Update on Les Rigden Tandem
Well, I finally finished stripping the tandem down and cleaning up a few spots on the frame, at which point I decided that a really excellent paint job was required. Today, I hauled the frame up to Mercian in Derby and ordered a respray which should take about 6 weeks. The original color of the frame appeared to be a sort of dark blue (see pics on flickr at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40147489@N ... 824121091/
Once I was at Mercian, the 60-plus colors available were all with merit, and the choice was very difficult, but as I only wanted a single color on the bike, I thought a lighter color would show the lugwork best and provide a little shadow to show the relief work. I chose a polychromatic minty green sort of color, about one shade off of a light blue. The man then mercilessly brought out a fresh Mercian in the color which showed the proper application of gold lug lining, which I was unable to resist.
The difficult part is sorting the transfers, but I think I have the right font and they will make up a set in gold to match the lug lining.
While waiting for the frame to return, I have a NOS set of Maxi-car 48h tandem hubs to lace up to Super Champion 58 rims. The spoke count alone should keep me busy most of February.
More pictures as they happen.
Best
David
Well, I finally finished stripping the tandem down and cleaning up a few spots on the frame, at which point I decided that a really excellent paint job was required. Today, I hauled the frame up to Mercian in Derby and ordered a respray which should take about 6 weeks. The original color of the frame appeared to be a sort of dark blue (see pics on flickr at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40147489@N ... 824121091/
Once I was at Mercian, the 60-plus colors available were all with merit, and the choice was very difficult, but as I only wanted a single color on the bike, I thought a lighter color would show the lugwork best and provide a little shadow to show the relief work. I chose a polychromatic minty green sort of color, about one shade off of a light blue. The man then mercilessly brought out a fresh Mercian in the color which showed the proper application of gold lug lining, which I was unable to resist.
The difficult part is sorting the transfers, but I think I have the right font and they will make up a set in gold to match the lug lining.
While waiting for the frame to return, I have a NOS set of Maxi-car 48h tandem hubs to lace up to Super Champion 58 rims. The spoke count alone should keep me busy most of February.
More pictures as they happen.
Best
David