Rojo thought I should post this up for interest as i've been pottering with this for a wee while now.

My mission with this bike is to make the most of what i've got.

I picked up this 1997 Explosive frame cheap but it needed some work to it. It had a repair done on the seat/top tube join after it cracked, and i'm sure it was sound, but to me it was a bit unsightly.

I should have started photos from the start, but i've started once it was W.I.P. These are when i've been removing the old weld and starting to remove paint as well.

It needs re-welded, re-painted as finish was past its best, and most of the parts i'll use will be getting re-worked in some way to refurbish them.

As usual, my photos leave a bit to be desired i'm afraid.

Wow cool glad you put up thread mate.

I know what this is looking like now and ally has done a amazing job

Going to look forward to the progress of this.. , are those parts you showed me destined for it.. ?

Cheers guys. Yeah those parts will go on this one. Got some other parts done now as well.

Here's what my colours are for it.

You should see how the frame and forks look now Si he has done a awesome job

I'll be interested to see where this one goes and what you do to it

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I will have a full OEM 1997 Explosif drivetrain (Sugino cranks, Delore XT 8 speed the rest) coming up for sale shortly off mine, all in working order and so i'm told pretty good nick. No idea what it's worth but it will be coming off.

Small update on the parts front for this bike.

I don't have, and can't afford the cranks i'd like for this, so here are before and after pics of the ones which will be going on.

Very swish, what did you polish them with?

Paint was removed with a rotary wire brush and die-grinder, various grades of wet and dry, and polishing was with Vienna Lime soap stuff.

Didn't take long at all really.

Let have some better (close up) pics of the frame work mate

^ agree - whats the repair look like?

Yeah we cant really see what the situation is with the frame. Some before and after shots would be nice if possible.

I love stuff like this

I'm lurking too.

Explosif + shiny things call to me.

Keen to see some repair work photos as well please!

Update:



Sorry to disappoint you all, but those are the best pics i've got. I'm further ahead with this now, so its too late to get any.

The existing weld was removed and new weld added to tidy things up a bit. I tried to keep this to a minimum to avoid heat degredation of the tubing: any damage in this way had allready been done before it came into my hands.

The tubes also had a fair bit of internal corrosion, so I ended up 'holing' some areas which then needed patched. The frame has been submerged in a de-rust bath for a few days to treat inside of the tubes.

The repair ended up looking better, but still not great, it was too far gone to end up with a nice bead of weld without replacing the tubes themselves: In the end I used some metal filler to get the joint looking semi-good.

Ended up filling in the toptube flare and smoothing it out to meet the seat-stays. Looks kind of ok in the end I hope.