I'm new to the forum so be gentle with me , and although I apologies for it not being no Klein or Fat chance, this humble Diamond Back has been with me for what seems now like an eternity, and even to this day I still remember handing over the hard earned cash and wheeling it out the bike shop like a cat that had the cream, the smile on my face must have looked like I'd just won spot the ball and Id had the big payout.
I used to ride and race the bells off it when I was a little younger, but for the last fifteen years or so this has been sat up in the rafters in the garage, unloved and almost forgot about.
However after an 'unusually ' drunken night out , myself and best riding and drinking buddy malcolm got talking about our old pub and race bikes and indeed what had happened to them, we even had kinda of thought , one night in the dark and distant past , we had got that drunk either we had sold them for beer , or forgot where we had left them or indeed the local plod was now using them as there coffee and cake bikes.
After a couple more drinks to sober us up we remembered where they were and made a new pact , that this year myself and malc will return to sample and undertake our public duty to check out the many local drinking establshments like we used too on our bikes like the olden days, maybe this time around we could get to know the local constabulary a little better and sample their many different types of modern accommodation now on offer.
But before I can undertake these tasks set forth and written as a binding contract in vodka, , I'll need to put her back together again , replace the parts that had been 'borrowed' from friends and generally give the ol' gal some loving once again.
Period correctness and the fitting of non original parts is not high on the list of priorities , and certainly from memory some of the original parts fitted were replaced through natural selection as they either exploded or broke in three during our old 'crash test drunken dummy nights out' those events, coupled with the weekly amusing 'chase or evade the red and blue light' nights out' meant any parts that did suffer damaged were replaced as needed and would be replaced with what was available from the bikes shops at the time, so whilst period correctness is not vital I'm gong to rebuild using sympathetic period parts, of which no doubt my wallet is going to get lighter and the coffers of the retrobike collective will grow.
I'll put up a couple of pictures of where I'm at , and I'll try and update the thread when I get time and as I make further progress , hopefully some of you may be be interested in the rebuild , and I hope you'll enjoy my ramblings.
Currently the frame has undergone a full degrease, clean , paint renovation and full on waxing so at least she's finally looking good , just need to finish my beer off then its time to start browsing for those missing parts.
For now then here is where I'm at.
Steve
I used to ride and race the bells off it when I was a little younger, but for the last fifteen years or so this has been sat up in the rafters in the garage, unloved and almost forgot about.
However after an 'unusually ' drunken night out , myself and best riding and drinking buddy malcolm got talking about our old pub and race bikes and indeed what had happened to them, we even had kinda of thought , one night in the dark and distant past , we had got that drunk either we had sold them for beer , or forgot where we had left them or indeed the local plod was now using them as there coffee and cake bikes.
After a couple more drinks to sober us up we remembered where they were and made a new pact , that this year myself and malc will return to sample and undertake our public duty to check out the many local drinking establshments like we used too on our bikes like the olden days, maybe this time around we could get to know the local constabulary a little better and sample their many different types of modern accommodation now on offer.
But before I can undertake these tasks set forth and written as a binding contract in vodka, , I'll need to put her back together again , replace the parts that had been 'borrowed' from friends and generally give the ol' gal some loving once again.
Period correctness and the fitting of non original parts is not high on the list of priorities , and certainly from memory some of the original parts fitted were replaced through natural selection as they either exploded or broke in three during our old 'crash test drunken dummy nights out' those events, coupled with the weekly amusing 'chase or evade the red and blue light' nights out' meant any parts that did suffer damaged were replaced as needed and would be replaced with what was available from the bikes shops at the time, so whilst period correctness is not vital I'm gong to rebuild using sympathetic period parts, of which no doubt my wallet is going to get lighter and the coffers of the retrobike collective will grow.
I'll put up a couple of pictures of where I'm at , and I'll try and update the thread when I get time and as I make further progress , hopefully some of you may be be interested in the rebuild , and I hope you'll enjoy my ramblings.
Currently the frame has undergone a full degrease, clean , paint renovation and full on waxing so at least she's finally looking good , just need to finish my beer off then its time to start browsing for those missing parts.
For now then here is where I'm at.
Steve
