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Old 09-12-18 | 04:13 PM
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3alarmer
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Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 22,994
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From: Sacramento, CA

Bikes: old ones

...where I live in California, rechroming anything is pretty pricey. If you're some place like Nevada where the environmental costs are lower, it might make sense.

In the case of a bike with this level of rustification, I strip off all the old parts, and if I have something that is approximate (like your non-original Campy group) I put it back together after painting and rebadging with the new stuff. I don't do many projects with a lot of rust any more, for exactly this reason.

With regard to dismantling the rest of the parts/components, because your paint is already pretty bad, you ought to be using a MAPP gas torch (Home Depot item).

A couple of cooling and heating cycles will break the corrosion crusts that are frustrating your efforts at removal. I would also recommend looking at some of the old threads here on using either an oxalic acid bath or the stuff they sell in gallons at Home Dept called Evapo-Rust.

If some of the stuff (like that brake hanger) that is rusted can't be easily replaced with newer, less damaged stuff, you can usually polish the rust off with a wire brush after soaking in that same way, then rinse very well and wax the surface with some kind of miracle polymer car finish, like Miracle Gloss.

I've seen Frejus decals on the internet, either from Velocals, or from Greg Softley at Cyclo Mundo (maybe both).

I would not try to save the chrome on the lugs and/or fork crown, and I've been known to sand and paint over the chrome socks on both fork and stays if too far gone. I'm more into functional restoration, that is accurate up to a point, but still practical and maintainable. There are some good threads here on painting, and paints for use by us amateurs. The Spraymax clear coat two part paint stuff is a godsend. After you get al the colors and stickers on the way you want them, you can clear over everything and it's a durable epoxy finish with some gloss and depth. 20 bucks per can, but well worth it on a project you've spent so much time on.
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