robbyville

Hi all,

Thanks to the awesome advice of those here along with a new stem donated by Bill (qcpmsame) the work of dismantling, and cleaning of the bike has begun. I used the tinfoil/water trick to help remove rust from chrome which certainly helped. A couple of areas with big flakes that I've started to sand using a 2000 grit block with water, also seems to be working but will require more elbow grease.

Not quite sure about best steps, once the rust is off, if I should use some silver nail polish with some clearcoat?
The chrome is definitely a little "wrinkled" in places. You can really see the paint fade in a couple of these shots. lots of little paint chips and scratches, I'm still contemplating a new paint job but would stick with the original style and graphics. I'm really stuck on this one and what my best bet would be.

I can't believe how heavy the wheels are. Still completely functional, the rear is an eight speed Shimano Freehub laced to an older Campy rim. The front is a Mavic hub laced to a Mavic C4 rim.

A friend who owns one of the small local lbs's thinks he has a late 90's Campy Record group all in silver. If he does and it's a reasonable price that's what I'm thinking of going with group wise, which will force the purchase of new wheels too. This build is getting pricey!

I don't have an old crank puller so the frame is in the car. Going to bring it to the shop and pull them off to continue the cleaning and polishing of the frame. Then I guess I'll have to make a decision about paint before rebuilding.

Some pics for your perusal. Since I had the stand out I figured I'd better lube the chain on my main daily ride as well!




Original pink vs. fade





chrome chip

Bianchigirll 

That is a interesting color. Not really pink not really white, is it a pearlescent clear coat?

Great job the rebuilt bike looks so different and modern

robbyville

It's kind of interesting. That pearlescent look and light pink is purely a result of the original paint fading. When I first came to the US in 2000 from Canada I would move for work a fair bit and the bike was on a balcony in the sun for long periods of time. Like you though, I kind of like the lighter current color more than the original. The problem is the chipping and the spots of darker pink where the fading is less. Not sure yet what I want to do. I may bring the fork to a place and see about chroming it, and maybe I leave the rest of the bike I'm super confused lol!

The other bike is actually not a rebuild. It's a current model custom bike built by the Vanilla Workshop in Portland Oregon. Great use of modern steel, mix of Columbus and Prestige. The seat tube though is carbon made by Enve. It rides beautifully and is my everyday ride.

Drillium Dude 

From the shot of the gear lever braze-on, it appears the frame was once a darker metallic pink which has really faded out over the years.

For the OP: that doesn't necessarily mean a repaint. I think it looks great! If I'd not seen that pic, I'd have thought this was the original color. Hardly any paint scrapes/chips and the decals are almost all perfect. You've cleaned it up and are seeing to the rust - I'd stop right there and forget repainting. That will help keep your cost down - save the paint money and spend it on wheels (you noted the current set felt heavy).

DD

J.Higgins 

I wonder if an oxalic acid bath would bring back the pink?

robbyville

I'm definitely starting to lean in that direction. Especially if I can get the fork cleaned up even more or re chromed. Going to keep cleaning and sanding where applicable once I get the cranks off.

Never heard of this.

xiaoman1 

Not very likely...OC is for rust removal not paint restoration
Once the metallic paint is faded to that degree not much that you can do to bring it back...on the other hand, if the paint is a solid color and it is thick one might be able to do a light color sanding to get below the faded color and polish it back to life...I have done this to cars that have a dull faded finish and have had some limited success. I don't think that this will be of much good because you can see that the braze-ons are a very bright pink and the bike's paint won't be thick enough for a resto...to sorryto say that no amount of sanding will bring it back to its former glory
My recommendation would be light color sand with 620 or 1000 grit (staying away from the decals) a light polish with polishing compound and then a good was to seal and bring back some luster to the paint....or just call it a custom "Fade" paint job and call it a day.
Best, Ben

jiangshi

I'd hit it with WD40 or something like that, and a microfiber cloth, see where that leaves you.

The paint isn't going to heal itself and become a vibrant pink, and the chrome cannot be repaired. Clean it gently, and see where you are.

