87' Muddyfox Courier Restoration - Finished!

[epic1400cs]

Hi, I am new here. I have been enjoying browsing the site - it is great site and I love it.
My friend has a 88 or 87 Courier and we have decided to tidy up.

The frame is ok condition but some original parts are missing such as rear wheel, handle stem, seat post, seat, rear mech, shifter, headset, fork etc.
I need to source these as well as re-finish the frame to make it close to its original catalogue spec.

::EDIT:: Change of subject - after powder coating I can read the frame number and it reads 87.

::EDIT:: change of subject as resto is finished

 

[epic1400cs]

Here is the picture of my friend's 88 or 87 Courier.

I have heard that frame of early Muddyfox, include this I believe, were made in Japan by Araya. Interestingly Araya were selling simillar mountain bike under the name Muddyfox in Japan as well. I have found a old catalogue page;

http://www.araya-kk.co.jp/bicycle/Archi ... ats_mf.htm

They were selling similar models but I didn't see exactly same model/spec. I am not sure if Araya have made only the frame or whole bike. In anyway, it is very interesting to see mixture of parts from different Japanese brand such as Sugino crank, Sansin hub and most of all Suntour mechs.

 

[CTK]

Nice project- will make a handsome bike.

Before you do anything photograph the decals carefully so you can make copies. WD Pro has some Tange decals for sale but I doubt anyone will have a stock of the correct Muddy Fox decals!

I look forward to seeing this one progress

 

[drcarlos]

I have a soft spot for old foxes myself and yours will be cool once finished, do'nt know how easy it will be to get the old Suntour parts, they are around but are uber rare really.
Love the Araya Catalogues, there are some really nice bikes in there and some 'cough' Kirk 'cough' that were known as different things in the UK.

Carl.

 

[jameshurrell]

Contact Gil_M on here for decals. He did me some decals for my MF Courier a few months back - however these are the older yellow sort (see link in my signature) - although i see you have an old yellow sticker on your steerer tube...

I'm stuck on the pink Tange MTB decal also - cannot find one anywhere.

Interested to see how you get on with this. My project is progressing slowly - bike now stripped waiting a new coat of paint. I am debating whether to equip mine with Shimano :cry: as am finding old Suntour parts hard to come by. I also need new wheelsets (the rims are concave and the rear hub has lots of play) so this complicates things ref Suntour...

There is a Muddy Fox anonymous thread on here too. Post your bike there! http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=59947&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

Edit forgot to say - nice bike!!!

 

[epic1400cs]

Thanks for your input!

CTK, yes I took pictures of the stickers. I have also bought Tange stickers from WD and now we have to decide if we go with yellow version or, reproduce pink version by scanning in the yellow one and print it. As you pointed out, the cut out letter of Muddyfox seems to be hard to find. I have found one in ebay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MUDDYFOX-MUDDY-FO ... 48395e7792

but it seems to be very different. My friend, the owner of the courier, said he might know somebody who can cut out adhesive vinyl if we hand in the artwork/image.

Another question is that after applying the vinyl, I want to apply lacquer bt the base paint will be powder coating. I have heard that if painting on powder, the lacquer need to be 2 pack or 2k. Can anybody confirm this? Or, can I use single pack 2k aerosol?

drcarlos, after calculating the cost of restoration, I notice that it is going to be cheaper to find a parts bike rather than buying each parts. So I bought parts bike on ebay that come with most of the original parts plus cross threaded right BB cup. Not all the parts are in great condition but at least I cold cover the original rims, shifters, mechs, stem, so it was not too bad. What is the Araya bike's incarnation in UK?

jameshurell, I will contact Gil_M soon, thanks for the head up. We were about to go to the yellow stickers only but now we decided to go as combi of cut out and yellow as the original bike is. When you apply to yours, did you protect the decal with lacquer or transparent vinyl or something? The suntour parts are not popping up in UK ebay but noticed that there are quite few in US ebay but the shipping cost is the headache. Courier wheel set is on sale in ebay UK at the moment if you are interested. Thanks for your support. After finding out more about the courier, I became fan of it! I might make one for myself!

 

[epic1400cs]

The bike has been stripped and ready to go to powder coat. The picture is with genuine fork from donor bike below.

and here is the parts donor bike

This donor bike has most of its original parts on the bike except saddle, tyres, handlebar grips. Looks alright and felt a bit guilty using it as a donor but after stripping down, I noticed that right BB cup is perfectly cross threaded by previous service and couldn't get the right cup removed therefore, it is perfect donor now

Now the colour became a bit of problem.
As I am taking it to powder coating Armourtex in East London, I have to come up with RAL code. The original paint work looks like metallic white. In RAL code there are 4 whites;

RAL 9001 Cream
RAL 9003 Signal White
RAL 9010 Pure White
RAL 9016 Traffic White

You might know that it is a bit of nightmare to find out one RAL colour actually how it look like.
Google image search doesn't help much and colour sample of same colour does look different between different samples!
In the end, I have found this genius site where you can convert RAL colour into RGB.

http://www.dirp.cz/en/ral-colour-sample ... ion-to-rgb

This way, if you make the colour on your photoshop or web browser, you can compare the colour against pure black or pure white that would be great help than looking at the colour sample on web with obscure colour standard.

RAL 9001 Cream 255, 252, 240 (Red, Green, Blue)
RAL 9003 Signal White 255, 255, 255
RAL 9010 Pure White 250, 255, 255
RAL 9016 Traffic White 252, 255, 255

It reveals that 9003 is actually most balanced white without bias to any R or G or B (in theory)
The courier's paintwork is white with slight hint of warmness, not definately blue-ish (like electric socket).
Means, 9010 and 9016 are out because these are slightly less red (250 and 252) result in blue-ish white.
I liked 9001 Cream but it is rather reddish and calling it white is a lie.
So I decided to go with 9003 which is most neutral white and closest match.
I hope age and metallic flake will make the white warmish

 

[mikee]

gonna be nice

 

[epic1400cs]

Thanks mikee!

After checking through the parts from two bikes, I have found that rear Sansin hub is shot. It came with donor bike as spare (there is other wheel on the bike) and the previous owner give it to me with the bike for free(for his honor, he is a good guy ) After checking the cup, I see there is heavy pitting plus the dust cover seat is slightly bend... (this is right/freewheel side)

Are there anybody with unwanted rear Sansin large hub? (something looking similar is also ok ) (this is left side)

 

[paininthe]

Now the colour became a bit of problem.
As I am taking it to powder coating Armourtex in East London, I have to come up with RAL code. The original paint work looks like metallic white. In RAL code there are 4 whites;

RAL 9001 Cream
RAL 9003 Signal White
RAL 9010 Pure White
RAL 9016 Traffic White

You might know that it is a bit of nightmare to find out one RAL colour actually how it look like.

If you take the frame to spray shop supplies type place, they will have a micrscope type thing that tells you the exact ral number.