Matt, 65er's point is that you disassemble each component and polish each piece, and that's unusual.

What do you do to get frames so shiny?

And are acidic cleaners, such as Simple Green, bad on things like anodized aluminum? (Not that you'd have anodized aluminum on an English three-speed!)

For the frames I just wash them with car soap, then polish them with mequires scratch and wax with Liquid Glass. I put a test aluminum part in undiluted simple green and let it sit for about a day and that really buggered up the finish. I am sure it's fine if you use it then wash it off quickly. I just used dish soap and aluminum polish.

OK, so would it be a good idea to put some diluted dish soap in a spray bottle and start using that rather than diluted Simple Green?

I'm going to switch from oxalic acid to lemon juice. I'm not cautious enough, and I'm going to kill myself with oxalic. I was making myself cough, and I wasn't using gloves. Also, my workshop is not ventilated.

I don't think ventilating with Central NJ air would change anything but the lemon juice is a good idea....than add a bit vodka and you'll be set.:)

Yeah, we don't have earthquakes or landslides or severe weather, but we have our pollution!

I don't have any that have been hanging around quite that long, but I do have a helluva back log. I have at least two that are still malingering after 3-4 years.:o

Sometimes it takes a while to amass the necessary parts, other times other projects just take priority. I do the polish parts thing on some of the bikes I have, the alloy brakes are from my 1971 Twenty the steel ones from the 1964 AMF Hercules.



Aaron:)

http://inlinethumb30.webshots.com/45...500x500Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb11.webshots.com/47...500x500Q85.jpg

Speaking as someone whose bike is currently a bare frame leaning against a big Tupperware bin full of tiny parts in Ziplock bags, I certainly wish someone would have told me earlier that there was some other option!

Great Rudge!
Lucky you. North Downs - whereabouts? I am in Abinger Common

I am 100% with you on that. I am too carefree with oxalic acid and I noticed how crummy I felt afterwards. This may sound odd, but it was comparable to the feeling of not eating for an entire day. Sort of nauseous with an soreness in your gut. It was enough to get me looking for other options and vinegar seemed friendly enough. Lemon juice and vinegar work just as well actually. I cannot tell a big difference between those two and oxalic acid in use.

Al.

I'm the other side of Dorking in Tadworth. Trouble with living on the downs everywhere is either up or down a bloomin' big hill! Think I was reading you were repatriating soon?

A new C&V fan
 

My daughter Adelaide spotted this 73 Triumph Sports sitting in the shed and asked my to fix it up as a B-day gift. She turned 11 this week. I couldn't be prouder. This is her first test drive around the neighbours circular drive...otherwise she'd have her helmet on. She loves it and wants to ditch the Diamondback mtn bike. Yeah baby.

What a beautiful March day...feels like spring

Attachment 141259

Well done.

I have a 19" lady's Triumph, also a pretty blue, that I was going to give to my mother, but she doesn't want it. My daughter is four; wonder if I can hang onto it for 7 more years.

A girl after my own heart! She looks great on the bike, and she looks tall, too.

Have you started shopping for a big bat yet ?

I'd stay away from vintage in this case and look for a good alloy one.

My oldest is daughter is 12...

here's my "possibly 1951" raleigh DL1. it's an amalgam of various vintage DL1 parts, but when i got it both hubs were date-stamped 1951.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2568/...78cfbd99_b.jpg

the fenders, chaincase, rack and taillight are consistent with that era, but the frame seems to be a little newer, possibly 60s. there is no detectable serial number. plus, the DARE grips, front brake brackets and pedals date to the 70s. my guess is that the original frame got damaged at some point and the bike got rebuilt with a newer donor frame.

She is tall for her age at 5' 4". It's a 19" frame with an unusual pair of very flat North Road bars...no rise, at all. I wanted to take them for a club bike build but she said she liked them so that's that. I'll get them when she grows more.

Sixty-Fiver I'm scared...very scared. Keep me advised on how to deal with it all.

SHOTGUN
and grow a fearsome "Lemmy from Motorhead" beard

There are online groups of fathers of daughters. I have two daughters (and no sons). They're now 21 and 18. It was scary, but we made it through OK. The older one is now on birth control and hasn't gotten into any trouble except financial. She shouldn't have had a credit card at age 18. The younger one is gay, which makes life safer, relatively.

My only boys are a cat and a dog. We also have a girl cat and a girl dog, though.

I told my daughters that before they started dating I'd be buying a shotgun, chainsaw, and a shovel and that the boys should understand what these were for.

They thought I was hilarious but I wasn't kidding... I also told them they didn't have to worry about this until they were 30.



:)

I'm glad I only have a son. I'm even more glad that he's only 8. Unfortunately, the problem with 8-year old boys is that they think a 21-speed fake mountain bike monstrosity is the pinnacle of bicycle engineering (or would be, if only it came equipped with a blaster and a place to carry a light saber).

I want a light sabre...

We have extras.

This attitude from parents of sons troubles me. If your son impregnates a girl accidentally, it should be his problem as much as hers. If he doesn't think it is, you should make it so. If you're so hands-off, this is why parents of girls fear boys.

I'm not speaking to you but the prevailing attitude.

So, anyway...

I'm having trouble finding decals to go with my girlfriend's Raleigh Sports. I've tried to get ahold of JRrestore, but haven't heard back yet, nor have I heard from cyclart, whom I also emailed. Any other ideas? IT's a '73, and I can find decals from the older (30's-50's) Sports, as well as from other models, but cannot find a late 60's to mid 70's sports decal set.


ETA: As an aside, I find it interesting that the father of a son got ripped on because of supporting prevailing stereotypes, yet all of the fathers of daughters on here are talking about not letting their daughters date, scaring the crap out of their boyfriends and safeguarding their purity like the cure for cancer is in there.

double post...weird.