After a spate of careless whimsicalness in the various sales sections, I acquired a pretty run down mk1 burner from terry (earl hickey) late last month. When it arrived (exactly as described) It had a stuck seatpost that someone tried to remove badly, odd wheels, knackered tyres and dodgy black paint randomly splattered on various bits of it. For something that looked so badly mistreated, It screamed potential!
First job was to break the bike down.... handlebars and stem came off first, then the wheels, then the chain. next came the seatpost (I left the forks on just in case i needed the extra leverage!)
The seatpost was stuck. Not only this but a previous attempt to remove it seemed to involve mangling it out of all proportion so that it was well and truly jammed! so, frame in the vice, forks used as a brace against the bench and I set to it. A large set of stilson grips on the top of the post, a large bolt dropped down inside to stop excess crushing on the tube and a 4' length of scaffolding pole cracked it loose in no time, it was turning easily but with the mangling of the prior attempt, it wouldn't come out. The next bit is a don't try this at home moment....... I welded a 3" long chunk of 1/2" box section to the top of the post and battered the crap out of it until the post came free, gently tapping the top of the tube to keep it in shape. End result, Cameron 1 - 0 Seatpost (with no chance of being useful to anyone for anything ever again!!!)
with the seatpost free i dropped the forks out, took the crank off and started to clean & polish everything.
the bars and stem are pretty rough despite this so are going to need to be painted for the final build, they will be black but as yet, i'm unsure whether to go for a gloss or matt finish (probably gloss with it being an 80's bike.) To clean the frame, i soaked it in a thin aerosol gun oil that i use to act as a lubricant and started scraping away dead paint, sticky bits and small rust patches. Time consuming but worth it. Next, fine wire wool and brasso, finally, a trip to the kitchen sink for a wash & degrease in hot soapy water. I am pretty happy with the way the frame and forks have turned out, after a second seeing to with wire wool and brasso, it'll be another de-grease (with meths this time) then a rust treatment followed by a couple of coats of laquer.
The crank arms were also painted in the same black gunk as the bars, the problem with these is that they too are beyond a good polish so I am going to have to resort to spraying them black along with the bars and stem.
Next on the to-do list was to find some better wheels, a set of black skyways in the sales section were too tempting for my own good and a cheque was sent off for them, the existing wheels (an original front and a random rear) will probably end up on ebay to recover a little bit of the cost of the new plastic ones although, in their current condition they won't fetch a whole lot of cash.
once the wheels were sorted, I needed to work out how I was going to stop! one of my LBS's stock a lot of second hand gear along with various NOS treasures and I managed to leave with a full set of brakes, levers and cables for £12!!! along with a layback seatpost to replace the knackered one and a new (sorry, couldn't find a proper one!) black plastic saddle for a joint fee of £8!.
Progress has halted now until i get hold of the wheels and some laquer, new grips are coming my way and i need to source some pedals & fins correct size replacement bearings for the BB and headset. once these are all in place I will be back with part 2!!!
First job was to break the bike down.... handlebars and stem came off first, then the wheels, then the chain. next came the seatpost (I left the forks on just in case i needed the extra leverage!)
The seatpost was stuck. Not only this but a previous attempt to remove it seemed to involve mangling it out of all proportion so that it was well and truly jammed! so, frame in the vice, forks used as a brace against the bench and I set to it. A large set of stilson grips on the top of the post, a large bolt dropped down inside to stop excess crushing on the tube and a 4' length of scaffolding pole cracked it loose in no time, it was turning easily but with the mangling of the prior attempt, it wouldn't come out. The next bit is a don't try this at home moment....... I welded a 3" long chunk of 1/2" box section to the top of the post and battered the crap out of it until the post came free, gently tapping the top of the tube to keep it in shape. End result, Cameron 1 - 0 Seatpost (with no chance of being useful to anyone for anything ever again!!!)
with the seatpost free i dropped the forks out, took the crank off and started to clean & polish everything.
the bars and stem are pretty rough despite this so are going to need to be painted for the final build, they will be black but as yet, i'm unsure whether to go for a gloss or matt finish (probably gloss with it being an 80's bike.) To clean the frame, i soaked it in a thin aerosol gun oil that i use to act as a lubricant and started scraping away dead paint, sticky bits and small rust patches. Time consuming but worth it. Next, fine wire wool and brasso, finally, a trip to the kitchen sink for a wash & degrease in hot soapy water. I am pretty happy with the way the frame and forks have turned out, after a second seeing to with wire wool and brasso, it'll be another de-grease (with meths this time) then a rust treatment followed by a couple of coats of laquer.
The crank arms were also painted in the same black gunk as the bars, the problem with these is that they too are beyond a good polish so I am going to have to resort to spraying them black along with the bars and stem.
Next on the to-do list was to find some better wheels, a set of black skyways in the sales section were too tempting for my own good and a cheque was sent off for them, the existing wheels (an original front and a random rear) will probably end up on ebay to recover a little bit of the cost of the new plastic ones although, in their current condition they won't fetch a whole lot of cash.
once the wheels were sorted, I needed to work out how I was going to stop! one of my LBS's stock a lot of second hand gear along with various NOS treasures and I managed to leave with a full set of brakes, levers and cables for £12!!! along with a layback seatpost to replace the knackered one and a new (sorry, couldn't find a proper one!) black plastic saddle for a joint fee of £8!.
Progress has halted now until i get hold of the wheels and some laquer, new grips are coming my way and i need to source some pedals & fins correct size replacement bearings for the BB and headset. once these are all in place I will be back with part 2!!!
