The frame has been returned ...
What more can I say other than I am over the moon with the finish and the service provided by Windridge coatings
The finish is very smooth and the tig welds (which were very good anyway) almost look like they have been brazed
They did forget to coat the inside with the wax treatment
but as I suspect I will be sending another frame there soon I am sure I can come to some arrangement with them – will give Dale a bell tomorrow
So yesterday my friend accompanied me to the bike shop he works at, a big chain which I am not going to name as I don’t want to get anyone in trouble – They showed me where the (brand new park) tools were and let me use them FOC on the understanding that if I broke them I had bought them ... :shock:
So I managed to re-face the head tube, reface the crown race seat, press the headset in and re-cut the BB threads – and then treated my mate to a burger and a pint as a thank you
Once home I emptied half a can of ‘Supertrol’ rust preventative into the frame to swill it around and then for most of it to come out again on the kitchen floor
It still dripping out this morning ... :shock: Seems like great stuff as I didn’t even treat the head tube as the stuff coming out of the top & down tube vents crept along the dry metal surface and has completely wetted the inside of the tube all over.
Interestingly I seem to have a small problem with the forks – I didn’t know there are two sizes of 1” crown races and my fork are the small size and the XTR race is the bigger ... (There is very little in it – It doesn’t rattle but it isn’t a press fit) :?
It looks like the spinner forks have a shim shrunk onto them so if all else fails I will remove this and make one of the correct size. Before I do this though what are your thoughts about putting a thin smear of chemical metal on it before assembly ? We have some posh Ti chemical metal at work I could borrow so I was thinking of trying it on a dry assembly (while it cured) and then seeing what it was like before final assembly – Would you try it and do you think it will work ? :?
The steel stuff has now gone to the platers and the ally stuff will be going to the anodisers tomorrow – pending me leaving work at a sensible time ...
I will try and post some frame pictures tomorrow
WD