All-City Macho Man (and predecessor)

Bought this on here from @tom-g with the intention of combining my commuter and gravel bike into one. Rearranged some things to arrive at this:

55cm Macho Man (pre-disc version)
Fulcrum racing something wheels
700x38c Panaracer Gravelkings in lush purple (or knobbly 700x33c Michelin jet dry)
Praxis M30 BSA BB with Levante (?) crankset, 44(ish)t NW
10sp Sram GX shifter+derailleur
Shimano cassette, 11-36 or something
Marin Lite Cantilevers
Paul Levers (!)
One On Mike bars
Velo Orange tall stack stem
Cannondale C2 Al seatpost
ISM saddle
Sks Edge Al guards

I'm really enjoying it - love the sram mtb shift action, and I adore those marin cantis, they're very clever and easy to get set up just so with the same spring adjustment mechanism that the Paul cantis have. The position and fat slicks are both very comfy.

The reason for posting (other than to show off / get panned) is it's time for paint. It was sandblasted when I bought it. I really liked the way it looked raw so I tried to keep it that way: I gave it a pretty thorough spray inside and out with GT85. I'd been recommended Gibbs penetrant by an American friend, which I understand is used to protect raw steel bits on motorcycles sometimes but couldn't find it for sale here in UK. Anyway. It's rusting pretty quick so time to strip and paint. How to finish it??

(pics are when I first set it up a few months ago - finish is rustier now)

2 Attachments

My first instinct was to go for a Jeff Gordon tribute. For the not-Americans, he was a very successful NASCAR driver when I was a kid. My dad was a big fan and the paint job was RAD. I got as far as buying all these paints then chickened out and returned them..

2 Attachments

Then I thought about keeping it raw: I could have it blasted again and then powdercoated clear for a no-hassle bombproof solution. Reading around online it sounds like rust will still develop underneath a clear powder coat but very slowly (see: Stridsland barz https://www.instagram.com/p/CM2sVknhSWo/). I could be down with that.

Or also raw, could try again with an oil coating rather than clear paint / pcoat. I've been recommended jade oil but couldn't find much about it as a metal finish. Would it get on my pants when standing over the bike or on my hands when carrying it? the GT85 didn't but it sucked as protection

Then I was thinking about some colored powdercoats. I've noticed a really nice middle gray on some modern cars, but I'm not sure what exactly it is. VW uses a color that looks really nice (I think it's their Pure Gray), I think it's close to RAL 7012. But it might also be a Skoda that I was noticing - they call it Metoer gray I think?

I think this would look rad with some pink accents

3 Attachments

Or, lastly (for now) raw with pink accents - I could get it powdercoated clear and then spray.bike on top of it?

You could look into Bluing as another option. Cold bluing or Rust bluing. It's what is used on Guns and a lot of machine shop tooling.
It offers a mild corrosion protection but you can also oil the steel afterwards for better corrosion resistance and the steel should absorb some of the oil so I don't think it would feel oily.

However colour paint or powder is the only true viable rust proof treatment

Interesting.. Looks like it comes out kinda black, that's nice. I hadn't heard of it but is that what Mone does on most of his bikes? https://www.instagram.com/p/CKmEgBFlUFP/

Quite possibly!

I saw it here too
https://www.instagram.com/p/CIRkwneFuRQ/

It’s THE car colour at the moment. Nardo grey is what Audi call it. Or flat grey.

in other news.. here's a shot of the bike this is replacing. I bought on here for 20 quid if memory serves, had a great time putting it toghether and trying out some local gravelly paths, and uncovered a few key problems, namely:

1. bottome bracket is french threaded - for noobs like me: 2x right hand threads means it is always unscrewing itself. I never managed to get the bb tight enough or loctite enough to stay.
   
2. bottom bracket threads are now gonnnne. Forked over 40 something pounds for a velo orange french bb, it also unscrewed itself, and now the whole thing slides in and out over the threads.
   
3. I think the rear wheel spacing is not modern - either 130mm or 126
   
4. the rear canti posts appear to have some kind of proprietary nut on the back. so when I tried to replace the brakes for something trendier, I found that the bolt just spins, and I can't get anything to grab the other end.
   
5. it's a racing frame apparently, so has no useful mounts other than a single bottle cage
   
   

But it's LIGHT and without measuring anything or knowing very much I liked the geo and the details in the lugs and cable guides.

Moral of the story: if any framebuilder types want this frame and promise to take very good care of it you can have it. Otherwise I'm going to strip it for parts and hide the frame somewhere until I feel like paying someone 20 times what it's worth to sort it out.

2 Attachments

I think this (the NASCAR colourist) looks pretty cool, especially with the story behind it

Still got the all city??

Yes! It's been going strong as a commuter, but have done hardly any offroad riding. I had to ditch the Panaracers though - they're flashy and super light but I was getting a puncture every week. I have some specialized pathfinders on it now and not a single puncture (touch wood).

It is verrrrry rusty now. I'm going to strip it and have it blasted and powdercoated, prob the boring car grey above. (I'll save the jeff gordon scheme for something with oversized tubing)

1 Attachment

Re the french bottom bracket. Yes I too had one of these that kept unscrewing itself. Not really very satisfactory on a fixed wheel bike! I'm told a threadless bottom bracket would have sorted the problem out.
Unfortunately/fortunately, Mrs Greytyke reversed her car over the frame and put paid to further tinkering.

Yeah I've started to get a few punctures in my GKs too.

If you ever fancy shifting that frameset let me know :).

Or if you want to trade for my genesis croix de fer also let me know

After much umming and ahhing, I think I need to sell the macho man. Moving abroad and can't take all the bikes. I'll make a classifieds post later but for posterity this bike is:

1. All City Macho Man canti brake frameset, stripped and powdercoated blue in 2021, need to check the size, 56 or 58, I'm 5'11" and it's v comfy
   
2. Fulcrum racing (5?) wheels and specialized pathfinder tires (700c X 38 maybe)
   
3. Praxis bottom bracket and 1x chainring (42? T)
   
4. Hope headset
   
5. Coincidentally perfectly colour matched cantilever brakes. Marin something? Tbc
   
6. SRAM X9 10 speed
   
7. Shimano 11-36(tbc) cassette
   
8. Velo orange stem
   
9. Cannondale something seatpost
   
10. PAUL brake levers wow indulgent
    
11. On one mike handlebars and ESI foam grips
    
12. Kinesis aluminium mudguards
    
13. Badly installed but very functional pannier rack
    
14. Saddle and pedals I'd like to change and keep before a sale
    
    

1 Attachment