Not retro but I thought I'd share my restoration project for a bike for the missus. My work is no were near the level as some of you guys, but I'm proud of the outcome, and learnt to to work on some things that I didn't know how to do before. Plus the missus is quite pleased with her new rig.
The Stratos seemed to be a decent mid-high level light bike but in desperate need of some TLC. When I went to see the buyer, I could tell there was potential in the bike but would require a lot of elbow grease. I had to peel off two set of decals on the bike, most of which were peeled off but enough was left here and there to make it a big mess to deal with. some nasty left over red reflective tape on both the front forks and rear stays. SPD pedals seized to both crank arms.
Front and rear hub were terrible with grinding noises coming out of them when spun. also the headset was rough as well. when i took these apart, there was dark black goop which was thick as molasses and really difficult to remove. even found vegetation (thick grass or weeds) inside the rear hub. the whole bike looked like it was never serviced in it's lifetime.
Cleaned out all the old bearings and old grease, which was a big awful chore. Sourced new bearings, and cones for the hubs, and repacked everything with new grease. All of which I've never done before.
As for the pedals, i tried WD40, then some penetrating oil. even tried to heat up the crank arms. nothing would work. in the end I took the crank arms off the bike and viced them.
Cleaned and polished up the frame, got some touch up paint for some of the more obvious scraps. Created new decal lettering artwork and had a buddy of mine that cuts vinyl custom make them for me. Rocky Mountain I found on the web, and adjusted as needed for the downtube. There was one Stratos lettering on the left side that was somewhat intact which I used as a guide to build and spaced from RM lettering. And a new headtube crest that I orderd off ebay.
This is what the bike looked stock:
Completed restoration pic:
The Stratos seemed to be a decent mid-high level light bike but in desperate need of some TLC. When I went to see the buyer, I could tell there was potential in the bike but would require a lot of elbow grease. I had to peel off two set of decals on the bike, most of which were peeled off but enough was left here and there to make it a big mess to deal with. some nasty left over red reflective tape on both the front forks and rear stays. SPD pedals seized to both crank arms.
Front and rear hub were terrible with grinding noises coming out of them when spun. also the headset was rough as well. when i took these apart, there was dark black goop which was thick as molasses and really difficult to remove. even found vegetation (thick grass or weeds) inside the rear hub. the whole bike looked like it was never serviced in it's lifetime.
Cleaned out all the old bearings and old grease, which was a big awful chore. Sourced new bearings, and cones for the hubs, and repacked everything with new grease. All of which I've never done before.
As for the pedals, i tried WD40, then some penetrating oil. even tried to heat up the crank arms. nothing would work. in the end I took the crank arms off the bike and viced them.
Cleaned and polished up the frame, got some touch up paint for some of the more obvious scraps. Created new decal lettering artwork and had a buddy of mine that cuts vinyl custom make them for me. Rocky Mountain I found on the web, and adjusted as needed for the downtube. There was one Stratos lettering on the left side that was somewhat intact which I used as a guide to build and spaced from RM lettering. And a new headtube crest that I orderd off ebay.
This is what the bike looked stock:
Completed restoration pic:
