WHEELEY

Greetings!

Well here she is;
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-N...611_162928.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-3...611_162939.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-K...611_162955.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Y...611_163018.jpg
Isn't she beautiful? I think so! Not planning on spending a lot of money, just going to restore it the best I can as there's a fair bit of surface rust and give it a fresh coat of paint I have laying around. Most probably Matte black at this stage..

I am stripping it back to bare metal and painting it, currently it's all taken apart expect for the crack, I don't have the special tool to remove it?! Any suggestions on how to remove without damaging it?

I am undecided if I want to keep it geared, or go single speed.. I do have a strong love for the minimalistic looks..

Any feed back or comments are more then welcome! Cheers!

Sculptor7

Looks pretty clean just as it is. Crank pulling tools are not that expensive. Just get the right one and use it correctly and you should be all right. Check with your LBS. Looks light and fast.

rekmeyata

That is a nice looking sport bike. The crank is easy to remove, you can even go to the Park web site and they have detailed pics and instructions on how, also U-tube has a lot of videos posted about bike repair including crank removal and installation.

wrk101

Interesting commentary:

"Isn't she beautiful" "Want to restore it as best as I can"

But then the posting takes a sharp turn:

"Stripping the paint down and painting it flat black". Might make it "single speed"

Sorry, stripping all of the paint and decals, painting flat black, and converting it to single speed is not restoration. But if that is the type of bike you want, its your choice.

Nothing wrong with painting bikes and converting them, but it is not restoration. Repaints rarely have the durability of original paint, and some minor touch up and rust work can fix whatever paint problems currently exist, and take a lot less time, effort, and money.

Often later we will see a posting by someone who stripped the old paint and decals: "where can I find reproduction decals?". So if you are interested in keeping the look of the decals, I would line those up first before stripping them off. Bikes are original once. This one is at the lower end of the Univega product line, so you are not damaging a rare or highly valuable bike.

WHEELEY

Cheers, she was pretty clean. Although the shabby phone pictures don't really show it, it was completely covered in surface rust, like everything. It's all stripped back now ready for a nice warm day to get some paint on it.. I am going to replace some other parts too (tyres are pretty average, definitely needs new tubes and the crank doesn't sound or feel like it was moving fluidly. Not sure exactly what i'm going to do, replace or recondition..

I ended up borrowing a crack tool from a friend who usually helps with me with motorcycle tools, but in this case he also has lots of bicycle gear! I am so thankful for that! Cheers for the link to the Park website, it's going straight into my bookmarks! U-tube really wasn't helpful as all videos required that damn tool.

I get where you're coming from, sorry if I used the wrong wording. What I really mean and want to do is just keep it simple and clean, not a complete OEM restore. Just some loving with new parts as required, new paint as the old one was scratched and there's rust and pitting on every part of the bike. I'm glad to hear it's one of the lower end of the Univega range, has I've completely stripped it now, so there's no turning back!

The plan is to do a really good paint job, not one coat and hope for the best that's for sure! So I hope it turns out good, with good durability, the paint I have is really good auto stuff with a 10 year warranty from chips. So I really do hope it turns out nicely, I should have some more pictures of it fully stripped back and also the start of the painting tomorrow, (if weather permits) I do like the idea and minimalistic look of single speed, but I am going to be doing a bit of long-haul riding so gears would probably come in handy.

Found this code "v831903" on the frame, as there's no decal to say what model it is, I'm hoping from this code I can know the model and also where and when it was made, I'm thinking 83 and Japan (Only because every other part on the bike is Japanese made, so it's only logical that's where it was made too. Anyone able to shed some light here?

randyjawa 

Forget about repainting right away. Learn a bit more and than realize that repainting a vintage bicycle can drastically decrease its value.

MY "TEN SPEEDS" is a website I publish designed just for people like the OP who are at the beginning stage of vintage bicycle ownership. I suggest that you take a look and learn a bit before you screw up the way I did with my first vintage bicycle.

You will save money, time and energy if you take the time to learn before doing.

Hope this is a help.

WHEELEY

I've been reading and reading for a number of months, and this is what I want to do.. I have this idea in my head, that completely stripping it and replacing the bits and pieces I want creates my own bike, a bike I made myself! I'll learn and it gives me a feeling of satisfaction! As I said I've already stripped the bike. I understand the appreciation and respect of rare vintage bikes, I really fell in love with these bikes and I feel the quality is actually better than most of the cheaper road bikes I looked at before I decided to go this route.

I hope I haven't drastically decreased the value, I did only pay a few dollars for it, so realistically the end product with new parts and fresh paint should retain most of its value.

I will check out the websites you suggested, I'm sure I'll learn something regardless. Cheers!

old's'cool

WHEELEY, don't take any of this personally, we're just a bunch of curmudgeons anyway. Since it's a low end bike, and was rusty anyway, you're getting off pretty lightly, actually. As you can see, you have generated interest in your project and all input, I'm sure, is intended to educate and/or help you, not put you off.

