Andy_K 

It's Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch 2X Ultra Gloss Deep Blue (https://www.rustoleum.com/product-ca...%20Deep%20Blue). I used their standard grey primer.

Amocat223

Thanks , looks amazing ! Is the finish gloss or did you use a clear top coat ?

Andy_K 

Gloss finish — I did some sanding and used Maguire’s polish, but no top coat.

rustystrings61 

I hit 395 km today on Magenta the '88 Centurion LeMans, after riding the bike all over Edisto Beach for two weeks. I keep having interesting realizations about the bike, things like, "this Vetta saddle is a lot more comfortable than I expected it to be," and "these 15-year-old 23 mm Continentals aren't bad!" and even, "if I only had this one bike to ride, I could probably make it work." We don't say that last one out loud, though, for obvious reasons. Anyway, I fell into a routine of getting out on the road before 7:00 and doing a couple of loops around the perimeter, with the occasional errand hop, including a run across the causeway for a copy of the Sunday Post & Courier. The salt air wasn't the kindest thing for the old bike, but it's clearly been exposed to the stuff before, and still survives and runs smoothly.

I know where I can buy a front wheel that would give me matching rims and almost matching hubs; I could probably find a deal somewhere on 28 mm tires; I could even pull it all back apart and properly buff and polish and touch it up and make it more presentable. But, why? It combines ratty looks and rust and mismatched cranks and wheels with a still-surprisingly nice ride quality, and at $66.96, its cost-to-fun ratio is really, really excellent. There's a lot to be said and savored about a bike that one keeps mechanically smooth and ignores the cosmetics.

Anyway, here are some pix -


I saw deer every day I rode

Jungle Road park

Beach Access 37

Fort Road had hardpack and could be ridden on 23s

When the roads get really sandy, I’m hoofing it with the deer

Back home, pausing in Hodges

Yesterday morning’s road score - I’m used to seeing stuff squashed on the road, but finding a squash on the pavement is a new one for me

So, a successful Clunker season, with TWO down, and both nice enough bikes that are likely keepers, right? What more could I possibly want?

Well, this one surfaced nearby, and I'm thinking long and hard about it - do I go get it, do I mothball it for next time or do I try my best to get through repairs and 100 km in the remaining time? And why is 1988 the magic year for new bike acquisitions?

1988 Specialized Sirrus for $65 obo ... an hour away from here ... o, temptation!

rustystrings61 

I tried and failed to pull this off a few years ago, but this one looks like it will come together quickly - so, figuring I have 18 days to service the bike and ride 100 km, I'm launching no. 3. Now, I know many would quibble at calling this one a clunker - 1988 Specialized Sirrus that appears to be stock save for saddle and pedals, in my size, that has been hanging untouched in a climate-controlled basement since 1999 - but it was $50, and now it's mine. I think I can pull this off, and if not, I'll have fun trying!

As found pix -

ollo_ollo

My neck problem is much improved, so I resumed riding the Follis on 8/1, but took it easy for a while just running local errands on multiple rides of 6 to 8 miles until I accumulated 30.5 miles. Only remembered to take a pic 2X:

Stayton Oregon Post Office

Regis Catholic H.S. Stayton Oregon
Today, I tried a longer ride West to Salem city limit and back. This is a training route I use, a measured distance of 21.7 miles round trip. There are a couple good climbs with a 5-6% grade, 4.5 miles Westbound and a shorter, but steeper heading back Eastbound 1.4 miles, rest is mostly flat with just a few gentle rollers until I arrive home and have to do a really steep 800 yards uphill to reach my drive. Bike handled well, just a slight glitch when shifting. Really needs new cables and sheaths, but with a $100 purchase price, I'm tapped out until I ride the 100k, then will be 1st thing I change out. Even with greased cables, they hang a bit in the rusty sheaths, so shifts are not smooth and sometimes can't reach last gear up or down. It will ghost shift into place when it gets good and ready though, so I just roll with the "Clunker" vibe. Today's ride brings me to 52.2 miles/83.7 Kilometers. Next outing will likely put me over the top. Don

