jetboy 

what I do, and some may find this weird, is use automotive spray paint. dupli-color works fine. the key is: do not spray it on the bike! I spray it into a plastic cup and then use a small brush, or even a q-tip to then apply to the frame. Sometimes I even use a toothpick to get into the tiny spaces (like around the cable guides). It does not take long to really clean up a frame doing this..and the dupli color formula is made to blend in, and really does seem to work. and its cheap.

Pemetic2006

Nice work on the bar wrap. I've never done it myself but in my fantasies it's going to be very easy.
Enjoy the Trek.

jcoll003

Hmm. Never thought about duplicolor. Have check and see what colors they have. Thanks!

jcoll003

Thanks! I thought it would be harder than it actually was, but there are a couple of videos on youtube that really took the difficulty out of it for me. I'll never think twice about doing it again. This was the most helpful of the three or four I watched.


Also did some touch up on the crap ton of chips, scratches, pits, and gouges in the paint. There are a number of sources on the web that say Testor's model master's acrylic 'French Blue' is a perfect match for the Trek Imron Race Blue paint. It is not. It's close, but it is slightly lighter, and also slightly more saturated. If you're standing four feet away, it's hard to detect on small spots, larger ones stick out pretty well in direct sunlight. Luckily, most of my large spots are on the underside of the top tube, so they are hidden from view. Up close, though, they're easier to spot, again, quite easily in direct sunlight. Still, in the light inside the house, they're hard to see from even a foot away.

Before. Sunlight, earlier in the day.


After. Fluorescent light, just a few minutes ago. I'll get a shot of some of the touch-ups in sunlight tomorrow so you can see the difference. It's close, but different enough to detect.

jcoll003

Here is a photo of one of the touch-ups in direct sunlight. The color difference is even more visible in person. So Testor's French Blue is close to Trek Race Blue, but not perfect. For application, I laid the spots on the bike that needed to be touched-up to the ground as parallel as possible to the ground. That way, the paint would just sit there until dried and not possibly run. I used a tooth pick to do the touch-up - just dabbed a bit of paint on and flowed it into the chips. Worked very well and pretty easy to control where the paint went. Still have a few spots to touch up. The touch up on the right seat stay in this photo is the only ding on the bike, and it's not that deep at all. Looks like somethign fell across it in storage. Will have it filled and repaired when (if?) the frame is stripped and refinished this winter.



Went for a short ride yesterday and everything is running great. Both derailleurs are now nice and smooth, and shifting is fast and accurate. Just got back from another short check ride - only about 10 miles. I've been on the fence about the Adamo road, but this ride has me set against it for sure. My MTB has an Adamo Peak on it, and I've nearly worn the sides off of that saddle - very comfortable. But, it could be because I'm out of the saddle much more on the MTB or the saddle is slightly narrower. Not sure, but I don't care for the Adamo on the road bike.

I've been thinking about saddle choices for the past couple of days, and had narrowed my choices down to: Selle SMP Pro, Specialized Power (155mm), or the Selle Italia SLR Flow L. But last night I started looking into Ergon saddles. I have a pair of their grips on my MTB, and the quality and comfort are top notch. They also do each of their saddles in small (135), medium (145), and large (155). Not many reviews yet on these saddles, but the few I did see indicated that folks were happy with them. So I decided to try their SR3 pro in medium - I found a ludicrous deal at Nashbar - 70 bucks shipped. The nearest price to this was 145 - don't know how Nashbar does it sometimes, and with their unconditional guarantee, I can always try a wide if the medium doesn't work out. It's not yellow, but I might try doing something about this over the winter if the saddle works out. Will post my opinions of it after I get in a few rides on it. It's a nice looking saddle, and flat across the top - what I was looking for.


Full shot in sunlight. I like the color combo alot. Comfortable, good fit, and fast. I'm liking this bike! Going to start polishing up some of the components next week.




Question: Does anyone have tips on removing black oxidation spots from clear coated aluminum?

I'm thinking polishing the spots out with a dremel and polishing compound and then cleaning the area thoroughly and re-coating with something? What rattle can clearcoats are good over raw aluminum?

jcoll003

Today some really nice shape Campagnolo Triomphe brakes that I scored on fleapay showed up - these things don't have a scratch on them. If it weren't for the rubber grunge on the back of the caliper arms, I wouldn't have even known that they had been used. The stocker Dia Comps just weren't doing it for me, so I decided just to do the whole Triomphe group set on this bike. Here they are just out of the box.



Here's the front mounted - looks much better, IMO - just need to source a Triomphe headset now... or so I thought. More on that in a minute.



