Flaming ‘eck! Another Cannondale (M800, blonde moment content)..

[sparkybhp]

I’ve had this for ages having bought it as a frameset with most components already fitted. I think it needed: stem/bars/cockpit/brakes/seatpost/saddle/brakes/tyres, maybe a few other bits..
It’s in great condition component wise but must’ve been stored without much care as the paint had loads of chips and scuffs etc.

When I put it together I mixed up a fairly good colour match and touched in as best as I could.
I’d always planned to take this back to bare alloy and polish it as the purple doesn’t really appeal to me (I always thought they looked better in red tbh).
So I’ve had a set of decals from Gil ready for ages but loads of other bikes have come and gone before I finally got round to this one. I guess it was never bad enough to need doing urgently..

 

[sparkybhp]

So a few days ago I began the paint stripping process..
And man does this take a lot of time, I must have done 6 separate coats of paint stripper to get the paint off, and it still wasn’t completely bare.. I thought maybe the cold weather was slowing down the reaction time of the paint stripper.. Cue blonde moment.. maybe some heat will speed this up? Blowtorch out..

Whoops!
It was only aflame for a few seconds, luckily I had a hosepipe to hand.
Anyway, eventually I got most of it off and then went at it with a wire brush attachment in the cordless drill to get the last of it off..

What a mission..

 

[sparkybhp]

And today in -5 temperature, wet sanding 240/400/800 grits and then autosol..

And stickers on, hopefully the hard work is done now - just need to re-assemble now.
I have all the original LX kit to go back on it but also a few purple ano components from a KHS I bought recently. Thought they might look good on this, bit of a nod to its previous colour maybe?

 

[gtturbo]

Think I recognise that frame. Originally it would have had purple coda canti's so purple is not a bad shout.

What's the worlds end sign in the back ground ?. Just being nosey as my aunt lived there and we were over the bridge in Fulham.

 

[sparkybhp]

Yes, the first frame I bought from you.. finally got round to doing it properly.

The sign came from a shop fit out we did in Chelsea - found a pair of them in the basement when we were working there must be nearly 20 years ago. It must have been a shoe shop at some point in the past and these were destined for the skip - we saved them. I’ve got one and my father in law has the other in his summer house.

 

[mk one]

So a few days ago I began the paint stripping process..
Whoops!
It was only aflame for a few seconds, luckily I had a hosepipe to hand.

And lucky you had your camera to hand too
Love polished frames. Normal paint stripper no longer works as they removed an ingredient a while back.

 

[sparkybhp]

And lucky you had your camera to hand too

Haha of course - first camera, then hosepipe!
I knew it would be worth it in the end -
but what a lot of work.

Had time to start re-assembling this afternoon, just cabling up left to do.

 

[sparkybhp]

Done..

 

[Vesatoro]

Looks hot! And you now you have snow too to cool it down

 

[Marco-13]

Man! That was a great colour!!!
It Was!!!!!!