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@Flandria
Hi all,
It's been a while since I've documented one of my projects but I'm going to make the effort again if there's any interest. It's going to be a long and slow projects, as there's a lot of work to do and not so many time. So don't expect a quick build :).
Some years ago I've put my hands on a nice Belgian-made bike from the first half of the sixties. Bike is/was in terrible condition, especially the parts that came on in (60's campagnolo record group + universal brakeset). Frame had been resprayed in the '70's (I guess) and has been stickered with decals of a local bike shop near my place, that's still in business today. Frame is structurally good but the paint is in bad condition. However, I don't want to do a respray and make another clean looking bike. Goal is to preserve the battlescars, combine it with another 60's campagnolo record group that also had a hard +50 years and create a period correct bikes that shows his heritage but is technically in great condition.
First: the frame. I took most parts of and this is the base where I'll start. The Brooks saddle dates the bike to 1964, hub cones on the high flange 'no record' hubs says 1963.
Bottle cage holder is an original REG one, will see how it will clean up. Frame is bsa-threaded, has a 27.0/27.2 seatpost and long campagnolo dropouts.
As you can see, paint is bad but I kinda love the patina. Did a quick test yesterday to see how it would clean up. First step: brass wire brush on a dremel to remove most of the rust, followed by WD40 and a light rub with steel wool. Afterwards a good clean with commandant 4 followed by some layers of car wax. I hope the car wax will be enough to 'seal' the metal from oxidating. Otherwise I might give it a light coat in owatrol/lineseed oil.
Piece of toptube without cleaning:
Other side, with cleaning:
I'm pretty ok with the result. Will be a lot of work to do the entire frame, but I don't mind.