rustystrings61 

I wasted no time in digging into the Sirrus, working for a couple of hours last night and getting in 45 minutes this morning before breakfast - it was raining, so why not? The reports you have read about the soft paint are true, but what remains cleaned up nicely, especially when I removed all the adhesive residue with some citrus cleanser. I had a few bad moments with the stem, but a couple of alternate soakings with Corrosion Block and Liquid Wrench got it to where I could first rotate it, then eventually pull it up and free. I eventually figured out that the tips of needlenose pliers were the best tool to unscrew the crank dust caps, and after the fiasco with the Centurion's cranks I gave the crank spindle interfaces generous squirts of Corrosion Block before putting a tool to them. They came right off without issue. Not so for the BB adjustable cup - this was the first time a rubber mallet was required to start the lockring wrench. Once that was out of the way, I was free to discover the nastiest, gooiest, most glue-like "lubricant" I've ever encountered. It felt for all the world like some freakish blend of contact cement and aliphatic resin wood glue. The citrus degreaser helped, but there were several surfaces where it was so thoroughly caked on I literally had to use a knife to peel it off. Getting the bearings and their retainer free from the fixed cup required using a very small screwdriver to pry them free from that gunk so they could be withdrawn and cleaned. Hopefully this evening or tomorrow morning they'll be clean enough to reinstall. I'm kinda dreading the headset.



Soaking n citrus degreaser

Looking dramatically better

The green bar tape has to go

The BB shell cleaned up decently

The nasty adhesive goo is gone!

Andy_K 

Sounds like you used some serious citrus on the Sirrus.

The previous owner of your bike must have visited the same shop as the previous owner of @gugie 's Raleigh. I saw the stuff (which he described as "not quite fully cured epoxy") this weekend. I was afraid to touch it.

BTW, I'm not sure if I've posted this here, but when it comes time to clean up those brake hoods, don't miss my thread on how I did it in a previous restoration: https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...od-repair.html

gugie 

@rustystrings61,

Your description is dead on of what I dealt with. It was bugging me this morning, so I got up early before work and spent 45 minutes cleaning this up:


I was thinking about saving it in small container and selling it to some MLB pitchers to increase their spin rate. I did an experiment with a local minor leaguer:



He's having trouble with the release.

rustystrings61 

Oh, yeah, that's the stuff. And I'm glad you thought of a use for it! I didn't take a true "before" pic, but it looked similar to yours, but a little whiter and a little more dried-out. It's almost worth having a lab figure out which "lubricant" it was originally, so we'll all know what to avoid in the future!

Your Super Course Mk. II with the Huret dropouts is intriguing - I vaguely remember seeing some Super Courses in 25.5-in built with stamped dropouts with integral derailleur hangers, but not the forged ones like those. I guess Guinness (and lots of it!) really was for breakfast in Worksop!

gugie 

I'm afraid that the DEA might swoop down on the Atelier if I had it analyzed...I have heard of things that are real "sticky" and illegal.

Yep, those Huret dropouts prove to me that Nigel from Worksop would grab whatever was laying around to fill demand in the early 70's.

Hmm, maybe dried up Guinness is what they used for lubricant BITD...

jdawginsc 

Despite a few health setbacks that have prevented me from getting kms in, I have decided to add an entry that I could not resist...

Enter, the Slimestone. $80 of coolness...

i plan to enter and ride it as is until I reach 100 km, or until the rusted spokes give out and I impale myself on the rusted freewheel, crank or stem. Oddly, the frame is doing well. I plan on souping this up as a keeper, since I enjoy bikes over 30 pounds...because, it makes me feel like I am contributing to bike equity.



Artistic splatter patter of rust on the spokes...I will true but not de-oxidize the spokes...I am afraid there might not be a spoke left if I evaporust them...

Yeah...I am afraid to take off the pedals anyway. They spin...good enough for me for this phase of Slimestone’s transition.

Might risk the battery to see if the computer works. Surprising to see a bike computer on a used vintage 80s-90s bike...

Look at that high tech labeling and decaling. I feel faster looking at it. Tough to see, but the rusted skewers provide an extra layer of security and air resistance.

RandolphCarter

I have a front wheel for this thing (Suntour XC hub, hard anodized 700C 36h rim) but the matching rear wheel had a rather fateful moment where the tabs on the hub that socketed into the cassette body decided to violently secede from the rest of the hub.

No biggie, I'll just grab a 700C wheel with a solid axle freewheel hub out of the parts pile.

I must have one here someplace...

(Narrator: he doesn't.)

