anyone had any experience with spray painting a steel cottered crankset? i'm gonna get it sandblasted next week, and don't care about a chrome finish. whatever bits of chrome left under the corrosion and grime will be departing this mortal plane anyway! looking for a good primer brand.

Just paint it with whatever is in the garage/ shed.

If you need to go to the store, choose "Self Etching Primer"

After the blasting I would just wire wheel and rough polish whatever comes up after that.

It will definitely look cool if the rest of the bike isn't too nice.

We need to see what its going on.

This didn't get the original crank yet, need to source a skip tooth chain and cog, sorted out a place holder ring and cog to get it on the road.

Original crank, BB, HS and pedals still working just fine.

Pretty sure its a 1939 by the s/n.

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appears must be francese

expect you shall be demounting chainwheel so as to spray bits separately


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There's historical precedent: During WWII when nickel and chromium were restricted to the war effort, lots of bike parts got painted including cranks, especially in England, maybe elsewhere too.

nothing to disassemble with this one. just going to take to my local blaster, then prime and paint it .. probably with this. not for a showboat bike. just looking for a good adhesion primer.

it's going on an early 1900's project.. probably a swedish made gormully and jeffery frame. the bottom bracket shell is BSA and not American, but no head badge came with this one. i have an original lauterwasser hbar set and wooden rims sporting a brampton front hub and 3 speed SA rear hub. this will be my around the hood cruiser for local rides around newport that the bike shop organizes... just to sow confusion on the carbon crowd.

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thanks very much for the reply

asked because have not before encountered a chainset with this bezel around the head of the driveside arm which was not a thread-on chainwheel secured with a lockring

so is chainwheel secured via swaging or welding?








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ref 21, but short of a nuclear weapon, that lockring isn't going anywhere, so the entire crankset will get blasted and a paint job.

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wrt "nuclear weapon" -

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have observed that the makers of these chainsets take good care with the threads on the mounting boss as well as those on the chainwheel such that the chianwheel's pattern will come out symmetrical with relation to the long axis of the crankarm when fully cinched down ("clocking")

in this case that registration is clearly off

it might be that disassembly when paired with cleaning & lubrication of threads might permit chainwheel to cinch down at a symmetrical position


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agreed

Or failing that, assemble it with Loctite 603 or similar, super strong, and clock it to an eye-pleasing position. With such a large thread (48 mm), no way a mere human can break that Loctite. Also it's fail-safe, because if the loctite did break, all that would happen is the chainwheel would thread a little further on before stopping when It was fully threaded on against the shoulder. Worst-case scenario is it would look like it does now, which ain't all that bad.

also agreed. breaking that locknut loose may prove to be damaging, so i'll give 'er a try, but not going to sweat it. literally.

back from the sand blaster.. primer this weekend. the chrome bits easily came off as well. don't think i'll try to remove a locknut that has been doing its thing for 90 years, and don't want any oil film when i paint it.

As someone mention before, after sandblasting give it a really thorough go with a wire wheel. I use to collect 40’s & 50’s tank bike and had very good results when using that process on stems and cranks. Bring back a little shine.

Looks good, it needs to be scrubbed with lacquer thinner, acetone or paint prep and then painted immediately for the best lasting results, wire wheel before scrub would improve results as well.

i'm on it like a C&V member on a cheap deal for campy parts!

nope, gonna do surface prep, self etching primer and Rusto Silver, watch the eagles open a can of whoop-ass on KC, sober up and maybe start my delayed several times diet, let the paint dry for 2 or 3 weeks while i watch the jet stream do it's duty for the month of february, done.