Biggles567-
Thanks Max!
Paint is off, it took 4 or 5 coats of Nitromors which was a bit tedious. Plastic scraper, brass wire brush and green scouring pad. I know there are stronger paint strippers out there, but it wasn’t too bad. Just got a bit painful getting every last tiny speck in the welds and cable stops!
Frame looks amazing now the paint is off. A few tiny scratches but no dents. I looked through the old catalogues and worked out that I was given this bike for my 15th birthday in 1997. I think it’s pretty amazing that it has survived teenage mountain biking, uni student life and city commuting for over 20 years without any damage.
I reckon the brushed metal looks great. Next up is clear coat. I have spray.bike lacquer, will go slow to avoid any drips!
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DrDave
Next project is a bit different! This was the first proper bike I ever had, a Klein Pulse from about 1997 when I was 15. It’s an awesome frame, very light and still straight. It has had various incarnations, from the original stock build with fairly rubbish suspension fork, some gradual upgrades, then a dodgy single speed with one of those horrible chain tensioners and a rigid fork, and finally a rebuild with gears for city riding. It hasn’t been ridden for quite a few years now so it’s time to give it a new lease of life.
The paint was iridescent red which was quite nice but I’ve never been a huge fan of red bikes. Over the years it has faded and then been covered in stickers and later wrapped in electrical tape so the paint is now in terrible shape.
My plan is to strip it completely - Nitromors is working well on this paint. Then clearcoat the brushed Alu underneath and rebuild. Rigid fork, flat bars, 1x, fat-ish tyres. Will post progress!