Just bought a bike! (not a rifle)

[fraz]

Went out to the tip today and picked up an Austrian made Steyr Clubman for $20. It's yellow in colour, with a decal on the seat tube with olympic rings on it and handpainted detail in black. I'll post photos when I have the time to take them, but the paintwork isn't too bad, although the decals are crinkled and breaking up. Does anyone know anything about this bike? Will it have 27" or 700C wheels?

[munga]

steyr? related to puch? i'd guess 27" would have been standard. what components? zues?

already sounds like a bargain mate. imported austrian racers for $20! better than ebay!

[fraz]

The brakes are Weinmann and the gears are Simplex. I'd never heard of either. I wish the paint was better than it is, but I think a new coat might be in order. Obviously I won't be able to replace the decals but perhaps the hoops on the seat tube in the colours of the olympic rings, they're pretty sweet. I'm been looking for a base on which to build a 2 speed commuter and this might be it. Was hard to tell what the running gear is like, as the rear wheel is so bent it won't move.

[fraz]

Oh and ps: for those who aren't aware, Steyr is the company that manufactures the assault rifles used by the Australian military. They were very innovative weapons when they were introduced and are still amongst the best GI rifles of the world's militaries. I knew they used to make tanks and tractors but had no idea they had made race bikes.

[fraz]

Had a bit more of a look at the bike, it has hand painted detail in black. It's really cool but unfortunately the paint just isn't in very good nick, so there's no way to preserve that aspect to it without it looking shabby.

[hartleymartin]

Fraz,

I know about the F88 AusSteyr, known in the military colloquially as "plastic fantastic". Went shooting with it at a military range when I was at Singleton (I was a cadet) and found it surprisingly easy to use. At my highschool there were a number of air-force cadets at the City of Sydney Squadron and one Monday morning I correctly deduced that they had gone shooting for the first time over the weekend, judging by the large number of cases of "Steyr-Eye" (right black eye).

I'd really like to see some pictures posted up of this bicycle!

[il padrone]

The brakes are Weinmann and the gears are Simplex. I'd never heard of either.

Icons of the cycling world in the 1950s-80s

I wish the paint was better than it is, but I think a new coat might be in order. Obviously I won't be able to replace the decals but perhaps the hoops on the seat tube in the colours of the olympic rings, they're pretty sweet.

Do I repaint or just clean up the paint?

"Never repaint a bicycle unless it's real bad"

[fraz]

Il Padrone,
I don't have the expertise to say how bad the paint actually is, but can say that the decals are (unfortunately) well and truly gone. If I could get it looking shiny and beautiful without losing the hand painted detail I would be very, very pleased.

Hartley Martin,
I will post up pictures, however the bike is currently in the garage of the friend with whom l went to the tip. I couldn't fit it in my tiny car to bring it home and he didn't have time so will be dropping it over next weekend. When he does l shall take some photos and post them up.

I don't want to ruin the bike by painting over it but I also want to make sure l restore the frame to its former glory. If it's possible to meet both those stipulations, that would be fantastic but I must admit I'm very skeptical.

[hartleymartin]

Gentle soap and water and a soft cloth to clean it. Although I admit that I do go a little harder and use Kerosene to clean bicycles that have a thicker layer of muck on them. A very thin coat of raw linseed oil applied with a soft cloth (after cleaning) preserves existing paint and brings back sheen and depth of colour as well as providing an anti-rust layer. It has the added benefit that if you get caught in the rain it causes water to bead off, but it also does eventually wash off.

I look forward to some pictures (photographs are a must here).

[fraz]

So what do l do about the little paint chips with the surface rust underneath? Just leave them as is? What about the decals? They're utterly !! BAN ME NOW FOR SWEARING !!, will the kero get them off?

[fraz]

So I finally took delivery of the bike, it having been sitting in the garage of the friend of mine who picked it up from the tip with me in his trailer. I do love this bike but the paintwork isn't great and I think I shall paint it. Really want to recreate the decals though so I shall spend many an hour on photoshop, getting it right. It has a wicked little badge on the front that I'd like to take off when having the frame painted and possibly touch up with a brush and some enamel paint. It will be a shame to paint over the hand painted striping but I want to make sure she looks as beautiful as she truly is. Looking at it though, I'm a little worried that the fork may have been bent back slightly, due to a front on impact perhaps. I'll let you lot judge from the photos, which I will post up once they're done uploading onto photobucket.
I'm very excited about this.

[fraz]

[lethoso]

looks pretty cool, I like the sweep on the front forks

[WyvernRH]

So I finally took delivery of the bike, it having been sitting in the garage of the friend of mine who picked it up from the tip with me in his trailer. I do love this bike but the paintwork isn't great and I think I shall paint it. Really want to recreate the decals though so I shall spend many an hour on photoshop, getting it right. It has a wicked little badge on the front that I'd like to take off when having the frame painted and possibly touch up with a brush and some enamel paint. It will be a shame to paint over the hand painted striping but I want to make sure she looks as beautiful as she truly is. Looking at it though, I'm a little worried that the fork may have been bent back slightly, due to a front on impact perhaps. I'll let you lot judge from the photos, which I will post up once they're done uploading onto photobucket.
I'm very excited about this.

