boy"O"boy's 1990 Serotta Offroad Pro-flex

[boy"O"boy]

Before stripping the paint, I also record the decals and their positions and add them to the build thread. I do this for 2 reasons....
1) For prosperity in case someone else needs the images to help their own build.
2) So I can remember myself! - nothing like consulting your own build thread for confidence!

Here's some pics.

 

[boy"O"boy]

Good to see the update.
How easy/hard is it to source XC Pro components? They don’t seem to come up for sale very often, and also it seems rare to see an old bike for sale with a full group set, where you could buy the bike and strip it for parts?

@JCS Cheers!
I purchased the Pro-flex back in Dec 2022 and already had an XC pro Chainset (non MD) that I wanted to use. Basing my build around that one part, it's taken around 12 months to source all the components. Suppose it's my own fault I have given myself the tricky job of sourcing all these parts separately. Stripping a complete bike would be easier if you could find one...but it's the fun of the chase that makes it interesting.
Some are relatively easy.... it's just waiting for them to come up at the right price.
Some parts such as the 28.6mm front mech, the 1" headset and the Cantilever brakes take longer. They are often in the US, or are at crazy prices.
The headset was the hardest to find at any price.... especially NOS/VGC. Most had the top nut chewed up or non-existent graphics.
The Cantilevers aren't as straightforward as scoring a pair. Most are the SE type for rear brake only. You can buy these new from places such as SJS cycles.....the front specific ones are much harder to find without paying silly money. The reasonably priced ones on eBay get snapped up quickly.
I also have the hubs complete with non MD cassette 7spd. May use these for the build but also have a really nice Mavic Gao Dakar wheelset that I'd like to try too.

boy"O"boy

 

[boy"O"boy]

......and underway with stripping the rear swing arm, forks and flex-stem.
Frame to follow soon. Back to bare metal.







Cheers
boy"O"boy

 

[27motorhead]

7 months off, then BOOOOM!!! What a great update.

Colour matching is a tricky beast, especially with red as it's one of the worst colours for fading. Looking forward to seeing what the vibrant Ford red looks like applied to the frame. I'm sure you are too!

Loving the careful recording and measuring of the position of the decals, including doing a continuous wrap which means as long as your lined-up in the centre you can get them back exactly where they were put on in the factory, but who said they were always applied the same?!* Really like your metric only ruler, nice to be able to view and take off measurements from either side of the rule, and looks to be a quality one too.

Good to here the Suntour sourcing has been progressing without spending crazy money, but there are always crazier people out there with crazy amounts of money buying this stuff up!

Stripping looks like it's going well too. Amazing progress and a great start to a new year. Thanks for sharing, these Serotta built Proflex's are such great looking bikes!

 

[MikesBikesRI]

I figured you guys would appreciate this......I have a lot of the early articles as well.

 

[joglo]

I figured you guys would appreciate this......I have a lot of the early articles as well.

wow,
any chance that you can provide a scan (or even photos page by page) of the 1987 and 88 brochures on the left side?


We do miss them in the Archive here
https://www.retrobike.co.uk/archive/categories/proflex.56/
Thanks in advance!

 

[boy"O"boy]

7 months off, then BOOOOM!!! What a great update.

Colour matching is a tricky beast, especially with red as it's one of the worst colours for fading. Looking forward to seeing what the vibrant Ford red looks like applied to the frame. I'm sure you are too!

Loving the careful recording and measuring of the position of the decals, including doing a continuous wrap which means as long as your lined-up in the centre you can get them back exactly where they were put on in the factory, but who said they were always applied the same?!* Really like your metric only ruler, nice to be able to view and take off measurements from either side of the rule, and looks to be a quality one too.

Good to here the Suntour sourcing has been progressing without spending crazy money, but there are always crazier people out there with crazy amounts of money buying this stuff up!

Stripping looks like it's going well too. Amazing progress and a great start to a new year. Thanks for sharing, these Serotta built Proflex's are such great looking bikes!

Thanks @27motorhead

Yeah. The pace has picked up again on this repaint. The ford 'Colorado Red' paint has arrived although it will be a few weeks before the actual colour goes on.
The Langlows strip away pro has done it's job and with a bit of hand finishing - the Pro-flex is now back to bare metal ready for the etch primer.

Never thought my Metric only ruler would have a fan! - it's a Kennedy Tools ruler that is just part of my model making toolkit. I bought it because it was a useful 600mm. A decent 150mm rule is equally as useful, as is a digital caliper.

Here's some pics of where it's at this week.

Langlows taking effect.




.......and paint stripped fully off.


MK 2 flexstem




boy"O"boy

 

[boy"O"boy]

Some nice detail that aren't apparent until you strip the paint.

1st up. Frame number 03 54
Any ideas what that could mean? I'm guessing that from info about Ben Serotta's numbers from @MikesBikesRI that this could be 03=March 54= production number.

Anyone else got similar frame numbers on theirs?


2nd up.....
The cable guide for the front mech. Looks nicely fabricated for small run production. When the paint comes off.... it's stamped Brev Camp.



I've just sold a Campagnolo clamp on front mech guide from a 1960's Campagnolo Gran Sport group set....the similarity between this and the line guide on the Pro-flex is uncanny. Looks like it was easier to chop down an existing cable guide than have a batch fabricated for a relitavely small hand made production run?



boy"O"boy

 

[boy"O"boy]

.....and a few bare metal pics to show it in the metal.








More to come soon.

Cheers
boy"O"boy

 

[boy"O"boy]

More progress again today. The final traces of paint have been removed from all the niggly parts of the frame, areas such as the swing arm bearing brace and round the Cable guides.

Now it's been sprayed in etch primer in readiness for High build primer tomorrow.
Note the bottom bracket shell has been bunged up with an old paint roller! - perfect fit!

Pics as always!











More updates soon.
Cheers
boy"O"boy