From an ugly duckling to a beautiful swan! This probably belongs in the "before and after" thread and I will put it there later but wanted to share this project with it's own thread for awhile. This is a 1972 Grand record which I purchased in a pretty worn out condition from a Goodwill auction in Indianapolis. I think I paid about $150 for it strictly based on a few poorly presented pictures, (didn't even know the size but thought it was close to my size....it is). Paint was really shot, derailleur hangar was broken off and the derailleur had been remounted using a claw, the seat tube had been damaged by, what I guess, was a too small seat post moving back and forth and really gouging out the tube. Original Universal brakes had been replaced by a generic set of Dia Compes, everything was of course filthy dirty. So here it was as I picked it up:







As usual, when these kind of projects come along, I spent many days trying to determine what the fate of this ol' girl was going to be. Thought about making my first single speed out of it, thought about just trying to flip it for a couple of bucks, and thought about just cleaning it up and keeping it as is. I thought the patina was pretty cool but all the frame damage was not. After many google searches and seeing a couple here on BF I became intrigued by the rarer yellow and black paint scheme that Motobecane put on a few early Grand records. I have a long distance friend who is a little of a Motobecane nut and sent me several pics he collected of this scheme. So I decided I was going to send it to Franklin Frames in Ohio who had painted a Gitane for me in the past and asked if he could duplicate the scheme, pinstripes, lug outline and all. I purchased decals from Cyclemondo and had them sent to the painter.

In the meantime I began searching and refurbishing parts to put the bike back together. All parts to be reused got cleaned and polished, wheels were disassembled polished and rebuilt with new DT butted spokes, purchased a used set of Universal brakes and repro hoods, new Koolstop brake pads to replace the atrocious universal pads, Had to find a replacement head badge as the original cracked into pieces at the paint shop and of course new tape and cables. The bike is rounded out by a new set of Pasellas and a really nice vintage Brooks Professional I found

I have a couple of details left to finish like clips and straps on the pedals and changing the SR seatpost out when my new one arrives but after an intial test ride today I got a little excited to show it off, so here is the first "after" shot I have taken.
What ya all thank********************???