Originally Posted by
L8Guy
Nice looking bike! I like the white colour ..... seems to suit. The rims I got were actually the cheapest rims I could find easily from my LBS. They are alexrims - Y303. Just a very basic rim, no mostly covered channel for spoke nipples. They are just a simple 'silver' colour.
I'll have to look for those. I think I have one Alex Y303 rim that came on my white Twenty (fitted with BMX hubs and 20 x 1.95 tires that don't quite fit). That Alex rim didn't have enough spoke holes for the SA hubs (the 2nd rim was a different brand, and black). I'll check my LBS this weekend and inspect their rim selection.
Originally Posted by
L8Guy
My intention, in the future is to seek out 451 rims with narrower tires and see if I can find better brakes. Consequently, I will be holding on to the original fenders (sorry about that
). One fender is almost immaculate, while the other does have some rust but isn't pitted badly. I do have access to someone that is prepared to sand blast and re-chrome the fenders and kickstand (which is in worse shape) if I go that route. I think when all is said and done, I want to keep all the pieces in case I change my mind and just strip her down again, sand her completely, re-paint and re-decal her, and put her back together, hopefully, almost good as knew.
I don't blame you, and I didn't think there'd be any harm in asking. I, myself, hang onto everything I take off the bikes. I was planning on getting 451s too, as I prefer the way they fill out the fenders. The bike was obviously designed for them. Just like everyone else though, I'm leaning towards the 406s simply for the more robust variety of tire choices available in that size. My most recent acquisition, the Coffee Brown Twenty, is amazingly immaculate- only superficial rust on the chrome, and only a few chips and scrapes in the paint. The fenders and rims are both rust-free. The frame was well taken care of- it was dirty, but it turned out that the dirt was suspended in a layer of wax. Whoever had that bike before clearly loved it. The only thing wrong with it was that the headset had been modified in a dangerous way (and was missing some key bits that I'm currently tracking down).
I've found the best way to clean rust off of the chrome is with wadded up aluminum foil with WD-40, and a lot of rubbing. Works much better than anything else that I've tried (including bronze and steel wool with different types of acids). I discovered that bronze wool will scratch chrome, despite what people have written online. I've had no problems with aluminum foil though!
Originally Posted by
L8Guy
By the way, I am a little bit envious at the list you and your SO have as "My Bikes:". Hope your '71 project goes well!
Thank you. We actually just started collecting them this past summer. Pretty much just picking up anything cool, vintage, and Raleigh that we could find for under $125. At some point though, we got a little carried away. Now I've got enough projects to last me until the mid-summer. I think three 3-Speeds for each of us is enough, so some will have to be re-homed.