WHEELEY

Sweet mate, my bike is all about personal value anyway, I plan on keeping it for a long long time. So resale isn't really an issue, but I would hate to think I had ruined something that was rare, or valuable if I hadn't got my hands on it!

I'm still having some issues, correctly identifying this bike.. It seems a lot of components may have been replaced over the years as I can't find gear/brake references anywhere.. Maybe it was an Australian only model and doesn't have much information floating around the interwebs?

Cheers for the kind words! That's why I joined the forum, for comments like these helpful or not.. I can handle it I'm a big boy but thanks.

I'm pretty keen to give making it a single speed fixed gear a go, as I honestly have no idea what to do exactly and I'm playing this all by ear learning as each step approaches. I would like some input on the best way to go about making it a single speed, remembering cost is priority here, I want quality but I'm not willing to pay for it! Hahaha.

wrk101

For your purposes, you picked a good bike to convert. Its not something rare, it has common parts sizing, so lots of choices out there. I see a lot of people trying to convert a 1970s French bike, and they immediately run into obsolete/expensive parts, etc. The Japanese bikes (and Taiwan for that matter), were usually built to a common standard.

The old Univega is long gone, they were bought by Derby (conglomerate that owns Raleigh and others). You are not going to find a lot of information out there. It does not matter, you plan to remove a lot of the parts anyway. The only thing Univega made back then were brochures and sales calls. They did not build bikes, they didn't build components, and so on. Such outsourcing of manufacturing was common then, and is more common now.

WHEELEY

Here she is, all stripped
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-i...613_130614.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-z...613_130601.jpg

I applied one coat on undercoat/primer, and that really showed a few places that need a little more work *sigh* knew that would happen though, so a bit more sanding in really fiddly places. Takes so much time, but it'll be worth it!
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-2...613_133748.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-v...613_133737.jpg

I have to fill the frame with anti rust fish oil stuff too, which I've got a bottle of, might do that before the next coat on undercoat & before I sand all these fiddly bits I seemingly missed. Not sure how fish oil dries, wouldn't want to have to sand for a third time.

What does everyone think?

WHEELEY

So it's looking pretty good now, just put in an order for some new bits and pieces..

Tried to restore the original wheels best I could, but they still look average, so I'm getting some new ones managed to get some SHIMANO WH-R500s really cheap, going to keep the old one though and strip them down and completely overhaul at a later stage. They are "Nisi" bradged rims, apparently quite good rims, so should make a good spare set.

I've had to spent a fair bit more money then I had planned getting all the bits and pieces required for this build. I needed quite a number of tools I didn't have to get the frame up to the spec I wanted, had to get a high pressure pump, fixie adaptor, new tires, new pedal with straps, basic bike repair kit, adaptors, bottom bracket.. the list goes on..

I haven't laid down colour nor clear yet, I'm waiting for a nice day.. It has been 10 degrees pretty much every day since the first coat on primer, which did give me a lot of time inside polishing up all the other bits and bobs though.

Should I get a new crack, as the current one is probably too big for fixed gear right?

That's it for now, once I get some paint on I'll post some more pictures and hopefully get everything finished within the next week weather permitting, and I can start to really enjoy my new bike!

Jaguarundi

A classic beauty indeed! Congrats!

WNG

Paint and build as you please. I think it's a good choice for the conversion. But bear in mind, the rattle can paint will take months to cure properly, especially if it's that cool out.

zandoval 

Great looking bike - Might consider some gettocals for replacements (do a search) - A police officer told me when I was a kid that all bicycles painted flat black were stolen? - Surely you can find another bike to go single speed...

https://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...1&d=1297368915

WHEELEY

Cheers mate!

I will! It's 10 degrees Celsius which is like 50 degrees Fahrenheit , so it won't take months. Once I get a day over about 15 degrees I should be good to go.

Do you mean the thief paints them black or they're more likely to be stolen if they're black?

The bike has been chosen! Thanks for the UNIVEGA logo, looks good.. I will definitely look into getting something made up if the price is right. Although I'm not too fussed about brand recognition. Would be pretty nice to have a sticker of the brand in just white lettering made up before I clear coat though. I could probably just do it on my home printer.. :/

EDIT: LOLZ I just thought about printing in white, that's UNPOSSIBLE!

WHEELEY

Test fitment.

Everything fits so well. I have replaced wheel set with some cheaper modern rims and nice tyres, while the older nisi rims get a full resto. Also replaced the Bottom bracket, crank, chain etc. I think it's a really nice ride, it's not perfected yet, but it's really nice as is. Just need to lay paint and do a little more polishing..

@zandoval
My designer friend changed your univega logo a little bit. I'll attach those for the community!
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B66...iODk3&hl=en_US