The bike I should be riding...89 Marin OAP conversion....finished!
- Thread starter Tootyred
- Start date
Well yesterday i took a better look at the frame. Its pretty rusty in places with the rust kinda ooooozing through the paint.......hummmm.
The physical condition is bad, its lost a lot of paint, multiple scratches and rubs....
I was well warned by the owner, that it wasn't pretty, but 20.5 is not an easy size to find and with a few bits thrown in for good measure, i was prepared to risk it and accept that its skip fodder in the worst case scenario.
I took it into work and we end up (after a lot of probing) getting the guy across the yard to blast a few areas of it ( communinal beer can accepted as payment in full, whilst shooting the breeze, cheers my friend) , it came up pretty clean, but the rust has pitted the surface.
The worst areas are round the chain stay bridge and sadly the fork blades. Its not deep, but far too deep for wet paint without a LOT of build up. Also given condition its going to need serious stripping and rust treatment if its going to be a long term prospect.
The physical condition is bad, its lost a lot of paint, multiple scratches and rubs....
I was well warned by the owner, that it wasn't pretty, but 20.5 is not an easy size to find and with a few bits thrown in for good measure, i was prepared to risk it and accept that its skip fodder in the worst case scenario.
I took it into work and we end up (after a lot of probing) getting the guy across the yard to blast a few areas of it ( communinal beer can accepted as payment in full, whilst shooting the breeze, cheers my friend) , it came up pretty clean, but the rust has pitted the surface.
The worst areas are round the chain stay bridge and sadly the fork blades. Its not deep, but far too deep for wet paint without a LOT of build up. Also given condition its going to need serious stripping and rust treatment if its going to be a long term prospect.
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The other issue is dents. As wet paint is off the table (its not my favourite for hard use bikes anyway), dents are more of an issue. Other than brazing and filing, there is very little you can do to fill for powder. Im not going down this road as its just too much more expense on a cheap frame to be honest.....probably doubling the finishing cost!
The worst of the dents (the main one was on the top tube) I've now rolled out. There's no black art to it! Provided the dent doesn't have a "fold" in it it can be pretty successful.
Basically i just clamp the frame in a wooden block and roll it in a vice. The even pressure will roll the metal back into shape. Don't expect miracles, but it can be much much better.
Here's before and after.
As you can see it was kinda a "splurge" on two sides of the tube with a raised ridge between (splurge is a technical term), now its more a small pit and the tube is very much back round.
I also cleaned up a checked a few areas, gave the bottom bracket and head tube a good "tin foiling" and sat the chainstays in a bath of Evaporust for a day.....just to be sure.
Below before and after tin foiling......it works really well
The worst of the dents (the main one was on the top tube) I've now rolled out. There's no black art to it! Provided the dent doesn't have a "fold" in it it can be pretty successful.
Basically i just clamp the frame in a wooden block and roll it in a vice. The even pressure will roll the metal back into shape. Don't expect miracles, but it can be much much better.
Here's before and after.
As you can see it was kinda a "splurge" on two sides of the tube with a raised ridge between (splurge is a technical term), now its more a small pit and the tube is very much back round.
I also cleaned up a checked a few areas, gave the bottom bracket and head tube a good "tin foiling" and sat the chainstays in a bath of Evaporust for a day.....just to be sure.
Below before and after tin foiling......it works really well
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Now i need to rely on the skill of another expert to finish it. Its off to be powdercoated. After much tea and discussion we have decided to go for a 4 coat approach.
1. Zinc rich primer to deal with any latent rust after severe dipping and blasting. This will be repeated over the dents and rubbed back and re baked a few times to try to build up the dents and pitts.....but its not a perfect solution.....
2. Base colour
3. Actual colour
4. Clear higher gloss powder (25% higher gloss count).
We will see how it goes on wed/Thurs when its out of the oven.
I also dumped the spare parts and a few more bits from the shed into the batch, it ends up cheaper and gets all those old messy parts usable again. So 5 stems, 2 sets of bars and another pair of forks went too.
1. Zinc rich primer to deal with any latent rust after severe dipping and blasting. This will be repeated over the dents and rubbed back and re baked a few times to try to build up the dents and pitts.....but its not a perfect solution.....
2. Base colour
3. Actual colour
4. Clear higher gloss powder (25% higher gloss count).
We will see how it goes on wed/Thurs when its out of the oven.
I also dumped the spare parts and a few more bits from the shed into the batch, it ends up cheaper and gets all those old messy parts usable again. So 5 stems, 2 sets of bars and another pair of forks went too.
Lookin’ really good
, especially rolling out that dent, nice work!It can only go wrong once!
br0qn
Retro Guru
So far so good!It can only go wrong once!
I suspect there will be more fans than folks perturbed.
Another component choice made! Thanks to @raidan73 im now the prowd owner of a m730 chainset. It needs a bit of a tidy up, but its really not too bad ( in my book).
Thank you....
XT is hardly a ground breaking choice, but its good quality.....if only modern stuff as as well made......and its relatively cheap. This is especially true if your prepared to put a bit of elbow grease in!
First job is to relive it of its rings. As its going to be a daily and the rings are a bit fried, im going to use a set of TA Zephyr/ Zelito i have knocking about.
Then into de-grease. You can't polish anything that's greasy!
Today task is to knock the really rough spots, knocks, dents, serious heal run etc off. For that im using dronco discs...it can all be done with wet and dry, but this is just faster. BUT....a word to the wise, they cut fast! If your not sure, don't start.....the window for this going south fast is huge!
The key is to cut in layers, you cant just take out the " bad bit" otherwise you will see a dent when its all polished up!
The trick to all this is, time.....and know when its enough! You can't solve all problems and you have to know when to say "woah, stop the bus".
After another wash in detergent, it polishing. Basically sisal mop with brown compound, then cotton stitched with blue, then loose cotton with a touch if blue if needed.......but that's tomorrows job.....along with some horrid condition cantilevers!
So that's 2 more bits off the list!
Thank you....
XT is hardly a ground breaking choice, but its good quality.....if only modern stuff as as well made......and its relatively cheap. This is especially true if your prepared to put a bit of elbow grease in!
First job is to relive it of its rings. As its going to be a daily and the rings are a bit fried, im going to use a set of TA Zephyr/ Zelito i have knocking about.
Then into de-grease. You can't polish anything that's greasy!
Today task is to knock the really rough spots, knocks, dents, serious heal run etc off. For that im using dronco discs...it can all be done with wet and dry, but this is just faster. BUT....a word to the wise, they cut fast! If your not sure, don't start.....the window for this going south fast is huge!
The key is to cut in layers, you cant just take out the " bad bit" otherwise you will see a dent when its all polished up!
The trick to all this is, time.....and know when its enough! You can't solve all problems and you have to know when to say "woah, stop the bus".
After another wash in detergent, it polishing. Basically sisal mop with brown compound, then cotton stitched with blue, then loose cotton with a touch if blue if needed.......but that's tomorrows job.....along with some horrid condition cantilevers!
So that's 2 more bits off the list!
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