You know, after looking at photos, that bike really doesn't need respraying, nor are the decals that badly marked. If you want immaculate, maybe but I would happily ride that in its 'as is' state. Lots of charm and its original AND very unusual here in Oz. You might be doing your wallet a disfavour by doing it up...like they say, its only original once. Just touch up any rusty chips with matched paint maybe?
Cheers
Richard

[fraz]

I'm really a bit torn as to whether to restore it or not. That decal would have looked so classy when it was new but now it has those great big chunks taken out of it. Perhaps I should leave any decision on the bike's future until I have scraped all the rust off it and cleaned and polished it all up. Not overly keen on trying to match paint for the chips, first of all there's the issue of getting the right shade of yellow and then how do you get that nice finish on it so it doesn't look touched up? Does anyone else think the front fork looks like it's been in a head on colision at some point?

[munga]

fraz, what you decide to do with it is your decision alone, however, i think that because it's not a high-end (are they forged dropouts?) desirable (ok, a few ppl would like to own a steyr i guess) italian (everyone loves italian frames) machine, you might be better off keeping it as-is*.
save the resto job for something really special perhaps?
by allmeans, clean it up, but don't shell out too much for repaints and replacement bibs and bobs.


*unless this is the stuff of dreams for you, then go right ahead - i love a good resto thread

[fraz]

Appreciate your candour, Munga. Thanks for the input. Short term I suppose my goal is certainly just getting it up and running, maybe then I can decide how much effort I want to put into it. Once I've got the chrome cleaned up and the rust stripped off and I'm actually able to get on it and see how it rides then I'm sure I'll have a clearer idea.

[vanbree]

G,day fraz clean her up first and see how she looks. If you get it powdercoated you will lose all the original charm that attracted you in the first place

[sixx]

Grouse bike fraz

[AverageSpeed]

Re the fork, can we have another picture of the whole bike, side-on, taken with the camera at a height of 1 metre from the ground, and the front wheel exactly at the straight-ahead? It looked a little dodgy to me.... By the way, cool bike. Patch and polish only!

Just a thought; maybe the head bearings are just loose, in which case the fork would look out of alignment....

[fraz]

Averagespeed,
Will do when I get home from work in the morning.

When you say "patch and polish", how exactly does one go about the patch part of this equation? I can't think of a way to do it that won't make it look shite.

[hartleymartin]

Fraz,

All it needs is a good clean with mild soap and water, then a coat of wax. If those rims are steel, they might need a polish. You'll need to get some clips to hold the rear brake cable in place on the top tube such as these or these. You may wish to consider new tubes and/or tyres (gum-wall are all the rage). It may be a good idea to get the hubs and bottom bracket re-packed with fresh grease. You SHOULD also pull the stem and the seat-post out and coat the insides of the tubes with fresh grease, and lubricate the insides of the cable housings. But other than that, it needs practically NOTHING done to it.

[WyvernRH]

fraz, what you decide to do with it is your decision alone, however, i think that because it's not a high-end (are they forged dropouts?) desirable (ok, a few ppl would like to own a steyr i guess) italian (everyone loves italian frames) machine, you might be better off keeping it as-is*.
save the resto job for something really special perhaps?
by allmeans, clean it up, but don't shell out too much for repaints and replacement bibs and bobs.


*unless this is the stuff of dreams for you, then go right ahead - i love a good resto thread

+1 to Munga's comment here. I didn't want to come over as a Retro Nazi here, normally I'm at the other end of the scale but that is a pretty unique bike in Oz.
Use aluminium foil then fine wire wool and oil on the rusty bits ( I think you are mainly worried about the forks/hubs /rims here?) You will be amazed at how much better it looks. The odd scratch and chip will fade in significance.
Cheers
Richard

[fraz]

Thanks for all the help fellas!
Hartley,
The rear rim, although it's not very obvious from the photos- is very badly bent and warped, it won't rotate because it's jammed up against the frame. I have some single speed wheels lying around that l could chuck on it but they are not at all in keeping with the style of the bike, so would only be a temporary measure. Bearing in mind that they're 27" rims (I think) how hard would it be to source some replacements?

[hartleymartin]

fraz,

Take a close look at the inside of the rim. Chanes are it will be stamped with a maker's name, the size, possibly even a type or model number and even a made-in-xyz somewhere on it. Is it chromed steel or aluminium alloy? the steel wheels are a dime a dozen- easy to get. Alloy ones are not always easy to get second-hand, but new ones are not too hard to get hold of.

I'm trying to not be a retro-nazi, but if you wanted to make a fixie or single-speed I'm sure that there are people who will gladly trade 2 or 3 frames to have this really quite unusual bicycle.