capnjonny 

I just brought a 70's Windsor Carrera Sport home from the bike Exchange and I am trying to decide whether or not to repaint it.


From what I have read online this is not a well known brand and not going to command a high price. The bike is rather heavy at about 28 lbs as received . The frame weighs in at about 7 lbs. The bike is all original and has had been ridden a lot. Although it was apparently well cared for (Both the seat post and stem came out easily) it is in poor cosmetic condition with significant paint loss. The decals are damaged, and the chrome lugs and fork ends have rust. . The paint flakes of easily. It looks like there is no undercoat. Where the bare metal is exposed there is mild surface rust but nothing serious. someone said that the entire frame was Chromed. If so , that might account for the flaking paint. The color is white.


So, I can leave everything as is and simply put it back together, I can treat the rust and bare metal , prime, remove the decals, and do a quickie paint job, I can leave all the patina and seal in everything with a clear coat, or I can strip the paint and do a full repaint.


P.S.

The 5 speed Suntour Freewheel has every other tooth ground down on the largest (32 teeth) cog. Any idea why that is?


What would you do?

oneclick 

Strip, clean, paint it colours I like, do decals if I like them. A perfect candidate, at that level prep and presentation will add more value than originality - if it's a clunker, who cares.

Large sprockets were skip-tooth to help shifting - the larger radius of the pitch circle would keep the skipped tooth in the path of the chain hindering an attempted shift.

randyjawa 

When I get a new/old bike I always make sure it is road worthy and safe to ride. I spend only enough cash, effort and time to make it so. Then I ride the bike for a while. If I really like the bike, then it comes apart for the full deal. This old Torpado was barely road worthy but I did ride it a bit, just to ensure that it rode well - I am already familiar with the Torpado ride quality)...


Pain, art and the supplies to apply same costs a wee bit ($120 to $150 CND) and the time to paint is also a consideration. There will probably be little, if any, return on what you spend. I got that old Italian bike pictured for free and painted it with a brush. Velocals supplied the decals. This is how it looks at the moment...



Those cog sets were standard issue items and a few have come my way. My guess would be weight reduction but that is only a guess.

tiger1964 

28LB? Didn't you find the lead weights in the seat tube and remove them first? Anyway, if you paint, I don't see Windsor decals on Cyclomondo's website now for some reason, but the set I put on my wife's Pro look terrific. eBay does show Carrera decals but another source.

Do you own most of Torpado's entire production run? Anyway, never seen one, maybe not sold where I'm from...

randyjawa 

@tiger1964...

You asked if I owned the entire Torpado line and nope, no such luck. I have owned the yellow (now grey) bottom of the line offering (I think).

I have also been lucky enough to score a half dozen, or so, Torpado LUXE models, a step or two above entry level...


My next Torpado project is an early sixties Torpado Professional, something kinda special and for which I have been collecting parts for...

capnjonny 

I really tried to convince myself that the Windsor wasn't worthy of my time. I chipped and scraped the loose paint and it just kept looking worse. The lugs looked terrible. I put some navel jelly on all the chrome bits and the rust spots and later washed it off. The Lugs now looked great. What rust there was wiped off and left very little pitting. I started to scrape the paint off the fork. It turns out the whole fork and crown are chrome. The upper painted part was a little rough but I had an idea and sanded it with 400 grit paper to get a brushed chrome look on the entire fork. Not perfect but passes the 3 ft. test. Then I said what the hell and took a palm sander with 120 grit to the whole frame. Tomorrow I will fire up the sand blaster and blast the bottom bracket and seat binder and blast the nooks and crannies. I am not sure what color I am going to paint it. It was white originally and I have some White Rustoleum spray paint but I think that is a blah color so I will probably do something different. Something classy. I just finished painting a SR Semi Pro frame Hammered copper and it is a fantastic color. Unfortunately I rushed the clear coat and the paint alligatored in spots so I have to redo at least part of it. There are a number of hammered colors so maybe I will do one of them.
One way or another, I am going to make this girl beautiful again.

tiger1964 

The blue in the Windsor decals would really pop on bright orange paint.

easyupbug 

Sounds like a respray w/decals.

justrhines

Wow, the polish job is immaculate there. And the bar wraps.

randyjawa 

Is this the frame set..?

1 Lugnut

Velocals has a set of decals for a ‘Windsor Carrera’.
Not the quickest in shipping but they’ll eventually arrive...
https://velocals.com/windsor-carrera...cle-decal-set/

capnjonny 

Randy, That is an Ital Vega I did last year . Here is a photo of it finished. I got all the paint off the frame today. mostly sanding and scraping with the sandblaster used on the bottom bracket. I am working on choosing a color. Went to home depot today and tried to decide what to choose. I bought a can of Hammered silver and one of cherry red. I just did a quicky repaint on a Austro Daimler that was almost the exact match .Masked off the decals and sprayed it. Really eye popping . Red would go well with the chrome. Orange would be a bold choice. I have some Cream colored Kenda 700 x 32 tires I might put on if they fit and blue would look good with them. If I use them maybe I will put some Mafac brakes on it . They probably have the reach for the 700 c wheels.

Next on the agenda is cleaning everything up and stretching the dropouts to about 128mm. that way I can fit a 6,7, or 8 cog freewheel or freehub. I'm thinking 7 cog close ratio and bailout .Then I'll prime it.

capnjonny 

I finished cleaning the frame yesterday. Used a razor knife to chip off stubborn bits of paint around lugs, sanded everything with 400 grit, wiped down with acetone then sprayed everything with Rustoleum self etching primer. If the weather cooperates I will spray some Rustoleum Cherry red then give it at least a week before clear coating everything to avoid the paint aligatoring. I ordered a decal set from Velocals. Will get here by end of Feb. By then I should have everything ready for them. I had to shorten the chrome spats at the rear due to flaking chrome. they will look better painted .

Bianchigirll 

There was an interesting story on FB page last week where I guy got possession of a later midish level '80s Gitane with the decals in the wrong place. He proceeded to strip it to repaint and unpon more research came to learn it was bike built for Martina Navratilova to her specs. Becareful what you paint with out good identification

John E

The skip-tooth large cogs we claimed to improve downshifting. The idea became an evolutionary dead end with the advent of profiled teeth. The idea for skip-tooth may have come from the old inch-pitch or block chains, which were used with cogs with teeth one inch, instead of one half inch, on center.

Thommy

Nice projects and pics everyone! Most of my bikes were previously enjoyed bikes. When the paint was still there I used a rag dampened with odorless Mineral Spirits to rub and clean off any over spray, rub marks from leaning against other things and gunk. Rub firmly then when complete dry again with a fresh terry cloth towel. Take the frame and spray with cheap furniture polish at least three times. You'll see an amazing result. Best of all, mineral sprits in a 12 oz can from Home Depot or Lowes is fairly cheap at about $15 or less. Also great for cleaning off the crap that sticks to the sides of cars. Won't harm your finish but you will have to re-polish next washing. Don't use on spray painted surfaces as it will take off the paint. Hope this helps. Thanx for all the pics, need them as inspiration while being stuck indoors in the East until Spring returns.