Two weeks ago I took a few hours to start in on my “winter project”. In Syracuse it’s always good to have a project lined up for the winter months, when the passing of days can sometimes only be measured by the shift from a dark gray to a lighter shade and back (not like we’ve had much snow so far though).
In a previous post I put up some pictures of my BMX but I’m getting pretty old (one ankle surgery is enough) and as much as I love that bike I need something I can ride without being tempted to do tricks that inevitably cause swelling … I told you I’m getting old. Enter the winter project:
That’s right. A Raleigh road bike probably from back in the 80’s. I’m completely guessing at the age of the bike but I decided it’s gotta be pretty old when I tore off the tires I found it had cloth rim strips!
It’s actually a pretty big frame. Standing over it I’m just clear of the top tube so it’s about 3 times the size of my BMX. It’s gona take some getting used to once it’s ridable … but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I’ve still gotta clean close to 20 years of basement-induced corrosion off of the steel. It’s in pretty rough shape. From the amount of crap on the headset / neck / handlebars you get a feeling for how bad it is.
They almost look fuzzy in the photos with all of the crap that’s on them. There’s still a few spots that look really nice though. This is what’s gona get me through the job:
That’s pretty sharp. So what follows here are some “before” photos. I’ll post “after” photos as I progress through the clean up effort. I’ve already cleaned up one wheel so I’ll post photos once I’ve finished the second one. Brakes, derailers and anything with cables or bearings are a bit scary though.
Ok on to the pictures:
technomasochism 