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1984 Murray Serotta rebuild

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1984 Murray Serotta rebuild

Old 10-05-22, 09:04 PM
  #1  
Lord Donnington
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1984 Murray Serotta rebuild

Fixing up this 1984 Murray Serotta for a friend. It is fairly complete with the exception of proper Campagnolo Super Record pedals and headset. The saddle would have been a Cinelli, I think. Original rear Mavic GP4 rim has been replaced with a Super Champion Arc en Ciel at some point. A bit of rust and ridden hard and put away wet. Had to drill out the old brittle brake pads just to free them from the alloy pad holders. This will be a preservation build rather than a restoration. Photos tell the story of the bike as found and the rejuvenation process.

Anyone know how many of these Serotta made in 1984?

https://www.flickr.com/gp/19017342@N08/G1N93cCg7g

-Lord Donnington
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Old 10-05-22, 11:12 PM
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Velo Mule
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Nice bike. I didn't realize that there was all those pantographed Murray logos on that bike. The only pictures I had seen previously had been from a bit of a distance. Yea, you are right. This was a race bike that was a tool for a racer. This makes the restoration more challenging. You probably know this already, that Serotta used Imron paint. That went on thick. I don't know what your plans are for touching up the paint but I would like to see progress pictures as this project moves along.

Do you know any history of this bike? I would not think Serotta made Murray badged bikes for general sale. But I don't really know. If that is the case this bike was for a pro. The next question would be who.
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Old 10-06-22, 12:40 AM
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Originally Posted by Lord Donnington
Fixing up this 1984 Murray Serotta for a friend. It is fairly complete with the exception of proper Campagnolo Super Record pedals and headset. The saddle would have been a Cinelli, I think. Original rear Mavic GP4 rim has been replaced with a Super Champion Arc en Ciel at some point. A bit of rust and ridden hard and put away wet. Had to drill out the old brittle brake pads just to free them from the alloy pad holders. This will be a preservation build rather than a restoration. Photos tell the story of the bike as found and the rejuvenation process.

Anyone know how many of these Serotta made in 1984?

https://www.flickr.com/gp/19017342@N08/G1N93cCg7g

-Lord Donnington
There's no preserving that frame without fully mitigating the rust that appears to be well into the tubes if not almost all the way through in at least a couple of spots unless you're just going to let it return to mother earth atom by atom.

That rust needs to be stopped yesterday, without doing that you might as well start looking for a substitute frame.

It may not be as bad as I see it but with a frame of this significance there's no wiggle room when it appears this bad IMO.
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Old 10-06-22, 04:04 AM
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Does Serotta keep records? Perhaps you could send them some photos and the serial number and see what they have to say.
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Old 10-06-22, 01:02 PM
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Serotta records are not great from what I understand. Between various moves of the shop and shutdowns they seem to have not kept very good track of production. Ben is back in business but I have read he does not seem to respond to inquiries about old frames? not sure if any of the other frame builders from his former shop have more info? There is a heavy Serotta section on one of the other forums, I have referenced before but can't remember which one now?
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Old 10-06-22, 04:31 PM
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That frame looks like a training bike that someone sweated all over and put away wet. Bikes used indoors (on rollers) often present that way, too. The first thing I would do is remove all the paint and rust (either chemically with stripper and oxalic acid bath, or by media blasting) and see what's left. The downtube right ahead of the BB looks particularly suspect -- the top tube guides could be replaced, but if the top tube is as bad underneath as it looks with paint on it, well . . .
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Old 10-07-22, 07:23 AM
  #7  
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Going to Franklin Frames for a full restore

Thank you all for the good advice. The frame and fork are going off to Jack to inspect and determine a path forward. If the frame is solid then it will get a new finish with decals. It should look great after a full repaint. Returned to its proper self and ready to start a new life of being ridden and properly cared for. I will post pics once it returns from Jack’s shop.
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Old 10-07-22, 08:16 AM
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someone kindly educate me: The Murray decals.. is that as in the old Murray bicycle company? Or is that something else? I've never seen or heard of these (I'm familiar with Serotta). I like it a lot.

