My Old Shorter?? Tidy Up

I have just completed a cheap tidy up of an old bike given to me by a friend of mine. Apparently it is a Shorter made frameset but even after supplying the shop with the serial number stamped on the bottom nobody can definitely confirm this.

Originally I was going to change it into a fixed but I had a re-think and decided to tidy it up on as small a budget as I could. Unfortunately the hubs and wheels were beyond repair at a low cost, also the stem, saddle, seatpost (had to cut it out) and brake calipers.

Another friend of mine had had some old Shimano BMX pedals powder coated in a candy apple / anodised looking red which at £70 for my frame and forks seemed like a bargain compared with the more expensive enamellers out there.

Hopefully you guys will like the before and after photos below, like I said earlier it is a tidy up, not a restoration or even a refurbishment just a bit of spit and polish.






















p.s. Just noticed the chain seems to be a couple of links short, whoops.

For a tidy up that looks really very nice, love the colour.

Thats lovely

Thats some spit and polish :shock:
It looks great and that paint looks brilliant!
I hope it rides as well as it looks as that would make it very close to perfect.
You can always come to mine and do some tidying anytime
Thanks for sharing
Jamie

Wow! Thats powder coat??? Looks superb. Whats the name of the powder coaters?

really stunning job!

Tel":67zb862u said:

Wow! Thats powder coat??? Looks superb. Whats the name of the powder coaters?

Click to expand...

Not sure of the powder coater, as far as I know it is a small shop near Lotus Cars up Norwich way. My mate was working there and took the frame up and got it done for me.

starockets":7bgpkc7i said:

Another friend of mine had had some old Shimano BMX pedals powder coated in a candy apple / anodised looking red which at £70 for my frame and forks seemed like a bargain compared with the more expensive enamellers out there.

Click to expand...

They've done a cracking job; powdercoating may be frowned upon by some, but the frame looks superb !.

starockets":7bgpkc7i said:

Hopefully you guys will like the before and after photos below, like I said earlier it is a tidy up, not a restoration or even a refurbishment just a bit of spit and polish.

Click to expand...

How did you get the cranks & chainrings so sparklingly clean ?

The bike is a credit to you; of course n + 1 applies - I look forward to seeing your next effort.

It's no good I gotta say it.....your brake levers are mounted too high! General rule of thumb is the tip of the brake lever lines up with the horizontal line of the bar.

lastpubrunner":1an1dv6u said:

They've done a cracking job; powdercoating may be frowned upon by some, but the frame looks superb !.

Click to expand...

I think powder coating is great. for that cost I can get it coated a different colour in a couple of years and it won't dent my pocket too much. I have to admit that the coating I have on this bike is very fragile, it seems to be a base white with a chrome coat followed by a red laquer. Once the red starts going it peels off so easy.

lastpubrunner":1an1dv6u said:

How did you get the cranks & chainrings so sparklingly clean ?

Click to expand...

The cranks, headset, front mech & stem were all rubbed down using 5 different grades of paper (600 to 2000 grit) and polished up on a buffer wheel with Autosol.

Tel":2fe8sqvs said:

It's no good I gotta say it.....your brake levers are mounted too high! General rule of thumb is the tip of the brake lever lines up with the horizontal line of the bar.

Click to expand...

I know I know I have a problem getting over on these as they so I had to compromise a bit, it wouldn't get ridden to the pub otherwise.