Well friends, life got in the way, and took an unexpected positive turn. Not a baby, thankfully, but career-related. This means I’ve been away from tumblr and fixing bikes for a while. But now that things have settled down a bit, I plan to get back to bike stuffs soon.
More big progress tonight.
- Stripped. The paint is all the way stripped. The frame is ready.
- It took a little longer than I thought to strip the paint and sand it to the steel. It was a total pain in the ass to remove the last bits of paint in the hard-to-reach corners.
- I used a spray can of paint remover for a few tough spots. A couple of the photos show where the remover bubbled the paint off. It didn’t remove everything and there was plenty of hand sanding left to do.
- I removed the chrome fork crown, and sanded the rust that had built up on the fork below it. At first the fork crown was stuck, but I used a flathead screwdriver to pry it off. The fork crown is in great shape and is polishing up fairly well.
- Next, I’ll use Bondo to fill in holes in the frame. These holes were left behind after I removed the shifter bosses.
- Also this week, using liquid rust remover over the frame to kill any rust.
- Primer immediately after that.
- Paint will follow. Again, going with the Wimbledon white. Already have the paint.
- I’ll start tearing down the old 3-speed Triumph when I’m waiting for the paint to dry on the Vista.
I might fail.
Friday night, a friend who has way more experience building bikes was trying to talk me out of painting the Vista. He went through all the pluses of getting a pro powder coat: Only $150. Hassle-free. Strip, sandblast it for you. Super-durable. etc., etc.
I know he is wise, experienced and 100% right.
It was crowded and noisy where we were. I tried to explain why I have to do this by myself. Maybe I didn’t explain well enough, but what I tried to say is that this is not about being perfect. Far from that. I already weighed the options.
Instead, I know that I might fail. So many things can go wrong painting a bike. Even the humidity can have an effect, and I live in one of the most humid cities in the U.S. I won’t get into details, but a poor home paint job can look sloppy.
So, I know this might be bad or good. I have no idea. I have been reading up on paint, and I will do my best to make it look great.
Nevertheless, I will share the outcome.
To me, the unknown is the thrill.
Reblogging a must-read cycling piece from the NYTimes, courtesy of heartbrakebiker.
Victory, the Personal Kind
By EDWARD ROTHSTEIN
Published: August 11, 2011
I was, he said, the last cyclist on the highway. It was 10:52 a.m. By 11:30, I had to be finished. And if I couldn’t make it, I would be disqualified. I was near the Cloisters: I had to get to 57th…
Slowly making progress. The frame is mostly sanded and almost ready for final de-rusting and primer. I have a few spots where I will use paint remover spray, but otherwise … close. So ready to move to the next step. I expect to start primer this weekend.
Color? I’ve decided on Wimbledon white, with brown accents.
bikesnredbeard asked: Any Luck finding the size of that fork?
Thanks man… I’ve been sidelined the last few days. Grandmother hospitalized again, heart attack, incompetent doctors… too much. I’m about to go out to the garage now and go take a look. I need to clear my head. Thanks for checking back. I’ll let you know as soon as I find out.
- 1st photo: Stem expander wedge. WTF is that? I didn’t know until this metal thing dropped out of my frame and rolled across the garage floor. Oh crap. I thought I screwed up the fork, but Sheldon Brown’s site clued me in. My wedge is cracked and needs to be replaced. It’s about 20mm diameter. The opening on the frame is about 22mm or so. Standard size is 21.1mm for a new part. I need one but don’t know the right size. Does anyone know how to fit these parts?
- 2nd photo: Killing the rust. These are the cups from the head tube, and they were both terribly rusty. They looked like garbage — like the one on the left in the picture. I wasn’t sure if I could keep them until I pulled them out. The wire wheel eliminated all the rust on both pieces. They’re fine now and should polish up nicely.
Great progress today on the Vista.
- I sanded most of the fork and used a wire wheel to start polishing the chrome on the fork and handlebars. The fork is mostly sanded tonight. Still needs some polish on the chrome. Half the handlebars are de-rusted.
- Most of the frame should be sanded and de-rusted tomorrow and ready for primer.
- I won’t be using the wire wheel to remove paint. Yes, it removes paint, but I fear that it removes too much metal. Staying with sanding for paint removal.
- The wire wheel removes rust extremely well from chrome. I’ll use polishes to get the metal parts chromed.
- It looks like primer/paint start this week. Super stoked — need a color.
- I definitely needed this work today to clear my head. It was a rough end of the week — my grandmother was hospitalized with serious heart problems. Still waiting to find out what went wrong.
- Feeling nostalgic lately for my old records. I’m always exploring new music, but the older stuff is working right now.
- Album of the moment: Keep it Like a Secret by Built to Spill.
Winding down tonight with some old D.R.I. and M.O.D. and waiting for the temps to go down in Nashville. The garage is fairly clear, so I’ll be getting started sanding the frame over the weekend. Haha, not related to bike riding at all, but I used to wear a jean jacket and ripped jeans, and I would walk around and crank this shit up on my boombox. haha
