Re:
Hi everyone! First, really sorry about the delay. What with the busy summer period, and my boyish excitement to get stuck into my bike projects, I seem to have failed to post back for ages.
OK, apology number two: I should have taken more "before" pics to really get the effect. However, the one of the headset shows the main issues in summary. Namely, dirt, corrosion to the steel and chrome parts (mostly cosmetic rather than structural), and a terrible bit of funky gold over-spray on the frame, brake levers and so on. I thought it looked cool 25 years ago! Haha!!!
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So as you can see, my main problems were cleaning up parts, seeing what chromework was salvageable, removing as much gold overspray as I could (or working out how to cover the remnants up, or whether it was worth a complete strip and re-coat), freeing up seized or grinding parts and so on.
So, despite the lack of before and during photos, I can show the results. Basically I looked at the info here and the posts from various folks, and decided I'd go for a sort of medium restoration. I wanted to keep as original as I could, but end up with something I liked the look of, didn't appear too shabby, yet still showed it was a vintage bike that I'd had since a kid. So here's what happened:
1) Chrome wheels - I cleaned the originals with back-to-metal solution and t-cut's version of Autosol, however I thought they were still a little shabby looking, and to be honest I never really liked the look of them on this bike. So I kept those in storage and looked at Mag replacements to give me the look I like, but also a retro vibe. I settled on a modern alloy mag wheel set, which I felt trod the line between vintage and modern perfectly for me looks wise. Plus I thought they might prove a little more robust than plastic for my size/weight
and I thought the black/chrome of the alloys fitted the black/chrome of the bike.
2) Frame, bars and brake levers - I found that with a good deal of rubbing with mixtures of WD-40 (and similar solvents), and again t-cut type products, I actually got a good deal of the manky gold paint off. Now, despite age and use related marks, most of the paint and all the main stickers/decals were intact. Only the forks had too much scratched off to save decal wise. So I took the decision that it would be a shame to refinish the frame and lose the original "Burner", Raleigh head badge and other decals. Therefore I used careful and moderate black car spray paint and clear lacquer to just blow over the remaining scruffy marks and areas the gold had affected, and used the same methods to completely overspray the forks. Repro decals were then added to the forks only. All the rest are originals.
3) The original seat post cleaned up OK, but is too short/forward for me as an adult with my leg length really, so I popped it in storage and added a new lay-back chromed post.
4) I thought the original black on chrome on this model of Burner looked ace, but was never convinced the red touches looked right...if I'd been in the Raleigh design office I'd have opted for all black and chrome only, or added a bit more red to the bike to make it look like they hadn't just bunged some red pads on randomly! Just my taste. So I thought I'd keep the red original parts, but simply add a splsh of red to the seat and tyres to make the red touch more even over the whole bike...kind of make it look like it is meant to be there to my eyes. So the red seat is an 80s original from another Burner model, keeping my balance between upgrade/original at least in my mind.
5) I'd love to have found original style tread tyres with black treads and red walls, but these were the closes I could find. I thought all red tyres would be too much to my eyes.
6) New chain fitted, as I'd increased the flywheel from the corroded and worn 16T original to an 18T new replacement and needed a bit more length.
7) brake calipers and levers were cleaned up sympathetically and put back on...just the right amount of visible wear close up to show it's a proper vintage bike, but not look shabby. Red cable outers are new ones to replace the discoloured and ripped up old ones. New cables of course too. The brake pads are the original 80s/early 90s ones...or at least the last ones I had on it in the 80s when the bike got laid-up.
One original grip had disintegrated, but the other was fine with a bit of soap and water...so at the moment there's a modern red replacement on one side. However I have sourced an 80s original to pop on when I get a mo.
9) The pads are the originals...bit frayed and faded in places, but washed up OK and again span right balance for me with looks and originality, so I have kept them.
10) all other bits are original, including the crank, pedals, crankwheel etc...bar the bearings. The bearing cups are original though and cleaned up OK with t-cut metal polish.
Here's the result...I hope you like it as much as I do. It's maiden voyage was last Sunday morning, and all the memories came flooding back! Plus it was great fun, and got a load of looks as I went down the local high street!
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