maximan1

I typed a whole lot of stuff here, then stupid IE crashed . Please don't mind the poor quality of my story.

If this is in the wrong place, mods please move it for me

About 2 years ago, I got this bike free from a neighbor cleaning out his garage. After a bit of cleaning up and lubing the bike looked like this.



After I got the bike, I spent insane amounts of time fixing it and cleaning it. So much in fact that my friends got mad that I didn't actually spend any time riding the bike, just fixing it. So I started going to the movies, park, Dollar Tree, the mall, Carls. Jr, what most 13 year olds did in the summertime.

It was a fun bike. I have evaded mall security on it, evaded police on it, crashed into a pool with it, jumped stuff with it, and once in a while, I would commute on it.

It was stolen once, and I found it at the park with a flat tire.
When the school year began, I left it at my mom's boyfriend's house and found it a little while ago in pretty crappy condition. All rusted (probably from me crashing into that pool). Yuck.



That was it after I pumped up the tires.

I took it apart more than I have ever taken a bike apart before.



Then I tried to strip the paint off using a heat gun and scraper.



Not so fun.

My mom found some paint stripper. I used it on the bike and it burned right through that paint. And a few layers of my skin. Not much fun either but got the paint off.

maximan1

I also stripped the fork, and painted it, but only got pictures of it in primer and then paint.




This was where some of the heaviest rust was.



Had these wirebrushed.




And finally, my dad gave me this to use as an emblem thingy for the front.
My camera refused to take a normal picture.



Not bad for a 15 year old working on a 30 year old bike, yes?

Thank you.

Comments welcome.

Criticism, not so much. But go ahead.

alicestrong

I'm truly impressed! You had the whatever to just start pulling that baby apart!

You did a good job with the rust removal...so far the paint is lookin' good.

Please keep posting your progress as you go.

TBART

You did a excellent job!

Mr. Gear Jammer

Knarly dude , that is a old bike but im sure you will make it look cool .

maximan1

Thanks guys. I will keep you posted.

Sixty Fiver

Nice work... keep us updated.

pastorbobnlnh 

Great job on the bike! A!

Super job on the pictures and story! A+++++++++!

Thanks for taking the time to post this and keep up the great wrenching.

04jtb

Nice job!

East Hill

Good job! What did the bike start off as, do you remember?

East Hill

maximan1

When he dropped his truck off at the Ford dealership for its yearly tune up, he would ride this bike home.

Then ride it back the next day...

Got it in primer.




Looks awesome so far. First coat of primer.

Too hot outside...

Mr. Gear Jammer

Cool man well you can keep that hot weather dude, i shall enjoy my 70-80 degree weather in Maryland. Does not heat up until like June or July in my area Augest by far is the hottest. I prefer cold weather, it's excellent for running .

tolfan

Nice job with the paint. he piece your dad gave you to use as a head badge will look realy cool. That bike is already a memory maker, keep it forever or you will regret it when you get to be my age.

Thumpic

+1

maximan1

I got the first coat of paint on it today.

Looks great, its the best job I've ever done.

Its almost perfect




Comments and criticism welcome.

Dawes-man

That's a dead cool job! Does the bike swing around the bar you have through the BB? Do you paint the frame with it in one position or do you move it around the bar?

Kinetikx

Ingenious paint stand. I repurposed an old campfire grill to do my repaints. I also use the "stick in the ground" approach to keep things from swinging around

Blue Order

+1

Blue Order

You're really doing an outstanding job. If the paint job is "almost perfect," you can probably get it to perfection with a little sanding between coats. Just make sure the coats are dry enough to sand.

soderbiker

+1
again !

maximan1

Thanks. I can swing it upside down and right side up.

If I would do something like this again I would make the bar lockable, because it does slip sometimes, and not use a ladder. Hard to get around that side.

I came up with it myself

maximan1

Theres one run on the seat post Thanks for the tip

Thumpic

be sure to let the run dry completely!!! I'd give it 24 hrs at least. There is nothing you can do to it that will help until it is bone dry!! You'll be surprised at how much it'll shrink too.............then a light sanding (of just the drip) to blend it back in.....then a gentle spritz of color just where you sanded. It's real easy to make a touch up go from 2 to 15 times as large as it started....so be careful; you just want the drip gone.

gnome

Nice job on the rebuild and painting.

You may like to put some drop sheets (old newspapers or cardboard) under the bike and around the surrounding area when you paint, so that you don't end up with paint all over everything else.

Rabid Koala

Nice work! I bet you learned a lot about how all that stuff works-that's how I learned most of it!