DO NOT USE OXALIC ACID.

robbyville

Cleaning up rather nicely. I wonder if I could paint match this light pink and do some touch up, light sanding and clear. Pretty much all the scratches are quite small with the exception of the one below on the seat stay where the bike must have been leaning up against something.

Classtime 

I'm with DD. Do not repaint. It looks nice. Anyone who has a Speedvagen and is restoring a DeRosa should have a crank puller or two. Get one (or two). If you wrap some sand paper/emery cloth or whatever around a small file working towards super fine, you can shine the steel where the chrome has flaked off and then clear nail polish to protect the steel.

San Rensho 

That is an absolutely beautiful bike. What year, the first one I saw and rode was a 77, 78?

robbyville

I think you guys are right, the more I clean and detail the more I'm thinking that perhaps I can get it great looking and maybe a bit of touch up paint blended in. Tomorrow night I'm going to try and clean up the two chrome areas that had flaked and clean the rust a bit better then do the clear polish.

Although I have a lot of tools for both bike and MC,believe it or not I don't have a crank puller since the last time I used one was probably when I built the DeRosa, at least 20 moves between 5 States and two provinces lol! But tomorrow, I'll go to the shop and pull it. I can't remember the BB I put in but I believe it was a one piece cartridge unit, and although it needs some cleaning, it still seems to spin like butter! Plus, hopefully I'll be able to see if the owner was successful in digging out that old record group.

robbyville

Thank you for the kind words!

I really don't know the year, from looking online it seems like it's probably an '89... BUT I know that I didn't buy it (frame and fork), until around '94. It was purchased new (I'm the original owner), and I didn't think at the time that it was a 5 year old frame. I bought it from a bike shop in Vancouver BC called La . At the time they basically only did Italian Road bikes and was the only store I knew that sold frames and then built the bike to your wants. I don't think they even sold complete bikes back then other than the ones they built and put on the floor. In my case, I had saved and scrimped and bought this frame/fork for $1000.00 (cdn). I ported the parts from other bikes I had built up over the years. A mix of Shimano 600, 105, STI levers, Race Face crank, etc.

The bike has a ton of amazing memories for me (including one of my first very long solo rides while living in Whistler, when realizing that I had gone too far out and would never make it home with all the climbing, I let the air out of my rear tire and hitch hiked home saying I had flatted to avoid embarrassment), I can't wait to ride it again.

Cyclist753

The pearl pink is really pretty on such a classic! Thanks for showing.

Nessism

That paint looks to be drastically faded. Original pink color showing around the shifter bosses. Looks cool nonetheless, like all De Rosa's..

robbyville

Thanks, yes. Drastically faded is an understatement!

xiaoman1 

I would leave well enough alone, I doubt that you can match it well enough for it to hide the scrapes and scratches....and if using a brush more paint build-up to sand smooth.
I would either cove the blemishes with a clear nail polish or "just" us a carnauba paste wax, not the stuff that looks like soft pudding.
Sometimes trying to make it right, makes it wrong.
JMO

robbyville

Update time...

Sure enough you guys were bang on correct. Took the frame and fork to the person who would have been doing the paint for me. He is an ex racer now in his late 60's who outrides most of us in the group regularly. He has owned an auto body shop for over 30 years and happens to enjoy restoring old bikes and has some amazing team bikes from Motorolla, 7/11 and the likes.

He took one look at the frame and suggested (like most of you) that I not repaint it. Mostly because of the hand painted signature on the top tube which he says they don't do in decals, or something along those lines. Pretty much everyone at his office also liked the faded color more than the original lol!

I did however leave him with the fork to be re-chromed.

Got the cranks pulled today, I cannot for the life of me remember what kind of Bottom Bracket I put in, I do remember it as a one or two piece fully enclosed cartridge unit. I can say that it spins absolutely perfectly even after all these years. Shame that if I put a Campy crank on that I'll have to remove the BB. I also don't remember if it's an Italian or English thread. Guess I'll find out once I get a groupset.

Tonight's work is to continue cleaning, and detail work!