I've got a bike build that I've been "working" on since March. Early on I dubbed it "Project Quarantine." It has gone about as well as the rest of 2020, but I'm starting to see light at the end of the tunnel and feel like it's close enough that I can start sharing.

The project originally started around a frame that I bought from a guy in Europe in early March. There were, shall we say, logistical problems with that. The seller and I both failed to realize that all hell was about to break loose when we made the financial part of the transaction. I won't go into the details, but long-story-short the sale ultimately fell through and my money was refunded. Not, however, before I had started to accumulate NOS or similar quality parts for the build.





Not pictured here, but also acquired, are a set of new DT Swiss R460 rims, some shiny silver Origin8 hubs, and a nice set of Centaur 10-speed shifters.

Naturally, I had to start looking for a frame to go with these parts. I had a pretty short list of frames that I would find acceptable for this project, and I didn't think it was going to come together before next spring, Then last month I found something on the sales forum here. I'm going to leave a bit of suspense as to what it was. The price was right, but the frame needed some work. I never hesitate to sign my friend [MENTION=381793]gugie[/MENTION] up for work, so that was no problem. I even managed to get him to squeeze it into his queue. His original estimate for an opening was Thanksgiving, but then two Saturday's ago I got a text saying that he had to order materials for the projects at the top of the queue, and if I could bring it over that day he could knock mine out. Woo hoo!

So the frame.... A previous owner -- not the BF member who sold it to me -- decided it would be cool to sand the lugs, fork crown, one of the chain stays and part of the seat stay caps down to bare metal. And then they decided to grind off the bottom bracket and chain stay cable guides. Whoever this madman was proceeded to remove the chainstay bridge. Finally, for good measure, they cut a square and two circles in the bottom bracket shell (I'm guessing this was done to mount it for display?). Happily, they left the shifter bosses and the rear derailleur hanger. The work was pretty clean, but naturally the bare metal had started to gather surface rust.




(That's a good clue as to what this frame is.)



[MENTION=175671]shnibop[/MENTION], who sold me the frame, had collected the necessary hardware for the cable guides, and [MENTION=381793]gugie[/MENTION] put them in place.





From photographic evidence, I was able to determine that this particular frame should have had Shimano-branded cable guides, but Mark had a solution for that.

Nice. I was tempted by this frame when it was offered in the sales forum. (Spoiler: The Yoshi Konno thin lug points are exquisite.)

Most of this first two sentences describes my build...but looks like yours is going to be much nicer than mine.
Cant wait to see the rest of it.

I had very good luck with using Rustoleum rattle can paint on my gloss black Raleigh Competition, so I started my color search by looking at the shades of red available from Rustoleum. It looks like the best available match is Gloss Cherry Red.



It's cheap so I also got the next darker shade (Sunrise Red), but the Cherry is much closer. I painted some wooden blocks as a test. One of these was done with the Sunrise Red as a base coat under the Cherry Red. The other is two coats of Cherry. They both look pretty good to me.



Most of the surfaces that need to be painted are raised or at an angle from the rest of the bike, which I forgot to mention has otherwise fantastic original paint, so I'm hoping that even a slight mismatch won't be obvious.

I used EvapoRust gel and sandpaper on the fork crown, but I wanted to dip everything else. (Honestly, I could have done it all with sandpaper, but I love seeing EvapoRust work!) The head tube got dipped in a small plastic container.


(You had figured out that it's an Allez by now, right?)

It wasn't quite deep enough to cover the whole lug.


(Did I mention that I've reused this EvapoRust a few times?)

The lugs came out jet black!



But that wiped off easily!



I didn't have enough EvapoRust to cover the chainstay sitting flat, so I had to get creative.



That also came out nice, but I don't seem to have saved a picture of it.

Finally, today I masked it off for painting. It's wrapped up like a Christmas present (if the present was wrapped by someone like me who is terrible at wrapping presents).

I know it would be a total but I would have seriously considered doing the lugs black especially after seeing what the evapo-rust did, well, just because.

I did kind of like the way that looked, but, no, I'm sticking with red. I guess if the color match ends up looking bad in good light I could always use black as a fallback.

Yep, I get it, hard to argue with the original program and that *****in 3R sticker.

I hemmed and hawed on that frame, and I’m happy it ended up with a bf member who will let us enjoy it vicariously. Excited to see it built up!

Yes, that is an interesting feature, isn't it?

Untitled by alex ries, on Flickr

I already lost the "Designed by Tim Neenan" decal to the repair work, but that's available as a reproduction. I think I'd have to get the 3Rensho tubing decal custom made, though VeloCals does have the same thing with "Tange" in the oval.

Yeah, I don't know who it was ahead of me, but when I first inquired about it, I was told I was second in line. My thanks to everyone who hemmed and hawed.

Interesting is an understatement, cool AF is my assessment.

I almost bought it just for that.

Excited to see how this turns out.

Add me to the "almost bought" list

Looking forward to the build

Interesting. You and [MENTION=425004]merziac[/MENTION] both ride bigger bikes than I do -- considerably bigger as I recall, 60cm? This one is at the absolute limit of how big a frame I can ride, but my magic spreadsheet tells me it's going to work, and holding it up next to my Raleigh International -- BB-to-BB, the top of the seat tubes and the top of the head tube lined up. The bottom of the head tube was lower on this one -- it's got a significantly shorter fork than the Raleigh. The size of the head tube freaked me out a bit when I unpacked it. I was thinking, there's no way that's going to fit. My Colnago is pretty similar though.

The one thing about the shorter fork is that it's going to limit my tire size. Here's a test fit with a 700x28 Conti GP 4000 (so, a little big for a 28).



That'll be fine, as long as I don't need a brake. The rear is just as tight.

yeah, that's why I just couldn't do it. 60 is my lower limit, which is really still too small. But that dang sticker....

Just wedge your foot in there when the time comes

I might have hemmed, but I didn't haw.

Just wanted to point out that [MENTION=111144]Andy_K[/MENTION] is not only a good friend, but holds several jobs:

1. He's my publicist
2. He's my bicycle chauffeur (in the Before Times)
3. He's my beer sommelier
4. He's a Potato Overlord

There are many other titles Andy holds, but he's got special privledges at the Atelier.

And here I thought it was just my proximity and willingness to come running when I heard you had some free time that got me squeezed in

I love it when a plan comes together.

I was never in line, but I like to gush when I see something special...

More likely it's the odd fact that for some reason you trust me with your frames.

C'mon enough chit-chat, MOAR PHOTOS!!

One of them is clearly not spell-checker.

Tough crowd. I might try to sneak out during lunch to do some painting. Otherwise, the best I can do is another pic from before I masked it.