in coca cola had them looking half decent.
Compared to the before pictures, you can see that its coming up nicely. The girls assembled a side each and completely without instruction of help. They even knew that hairspray would be needed to fit the grips! Grips are vintage Preston Petty motorcycle items.
Bars had the worst rust on the bike, but fine wire wool and autosol brought them back to life. A little wax polish should keep them looking good for a few years.
There are a few scuffs on the stem but i don't want the girls spraying paint everywhere so we decided to just cleam as well as we could. Bolts were rough but a few days in coca cola had them looking half decent.
With house filled with the smell of roast lamb, and Lola off to birthday party, Daisy and i finished off the frame and had a final push to get a few parts fitted. Rear roller brake had been stripped and polished the week before, so was the first part to be fitted. Quite fiddly for little fingers, but she persisted whilst i fitted the bottom bracket with new bearings and fresh grease.
Cool headbadge!
Original dealer sticker retained.
Original brake blocks? Looking at the unworn rims I would guess so.
Front mech ckeaned and refitted.
Thats as far as we got. The girls are really enjoying this project and are starting to get excited about its completion. More shopping to do next weeked. We are going to head up to the LBS to get new cables next weekend.
Super polisher Daisy looking pleased with progress.
Thanks for looking. More updates to follow later in the week.
Si
Cool headbadge!
Original dealer sticker retained.
Original brake blocks? Looking at the unworn rims I would guess so.
Front mech ckeaned and refitted.
Thats as far as we got. The girls are really enjoying this project and are starting to get excited about its completion. More shopping to do next weeked. We are going to head up to the LBS to get new cables next weekend.
Super polisher Daisy looking pleased with progress.
Thanks for looking. More updates to follow later in the week.
Si
