Old 03-10-13, 08:19 PM
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heytchap
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Restoring a Centurion Le Mans from 1982, plan on making a conversion - again!

First and foremost, the bike is 7 years older than me! I get a real kick out of that.

I was able to source the bike pretty cheaply so I'm not super invested at this point. Plan is to restore the frame and then transfer parts over from a bike frame I want to put into a sabbatical of sorts.
Here are some pics of the frame-set in question:

http://imgur.com/a/CZuIW

as everyone sees, the frame does a have a few areas that have exposed metal; while the fork has pock marked chrome. Kind of a bummer, I'm hoping the damage isn't deemed as extensive or likely to spread.

I did hit the bike with a light rub of steel wool, including the fork. The once over with the 000 grade steel wool made the bike pretty flat in its color. I gave it a once over with some car wax and it brought a lot of the color back. I read that I should give the bike 2 or 3 additional coats to bring the luster back to the bike. I also read it is ill advised to hit the bike with a clear coat as it might come out pretty crummy. That said, is there a way to restore the fork, or should I just give up on that idea and replace it? I was able to remove surface rust from the forks chrome accented tips but the pocked marks remain.

I do have a spare SOMA straight blade fork laying around which I think might look pretty fitting on this conversion. Link to the fork here:

http://smartbikeparts.com/search_det...Fag7MgodpAoAPA

What about the frame itself? Does anyone have any suggestions for a way to restore the paint? I've searched around but perhaps there's a new method that I am unaware of?

Thanks for all of your help everyone!


EDIT:
OK. I've decided to give up on the fork all together. I will use the SOMA straight blade fork that I own.

Seeing as I rubbed the paint down with steelwool, like a noob, how do I go about restoring the shine or paint? Also, any ideas/ thoughts about the few bald spots in the paint itself?

Last edited by heytchap; 03-10-13 at 09:00 PM.
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