Hey peeps, just figured I'd update you all on an '86 Ironman project I took on a few weeks ago.
Before:
Centurion Ironman by
Eat More Plants1, on Flickr
During:
Centurion Ironman project by
Eat More Plants1, on Flickr
It doesn't show in the final "after" picture, but the paint is in rough shape. No dents at all, and it's straight as an arrow, but if this was a grail bike or something I would be stripping and repainting. I opted to go the "beausage" route. But I did wet sand and polish, and I treated the interior of the tubes to some "Fluid Film" frame saver-like sticky oil (it's lanolin-based, so it smells like a barn lol!).
Centurion Ironman project by
Eat More Plants1, on Flickr
A little aluminum polish goes a long way.
Centurion Ironman project by
Eat More Plants1, on Flickr
I had never come across these levers before. They have an integrated piece of housing, presumably so you can change cables and wires without removing all the bar tape. Cool!
After:
Centurion Ironman project by
Eat More Plants1, on Flickr
I have reached the stage where I have been able to ride many different bikes, from old to new, low-end to high-end, but I was really blown away when I took it out on a shakedown ride the other day. It's one of the nicest riding bikes I've been able to throw a leg over. So smooth and together-feeling. A very comfortable bike to ride fast. The gearing is bonkers for me--52/42 in the front, with a 24t low gear in the back. I swapped out the freewheel for one with a 28t low gear, and other than consumables, that's actually the only real change I made for now. Oh, and sadly the original 600 pedals just weren't complete enough to get going again in a cost-effective way, at least at this point. Honestly I'm not a huge fan of clips anyways--I either have clipless SPDs or flat pedals on all my bikes. I had to swap out a few rusty spoke nipples, but the super-awesome Araya copper rims straightened out pretty good. I found some 25c Continental Ultra Sport II's on sale at REI for like 10 bucks each, and I like them on a few of my other bikes. I really look forward to more time with this one in the spring.