New here, need help...

Just goes to show how incompetent or brainwashed todays crop of 'new' cyclists are. A bike must be the most simple item on the planet to service or repair. Why take it to a shop every time the brakes need adjusting etc.! A neighbour said recently that he had to take his bike to the shop for new cables as he'd had it almost a year. What a waste of money.

Spraypainting - I've done it once and once only - cost's more than you think both in monies & time. Complete hassle if you ask me but you won't know until you try it - depends on the finish your after? I should of just paid my monies and had it done properly. see here... viewtopic.php?f=23&t=263401&start=0

End product is o.k. and o.k only - the lacquer dried to quickly and has a crackled effect in places. Depends on the value of your frame and what your going to do with it - cheapest option is to just get it powdercoated although i'm not a fan personally. Otherwise it's daft $ to a pro-painter. Doesn't look like your frame is in that poor a state?[/quote]

That looks great in my opinion, If I could get anywhere near that I'd be chuffed. I only paid £50 for the bike so I assume it's not a great bike but I bought it with the intention of getting it looking how I'd like. It came with one of those mirrycle mirrors and some mud guards when I bought it, so I took the mirror off and changed the cables but I have no Idea how to take apart or put together a bike so It'll be a challenge for me as I have lots to learn. My frame actually looks in good condition (to me) but I'm like to brighten it up a bit. I might even try to track down some decent decals.

Agreed - If I can't do it i'll take it in but i'd rather have a go first (by asking too many questions on here!!). I think also there's an element of cheap bikes with poor quality components and regardless of how much fettling, the things just keep going wrong or at least don't perform as well as they should.

The other scary point is just how crapped up in oil, mud and anything else that sticks to bike that these bikes get into - no wonder they don't work properly. My LBS offers a complete clean as part of the full service, I'm convinced people opt for this just to get the bike cleaned!

In my humble opinion, i'd T-Cut the frame, change the bar tape & maybe the saddle to add some colour, those new tyres will enhance it and maybe source new decals - HLloyd http://www.hlloydcycles.com/ is probably the best man for this - he may well some original decals or can make some up in any colour you want.

By the way, the fun is in the learning, plenty of help on here as this is where i've learnt most of the bit I know.

Welcome. Recently restored an old bike or three after years without. Feel free to ask stupid questions. I did! Stupider not to ask.


Check out the thread links in my sig below. May answer some newbie questions. Good luck. You have nothing to lose but your wages! Lots of lovely things offered on here.........

Thanks mate I'll take a look at them now.



T cutting is just improving on the current colour? I really want to give it a fresh new colour, really like that purple you used actually. Would sand blasting it be a good idea? My mate reckons I might have trouble redoing the breaks if I take my bike apart though? I just spent the last hour watching videos of people taking bikes apart and spraying them so I'm kinda looking forward to it now.

T-cutting simply cleans & shines the existing paint - i've done one today & the difference is very noticeable but you have to like the colourway in the first place I guess. The purple I used is called Amaranth - it was a Rover cars colour from the 70's I believe. It's blue in some lights, purple in others - kind of funky.

Brakes are easy, it's headsets & bottom brackets that you'll need to be careful with & in all reality if your going to strip it for paint then your local bike shop will be best employed to deal with those bits - You need to be careful with threads, easily ruined!

Sand / Shot blasting depends on the type of tubing on the frame, there's many an opinion on what's best to take paint off. I used nitromors and a wire brush - tedious and smelly but simple to do and cheap which is always a bonus.

Funny thing about that is after years of enduring the derision of my fellow cyclists in the last 2 or 3 years the tide has changed. Now people overwhelmingly want to know more about my old bikes and even the shops are more in tune with the needs of RetroBikers.

At least here in SoCal its a bit of a fad.


Steven

Alright so I've decided I'm going to sand the frame by hand and paint it orange. Do I need to sand it to bare metal then spray it white first?

I'm going to change the bar tape to either orange or white
Change the seat to a white one (any suggestions?)
I'll message the place recommended in here about getting the decals and I'll hopefully start this next weekend. Also fairly tempted to spray the bars too.

I'd of thought it would cost you more in sandpaper than it would in paint stripper?

Anyway, you'll probably end up at bare metal regardless, I reckon it's pretty tricky to just take the top layer off but I guess you could sand it down sufficiently to provide a key for the primer. Two coats possibly? Then top coat, again a couple of coats, then clear coat to protect it. Won't provide much protection mind, as your not baking the paint so it stays fairly soft. This is why powdercoating is popular, it's cheap & tough. Never heard of anyone spraying the bars before?

Sounds like your getting well stuck into this one!