Chombi

After the apprehensive wait, it finally arrive today and boy, it's like Padora's box opening up the shipping box it came in. but it turned out to be just all the lovely classic 70's period stuff I had been hoping for. (Thank you again Motofranz, for packing it so well!). Here are some first pics:






Lots of cool stuff I suspect is all original to the 1973 bike.
Phil Wood hubs and bottom bracket (Could it be Ti?)
Dura Ace drilled cranskset
Campagnolo RD (72 pat.) and FD
Campagnolo sidepullse (NR or SR??)
Campagnolo headset
Cinelli stem with small "Cinelli" engraving on top
Cinelli bars with a nice crest on it
Dura Ace drilled levers
Campagnolo seatpost, milled to fit seat tube lug
Everest aluminum 5 speed FW
Some kind of drilled chain (Regina?)
A modern Ti railed saddle
Campagnolo clamped on DT shifters
Brand new MA40 Mavic rims and Continental skin wall clincher tires.
Look modern clipless pedals, not keeping those. this one needs quills and clips!
As can be seen on the pics, the finish is almost mint. Super shiny/glossy with no scratches. the OP had really taken care of this bike and all the decals perfect. Of note is the "1.2 Kg" head and seat tube decals that must boast of the frame's weight.
Checked all the joints and they are sound. This bike has also done some good miles as eveident from the chainrings and chain, but it looks like it had always been a fair weather bike as there is no sign of weather caused corrosion on the frame and components. Just grease and dirt in corners and crevices that needs to be wiped and polished off. I suspect that the FW was changed out for the Everest at one point though. Havent found any serial numbers on the frame yet, but I suspect that I might find it when I start doing the complete teardown/overhaul on the bike very soon....
This will be my spring/summer project, to get it back to close to perfect, original condition it deserves as one of the first CF bikes to be sold ever. Sure is a change from my French leaning C&V projects, but I'm so glad to find this American Classic for a change. A much older bike than I worked on before, coming from 1972-3, but dang! I'm loving the idea of working on something from home for a change.

If anyone in this forum has more information on the Line Seekers (which I found out to be the precursor to the Exxon G-1), I would appreciate anything you can post on this thread for my reference. TIA!
I forgot to mention, It measures to a 56cm frame......which lucky for me will fit me nicely!
Chombi

randyjawa 

Never heard of the bike but I am looking forward to seeing it up, together and running. What a nice bike and, like you,every time I start to open a box, I am filled with anxiety, trepidation and, of course, hope.

Isn't this fun!!!

Chris_in_Miami

I've never heard of that brand, but I was thinking "Exxon/Graftek" when I saw the dropout Looks like an exciting bike, congrats!

tugrul

I'm curious about the finish and the insides.

Looking down the seat tube, is it alloy?

Can't tell from the photos, but is the carbon weave visible?

Chombi

The tubes have what I think is a non-directional weave to them and are finished with a transparent dark, reddish amber tinted clear coat so you do see the CF fibers. It's really cool as the fibers look like golden(ish) silk threads that glows when the light catches them at certain angles. I've seen info out there saying thatthe finish is Dupont Imron. Did they make the paint in clear??
Per what I am finding out so far, this bike is the ancestor of the Grafteks or at least concurrent with the earliest Graftek realeases, maybe the earliest product to come out of the Exxon bike project. They supposedly offered carbon wrapped aluminum forks on the later Grafteks. Not realy sure if the frame tubes on the Line Seeker and Grafteks were aluminumn tubes wrapped with carbon fiber, but its a good possibility. I'll check inside the seat tube this evening and get back with you on it.

Chombi

gaucho777 

That is really lovely. A nice complement to your Carbonne as well.

Btw, I've been looking for one of those drilled Dura Ace cranksets. Let me know if you'd be interested in a trade for a Campy NR crankset to complete your group. (My Ron Kit came with a mix of 1st gen Dura Ace and Suntour Cyclone, but an out-of-place Campy NR crankset. I also have a Campy SR and lightly used C-record crankset (etched, not engraved logo) to offer in a trade.)