Ok, I have several freewheel hubs to pick from, I must have a 700C rim i can lace it to..

(Narrator: the inventory in his head is nowhere near accurate. Look upon the multitude of 20" and 24" rims, without a 700C in sight)

the first thing I saw when I opened Facebook later that day? A Marketplace listing for a fixie wheelset.


Also included tubes and tires!

And I didn't have to lace up a wheel!

Easily the best $25 I've spent this month.

Now I just need to replace the axle on the rear hub and add enough spacers to get it to fit in the frame. The frame is 135mm spacing and the hub looks like there's 5mm on either side.

Here's the list of everything so far:

Raleigh Eclipse frame and forks. Came with front derailleur, cranks, pedals, and brakeset. I'm keeping the pedals and brakes. I picked this off a trash pile years ago, say $20 for fair market value.

Freewheel/fixed gear 700C wheelset, tubes, and tires. $25

Tony Hawk Huckjam BMX stem. Parts bin, say $5

Random unbranded BMX bars, grips, and brake levers. Parts bin, say $15. The grips appear to be unused. How did I manage that?

Random unbranded alloy seat post clamp, steel straight post, seat holding clamp, and seat. Parts bin, say $10

Parts bin used chain and used brake cables, say $5

Add that up and it brings me to $80. i still need to figure out the cranks/chainring/bottom bracket.

rustystrings61 

I stole a few minutes last night to slip out to the shop and assemble the bottom bracket. I decided to leave the plastic sleeve out and was pleased with the very slick running results. I also chased down a nagging memory that I had some red paint left over from my son's Cub Scout pinewood derby car that would serve as touch-up paint. I found it and set it down next to the tools and went off to bed.

Insomnia became opportunity this morning when I woke up at 4:00 and couldn't go back to sleep. I was in the shop by 4:30, repacking the headset and both hubs. There was a LOT of scrubbing and cleaning involved, as all of the old grease was clinging stubbornly. Citrus degreaser, most of a roll of paper towels and lots of elbow grease finally prevailed though, and I was rewarded with a smooth headset and buttery smooth running wheels. I took the time to clean the worst of the crud off the 13-23 6-speed cluster and found the teeth in good condition. That's good, because I'm not in a mood to swap out freehub bodies just yet to go from Uniglide to Hyperglide.

The red paint was next, and I am happy to report that Rustoleum American Accents Ultra Cover Gloss Apple Red is (at least to my eyes!) a dead-bang match for the red Specialized used for the Sirrus. I still have some dark spots where primer (or bare metal) shows through, but another coat or two and some gentle polishing and I think it'll blend right in.

I think I'll run the tires that came with the bike - in daylight the front looks better than I thought, and despite the printing on the sidewalls they both measure 22 mm. I'm still pondering bar tape - I had originally thought I would launder some used white bar tape but I don't think I have enough - but I do have some yellow bar tape that might be a close enough match to the yellow of the lettering in the graphics to work.

Anyway, here are pix -



Before

After two coats, still in process

It looks a lot better with some touchup paint and less dirt and grease!

jdawginsc 

Who needs bar tape? Where there are no scratches, the paint polished up nicely....

gugie 

The build
After tearing this bike down, cleaning the frame, regreasing the main bearings, straightening the frame and fork a bit, and torching up a 7 o'clock stop on the Huret rear derailleur hanger, it was time to pick out some bin parts and rebuild it. Having already blown $50 on the bike, I had to decide what I could live with. The foam handlebar grips were a bit off-putting, but the OEM brake levers were on them, the stem wasn't seized, so what the heck, I can live with that. My knees took one look at the 52/48 TA 3 arm cranks and vetoed. Luckily my bins had a vintage Stronglight drive side compactish double, 48-32. The non-drive side arm was cracked, so I reused the SR oddball that came with the bike. I have a few old Cyclone MkII long cage rear derailleurs and a bunch of random fronts, I found two broken rears to make one good one and pulled an old ARX out of the pile that looked useable. Brakes were reused, new cables and housing applied. I was lucky, a local person wanted a bit of framework done and was switching wheel sizes, so I took in his 27 x 1-1/4 wheels as partial trade, mostly for the wide Gatorskin tires on them. The wheels are "eh". Since labor is free in this game, that makes the wheels free. Oh, and since someone once said you should have at least one Campy part on a vintage bike, I'm reusing the NR clamp on levers that came with the bike. They look to be in bad shape, but they cleaned up ok.

