Merlin Malt rebuild - finished

[dyson]

Love it

Thanks Paul, really appreciate your comment!

 

[sjcprojects]

Looks great. I might have thought the silver forks with the silver frame would be too much, but it totally works. Maybe because the black rims/post/stem look perfect, so it all balances out nicely.

@dyson – how did you get the year from the frame number? I've been trying to figure mine out, with no luck so far, though I'm pretty sure it's a 1996. Mine is K6H01789. I'm just finishing mine off now, looking forward to riding it:

https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/the-climbing-wizard-–-merlin-malt-2-1996-97-probably.442178/

 

[dyson]

Looks great. I might have thought the silver forks with the silver frame would be too much, but it totally works. Maybe because the black rims/post/stem look perfect, so it all balances out nicely.

@dyson – how did you get the year from the frame number? I've been trying to figure mine out, with no luck so far, though I'm pretty sure it's a 1996. Mine is K6H01789. I'm just finishing mine off now, looking forward to riding it:

https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/the-climbing-wizard-–-merlin-malt-2-1996-97-probably.442178/

Many thanks sjc for your kind comments. It really doesnt work with silver rims for sure! I had missed your thread so I will have a read later. Ill dig out the photo too for you of my frame number when I can find it.

 

[dyson]

Here is the frame number - J97083133 so presuming August 1997. Not much help though with yours sadly.

 

[sjcprojects]

Here is the frame number - J97083133 so presuming August 1997. Not much help though with yours sadly.

Cheers for that. Yeah, my number gives no clues about anything much!

 

[idrisrugby]

I love this thread, you've done a great job.

I've picked one of these up myself the other day and about to start cleaning and polishing tomorrow.

What did you use to get it so mirror like?

 

[dyson]

Thanks idris! I used White Diamond which sounds like a dodgy cider, which smells vile like bad cider but the polish will leave you blinded by your frame in the sun. So just like bad cider really...

Share some photos of your build too.

https://www.customproduct.co.uk/product/white-diamond-high-shine-finishing-metal-polish you can get the metal polish to prep but i just went with the high polish.

 

[idrisrugby]

I think I need to start with a rubbing compound of sorts first, there's a lot of crackling on the surface.

I picked some up today, will try that then some autosol and see how that goes to start with.

Did you laquer over the top after or leave after polishing?

 

[dyson]

Cracking is likely the lacquer. I used wet and dry to strip that. A long and dirty job. Chemical dip is cheaper and faster. I then used autosol. That was a few years back mind. This time did a quick rub with 2000 wet and dry then white diamond to finish. I didn't relacquer so that I could polish it up if tarnished but the WD is supposed to protect the metal too.

 

[idrisrugby]

Check this out, made a start...

Thread 'Merlin Malt 1 New Project' https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/merlin-malt-1-new-project.446421/