I picked up a couple bikes back in the spring for parts, all were bent or rusted too bad to repair. One was a rather complete 1969 ladies model Sports.
The guy who I got it from regularly calls me when he gets bikes, he works at a recycling center and the boss lets them take good items home since it costs the Township to dispose of them otherwise.
Most bikes, regardless of condition are only a buck or two depending on how much they still shine i suppose.
I went to his place, he said he had 30 bikes and wanted them all gone for $30, so I drove over with my trailer in tow. Five were really clean older Huffy and Sears bikes, nothing more than flat tires, in that lot was the Raleigh sports. The bike was clean looking over all but had some rusty bits here and there and two flat tires. Plus it wouldn't roll. Both wheels and the handlebars were painted silver with a brush, some sort of thick heavy paint with no gloss. It looked like the paint they used to use on old galvanized rain gutters many years ago.
Who ever took the time to pain the chrome took care not to get any on the paint or tires but the spokes were encrusted with the stuff.
The bike wouldn't roll, but the chain had also been painted with the same paint, and it was likely painted solid, but again, no silver paint on the chain guard, just the chain and sprocket. The metal on the pedals was also painted, but none was on the rubber blocks.
The paint on the frame was almost 100% mint, the tires were original and still had the little nubs on the tread.
I first went over the bikes that only needed air in the tires and gave a few a quick going over and listed them. Cheap bikes are always a fast sell here.
I took the ladies Sports apart with the intent of maybe finding a good set of rims for another bike I have here.
I had to take a wire brush to get the paint off the axle nuts and threads but got the wheels off it without incident.
When I opened the rear hub, I realized why it wouldn't roll, the inside of the hub was completely painted as well, but there was no paint on the inner shell, just on the moving parts. As if someone had pulled the internals out, cleaned them of all lube, and dipped them in paint and stuck them back in the wheel after the paint dried. There was paint on every spoke, over the whole outer hub shell, and they even must of poured paint down the seat post because the BB was full of hardened paint, so much so I had to chip out the chunks of paint after pulling the crank axle and cups from the frame. The same with the headset, all parts were painted and put back together.
The bad part was that someone had to have done this years ago and let it sit, there's no way that much paint would completely dry thoroughly in just a few years. It had to be decades.
Worse yet, nothing seemed to want to melt that paint. Mineral spirits did nothing, Citrus paint stripper was taking forever and old fashioned Aircraft stripper was doing almost nothing at all.
I finally took the wheels outside, filled a tub with old gas and let them sit under a tarp out back in gasoline for a week, and that removed the paint, or at least softened it enough so I could pressure wash the rest off the rims and spokes. The result was two perfect rims and hubs. I then soaked all the bearings and hub parts in gas too, after another week all the paint was just a 2" scum layer in the gas filled tub.
The wheels are back together, and all the other parts are sitting on a shelf, the original plan was to use them on a men's frame I have but I'm still not sure i want to skip redoing the bike they came off of since everything cleaned up so well. The men's frameset isn't nearly as nice as the ladies bike, and both are too small for me. I'm also a bit inclined to just wait to find a 23" frameset that fits me rather than wasting some really nice chrome bits on a bike that likely won't bring enough money to cover a fraction of the time I spent cleaning it all up. Its not about the money but I know I'll regret selling off any of the nice chrome if I find a frame later.