Before and After Pics by all restorers

[Zynster]

Yes for guessing the paint colour!

Well guessed elStado, but you lose all your points for dissin' the worlds best tyres! Bill P

+1 LOVE the tires!

[elStado]

Yes for guessing the paint colour!

Well guessed elStado, but you lose all your points for dissin' the worlds best tyres! Bill P

At least I break even.

[WyvernRH]

Richard, read this a few times : http://translate.google.com.au/translat ... rmd%3Divns

I'm grateful to the Americans for their current fad with more sensible bikes such as 650B & randonneur- parts availability is very good now.

Cheers Bill P

Heh, that wiki page is really weird, but cool....

Yes, I'm with you on liking the nice kit coming out of the States these days. The USA seems to have got over it's 'racer boy' phase and is back to producing top-line useful stuff like they did back in the '80s.
Cheers
Richard

[ldrcycles]

I dont want to hog. Bill P

Hog away mate, especially when you have such good photos of your steed, the next time i finish a build i will make the effort to try and get photos as good as yours.

[lunar_c]

I'd better get in on this! I first started building bikes last year after my fiance expressed an interest in having a nice retro road bike.

We found this old Seiko step through frame on the side of the road during a vergeside collection :



Along the way I learnt a lot by asking questions and making mistakes before finally ending up with a decent bike in the end :



Specs :

7 speed SunRace indexed down tube shifters, Shimano 105 cranks, FD and RD, Araya 700c rims laced to SunTour Sprint front hub and Shimano Exage rear, Nitto Technomic 60mm stem, Sakae Road Champion bars, Tektro R556 long reach dual pivot brakes, Tektro aero levers.

This is a bike I built for myself but it was actually too small for me and I sold it to a friend :



And then :



It was a very nice bike built on an unknown frame (japanese and very light) with a full Shimano 600EX groupset besides the Sugino GLP crankset, Sansin hubs and Araya 700c rims.


Finishing off with my most recent build, a road bike for my brother Steve :

Started with a broken Apollo Delta frame which I repaired ..



And finally .. after some scrounging and donations by forum members, the finished product ..



Specs : 6500 Ultegra shifters, 9 speed cassette, rear deraullier, 105 crankset, front derraullier, Tektro brakes, Rigida aero rims laced to 105 hubs, Selle San Marco seat.

[ldrcycles]

I really like that blue lunar_c, do you know what it's called?

[HappyHumber]

I really like that blue lunar_c, do you know what it's called?

"Omnipresent Smurf"

Not dissin' it... it's a popular powder coat colour. lunar_c should be able to enlighten you more.

[elStado]

I really like that blue lunar_c, do you know what it's called?

"Omnipresent Smurf"

Not dissin' it... it's a popular powder coat colour. lunar_c should be able to enlighten you more.

French blue I believe is the colloquial name. My fixed gear (pic in sig) is the same colour. It looks really nice.

[lunar_c]

It's not powdercoat .. it's made from ground up smurfs!

The bike I built for me is French Blue, and the one I built for my brother is actually a fair bit darker and is called Space Blue on the Interpon catalogues.

[BillP]

Good work Ben.

What was wrong with the Apollo Delta frame? Bill P

[elStado]

Good work Ben.

What was wrong with the Apollo Delta frame? Bill P

Look at the down tube where the gear levers are attached in the original pic.

[peachy]

Good work Ben.

What was wrong with the Apollo Delta frame? Bill P

Look at the down tube where the gear levers are attached in the original pic.

I had exactly the same frame, color and all. Is it a Delta 1 or 2?

[lunar_c]

Some fixie kid had attacked the DT shifter bosses with pliers before giving up.. thankfully the hanger was untouched!

[BillP]

Why is it that EVERY vintage bike on ebay.com.au has the word " Fixie?" in the description? Bill P.

[lunar_c]

Because it's what the young kids want thesedays and it adds $50 .. I believe?

Seriously I think it probably adds a lot of hits to their auctions to include it, so they do.. unfortunately it sometimes ends up that good stuff gets mangled by clueless hipsters! (though to appease Kym I'd better mention that not everyone who rides SS/fixed is a hipster, and yes I've had my hat handed to me by someone on a single speed before).

[mark field]

Why is it that EVERY vintage bike on ebay.com.au has the word " Fixie?" in the description? Bill P.

go to page 13 of the Hard Rubbish/Flea market finds thread and you can have a good laugh.

