patbateman

I picked this up off craigslist in my area for $50, I'm going to convert it to single speed and I have a few questions:

I'm going to strip/paint it myself, and there are a few rust spots. I'm thinking since I want an even coat, I should strip the whole frame with chemical stripper, then sand down the rusted spots, anything wrong with this idea?

Does anyone know what size BB I need that will fit and give me a 42mm chainline?

Does anyone have any experience with these bikes? It's mangaloy 2001 tubing

wrk101

Suggest you try the fixed gear/single speed forum. They will be able to give you a lot of info.

If you want to return it to good, stock, running condition, this is the better forum.

muccapazza

^^^ Nice exercize of restraint there Thrifty Bill.

JunkYardBike

From the frame painters sticky, some guidelines from Dr. Deltron:

https://www.bikeforums.net/showpost.p...0&postcount=20

There may be more good info in the sticky; might be worth perusing.

cudak888 

Before you consider repainting, consider polishing her out with KIT Scratch Out or Meguiars Scratch X. You'll find that the original paint, as is, is a lot nicer to live with then a cheap rattle-can job that will chip to a state worse then the original paint is now within a week.

-Kurt

digitalbicycle

OK, so I'll admit that I'm biased and want you to keep the bike's original finish, but he's right. It's pretty hard to make a rattle can job look nice (trust me on this one, I screwed up a Nishiki Tri-A something awful once -- not one of my prouder moments) and the old paint is probably Dupont Imron, very durable and will give you good protection. Sand off the rust, paint over it with nailpolish, either clear or matched to the paint color, and there you go.

By the way, nice find for $50

EDIT: Well maybe it's not Imron. I can't remember if the lower-end Treks had Imron or not, but the original paint is still your best bet.

rotharpunc

I have an 1988 360 that is definetly Imron

cudak888 

Well, that is not necessarily true. I can get a rattle can job to look nearly factory myself, but as the paint has no catalyst in it, you can just as well hang the frame up for 6 months before the paint becomes remotely hard - and even then, the first time a penny falls on the paint, you'll have a nice fat chip in it. As the paint is - and will remain - soft, it'll also be attracted to road grime quite easily, dulling whatever is left of the paint reasonably quickly.

-Kurt

patbateman

Alright well I'll sand down the rust spots before I strip any paint, and then post close up pictures of the paint job/chips, if I can find touchup paint/nailpolish that matches the silver exactly I may just keep the original paint. I also have an 87 trek 400 elance that I kept the original paint on and it's help up great over the past few months.

Thanks for all the input

cudak888 

No need to sand. Put some Oxalic Acid over the rust spots (wood bleach). It'll eat the rust, but it won't harm the surrounding paint.

-Kurt

patbateman

cudak888: you sure it won't damage paint? Should I just get some wood bleach with oxalic acid in it and use that, or order labratory grade oxalic acid?

cudak888 

I'm pretty sure it isn't harmful to paint in the former form, though it will remove paint that is over sections of underlying rust. The wood bleach variant is the only stuff I've heard to have been used by forum members here.

That said...
Everything You Wanted To Know About Oxalic Acid, But Were Afraid To Ask:
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...nt+acid+oxalic

-Kurt

dit

please don't remove any of the braze-on's or cut off the gear changer hanger. It can then be put back to multi-speed service in the future.

23skidoo

From the '83 Trek Brochure:

'The Trek Model 400 is the first Trek International Series Bicycle. The International Series designation distinguishes a Trek-designed frame, which has been imported in unfinished component form from Japan, taking advantage of the latest high volume production technology for heat tolerant Manalloy tubing. These frames are finished, painted and assembled at the Trek factory to exacting standards.'

I'm willing to bet you can find a very close match to that metallic silver Imron paint on your Trek at your local hobby shop; Testor's has one that I've used before that matches up nicely.