Again nostalgic backgrounds with this restoration also 
I saw it first time in the cover of our Finnish bike magazine in 1998 and thought that it's the nicest looking bike I've ever seen. And still do!
Fast forward to last Spring when I saw one frame for sale in Portugal, only thing was that it was totally beaten individual with a rattle can yellow finish and some reinforcements made to it.. But I always like them the more they need work so I took the bait! This is how I got it:
I took everything apart, made some frame work on it (like filling some hit marks and sanding deep scratches etc.), replaced all the bearings, and I mean all of the SIXTEEN bearings
, had it painted by a friend with the original Tomac red color code, brushed the seat and chain stay endings and painted the black details to them. For example the upper shock mount on these usually has a hole in it, and it is very prone to break, so apparently it has broken with some previous owner and he had filled the holes and reinforced the mount. This is fine with me because it was made pretty well and it just takes away one common issue from the frame.
The biggest job was with the decals that were not available anywhere (at least with decent quality) so I asked for help from Paul (heavyp here) in Australia who has a Lawwill himself, and he sent me pics of the decals. I drew all of them open with Illustrator, and I'm a total amateur with it, so it took some time
But the result was great as my friend has a printing shop and he's always happy to help out with printing.
So after a long wait I finally picked it up this week from my painter friend and at the same time picked up the decals from the printing shop. Now the biggest job is behind and the goal is to build it to the same spec as it was in the magazine cover and as Mr. Tomac himself rode it back then. I have majority of the parts ready so hopefully during the Spring I get to finish this!
I saw it first time in the cover of our Finnish bike magazine in 1998 and thought that it's the nicest looking bike I've ever seen. And still do!
Fast forward to last Spring when I saw one frame for sale in Portugal, only thing was that it was totally beaten individual with a rattle can yellow finish and some reinforcements made to it.. But I always like them the more they need work so I took the bait! This is how I got it:
I took everything apart, made some frame work on it (like filling some hit marks and sanding deep scratches etc.), replaced all the bearings, and I mean all of the SIXTEEN bearings
, had it painted by a friend with the original Tomac red color code, brushed the seat and chain stay endings and painted the black details to them. For example the upper shock mount on these usually has a hole in it, and it is very prone to break, so apparently it has broken with some previous owner and he had filled the holes and reinforced the mount. This is fine with me because it was made pretty well and it just takes away one common issue from the frame.The biggest job was with the decals that were not available anywhere (at least with decent quality) so I asked for help from Paul (heavyp here) in Australia who has a Lawwill himself, and he sent me pics of the decals. I drew all of them open with Illustrator, and I'm a total amateur with it, so it took some time
But the result was great as my friend has a printing shop and he's always happy to help out with printing.
So after a long wait I finally picked it up this week from my painter friend and at the same time picked up the decals from the printing shop. Now the biggest job is behind and the goal is to build it to the same spec as it was in the magazine cover and as Mr. Tomac himself rode it back then. I have majority of the parts ready so hopefully during the Spring I get to finish this!
very nice, I like how you have the forks too.
Mr. Tomac used 1st gen Magura Gustavs on his race version and I have those also waiting for this. Although his were with the special Tomac edition red color, but were probably only some limited team version so I have the normal neon yellow ones for mine
