is it safe/ worth renovating?

[mudcow007]

Hello all

im the very proud owner of a Royal Enfield "Bullet" which i have plans of bringing back to her glory, however im worried with the amount of pitting on the tubes with rust....is there a way of gauging how safe a frame is?

i dont want to find my self in the middle of road somewhere surrounded by a pile of tubes that use to be a frame!


as i bought her......

 

[mudcow007]

so far i have sourced (mostly from here!) GB drop bars, GB stem and weinmann levers

we have a polishing shop in my work so everything with uber shiny

 

[Concept_3]

that looks awsome, enjoy it!

 

[hamster]

To be honest, if the tubes aren't perforated then I would think there is little to worry about.

 

[biggs682]

hope you are enjoying it

 

[bm0p700f]

It's steel, unless there are holes the clean the rust of and enjoy. If there are holes a frame builder should be able to replace the tubes.

 

[mudcow007]

cheers all

i have a sand blaster in our workshop so i think i will blow it over an see what the tubes and welds are like

next issue is decals....no one in the world seems to have them

i have called in a favour with our graphical designer to see if he can trace any of the originals

i will keep you all updated

 

[hamster]

It doesn't have welds, it's brazed - the tubes fit inside the lugs which hold them together - like a soldered joint on water pipes. So you won't have much to see.

Bikes tend to go on the chain- or seat stays, especially just behind the bottom bracket.

 

[Goldie]

That looks great - it'd be fantastic to see the original colour scheme with all its crests, swags and swirls recreated - I hope your graphic designer can pull them off! Keep the pictures coming; I'll really enjoy watching this resto.

With rust, I'd only worry about stuff that might have significantly weakened the metal - if it's just surface corrosion that you can remove with wet and dry paper, it should be ok. Of course it's hard to know what's going on inside the tubes, but you could always rust proof inside if you're taking the seatpost and bottom bracket out.

 

[lae]

Looks lovely. I'd be tempted just to polish the paint, wire-wool the rust off, and ride it as it is. Great patina.