The lite age

[Obi-Juan]

One of my greatest "loves" has been the Sakae Litage since the 90s. Why? Well, I don't know.
And despite everything, it's always eluded me. I've been trying to get one for years but never managed to get it.
Perhaps the fact that the BH brand distributed them in Spain and that many were sold made me think that one day I would finally get one.
And that day has come.

 

[Obi-Juan]

Well, the ad came out on a Friday, I saw it as soon as it was posted. I agreed to buy it without thinking twice. On Saturday, there were many bidders "fighting" to get it. Anyway, I had to send a cardboard box to her house (from Madrid to Barcelona, over 600 km), send a courier to get it, etc., but in the end, after 15 days, it arrived at my house.

And it was a bit disappointing, to be honest; it looked better in the photos.

 

[Obi-Juan]

It was in good condition but had a lot of scratches. The decals were horrible. And that was a problem: replicating the stickers from the '91 BH is a lot of work, I think it's beyond me.
So I thought about another decoration, looked for other Litage options, and bought some paint.

But sometimes the devil gets in the way, and a friend who knew I was looking for a Litage told me one had appeared in Madrid. I saw the ad and couldn't resist trying it out. It was €90, but I knew I could get it for a little less because the fork wasn't the original and because... IT WAS PINK!
Like the Pink Panther. Anyway.
Well, for €70, it was worth having a second Litage.

 

[moonlite]

I can predict a lot of bike-related work in your future . . .

 

[Obi-Juan]

The truth is, it was quite a bit of work. In fact, someone had tried to strip it and didn't do it properly, so I stripped it to hide the flaws. But it had Deore cranks, brakes, and an STI DX, in short, some easy-to-sell parts that allowed me to quickly recoup my investment and make a profit.

The rest is just stripping and polishing. A lot of sandpaper and many hours, but since the minimum paint they sell me is 1 liter, it's enough to paint both frames for the same price.
It's like going to the supermarket and getting a 2-for-1 deal.

 

[Obi-Juan]

I can predict a lot of bike-related work in your future . . .

Many hours of fun and despair.

Removing the pink paint was very hard.
Removing the decals from the BH was the worst thing I've ever done.
Two weeks with the heat gun, removing them piece by piece.

Other issues also arose. One of them had rivet nuts on the bottle cages that were failing. I got some M5 ones and was able to replace them.
Replacing them required a lot of pressure, using the Dremmel, and being very careful. Thank God, it turned out well.
Interestingly, I saw that the ones on the downtube had been glued with Loctite. It wasn't visible with the plastic paint until I removed it.