Here are a few pictures of the Del Rey I'm working on:







Paint is in unbelievably good shape on this bike (that is just a little dirt on the inside of the chainstay, not rust):



No rust or problems under dt clampon shifters:



More on handlebar tape - this was not an easy task getting a decent match, but I'm done:



Crazy idea? I've got the other one, put QR axles on them, yeah, Pimp Daddy-O... Brooks B-17 Champion in green is on the way...



A few more pics on the blog in my sig, but this is most of them.

Nice hubs. That'll be sweet.

The rims... what are they? They look... golden or brass.

I think the '84 Del Rey is one of the most understated Fuji's in it's line up for that year. Gorgeous paint, conservative but with a hint of wild with it's gold rims. A conservative grey suit with a flashy gold watch.

You've done a great job Robatsu! Wow.

Scott

So far, so good. Your Del Rey is in great shape. I can't wait to see it when you have it completed.

Scott,

You make some pretty good points. Yeah, the frame color is something that could the cover of a Fortune 500 bond prospectus. But then you see that it has a very, very fine - it took me a while to consciously recognize this - gold metal flake in the paint. And then the gold rims and trim. So there are these two themes going on as you noted. Flash and conservatism.

What's fun then in a light customization like I'm doing w/this one, is to sort of get into what was in the original designer's mind, and where would he have taken the vision if not constrained by the dreary realities of a strict price point and production cost per unit. Would he have asked for gold hubs instead of the ubiquitous Sunshines or some other color of brake cable housing, etc, but had no more budget?

The ride on this bike is very, very nice as well. Lively and responsive. This one has a lot of potential all around.

Honestly, that is, by far, the nicest FUJI I have ever seen. Excellent!

As cool as gold hubs would be, they look kinda cheep and might be too much.

What was the source of the gold hubs? They look just like a pair from an 80 Ross Diamond Cruiser.
I think they were SR (edit) hubs.

they look like formula hubs

edit: n/m cones look different

The hubs actually look a lot better than the photograph and would look a lot less cheapo when fitted w/hollow axles and less clunky lock nuts (imo) and quick releases. But in any event, I agree, a little bit of gold goes a long way. The bikes with gold stems, cranks, etc, don't do anything for me. I just put the thought out there, but, yeah, it probably would be too much. I've been contemplating this whole gold angle - the seat post panel is a light metallic gold, while the "FUJI" lettering is a darker metallic gold, along with the lug lining and other decals. This bright stuff is sort of in contrast to the conservative green paint, silver components and traditional styling of the rest of the bike, and I'm finding it it is a pretty fine balance. I've been fitting up some brake cable housings, I've got some both in silver and gold metallic (original was black), jury is out on that as well, I'm sort of leaning towards the original black now. Overall, the idea is to keep it a fairly conservative bike that has a bit of unusual bling, like a dark Mercedes w/a bit of brightwork, rather than a very loud/bright machine like an out there Ferrari.

I am going to test out a brooks green saddle - I ordered one, I've been wanting one of those for years, if it doesn't work out on this bike, I've got another project it could show up on later.

So I'm going slow and cautiously, just getting the right combination of clear/amber shellac coats on the bar tape was an incredible pain, I ended having to wipe most of it off once and redo it w/the experience gained from the first attempt.

Suzue "Light Alloy" hubs. They made these for road bikes w/quick releases, which I believe was the original application. Like a number of hub manufacturers, they later started anodizing them in colors, fitting them with oversized solid axles, and selling them to BMX set when high flange hubs were going out of style on road bikes and BMX was coming into vogue.

Even Campagnolo got into this act, there are colored high flange Gran Sport/Nuovo Tipo hubs out there.

Don't over do it. Right now, it has the makings of a classy-looking bike. The British racing green and silver with a few gold highlights is looking good. Don't allow the gold to become a dominant feature. If you pimp it out, well,...

I think a black Brooks would look really nice. I'd ahve to see the green to know but,... don't pimp it out.

You guys are going to have to stop making so much sense....

My Fujiphilia is acting up in full force now. It's probably about time to go perform the bar swap I've been promising my Sagres for ages.

I know you said on your blog entry not to ask about the trauma, but how did you get such a good match on the wrap?

What are the plans for the drivetrain? There's a guy on Ebay that's been listing the same set of gold superbe derailleurs for ungodly prices for several months now.

Since it's only bolt on parts, 'pimping' it with gold parts won't harm the Fuji. If it's going to turn out like the rest of your bikes, it'll look sharp and still be tasteful, and not ghetto fabulous.
I think the gold high flanges will look fine. I agree that small sized components in gold won't have an overwhelming effect.

Afterall, the gold components exist because there was a demand for them....gold chains, a gold Suntour Winner freewheel...and those black and gold Superbe Pro derailleurs, Woah!!
The fun thing is you can take it as far as you like, and then do a reversal of direction if desired.
These would look like they'd fit right into your theme:

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.

Darn it, I'd just gotten over wanting a Del Ray and you have to go posting the EXACT one I'd LOVE to add to my collection. Darn you.

Note, anyone finds such a frame, in 57-59cm, please contact me. Thank you.

Don't I know it. I would characterize them as better than decent, but the eBay prices for good SunTour stuff is really going up. I currently re-habbing a Superior and thought a Fuji-branded Vx would be a nice upgrade from the stock derailleur, and would match the Fuji branded Compe V front nicely. A quick glance at eBay disabused me of that notion quickly, I wouldn't recoup my investment. Similarly, I have been looking for a Fujita/Belt for my Sagres for ages and the prices for even rough ones are ridiculous lately. No offense to you personally, a man has to eat after all, but I could buy a new brooks for what some of them bring

The aforementioned Superior has a Fuji branded crank as well, but it's not as nice as the variants listed above. I've seen it in it's normal Sugino configuration as well but can't recall the model name. It's the one with bizarre BCDs and small bolts. It has "FUJI" engraved on it in small letters with no fill, still pretty neat.

Well, one thing that is true is that most of this stuff was mass produced, like in the hundreds of thousands of units per year, if not millions. What I've observed is stuff will go for a high price, then that brings a lot of other sellers out of the woodwork and then prices go down. These days, I'm seeing all sorts of cyclone rd's around, a month or two ago, none. One thing to really keep in mind with this stuff is they made A LOT of it, especially the further down the model lines you go. Lord knows how many Vx equipped bikes and then spare parts inventories came into the U.S, but literally, had to be in the millions perhaps? So don't despair, this stuff is definitely out there. I have been surprised that the recession hasn't driven more of this stuff to market, but we're still pretty early in that process, imo. I have found some pretty good deals, just keep some cash around and be ready to jump quickly when necessary.

It looks beautiful! I just acquired the identical bike. How did you get yours so clean? Any special cleaners or solvents? Did you replace the derailleur that came with the bike, or did you get a different one? Many thanks.