I took it up and down the driveway and the cul-de-sac I live on. The gears shifted fine, and the brakes worked better than expected, as they appear to have some not too old Koolstop pads.

The total:
Bike: $50
Pedals: $22
Chain: $2 (used)
cables and housing: $8 (I buy them in bulk)
Worn out drive side crank, used derailleurs: $15 (I took two broken rear derailleurs to make one good one, I'll be lucky if the cranks make it 100 miles, and the front cage on the chain slapper is on it's 8th life)
Vinyl Avocet Touring I saddle. Free. A Touring II might be worth something, but this is the type of saddle they give away for free at the co-op. I hope it's not an a$$ hatchet....
Total: $97





From 10 feet away it looks pretty nice! Closer and you'll see that the chrome is fairly shot. I'm riding to work on it tomorrow and Friday, so I'll have 36 miles in before @Andy_K's 62 miler to Vernonia. I'll ride to the start, which is more than 4 miles, so by Saturday evening, if the bike doesn't fall apart, my a$$ gives up, and the creek don't rise, I'll get in 100 miles. If someone has a vintage Burley trailer I can borrow, I'd consider bringing my torch for roadside repairs - we'll have a total of 4 people clunking away on this ride.

More pix

Man plans, God laughs.

Insidious C. 

Here is my progress so far. Wait, what day is the ride?

Andy_K 

The bike looks good. I might add wheels and a handlebar, but that’s just me.

nlerner

Had to shoot those pics under the cover of darkness, eh? I think those pedals are too nice for this build. And I believe the challenge is 100k but you might need to confirm that with Squire Black.

An awesome and happy ending would be to list it on CL now and ride it to meet the buyer at the end of Andy’s ride.

rustystrings61 

My wife shared dire warnings with me last night about the air quality, as allegedly the smoke from California's wildfires is finally here in South Carolina. So instead of riding at dawn, I got productive in the shop. It had dawned on me yesterday that a previous owner had replaced the 42/52T Biopace chainrings with a round set of 39/52. The smaller one was developing a serious sharkfin shape, so I swapped it out for the 39T Shimano 130 bcd ring I had modified to fit onto a 128 Nervar crank. It's fine, and the teeth are much better. The cranks went on with zero drama, I made the smallest of adjustments to the BB, then fitted derailleurs and brakes. I generously slathered the inside of the seat tube with grease and added more to the seat post itself and installed the lot, moving the saddle back on the rails a bit. Mother's aluminum polish brought back the shine to the Specialized/Nitto stem and bars, and some generic cleanser removed most of the schmutz from the once-white brake hoods.

I may re-use the cables that came with the bike. The brake cables seem to be okay, and because I can I would pull them out of the housing, run them through some grease and reinsert them and be done with it. I still have a pair of shoes with Look cleats, so I'll clean and reinstall the pedals that came with the bike. The Uniglide chain is still soaking in citrus degreaser, so I'll wash that out with some Dawn dishwashing liquid and lube it up and refit it. At this time I think I'll use the old yellow bike ribbon bar tape and call it done, unless the LBS has a deal on vintage red or white.

So far I'm at -
$50 - purchase price of bike
$5 - used 39T chainring
$4 - old stock Ambrosio bike ribbon purchased from LBS c.2006

And now for some hastily-snapped pix of the bike in progress!



Shiny!

Eager to finish the assembly and take this rascal out on the road!

jdawginsc 

Looking great!!!

I would not notice a difference in air quality in Charleston since there is never any air quality...everything in the air is an allergen!

gugie 

I bought a couple pair of these cheap at the big auction site awhile back. I'm worried they came from the same factory as these:


@Spaghetti Legs, can you share Vito's number with me, just in case?

gugie 

First ride, 9 miles to work


First impressions:
Fairly smooth ride, saddle didn't chew me up, braking is adequate. Shifts a lot better than expected! Only issue is the seat post slipped, I had to stop and tighten it. I think the post is slightly undersized. Need to check to see if I can find some of that stickum from the bottom bracket overhaul...

nlerner

^ Last SC MkII I had was fitted with a 26.4mm post, one of those SR units with the Raleigh pantograph.

gugie 

Good knowledge from the owner of over 100 Raleighs past, present and future.