[ldrcycles]

It's not powdercoat .. it's made from ground up smurfs!

The bike I built for me is French Blue, and the one I built for my brother is actually a fair bit darker and is called Space Blue on the Interpon catalogues.

Aah, i don't know why i didn't recognise it, the furniture factory i used to work at did stuff in french blue from time to time. It was great working there as you could just throw whatever you wanted to the powder guys and get it done for free. I got one bike done in Blaze Blue, i'm told it's a Ford colour, a bit lighter than french blue. Spray painted the lugs gold too, looked great. I'd pop it up here but i haven't got a before pic.

[frog]

Lunar_c I think the French Blue bike you built for your self looks great. Shame it didn't fit!

[lunar_c]

Thanks mate.

It was really light (about 9.6kg without pedals) and nice to ride too .. it was my first foray into a "period" type group and I found it very interesting to ride a 6 speed road bike with downtube shifters. Certainly looked the part too!

[zephy]

first time restorer, not as amazing as most of what you folks have done and shown in this thread but..... I wanted to restore a bike like I rode to High school just about everyday..... picked her up for $50



pretty well the same all round except new tyres, tubes, rim tape, spokes, bar tape, front brake cable.... lots of elbow grease and happy to say I did everything myself still to come 6 speed freewheel, lever hoods, new saddle, back brake install....



..

[rustychisel]

zephy, I think you've done a great job, but... here's the bad news. From those photos I'm reasonably certain that frame is bent, and not in very good condition.

[brackets in case I'm dead wrong, but I'm not ]
The bike has taken a significant frontal hit, usually done by running into something stationary, bending both the top tube and the down tube, just behind the headtube you can see the bend. This pushes the forks back toward the frame, affects steering and handling, if nothing else.
The forks may also be bent. This weakens the tubes, and you need to look very carefully for creases, cracks and flacked paint at the bends. Also the welds at the headtube may be compromised. Based on what I discovered I'd be no more than 50/50 on riding that bike, I'm sorry.

If I were you, I'd confirm and start looking around for a different frame and forks. [sorry]

[zephy]

you have a great eye and thanks for the honesty and friendly warning

all that you say is correct and I have placed an add in the members section seeking another frame

the forks looked ok to me but I'm no expert, didn't go to the extend of getting the frame painted or touched up for this very reason... just polished it up..... spent most time on the wheels and components with the hope of transferring to a replacement frame....

zephy, I think you've done a great job, but... here's the bad news. From those photos I'm reasonably certain that frame is bent, and not in very good condition.

[brackets in case I'm dead wrong, but I'm not ]
The bike has taken a significant frontal hit, usually done by running into something stationary, bending both the top tube and the down tube, just behind the headtube you can see the bend. This pushes the forks back toward the frame, affects steering and handling, if nothing else.
The forks may also be bent. This weakens the tubes, and you need to look very carefully for creases, cracks and flacked paint at the bends. Also the welds at the headtube may be compromised. Based on what I discovered I'd be no more than 50/50 on riding that bike, I'm sorry.

If I were you, I'd confirm and start looking around for a different frame and forks. [sorry]

[zephy]

Based on what I discovered I'd be no more than 50/50 on riding that bike, I'm sorry.

don't be sorry, it is all a learning process for me and I'm happy for any thoughts/advice along the way.....

taken the bike on a few short runs this w/end for the first time..... although everything is tight there is a rattle around the headset area and you are right about the feel/handling, it is definitely not as good as I remember my similar one from years ago being.... riding no hands at about 20km/h there is sufficient front end wobble there to confirm it really isn't good enough for riding......

so the hunt is on anyone have or know of a Standish L or XL frame from the mid to late '80's

btw: very happy with the wheels, been along time since I've respoked a wheel and after about 10kms of riding these are looking great, straight and true

.

[aaron]

Before


After


Whole story here
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=18866&hilit=cecil+walker

[hitchhiker]

I've finally got the Raleigh Scorpio up and running that I pulled out of hard rubbish.

Before


Now (camera broke so apologies for the phone camera picture)


It's not completely finished yet but it's close. I'm still trying to restore the Brooks seat it came with as I think that would look a lot better

I realise it's nothing special and probably isn't worth the effort but I think it will make a nice cruiser for gentle rides