EDIT: n/m. I just saw the logo on the head tube and answered my own question. sorry.
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Old 10-08-22, 06:46 AM
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That is the coolest bike. Your plan is a good one but I’d arrest the rust, preserve, and ride.
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Old 10-08-22, 02:42 PM
  #10  
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Super awesome! I love race bikes built by surrogates. I have a 1984 Marinoni and a 1985 Land Shark, both built as Raleighs (Levi's-Raleigh Race Team). I am also a historian at heart. I would do whatever you could to prevent a full repaint.
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Old 10-08-22, 03:34 PM
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This is a great find and you've done a wonderful job documenting its condition. Thank you for sharing. I have a similar Serotta-built Murray. The person I bought it from had it restored by Serotta after they confirmed it to be a team bike (photos below). There's not a lot of information out there about these, but I *think* the full pantograph model may have been produced as a sort of promotional bike. There was one for sale in Oklahoma, I believe, not too long ago (first pic below). I think the seller wanted $3K, but don't remember. I was in touch with him and he said a friend at the Southland Corp received the bike as a gift. The first year of Murray sponsorship of 7-Eleven the team road Rossin bikes (last pic).





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Old 10-08-22, 04:17 PM
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Originally Posted by SoCaled
There is a heavy Serotta section on one of the other forums, I have referenced before but can't remember which one now?
The Paceline Forum?
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Old 10-08-22, 05:39 PM
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Very cool.

I have to admit, there's something both mind-boggling and awesome about the existence of pantographed Murray parts.
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Old 10-09-22, 08:37 AM
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The red color leads me to believe your friend's bike is a 7-Eleven team bike. In '85 the rear stays were chromed but the team bikes no longer had pantographed parts, that I recall. The Murray team bikes were white and the neutral support ones were blue, in my fading memory. Find Tom Schuler in Wisconsin. He may either know the approximate number of '84's built or he will know who knows, like Jim Ochowicz, his boss at the time. Or the team mechanic, who ran the service course, Richard Gilstrap. Or Sean Petty, who worked at Southland Corp in Dallas at that time. Surely one of those guys will recall, if Ben Serotta doesn't have records from 40 years ago.
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Old 10-10-22, 11:18 AM
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Originally Posted by Lord Donnington
Thank you all for the good advice. The frame and fork are going off to Jack to inspect and determine a path forward. If the frame is solid then it will get a new finish with decals. It should look great after a full repaint. Returned to its proper self and ready to start a new life of being ridden and properly cared for. I will post pics once it returns from Jack’s shop.
Fantastic news and choice for this, Jack is Bob Freeman's go to.

He does great work.
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Old 12-21-22, 06:18 PM
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The 1984 Murray Serotta restoration is completed!

click the Flickr link and scroll to the bottom to see the after photos

https://www.flickr.com/gp/19017342@N08/s2FX8851B0
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Old 12-21-22, 07:48 PM
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Looks awesome. So glad it was able to be saved. Are the any 'during' shots showing the rust repairs?
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Old 12-21-22, 08:09 PM
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Just wonderful! For a bike that could have easily ended up at the dump, this is such a great result. Sorry if I missed it, but can you share who did the repaint?
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Old 12-21-22, 09:02 PM
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Phenomenal job! It looks great
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Old 12-21-22, 09:15 PM
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Originally Posted by La Brea Bike
Super awesome! I love race bikes built by surrogates. I have a 1984 Marinoni and a 1985 Land Shark, both built as Raleighs (Levi's-Raleigh Race Team). I am also a historian at heart. I would do whatever you could to prevent a full repaint.
I'd bet a sixer of your favorite malted beverage that your '85 Land Shark was one of Andy Hampsten's bikes.

Which would be awesome, because Andy is awesome.

--Shannon
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Old 12-21-22, 09:30 PM
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Originally Posted by La Brea Bike
I would do whatever you could to prevent a full repaint.
Not sure what planet that could have happened on.

A complete restoration and full repaint was the only way to save this from total ruin which it was well on the way too.

So glad this got done, fantastic job, result and bike!
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Old 12-21-22, 09:31 PM
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Originally Posted by Lord Donnington
click the Flickr link and scroll to the bottom to see the after photos

https://www.flickr.com/gp/19017342@N08/s2FX8851B0
Well done, great job lad.
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Old 12-22-22, 06:13 AM
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Originally Posted by alexihnen
Just wonderful! For a bike that could have easily ended up at the dump, this is such a great result. Sorry if I missed it, but can you share who did the repaint?
Jack Trumbull at Franklin Frames did frame prep and paint and he did an amazing job. He used Imron.
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Old 12-22-22, 06:19 PM
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Originally Posted by Lord Donnington
Jack Trumbull at Franklin Frames did frame prep and paint and he did an amazing job. He used Imron.
Nice! I've used him a few times.
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Old 12-23-22, 03:06 PM
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Originally Posted by ShannonM
I'd bet a sixer of your favorite malted beverage that your '85 Land Shark was one of Andy Hampsten's bikes.

Which would be awesome, because Andy is awesome.

--Shannon
It was actually made for Steve Hegg! Too small for Andy!
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