Well, the wrap started off nicely enough. I theorized that a little amber shellac would olive up the green velox tape I had. The first coat of shellac, amber, looked pretty good, and I thought, ok, great. So I proceeded to put on a couple of coats of clear. After this, I decided that the bar tape still had too much blue in it, so I put another, what I though was light, coat of amber on it.

This was a disaster - in the sunlight, you could see brownish blotchiness with a barfy green from underneath struggling to get through. So I'm thinking, rats, last rolls of green, the cord whipping, etc. But removing shellac is also fraught w/peril (another thing not to ask about...).

So I decided that I would try to remove some of the shellac. If you ever do this, you really can't scrub much with the alcohol, because it will take off the shellac from the high spots much more quickly than the low spots - in this case it would have left a green - brownish green spiral.

What I did was gently wash with a lot of alcohol, letting it run off freely, applying it with a paintbrush so you can't scrub too hard. Kept at this for a while until the color was rolled back to what seemed like an acceptible state, let dry for a number of days, since all the coats of shellac at this point are pretty softened up, then put a couple more coats of clear. Seems to have worked out ok.

The green paint is pretty hard to match, since it really changes hue pretty dramatically in different light. I attribute this to the very fine, almost invisible gold metal flake in the paint. The bar tape color doesn't change, so sometimes it looks a greener, other times bluer than the frame paint. The pics I took show it in a pretty good light and where it is right now is a pretty good balance.

Drivetrain? It had Suntour ARx front/rear. These are ok, but sort of bland. I've got a couple of Suntour Vx RD's, one that is engraved "Fuji" instead of Suntour, these have a bit more of a classic/retro look. Or a Cyclone, 1st gen. That is what I'm thinking now. The Vx derailleurs are actually pretty decent and only now are starting to get discovered on ebay.

The crank is Sugino RT, again, ok, but if I'm trying to emphasize classic form (if not colors...), the angled "aero" chainring mounts are a little moderne. I'd like to find one of the "Fuji" engraved cranks that they put on so many bikes, these are rebranded Sugino Maxy/Super Maxy, or Sugino Mighty Tour or AT, or old Specialized cranks. Something elegant and a bit classic.

Even if I can't get away with the gold hubs, I'd at least like to try out some pedals with gold cages - once you put the toe clips, w/black leather and black toe clip straps, that subdues the gold. The bike came with silver caged MKS road pedals, which looked real pale/wan against the rest of the bike, that was one of my first impressions when I first saw it. At a minimum, black caged pedals if gold doesn't work there either.

One thing that I'm realizing w/this bike is that the gold color doesn't work at all up high on the bike - I was trying out some gold brake cable housing, nixed that idea pretty quick, same w/the idea of painting the seat post flutes gold, but down low, interspersed with the silver/green/black, a flash of it seems to work. I dunno, pretty fine balance that if you step over it, all of a sudden it is the "gold edition", which isn't the point.

We'll see how it turns out, anyhow, I won't be doing anything irreversible to it and every little thing that comes off the bike is bagged/tagged and into the Fuji Del Rey takeoff parts box.