Hey guys, glad you like it. But, ah, erm, no pics of the restoration, sorry. I need to work on that. :facepalm:
When I bought this bike it had been hanging in a garage for 10 years or so.
The paintwork and decals you see in the photos are original. After stripping the frame down, I drenched a handful of 0000 grade steel wool in WD40 and gently ran it over the tubes to remove marks and scuffs. This also leaves the surface nice and smooth. I then applied a colour restorer (Mequiar's Ultimate Compound) with a damp sponge and let it dry to a haze before buffing it off to a shine. I did this twice. It was then sealed with a car wax. The paint now looks a lot fresher but it still has the scars and scratches as a reminder of its past.
The headset, bottom bracket, seat post, and handlebar are original too. The original stem had signs of corrosion but - for some reason - I left it as it was. The LX brake cantis and lever shifters are also the original and were taken apart and cleaned up.
The front and rear LX mechs were in a bit of a mess so having tried to clean them, I decided to replace them with NOS or VGC. The saddle is a NOS Specialized item and the tyres are NOS Specialized Crossroads and took an age to find. One thing restoring bikes has taught me is patience.
The NOS Specialized seat qr (and finishing touch) was an RB purchase from radian73.
The only new components worth noting are the Ritchey grips, and the cables.
I'm thinking I might swap the saddle for a Selle Turbo (as per catalogue) and I'm still on the look out for a pair of black Specialized BX-23 rims.
@doctorstewie: Dirty? What is this word 'dirty'?
