Howdy folks
First post here so go easy
The fact that I’m posting rather ignorantly about a flub probably won’t help but I’ve tried to do my homework.
So I just did a DIY spraycan job on my primary/warrior bike (80s Gardin, model unknown) with VHT Roll Bar paint after completely stripping the original (hot pink) paint and grinding lots of nasty corrosion. I went DIY because it was cheap, I have the time now, and wanted to develop my skills, and used the VHT because I couldn’t get access to a ***, it was cheap, no prime, and sounded decently durable. Aside from some roughness and orange peel, she’s not looking too bad – from a distance – and hopefully it holds up. Maybe next time I will brush on marine epoxy or Hammerite or something since my first concern is protecting the ride through regular punishment.
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Trouble is, I didn’t pull off the races from the headset or fork. They seemed pretty stuck on and I was eager to paint, so I painted over them but didn’t consider the need to mask them up.
I did mask inside the head tube and the threaded part of the fork, but not the races. I’m thinking this is going to a problem when I get bearings and grease back in there (especially that gnarly looking bottom race surface). I’m actually at a loss as to where the crown race is – I don’t have it in my parts pile but it must have been there before (?). So I guess I will have to slide one of those on after – right?
As for the paint – I’m thinking to mask outside areas and then brush paint stripper into the races sand the paint out. Might I also be wise to strip the paint off the area where the crown race sits on the forks, or better yet to take all the paint off the steerer, or if the crown race fits then just leave things as is?
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Another issue to deal with before I reassemble is that I stripped the thread on the cranks (Shimano Exage 400 LX). The threads were in bad shape from previous removal efforts, so I pulled them with something very similar to this:
http://imavex.vo.llnwd.net/o18/clien...mages/1246.jpg and then returned the tool to the hardware store after use. Given how rarely I need to pull the cranks, I’m kind of ready to put them back on and use a similar tool or tap them out larger next time (is this structurally damaging? I imagine you could keep riding on them but would just have a much harder time finding crank pulls that work in future), but I’m also thinking it might make most sense to replace them (and keep the chainrings?). If it isn’t clear already, I try to operate on a budget.
I do have knowledgeable bike buddies I’ll inquire with after the holidays, but would much appreciate the advice of a wise web community as well.
Thanks!