sjcprojects
Orange 🍊 Fan
This bike is following my usual MO of buying a bike for around £25 that I have no room for but can't resist. I did like the seller's description on eBay:
'We were told it was the same model that won some famous bike race, sometimes and maybe that's true. Maybe Neil Armstrong rode it on the moon, I have no idea but it seems like it was pretty decent in its time. it is light as a feather. If you're looking at it, you probably know what it is.'
The listing also had some great photos, the first one being this:
Naturally, I am not foolish enough to expect a proper drive-side photo, but I would generally expect the bike to be shot somewhat horizontally, more or less. I guess it's okay as long as you can tilt your head the right way...
Anyway, I won the auction for a full £26, and headed off to Worksop (appropriately enough, although this one would actually have been built in Nottingham) to collect it. My intention was to make it decent again, ride it a bit, and then sell it (like I say, I don't really have room for it, though I have said that before more than once...). Considering it looked pretty original, I thought shouldn't be too hard to make it worthwhile as something nice to work on and put back into the world in a better state than I found it.
The first time I saw it my heart did sink a little when I spotted some fairly significant rust on the top tube that unfortunately was not highlighted in any of the sellers photos or the description, although I wasn't about to complain for the sake of £26. It's not too pretty:
These photos are actually after I took the flaky bits off with a wire brush and put Kurust on it, so it was originally worse. I guess it is just surface rust, but where it is makes it stand out quite a bit, so I want to get it looking better than this. I guess I need to take it back to something smoother, and then put some red primer or something on it, followed by some paint. Any tips gratefully received, as always.
The rest of the frame has plenty of patina, but not quite such full-on rust, thankfully. Also, the chrome forks polished up pretty nicely after some wire wool and Autosol.
Aside from the top tube, there's not too much to do. All the parts are original, apart from the horrible saddle which is already destined for the tip, the brake levers which I will replace with non-aero ones, and the wheels which are Mavic 190 FB rims on Maillard hubs. I won't use those wheels myself, but I might stick them back on when it comes to selling this...if that time comes. I say that because predictably, now I have it cleaned up a bit, it's a really rather nice bike which I think I might well struggle to sell on. We'll see – I guess I should actually ride it before making a decision on that.
'We were told it was the same model that won some famous bike race, sometimes and maybe that's true. Maybe Neil Armstrong rode it on the moon, I have no idea but it seems like it was pretty decent in its time. it is light as a feather. If you're looking at it, you probably know what it is.'
The listing also had some great photos, the first one being this:
Naturally, I am not foolish enough to expect a proper drive-side photo, but I would generally expect the bike to be shot somewhat horizontally, more or less. I guess it's okay as long as you can tilt your head the right way...
Anyway, I won the auction for a full £26, and headed off to Worksop (appropriately enough, although this one would actually have been built in Nottingham) to collect it. My intention was to make it decent again, ride it a bit, and then sell it (like I say, I don't really have room for it, though I have said that before more than once...). Considering it looked pretty original, I thought shouldn't be too hard to make it worthwhile as something nice to work on and put back into the world in a better state than I found it.
The first time I saw it my heart did sink a little when I spotted some fairly significant rust on the top tube that unfortunately was not highlighted in any of the sellers photos or the description, although I wasn't about to complain for the sake of £26. It's not too pretty:
These photos are actually after I took the flaky bits off with a wire brush and put Kurust on it, so it was originally worse. I guess it is just surface rust, but where it is makes it stand out quite a bit, so I want to get it looking better than this. I guess I need to take it back to something smoother, and then put some red primer or something on it, followed by some paint. Any tips gratefully received, as always.
The rest of the frame has plenty of patina, but not quite such full-on rust, thankfully. Also, the chrome forks polished up pretty nicely after some wire wool and Autosol.
Aside from the top tube, there's not too much to do. All the parts are original, apart from the horrible saddle which is already destined for the tip, the brake levers which I will replace with non-aero ones, and the wheels which are Mavic 190 FB rims on Maillard hubs. I won't use those wheels myself, but I might stick them back on when it comes to selling this...if that time comes. I say that because predictably, now I have it cleaned up a bit, it's a really rather nice bike which I think I might well struggle to sell on. We'll see – I guess I should actually ride it before making a decision on that.
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