madpogue 

I've posted this on a couple other threads, but it fits here as well. 1995 Univega Alpina 5.1

Snatched in the nick of time from the bed of Fred G. Sanford's truck, along with a 2001 aluminum frame HardRock that I later flipped.


I think I actually got the chain and freewheel de-rusted, although this ^^^^ is a different freewheel and rear wheel. And the rear derailleur still works. Tires are a mismatch; the front is a cheapo Kenda, but it makes for a marginal visual match.

gravelinmygears 

An old Merz randomly showed up in the next town over. The seller was maybe the second owner. He purchased it in the 80s and rode it quite a bit, but it was still in good shape. When I got it home, I realized that the driver side rear drop out was cracked. I tried to have it repaired locally. When I sent it off to Franklin Frames for paint, Jack wasn’t satisfied with the drop out repair and redid it himself. As for the parts – I went with all of my favorite things. It’s generally period correct but I am honestly not a stickler for such things.





Cracked dropout!

gravelinmygears 

Here’s how it looks today:

Mr. 66

Original hoods, and my grubby paws since 1984and after

The tape cleaned up nicely also

jdawginsc 

What did you use?

bulgie 

Those Shimano UF verticals always crack, for a stong and/or high-mileage rider. It's no reflection on Merz's skill as a framebuilder. (I know, you didn't say it was, but someone might be thinking it...)
Too bad because they're small and light and elegantly shaped, so I wanted to like them.

Here's one I repaired a while back, on a circa 1980 Glenn Erickson custom that he made for a 6'6" cat 2 racer, but on his touring bike. The repair is easy, just fill in the big semi-triangular window, fully or partially. Shimano could have made these never break if they'd just done this smaller window originally in the forging. Oh well.



The crack can also be welded, after Vee-notching from both sides, but on this one the crack ran very close to brass from the original braze, and you can't weld right next to brass. The brass vaporizes and gets into the weld, making it brittle. I brazed it with nickel-silver, which is stronger than brass, about the same strength as the steel of the dropout. Stronger than any feasible way to weld it.

The Franklin Frames repair looks excellent. Congrats on bringing a worthy frame back from the not-quite-dead.

Mark B

Mr. 66

I hit it with water and sprayed turtle wax tire & wheel wash. Let set for 30 seconds, work it in lightly with a bristle brush, rinse and repeat. I find that stuff works leavening a supple feel. It's like scrubbing bubbles. Better than Dawn and toothbrush, that can leave your hoods feeling sticky.

Works wonders on encrusted alloy, I use it on brake calipers and pads. I recently used some on a pair of derailleurs, it's not a grease cutter but if all the solute is evaporated it makes them sparkle.

I use gloves, its harsh stuff chemically.

brewerkz 

I bought this bike in Dayton Ohio. I suspect it came back with a serviceman after WW2. I stripped and repainted it with SprayBike products. Tried to get to more period correct parts. One challenge is the frame bottom bracket has no threads, it required a Bayliss Wiley Oil Bath Bottom Bracket. The idea was it could be oiled thru a port rather than disassembled. The bb is held in with compressive force.

merziac

Fantastic work, gotta love it when Jack gets involved, a better outcome would be hard to come by.

Aardwolf

1961 Holdsworth Cyclone (22" seat tube)

Before is March 2023



After is from earlier today
(original colour was flamboyant red, now it's red with metal flake)

bOsscO

Holy cow that is some transformation; fantastic outcome.

Aardwolf

Cheers,
Hardest bit was getting the paint right, it's supposed to look like Holdsworth Red pearl
Holdsworth Red pearl

Erzulis Boat 

jim dandy

Just finished a restomod on this 57cm 2002 LiteSpeed Arenberg. Had lots of fun with the cosmetics …
JD, Dallas

Given away by an Old Biker-Before

Restomoded 2002 LiteSpeed Arenberg -After

daywood 

Are those raised letters in your new LiteSpeed logo? They look taller than the down tube but I can’t make out if it’s an optical illusion.

jim dandy

Daywood,
I see what you mean. I bought a new decal set from LiteSpeed and they do install flush. In this picture, all the decals seem raised. Pictures taken by my iPhone7. So, don’t know how to explain it … The headstem badge is slightly raised due to the 3M automotive grade double sided tape I used on it. It will never fall off again.
JD

merziac

And the bike is dang cool too.

clarkbre

This is a 3 month resto-mod project that I did. Picked up this 1993 Trek Antelope 830 on Craigslist for $50. Knowing it had some potential, the bike was stripped down, cleaned and rebuilt with some upgrades and modifications. Mainly, changing the drivetrain from the original 3x7 to a 1x9 and using trekking handlebars really made the bike different. Some before and after shots:

jamesdak 

I guess I can add some of the latest bikes.

Picked up this 84 Raleigh Racing a week ago. 23 lbs 14 ozs as I picked it up.



Saddle and seatpost swapped, new cables. housings, full clean, frame polish, new tires, latex tubes, headset and BB serviced, degreased, lubed, and temp Mavic wheels has it down to 20 lbs 8 ozs. Oh and pedals swapped and a bottle cage installed.



Last winter I picked up the Raleigh Technium Supercourse that was 24 lbs 14 ozs with heavy Exage parts and a rear rack.



A full teardown then rebuild with nice Dura Ace/Ultegra parts gave me a real beauty the now comes in at 20 lbs 12 ozs. This rides so nice and all the parts work great!


Then I also picked up a Cilo locally as a project. Sorta rough but some nice Shimano 600 parts on it.



Another full tear down, paint touch up, lots of parts polishing, consumables replaced/upgraded, etc. This was donated to the local bike collective once I finished with it.


And one more.....

This is still a work in progress but here's a Merlin bike I also found locally. Came to me with a Dura Ace build, the FSA crank and the Deore Long Cage RD and some not so good wheels.



Swapped on some nice Fulcrum Racing 0 wheels with GP 5000 tires and latex tubes. Thomson seatpost Avocet Saddle, Zipp stem, new cassette and chain matched to some sweet Wickwerks 53/34 chainrings. New cables and housings, pedals, full service, etc.

daywood 

iPhone 7!? Dude! 😂

I forgot to mention with my earlier note that it’s a great looking bike and I really like your upgrades.

Barchettaman

A 53-34 chainset, that’s a new one on me.
Does it shift nicely?

jamesdak 

Oh yeah! Wickwerk's chainrings have ramps that lift whole sections of the chain up vs just a pin. I've had 3 or 4 sets on various bikes and they shift really well and quickly. Especially when going from small to large. Wickwerks is a huge player in Europe for the Pro CX crowd.

Vintage_Cyclist

dphi 

This ended up being a very long term project due to various life events, still a few odds and ends to work out but completed for the most part.

Before:


After:

hihik