Put the cable on, adjusted the caliper, and fantastic! Looks great. All is going according to plan. And then I take the rear Dia Comp off. I notice a different mounting ststem. The Dia Comp has a much longer bolt that extends through the brake mount between the seat stays and is held on with a lock nut; the Triomphe has the counter sunk hex head nut. So I scrath my head for a few minutes, then I decided to take the spring-clip-bolt-assembly off of the Dia Comp and put it on the Triomphe. So I disassemble everything, re-assemble, and it's all looking great. Now I have the Triomphe with a nice long bolt that will go through the frame mount no problem. Everything is great. Nope. Turns out when I measured reach, I measured it on the front wheel and neglected the rear. The Dia Comp brake set has one short reach (front) and one longer reach (rear). The Campagnolo set has both short reach calipers.

Bit of a bummer, but lesson learned. I'm off to look for a long reach set now.

Edit: Anyone know a source for caliper drop bolts?

jcoll003

Just found a drop bolt on fleapay - and are they pricey. I paid more for the damn bolt than I did for the caliper set! It looks like I should get just over 6mm of drop - which should be plenty. At least I won't have to source another caliper for the rear - looks like there was only one option for Triomphe calipers anyhow - 'normal' reach!

The wife has decided to go vintage as well after she took the Trek for a ride. She's going to get rid of her CF rig. She won an auction for a Colnago Nuovo Mexico this past weekend. It's pretty - the frame will be here tomorrow. Parts will be following this weekend and all next week. She wants to get involved in the build so she can learn to wrench on her own bike when it needs an adjustment. Pretty excited - will have to start a new thread when we start that build.

jcoll003

New offset caliper bolt will be here tomorrow or Monday. In the meantime, the new saddle arrived today. It is noticeably lighter than the Adamo Road, which weighs in at a hefty 315g. The medium width Ergon SR3 is only 235, so that's nice. I think it's a good looking saddle as well - nice low profile, flat across the top, and a relatively wide nose. Here's what it looks like on the bike. The rails are covered with electrical tape. The saddle is nicely constructed, and the finish is much better than either Adamo I've been riding. My example had some sticky material on the saddle rear - must have been one of the adhesives used to stick the covering material down to the padding. It cleaned off with a few rubs of my thumb. The covering is slick enough to move easily around on the saddle, and there is a narrow and rather shallow pressure relief groove in the nose and front part of the saddle 'ass area'.



But, the real question I was interested in was what does it feel like? I put it on, leveled it by eye and tightened the clamp. Ergon recommends dead flat level. My initial angle was slightly nose down - very slightly, maybe 3-4 degrees, and then took it out for a quick ride.

My initial impression is that the saddle was a bit hard. It is much less padded than was the Adamo road, or the Adamo Peak that I have on my MTB. Surprisingly, there was also a bit of a 'springboard effect' that I was not at all prepared for. On the bigger bumps where my local bike path crosses roads, I definitely felt a bit propelled up from the saddle in response to the jolts. I usually suspend my weight a bit over these transitions, but I was trying to see what the saddle felt like over such obstacles - that will take a bit of getting used to.

The flat shape really works well for me. Immediately, it was noticeably more comfortable than the wife's Adamo that I had had on the bike. Harder, but definitely more comfortable. The one thing that I was worried about was that the rather narrow and shallow cutout wouldn't be enough was nowhere on my mind. I was sliding a bit forward with the nose-down attitude though, so I pulled over and roughly leveled the saddle. Put on 10 miles or so after that, and I have to say this saddle is a massive improvement over the Adamo road, and is more comfortable than the well broken in (1200+ miles) Adamo Peak on my MTB.



Some initial observations from my first 12 miles on the Ergon:

1) It's comfortable, the flat cross-section really works for my anatomy - after the initial adjustment, the saddle almost disappeared for the rest of the ride. I was getting a bit sore after 40 mins or so, but much less padding, and I was in normal shorts;

2) It has some lateral flexibility. I wasn't expecting this, but the shell is carbon fiber - or fiber filled, or something. I think this will be helpful in longer-distance rides;

3) So far, level is the best position for me - nose up was not comfortable at all, and nose down was just as comfortable as level, but the sliding forward was annoying;

4) The padding is thin, but so far, comfortable enough. I was after a less bulkily padded saddle as I plan on doing more distance, and I feel like one of the drawbacks of the Adamo Road is its heavy padding.

So far, I'm really happy with my choice - even though it's not yellow! But, if this saddle works out for the rest of the season, I may try a recover over the winter when I get into the real restoration of the bike. I'm off for a 25 mile ride in the morning. That will give me a bit more information. But for now, the medium size is working rather nicely, and this appears to be a robustly built, quality saddle.

bikemig 

This is a reallly sweet resto job. The testers french blue is pretty close. I'm restoring a trek 610 in the same blue and the testers french is pretty close. I'm nowhere near as far along on my project as you are on yours. Good job.

