86 Muddy Fox Courier project

Hi,

Fairly new here, but looking to have a go at tarting up my trusty old steed. I have one of these:



and I'd like to give it a new lease of life.

The bike is in OK condition, but alas it has lost quite a few of its original parts along the way (just through wear and tear and changing fashion trends). I'm not really looking to do a full rebuild with all original items (somehow I think it would take forever), but I'd like to make it rideable again as it was a pleasure to use (the headset is very stiff and loose for one). I don't think it would take much work, but I guess I might need your advice along the way.

First thing to do is to strip it down completely as I'd really like to have it resprayed. The original paintwork is very poor and there is surface rust in places (it was sadly stored in damp conditions for a number of years (in a cave in the garden (I kid not)). My only concern here is that the respray would surely involve a sandblast, as such the original decals will be lost...?

So I guess what I'm asking in this first post is for some advice:

- can anyone recommend a company that would respray my frame?
- what can I do about getting replacement decals? If I retain anything, it has to be these.
- I am convinced the seat post will be seized as well as I've not touched it for years... how do i go about sorting that, or is it best left to those that know??

Many thanks if you have any ideas or suggestions or just want to tell me I'm mad!!

For a respray, look up companies that do powder coating near you. Some places will do a frame for £25, but it can be more.
Gil_M on this forum can make you new decals.
Give the seatpost a go. If it proves particularly recalcitrant, soak it in WD40 every time you walk past it and try again in a couple of days.
If that doesn't work come back to us.

chris667":254xo22g said:

For a respray, look up companies that do powder coating near you. Some places will do a frame for £25, but it can be more.
Gil_M on this forum can make you new decals.
Give the seatpost a go. If it proves particularly recalcitrant, soak it in WD40 every time you walk past it and try again in a couple of days.
If that doesn't work come back to us.

Click to expand...

Thanks very much for your reply. I have found some likely powder coating workshops locally that I'm testing the water with...

Thanks for the other advice too.

jameshurrell":eic9so00 said:

chris667":eic9so00 said:

For a respray, look up companies that do powder coating near you. Some places will do a frame for £25, but it can be more.
Gil_M on this forum can make you new decals.
Give the seatpost a go. If it proves particularly recalcitrant, soak it in WD40 every time you walk past it and try again in a couple of days.
If that doesn't work come back to us.

Click to expand...

Thanks very much for your reply. I have found some likely powder coating workshops locally that I'm testing the water with...

Thanks for the other advice too.

Click to expand...

Where abouts do you live? Worth asking if anyone on here can suggest a coater near you

Good point! I'm in Shrewsbury, Shropshire. Yell.com brings up a few possibilities....

OK, so it's more than a year later and all good things start and then fade off Anyway, I'm back and I've stripped the bike and have been sourcing some bits for it. Excuse all the pics...

Here it is completely stripped - first bike I've ever stripped. Created my own headset cup remover (piece of copper piping!) to remove the cups - works brilliantly. Shame to lose the retro pink MBUK sticker in the respray though!



The frame is in a bit or a sorry state (my fault - I've neglected it for the last 10 years or so) - this is before the cups came out:



Seat post came out quite easily:



As did the bottom bracket:









Next job is to send it off to for a powdercoat. Gil_M has already created the decals for me, but I'm missing the pink Tange sticker, so have taken lots of pics of it.

In the mean time I've been sourcing bits. I've decided to go down the Suntour route building it up with some nice period NOS Suntour X-1 (middle of the road parts) that I've slowly been collecting:

NOS front derailleur:



NOS 7spd Accushift thumbies:



Mint rear derailleur from the sales forum (thanks Stu!):



As regards wheels, hubs etc. I had a bit of a ponder. The rear dropouts are 126mm so that leaves me with fitting 126/130mm hubs. Not searched too much, but don't see much about. Anyway, I've decided to overhaul the old hubs and put them on new rims (the old Araya rims were in a poor state as the braking surface was curved :shock: ). The cones and races dont't seem to be in too bad a state thankfully.

More pictures later.

Like the look of where you're going with this. A courier was my first ever mountain bike so i've a soft spot for these. Keep the momentum going

I have looked for a white/purple courier myself, which I think is the year after this one. They are so cool. I may look for a frame like this though to re-home the Full Suntour XCT group I have kicking around now though.

Carl.

Yes, those purple/white ones were later than mine. Agreed though, very cool!

I'm going to enjoy this build. The Courier was the first MB my elder brother owned and therefore the first MB I rode too.

It's great to see that you're progressing with a sympathetic build, but please don't put those red walled Fire XC's back on.