Chombi

Oooh... I could be interested, but I did tell the PO I was going to try to preserve the bike as was originally as much as possible. Let me take a good look at the group after I do the teardown in the coming week(s?) then I'll get back with you if I decide to shift it over to full Campy. I am more biased to the Campy crank aesthetics...

Chombi

bibliobob

Wow! Never even heard of it, but look forward to pics when it's done...

WNG

Never heard of one or seen one either. VERY interesting!

gaucho777 

Cool. No pressure though, and I'm in no hurry.

Chombi

Update:
Got the bike torn down to just the head races and the Phil Wood BB still on the frame. After initial cleaning, the finish turns out to be very good for a 1973 bike with just a few chips from the front wheel on the DT and some grunge from under the clamps from the components that I think I can mostly polish off the clear coat. Headset, brakes, crankset all came off very easily. Tight but not siezed, so I think that proves that it's mostly a fair weather bike as there was no corrosion anywhere to seize things up. Only thing I found rust on is the middle top tube cable clamp where I think sweat corroded the screw on to the nut. had to cut it off with my Dremel. Another thing I discovered that needs replacement is the seatpost clamp Campy bolt that has cracks on the left side head. Crank and brakes should clean up nicely, but I have to find the proper period Campy brake pads and holders to replace the modern ones installed I saw some at eBay and they are not cheap. Big surprise is the freewheel which I thought was an aluminum Everest. It turns out to be an aluminum Zues 2000 whcih I don't have a removal tool for, so I just took off the cogs with my whips to clean it up externally. I'll try to inject some fresh grease into the body from the front if I can, the pawls are racheting pretty smoothly, so I'll just avoid trying to remove the FW from the hub if I don't really have to. I just don't want to bung up the aluminum body's notches doing so, even with the right tool. The FW body looks very interesting as it has a sort of castellated look with squarish depressions on it. I will have to replace the three big cogs of the five on it as they are pretty worn. It's gonna cost some money, for sure Anyone know of a source for them at a reasonable price??
Lugs are all good, no cracks. Fork cleaned up nicely and is looking brand new. They really put some good chrome on it. I might have to hit the few rust freckles under the crown area and under the BB cable guides with some crumpled aluminum.
Only found one number on the bike under the BB shell. It reads "1023" The DOs have "22" stamped on their inner faces that must denote the frame size in inches? The modern Ti saddle is still on the post as I can't quite reach the two bolts under the saddle to remove it from the Campy seatpost.
The frame tubes turns out to be very thin guage aluminum (looks to be about 1/16" THICK?) wrapped in CF. So it's kind of a hybrid CF/Al frame then. Checked all the joints on the frame and they are all sound. Another surprise was I found roll pins going throught the DT and seat tube at the BB and through the DT at the lower head lug. They look very clean and must be factory installed. So they must be worried back then about those high stress points on the frames. I saw a post on the internet mentioning seeing the pins on another Line Seeker frame.
I'll take some pics tomorrow and post them up on this thread.

Chombi

Chombi

Latest pics:

Frame and fork with still some crud left from under clamps to scrape and polish off.... There's a long white and blue Campagnolo decal that might not have been original but placed where the waterbottle might hit the frame when the rider takes it on and off. I think it was put on there to protect the finish like all the strips of dried up Scotch tape in different areas of the frame. I'll keep Campy decal on there for now.

The BB shell with the roll pins visible at seat tube and down tube ends.

The serai number under the BB shell. I just noticed that there's a "1" above the "1023".

Brake bridge showing another new surprise. Very small roll pins going through the aluminum bridge ends and seat stays.

Components all off and ready for total disassembly and cleaning.

Seat clamp view from above showing the CF and thin guage aliuminum tube construction of the frame

Zues 2000 alloy FW. might just leave it on and replace the worn cogs.

