misterfixit
Old School Hero
Hi Folks.. I usually spend a lot of spare time fettling various machines and fun old kit to keep life interesting. I have for the last three winters commuted on a bike that needs saving from a fourth. I wanted a cheap 'project', and had a pretty clear idea of where I wanted it to go.
Part #1. The skeleton.
I started looking for an old marin to fix up. I last had one in the mid 1990s and liked the geometry and the spritely ride. I wanted a cheap as chips bike that rides nicely and has the high contrast neon marin looks.
This rusty crusty mess is what I found on ebay for £25,I let the auction finish and offered £15 so this boat anchor found its way to me, I bought it in April '22. I'm not lanky and I really don't like the long head tube of the 18" frames, this 17* was the perfect base to work with.
After a bit of elbow grease it was cleaned up with a stanley knife and wire brush till it was a gleaming frame:
I used sheet sandpaper taped along one edge to a broom handle to clean the inside seatpost tube and inside and the headstock, the frame looked lovely in raw steel. I cleaned it with carb cleaner and this is how you see it here. My son suggested I lacquer it as was, but he‘s never seen neon marins about like they were, and that's where this one is heading..
I really like the neons, so it was painted over a week or two in the garden under a gazebo and gardening sheets clipped to the side using toolstation primer and cheap metallic white and neon paint
Primer:
Metallic white:
Neon red. It's hard to explain how dyno-rod this bike was at this point!:
Next with some careful measurement and masking the satin black:
The paint finished looks like this!:
The observant folks will also see I masked the white patch on the bb shell to look factory!
The bike is finished now and I've been commuting it the last two weeks so I'll post the build and the little gems I documented on the way.. It spent nearly a year as a frameset while I settled on a wheelset. I'm sure you'll like the finished article... I do.
Part #1. The skeleton.
I started looking for an old marin to fix up. I last had one in the mid 1990s and liked the geometry and the spritely ride. I wanted a cheap as chips bike that rides nicely and has the high contrast neon marin looks.
This rusty crusty mess is what I found on ebay for £25,I let the auction finish and offered £15 so this boat anchor found its way to me, I bought it in April '22. I'm not lanky and I really don't like the long head tube of the 18" frames, this 17* was the perfect base to work with.
After a bit of elbow grease it was cleaned up with a stanley knife and wire brush till it was a gleaming frame:
I used sheet sandpaper taped along one edge to a broom handle to clean the inside seatpost tube and inside and the headstock, the frame looked lovely in raw steel. I cleaned it with carb cleaner and this is how you see it here. My son suggested I lacquer it as was, but he‘s never seen neon marins about like they were, and that's where this one is heading..
I really like the neons, so it was painted over a week or two in the garden under a gazebo and gardening sheets clipped to the side using toolstation primer and cheap metallic white and neon paint
Primer:
Metallic white:
Neon red. It's hard to explain how dyno-rod this bike was at this point!:
Next with some careful measurement and masking the satin black:
The paint finished looks like this!:
The observant folks will also see I masked the white patch on the bb shell to look factory!
The bike is finished now and I've been commuting it the last two weeks so I'll post the build and the little gems I documented on the way.. It spent nearly a year as a frameset while I settled on a wheelset. I'm sure you'll like the finished article... I do.
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