Topanga Rescue

[Daddy Pig]

Hi all

While delivering builders rubble to the tip yesterday, I saw this looking very sad in the metals skip. Checked out Topangas here this morning and went back (with more rubble) to save it - had to give the tip bloke £5 to put his sandwich down and dig it out for me.

It's not pretty..... fair bit of rust of on top tube and underneath bb shell. An acquaintance of mine has a shot blasting cabinet; thought I might give it a blast in there then find a reasonable local resprayer?

What d'ya reckon guys? It's no beauty but it surely doesn't deserve the skip!

 

[dtmbass]

There's another thread on here where a guy did a similar thing to what you'r proposing with a Diamondback Ascent that he found in a scrap merchants.

 

[orange71]

just think you could turn it into this:

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... highlight=

 

[KermitGKona88]

That is a nice frame and deserves some love definately not the tip and £5 to save that is a bargain. To me there is just something about those Diamondbacks they seem to look just right nice and purposeful Get it blasted and give it a nice new coat and it will look the part

 

[mikee]

nice save mate
with those paintjobs its a hard thing to decide on a full strip and re-paint
or a touch up job
that will build into a nice bike tho

 

[legrandefromage]

True Temper AVR tubing as used on some higher quality bikes - rides pretty well too.

save and enjoy.

 

[dtmbass]

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... 9f49d0303b

This is the thread I remembered

 

[Daddy Pig]

Thanks Guys; its always interesting to get your feedback.

I saw orange's build and it inspired me to go back and get this one; that's a really nice job! Nice one on that Axis too.

Mikee, I think this is going to need a lot more than a touch-up. I think I'll need to have the paint off to find the extent of the damage, just to make sure there is some life left in it.

I had a tinker this afternoon. Ended up cutting the cranks off but inside the bb shell seems ok. Main problem is I CANNOT shift the stem. Got the bolt out but the stem is going nowhere. I've applied lots of oil and given it some "taps" with a rubber mallet as hard as I dare. Any suggestions? Apply some heat maybe?

 

[weeman_mtb]

Hi, the link to the Diamond Back Ascent above is mine, these are well worth saving and make a lovely light bike.

With the stem, you have to undo the bolt just a couple of turns or so then tap it with a hammer to knock the wedge down or you won't shift it. If it is still stuck firm then it needs a soak in something like Plusgas, as WD40 and other similar products just won't shift stuff like this. Hope this helps and don't give up on it.

 

[juice]

I'm looking forward to updates on this project.
Once i had a similiar problem with a stem. My solution was maybe not the buddist way of things but with the biggest hammer i could find in combination with lots of rage the my stem finally gave up resistance.