Wheelset all cleaned up. I noticed that the Phil Wood/MA40 clincher combo isn't that light. I might look for period tubular rims to replace the MA40 rims to lighten up the wheels. Maybe some Wolber Arc-en-ciels or Nisis??
Gonna visit the LBS to pick up a Phil Wood BB remover, so I can check out and clean the BB assembly....
A few more cleaning sessions with the frame and then it's on to the component cleaning and servicing
Trying to think what saddle I'd put on this bike eventually......maybe a Concor??

Chombi

gaucho777 

Looking good! I thought you said this was a spring/summer project. You are moving too fast.

Does the Zeus FW require it's own tool? If you can't locate a Zeus FW tool, perhaps one of the 2-prong Suntour FW tools might work, maybe with some filing? I have a Phil Wood BB tool you are welcome to borrow if you'd like.

Btw, just out of curiosity, was this an ebay find?

Also, what's that car/jeep peeking through in the background? Looks pretty neat from the little I can see.

WNG

+1 Is that a moto + sidecar?

gaucho777 

Concor is not a bad choice, but weren't they a little later? Maybe a 3TTT Type A, or a Cinelli Unicanitor with buffalo hide, or maybe a Selle San Marco Superlegerra (you didn't want this to be easy, did you?).

Bianchigirll 

Very Nice find. Can't wait to se up and running

As far as trying to lighten up the wheels... I think you'd be better off going to a Campi Record hubset (or clone) while Phils are great hubs I don't think they are known for being light.

dddd

Whoa.

So this a Graftek precurser.
I'm thinking that this is the original designer/builder here, and that Exxon just bought them up for some hi-profile PR, just as Mitsubishi (industrial conglomerate) bought into their profitless automotive division to possibly add some zing, some emotional tie-in to potential investors.

Anyhow, this is a really neat bike, and reminds me of my two rarest carbon purchases:
A Polchlopek road/tt bike lugged/brazed from MacSteel (carbon-inserted super-thin butted steel tubing) and,
A ser.#20th "CarbonFrames" built before name changed to Calfee.

I'm glad to see you are right on the job, and looking foreward to seeing it road-ready. The chromed lugs look awesome.
Did I miss something here, where did you find it? Motofranz is a BF member?

repechage

Imron does come in clear. There are tints too.
Exxon did market graphite fibre wrapped aluminum tubes beyond the bikes, some to the marine market as sailboat lifeline stanchions.

photogravity

It is a motorcycle sidecar atmo. I could be mistaken, but it's unlikely.

Ed in Toronto

Great looking bike, looking forward to seeing it running.

Chombi

Got it from "Motofranz". I think he's a BF member as I found out about the bike from him in the appraisals forum. He also posted about the bike in this forum some time ago.
I already started searching for a Zeus 2000 FW tool. It looks like the body also had splines past the two notches. I might just get one of the tools for sale at ebay if I cannot find an equivalent out there, but they are not cheap. Tried my Maillard remover, but the prongs are a bit too big. I'd like to avoid using the two notches to remove it anyway. I'm less likely to bung up the FW if I use the splines.
The vehicle in the background is my brother's Ural sidecar rig, made in Russia. It's pretty much a 1940's era R75 BMW. The Russians took all the tooling from the BMW factories in Germany back with them to the motherland after they beat Germany in 1945, and they have been building the BMW clones since then.
It's really fun to ride in an an old truck sort of way because of it's stiff ride, noisy air cooled engine and very heavy controls. And if you're not careful, you can lift the sidecar off the ground and possibly turn over on off-camber right turns. My brother uses it pretty much like a car in SF.

Chombi

Chombi

Thanks for the info about Imron. Do you know if you can touch up Imron like regular paint? There are a few small chips on the frame I'd like to do so, but I suspect Imron is such a specialized paint that it's not really available in small quantities for mortals like us (I'm not sure, but didn't DuPont also quit making the stuff??). Can I just use clear nail polish, or will it react to the existing Imron paint in a bad way?
Interesting thing is, they painted the steel fork steerer tube with the same Imron tinted clear paint, maybe for testing before they hit the frame?

