yeah i know. i'm planning on painting within a couple days. i'll have the primer on within a day or so.

just clearcoat it it would look cool all brassy and bare metal celebrate its imperfection

I could...i could go this route. Hmm. I'd really like to see some paint on there though. We'll see.

By that time you'll have rust again so use the rust-reducing primer so you won't have to resand all over again.

good stuff. i'm about to head to the hardware store to pick up some adhesive remover, scotch brite pads, and i'll probably pick up some primer as suggested.

well I've had a few other threads that went with this build...so I'll link to them just to keep track of things.

frame id thread: https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ike-Project-ID

color choice thread: https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...e-frame-colors

I made some progress (perhaps an overstatement) on restoring some of the aluminum parts that I decided to keep with the build for the time being.

I purchased some Mothers Aluminum polish, and a buffing wheel for my cordless drill. I also had a scotch-brite pad on hand for scuffing up the metal.

Welllll long story short...I did get the metal to shine out nicely (especially the stem), but I'm dealing with some rather deep dings and scratches. I suppose this will give my parts a somewhat "vintage" appearance...maybe not the worst thing ever, eh? (not canadian, but love canada)

Here are some pictures:

All the parts are shiny now.
Kudos on regreasing the pedals...always nice to have fresh grease on pedals. Just one little thing though; put the strap on the back slot of your pedal. That's all, everything else looking great.

Doh! lol...

Thanks =)....I'll sheepishly post this reply, and walk over to where the pedals are...and then I'll just let out a deep loooooong sigh.

haha...must fix before I forget.

i love the diy photo backdrop!
anyway, good stuff!

You routed your toe straps backwards and would probably be more comfortable in the holes next to the rear cages.

LOL thanks! It's my old "The Who" shirt....I admit...I've become a bit lazy in this area O.o

I'm also using a 4 year old sony point & shoot digi cam...aaaah why can't I ever save for a decent camera?!

Thanks for the heads-up! Vixtor pointed out the same thing...and I have since corrected the newbie error. =)

I'm very new to the actual maintenance, and bike wrenching....still learning day by day. *thumbs up*

i hope you havent painted it yet! the thing with bike tubing once you get it down to bare metal is that normal primers wont stick for long and you will end up with flaking paint. you need to use self etching primer first. im not sure of the price but i dont think its that much more expansive and will safe you a lot of headache in the future.

thanks much for the heads up, however, i'm having the frame powdercoated. if you check up a few posts from yours, you will see a link i posted to a different thread. in this thread you'll find pictures of the samples of powdercoat color i chose.

Received my wheelset on monday. Yeah they are a cheaper heavier set of wheels...but this is my first build. I'm also a 24 year old lifetime college student who can't seem to keep a major for longer than a semester or two. ANYWAY...vuelta wheels with the stickers removed.

Yes! yes! My thoughts exactly! Do it now!!!! ;0)

haha it's being powdercoated. however, i found a local auto paint shop that is willing to do a clearcoat spray for next to nothing. my next build will probably be done in this way.

cool idea =).

I think you can get a powdered clear...

You know what...I hadn't thought of that until now. Yeah, you can get a clear powdercoat finish. I'd rather have clear powdercoat than a clear coat of automotive paint....just due to the powdercoat's flexibility.

Thanks for the idea, man!

I pick up the completed bike frame and fork either today around 12 (bit of a push on the lunch break @ work), or tomorrow morning. hmm...i'm anxious to get over there and just swoop it up.....

Update!

Wrenchin' Away....

That white fork with green looks pretty rad. Can you maybe set the frame up right so we can have a better look?

sure thing but i have a question first....

following will be a picture of my question. i'm at the point of deciding which link to take out of my chain. how far back in the dropouts should the rear axle/hub be when you measure for chain length before "breaking" the chain? i'm assuming that the axle should not be ALL the way to the back of the dropouts, or you'd have no room to adjust chain tension, right?

picture:

addin' the rest tomorrow morning...hopefully.