Diamond Back Apex ‘Raw’ Frame

[jgmu97]

Hi,

Recently picked up this Diamond Back Apex frame (believe it’s from 94). It joins my DB Wildwood commuter/tourer, a bike that’s taken me all over the UK and been an absolute work horse commuting all year round!

Anyway, I got this Apex frame as a couple of friends and I are building up old steels to go on some off road bike tours next year (I guess the modern day term is bike packing!)

As seen in the images, there’s some light corrosion that I’d like to attend to. I was thinking of stripping the lacquer and cleaning up the tubes with Scotch Brite before re-lacquering, however I wanted to ask people’s opinions on this! I’m unsure what finish the steel tubes have had from factory.

 

[minor_LEGEND]

That'll be Nickel plated I think, which rose to popularity 1994ish which is what year that Apex is. Orange & Parkpre are a couple of brands that also piloted this frame finish. Stripping back any lacquer & re-applying should not cause any issues.
Nice frame, these are quite light for a mid-range mass produced steel frame.

 

[tjs129]

I have one of these and it came up very well after doing just this. I would recommend not bothering with a relaquer. Mine had loads of rust around the bottom bracket which all came right off using crumpled foil and lemon juice from memory. They're very nice frames!