A Razesa for Mrs Foz!
- Thread starter foz
- Start date
Not tonight Richard - I think I've convinced myself (with a little help along the way) that ivory with brown highlights, saddle and tape is the way to go. I can already see it with a set of continental tyres on - they should match perfectly 
Not sure about the cables though :facepalm:
any ideas? I don't think white will look right, black will stand out too much... anyone know of any brown outer cable? or will that be too much brown... I've started ponderung again
Not sure about the cables though :facepalm:
any ideas? I don't think white will look right, black will stand out too much... anyone know of any brown outer cable? or will that be too much brown... I've started ponderung again
Well work on this has been slow, but steady! If all goes to plan, I'll be dropping the frame and fork off at the painters tomorrow, and picking them up in 2 or 3 weeks.
Other parts are coming together - I have almost everything now.
Things still to do - recover the saddle, build the rear wheel, polish LOTS (rear hub, cranks, seatpost, brake levers, shifter...)
Things still needed - mudguards (silver, metal, up to 50mm wide, something like the dia compe ENE), tyres, bars, stem (possibly, I have a couple that might work)
What I really need is to get the frame back from the painters and start building!
Other parts are coming together - I have almost everything now.
Things still to do - recover the saddle, build the rear wheel, polish LOTS (rear hub, cranks, seatpost, brake levers, shifter...)
Things still needed - mudguards (silver, metal, up to 50mm wide, something like the dia compe ENE), tyres, bars, stem (possibly, I have a couple that might work)
What I really need is to get the frame back from the painters and start building!
I finally got round to taking some better pics of this one over the weekend so thought I'd update the thread with more build details and better pics (better late than never!)
In no particular order, this is what I did:
The fork tips had been filed out (slots made larger) at some point, so I had the car workshop over the road fill the slots in slightly with more weld, then filed it back to leave the slots the size and shape they should be.
Frame and fork then went for paint, and I had the decals cut. The decals took three tries to get right, but finally worked out pretty good (first time the printers cut all the lines, not just the outline, so instead of letters they were just lots of little triangles and impossible to apply, the second time they set the knife to cut too deep and it cut the backing paper too, so again, impossible to apply. third time came out good though ). Skimping on the paint cost, I fitted the decals myself and went over the edges with clear nail polish to stop them lifting.
Rear hub and cranks came from my parts bin and were given a decent polish to tidy them up - they're RX100/Exage or similar.
The selle san marco seatpost was original from the bike - the black paint was removed with paint stripper, then I polished it up and painted the flutes the same colour as the frame. Since Mrs Foz is a non-cyclist, she prefers the saddle lower than it should be so the flutes are hidden in the pics :facepalm:
The chainguard was bought new, but was black (why are parts only ever available in black and not silver?). I wanted as little black as possible on the bike, so it went into a plastic bowl with some caustic soda for a few minutes, then a quick polish, and turned out quite nice!
The brake levers were also a parts bin special - they had black mounts and silver blades, but the black came off nicely with paint stripper, and they polished up quite well, and I filled in the slots with matching paint.
Same story with the shifter - I wanted something easy to use, and good looking. What could be easier than a thumbie? Needed to lose most of the black though... more caustic soda, some time polishing, and a little paint
Headset, BB, stem, front wheel, rear rim, spokes, all were from the parts bin. Bars, rack, mudguards and pedals were new. I had an old Raleigh ladies saddle that I wanted to recover, but after thee attempts and not being able to get the fabric (fake leather) to sit properly, I gave in and bought a new one, along with matching grips.
Brown cables aren't available (I think brake cables are, but gear outers for indexed gears aren't), I didn't want black, and white wouldn't fit right with the frame colour. So I made them myself Standard white cables, covered with brown 6mm 2:1 heatshrink. I nearly burnt out Mrs Foz's hairdryer while shrinking them on, but I think they turned out pretty well in the end!
I had to go for new brakes in the end, as the ones I had just wouldn't quite stretch over the mudguards and contact the rims properly.
The seatclamp bolt is a standard 6mm (might be 5mm?) bolt, with the spacers and nut from a V-brake brake pad to hold the rack supports at in the right place and clamp everything down.
Overall I'm very pleased with it, and Mrs Foz is also very happy with the outcome! She's even starting to like cycling
Now for some pics of the finished bike!
Have just noticed that I've forgotten the cable end caps, and seem to have lost a crank bolt cover!
In no particular order, this is what I did:
The fork tips had been filed out (slots made larger) at some point, so I had the car workshop over the road fill the slots in slightly with more weld, then filed it back to leave the slots the size and shape they should be.
Frame and fork then went for paint, and I had the decals cut. The decals took three tries to get right, but finally worked out pretty good (first time the printers cut all the lines, not just the outline, so instead of letters they were just lots of little triangles and impossible to apply, the second time they set the knife to cut too deep and it cut the backing paper too, so again, impossible to apply. third time came out good though
). Skimping on the paint cost, I fitted the decals myself and went over the edges with clear nail polish to stop them lifting.Rear hub and cranks came from my parts bin and were given a decent polish to tidy them up - they're RX100/Exage or similar.
The selle san marco seatpost was original from the bike - the black paint was removed with paint stripper, then I polished it up and painted the flutes the same colour as the frame. Since Mrs Foz is a non-cyclist, she prefers the saddle lower than it should be so the flutes are hidden in the pics :facepalm:
The chainguard was bought new, but was black (why are parts only ever available in black and not silver?). I wanted as little black as possible on the bike, so it went into a plastic bowl with some caustic soda for a few minutes, then a quick polish, and turned out quite nice!
The brake levers were also a parts bin special - they had black mounts and silver blades, but the black came off nicely with paint stripper, and they polished up quite well, and I filled in the slots with matching paint.
Same story with the shifter - I wanted something easy to use, and good looking. What could be easier than a thumbie? Needed to lose most of the black though... more caustic soda, some time polishing, and a little paint
Headset, BB, stem, front wheel, rear rim, spokes, all were from the parts bin. Bars, rack, mudguards and pedals were new. I had an old Raleigh ladies saddle that I wanted to recover, but after thee attempts and not being able to get the fabric (fake leather) to sit properly, I gave in and bought a new one, along with matching grips.
Brown cables aren't available (I think brake cables are, but gear outers for indexed gears aren't), I didn't want black, and white wouldn't fit right with the frame colour. So I made them myself
Standard white cables, covered with brown 6mm 2:1 heatshrink. I nearly burnt out Mrs Foz's hairdryer while shrinking them on, but I think they turned out pretty well in the end!I had to go for new brakes in the end, as the ones I had just wouldn't quite stretch over the mudguards and contact the rims properly.
The seatclamp bolt is a standard 6mm (might be 5mm?) bolt, with the spacers and nut from a V-brake brake pad to hold the rack supports at in the right place and clamp everything down.
Overall I'm very pleased with it, and Mrs Foz is also very happy with the outcome! She's even starting to like cycling
Now for some pics of the finished bike!
Have just noticed that I've forgotten the cable end caps, and seem to have lost a crank bolt cover!
howlindawg
Old School Hero
Nice transformation!
Loving the colour matched details.
Loving the colour matched details.
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Lovely
Gives me ideas for a bike for the missus.
(bars might need shimming)
Lovely
Gives me ideas for a bike for the missus.
(bars might need shimming)
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