I love love love these bikes, and I've never even ridden one.
I picked up a 'Miami Vice' '87 Ironman Expert from a co-op a few years back. Little did I know that the seatpost was stuck. Tried all sorts of things, but felt like if I kept going on, I'd start to do damage, so I went nuclear and gave the seatpost the lye treatment. It jacked up the paint and so it got stripped away.
Hindsight being 20-20, I really wish I would have done a better just to protect the paint - I probably could have easily done so, but it was my first time using lye and what is done is done. I keep telling myself the paint was in horrible shape (it wasn't), but my redeeming grace is that once I get the bike built up how I want, I will take it in for a powdercoat and do a tribute finish in the hot pink and yellow scheme, only using a high quality metalflake powder.
Here it is in its current state. Please ignore the fugly stem. It will get a much more svelte one. I'm breaking plenty of C&V rules with this one...original paint, gone. Unicrown, check. Threadless headset and stem, check. Single chainring, check. But I know it will be an awesome rider. Built up w/ modern wheels, and various Dura Ace components. Really looking forward to its final state.