jcoll003

Thanks! I've forgotten how nice a good road ride can be. I have a really nice shape rear derailleur body coming tomorrow or Monday. The original is all rashed up on the outside - found a nearly perfect body for pretty cheap, so going to rebuild that - but leaving for fieldwork in central WI for about two weeks on Tuesday, so it'll have to wait for a bit. Really having fun with this project, and looking forward to the Colnago build with the wife as well. Her frame showed up today and it is a thing of beauty.

jcoll003

Really liking the Ergon saddle so far. I think I've got it just a bit back - need to adjust it just a bit. The longest ride so far has been just a bit over 20 miles, so no long hauls, but I've done quite a few shorter rides between 10 and 18 or so, and no discomfort since adjusting the angle just slightly nose down - maybe a degree or so. Dead level gave me some mildly numb parts on a 17 mile ride. Have not had this happen since nosing it down a bit. The wife has a large in the same saddle coming in for her 'new' build that we're just putting the final touches on - a ~1989 Colnago something or other. I'll take the larger one for a spin and see which fits better. If the large fits better, the medium may go on the MTB rig - I'm in the saddle on that bike a lot less than the Trek.

Sneak peak pic of the wife's build... it's *sexy*!


I can't find a full '89 Colnago catalog anywhere, and the seat stay cap is different than on an '88 Mexico, but apparently there are all kinds of variations. Usually, it seems, the Nuovo Mex has two external top tube cable stays, but I've seen the internal top tube cable routing go in from either side or the top on the front of the top tube and exit middle. It's a neat arrangement as well on the internal cable routing - it's not just a hole that you have to fish the cable through - there is an entire cable-housing-sized steel tube that runs in an arc-shape within the top tube. Amazing! I'm looking for a Colnago frame for a project down the road now as well. Damned vintage bikes!

In any case her build is 99% done, just waiting on the saddle. The color is really fetching - kind of a metallic purply-red. Will do a build thread on hers when time allows - the semester is starting up up here next week and have to get ready to teach and finish building a few labs. Distractions...

jcoll003

... but compared to the wife's Colnago, it needs a bit of something.

I've come to realize, that as good as DT shifters look, their functionality leaves something to be desired. I noticed this when riding the wife's Colnago uphill. In particular going from a seated position to standing up hammering. How do you adjust your gearing while standing to achieve proper cadence? Doesn't seem possible without wobbling all over the place - the ergo shifters on her bike make much more sense and allow for those uphill shifts while out of the saddle. So, I found a nice pair of Campagnolo Mirage 8 speed ergo shifters, have a mint Chorus 8 speed RD coming, as well as a sunrace 7 speed freewheel and the DT cable stops. And I can't wait.

I'm going to do a bit of experimentation first though. I want to see if the 8 speed ergos will shift my 6 speed Triomphe RD and index properly. Tentative online forum chatter indicates that it might work - the cable pull and the shift ratios look like it should work, but will have to see. And I like playing around with things. If it does work, it opens the door for all kinds of interesting possibilities. If not, it will be a fun few hours.

I've also decided to avoid doing a restoration this winter, and refinish the frame the way that I want. I like the blue, but there are nicer colors. So I went digging around on powderbythepound.com and on columbiacoatings.com and looked at A LOT of powder color swatches. I also looked for vintage orange bikes of any age to get some ideas on color... and I happened to look at this picture...



Well, my favorite color just happens to be orange, and I am partial to orange bikes, but Trek never made an orange 410 - to the best of my knowledge. So what? If I refinish it, it won't be original anyway - so why not just make it what I want? The color is called "Orange Whip" by prismatic powders, and it has a nice metallic finish. It doesn't require a base coat, and the only topcoat will be a wet clear. Here's a detail shot of the bike above to get a better idea of the metallic finish...



The metallic quality is subtle - similar to the metallic quality of the original blue on the Trek - very tiny metallic particles, more like a metallic pearlescence. Not at all like the big metal flakes in gaudy hot rod finishes. No offense if that's your thing.

The color scheme will change as well. I'll be putting the black saddle on my MTB rig, and will order a large version of the Ergon SR3 pro in White when Nashbar has them back in stock - they're just too expensive elsewhere. I'm going with white perforated vinyl bar tape and white cable housings. It'll look like a fast, slick creamsicle!

So that's the frame color and general color scheme update, and the update on the componentry to as modern as I want to go. I still need to find an affordable Campy silver headset - and some of them just look downright clunky. As for the decals, I'm going with just one Trek waterslide from Velocals on the downtube, and the Tange tubing decal. I've downloaded Velocals color chart into Illustrator and played around for a bit this afternoon, and I've come up with a nice, subtle decal that I think will look amazing on the frame with that color.



The decal will be Velocals' 80's vintage Trek design with an orange outline, white letters and the shadow-lines in 'sunflower' a bright yellow-orange. I think this will be subtle and retain identity and heritage. The imperfect Trek headbadge will be removed before shipping the frame out to Groodybros in early December when it gets too cold to ride up here. It will go right back on as-is when I get the frame back. Can't wait!