Chombi

repechage

Imron is a two part polyurethane paint, it has gone through a few tweaks over the years to reduce the VOC's a bit. While it IS possible to touch up the coating, it is probably not worth the exercise. Serviceable small touch ups can probably be made by a clear from the hobby store, assuming solvent based clear and or clear nail polish. The nail polish might be easier to tint if that is what you are looking to do.

As Imron is a crosslinked film after application, most solvents will not harm it, including gasoline. If a scratch has gone beyond the film to the epoxy carrier of the carbon, no worried from the above.

Chombi

Thanks BG, It was pretty much an impulse buy, as I'm kind of out of my element with this non-French bike. But I just had a real good feeling about the bike when Motofranz described it to me the first time.
I do have a spare Campy Record hubset that came with my Carbone two years ago, nice ones with oilers and skewers with the wire loops at the nuts, but I'm still thinking of retaining the Phil Woods as the chromed(?) center barrels of the hubs nicely match the chrome finished lugs on the frame. Anyway, the the Campy and DA stuff in the original group, this re-build will not really be a weenie one. I'm thinking something like 19-20 pounds the lightest, after I'm done.

Chombi

Chombi

Update...Cleaned up components

Spent hours at the sink yesterday with my brushes, basins, mineral spirits and WD40 and today to clean up the crank, Seatpost, brake calipers, headset and stem and learn more about the components.

Early Cinelll 1A(?), Record seatpost and First series DA crankset with drilled rings. The rings looks clean enough to be factory drilled, but drilled rings were supposed to have appeared on the next version of the crank and were anodized black, so I'm not sure what's going on here. I suspect Line Seeker did it themselves. The stem looks to be a 90mm(?) extension which is a little bit too short for me. I usually use at least a 100mm extension on my bikes, but it still might work, fortunately there are only bad scratches below the insertion line. The seatpost, originally a 26mm diameter item was milled down to 24mm to fit into the seat tube. It also looks like it was milled from the inside to thin down the seatpost tube wall further. I heard that was commonly done to these Campy posts by owners as they are pretty heavy from the factory. The crank is in decent condition but has the usual scratches on the rings and arms from shifts and dropped chains. the rings took hours to clean, but the results were worth it.

First version of Campy NR RD (Pat. 72). It seems like the original owner painted in the checkered field around the letters on the front arm, unless Campy did that to some of them. I was expecting the paint to come off but it stayed on OK through the cleaning. There are definitely some difference between by Pat. 83 and this one, in terms of finish and casting quality. The 83 looks perfect, like it was made by robots while the 72 looks almost hand made in some areas. The jockey wheel teeth were still good, but both wheels are cracked and I will have to get replacements.

The first version NR/SR calipers cleaned up really nice. It was really nice to see the fine finish that Campagnolo put on the calipers survived OK, despite being covered for many years in a lot of brake dust, road grit and dried up grease. I'll have to get the proper period brake pad holders soon to replace the modern Shimano items that were installed on them. I also got some O-rings to replace one of the missing ones on an adjuster barrel. Less than 2 bucks for ten pieces at the hardware store which is much less than what's sold on the internet which I suspect are also mostly non-Campy items anyway.
The FD seems to be a first series NR item. It was interesting that the original owner put on some sort of thick clear tape on the inside of the band clamp area to protect the seat tube paint.
I also got a new set of top tube cable guides from my LBS, identical to the ones that were on the bike. I just did not feel like trying to clean up the old ones. got them for so much less than what's at eBay too! I'll have to file down the edges like what was done on the originals so it does not ruin the paint on the TT.

It's kinda weird that this bike has three different brand components on it. Phil Wood, Campy, and Shimano DA. Did they build up lots of brand new frankenbikes in the 70's....or could this maybe be some sort of former demonstrator/show bike showing how the three different brands will look on it?

I'll be hitting the frame again for its 2nd stage of cleaning soon. I also need to decide whether I'll keep the three flavored "neopolitan" mix of component brands on the bike or replace one or two of them to come up with a more cohesive theme/group.

Chombi