Current Projects chat and miscellany

Great job

so nice - quite like the brown paint too

Winter/spring footie project finished. Just needed something to tinker with honestly and will probably move all the parts over to my other, more sensible, project later this fall since this frame is on the small side for me. But fun build. Haven't put together something like this in forever and the lack of parts was a nice change from all the road/gravel stuff in recent years. Full circle etc.

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Nice! Is that spray hammerite?

Thanks. No, actually just regular brush-on.

Super clean! Really nice

I think I say it before in the build thread, but I really like the look of this!

that finish is so good for just brush on, it looks lovely

Ye, as others have said, that finish really does look great for brush-on. What surface prep did you do? I've never painted anything with hammerite, do you just do one coat?

I really wouldn't expect brush on to show off the lugs so nicely.

Edit: nevermind, read your process in your other thread!

Bored of all my actually functioning bikes so it’s time for a bit of tinkering. Gonna build up this ratty af old GT Team Avalanche I’ve had hanging around for ages: singlespeed; majority parts bin. Except for the rear brake as I’m p sure I need a u brake and I don’t have one of those. Gonna be ugly but fun.

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Maybe fix to eliminate back brake buy?
I do prefer single speed myself though.

I did contemplate going fixed, yeah. Do have the option of flipping the back wheel and using one of those fixed cogs that attaches to the disc brake fitting. Figure getting the chainline right on that might well be more of a pain in the ass tho. Not to mention my poor old knees.

Some past GT projects of mine

https://www.lfgss.com/comments/16987173/

https://www.lfgss.com/comments/17006291/

Are there guides for the rear brake cable?
If you know the approximate year, often you can find the old catalogue scans saved online so you can work out the original parts.

No guides for the cable - it’s internally routed. Pretty fancy for a frame made in 1990. Good thinking on the old catalogues - it’s definitely a u brake I need.

Just tried to fit a bb tho and looks like it’s off to the shop for the bb threads to get chased. Hopefully it’s not just completely bollocksed.

Didn’t need this at all but it was cheap and I spied a Columbus sticker on one of the grainy listing photos. Stoked to spend 5 times as much as I paid for it on new parts.

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What's the latest forum wisdom RE DIY paint jobs? Estimating the time/effort/reward for my Pre Cursa.

So far I'm factoring in:

1. Paint stripper (although given removal of DCM et al from these perhaps not worth it)
   
2. Sand paper/wire pads etc
   
3. 2K primer
   
4. coloured paints
   
5. 2k clearcoat
   
6. respirator etc
   
   

Still works out below cost I had quoted near me of £120 for frame alone.

Interested in peoples thoughts, love the idea but worry I could very quickly bit off more than I can chew.

I would only do it again if the plan was some spongy/drippy/flamy/masky (ok enough) paintjob. Single colour I'd always go to the cheap powdercoater that also does wet.
Materials including stripping and sanding stuff, primer and so on add up, I don't have a space that's big enough to move around, and as much as I like to think my eye/hand coordination is great, spraying a bike frame is tough.

And even if I did the Paint myself I'd probably get someone to do the stripping.

As promised some more pictures of the Raleigh Randonneur including the stem mounted headlight switch

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And some more of the rack and bag

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Full spec
Raleigh Randonneur size 54 650b conversion
DIY stem, rack and bag
Nitto grand Randonneur bars w tektro levers
Budget eBay rims with SP front and eBay large flange rear hubs
Mafac tandem cantilevers
9 speed drivetrain with sunrace downtube shifters & sunrace TA style crankset 46/30
AliExpress front light, B&M secuzed rear, internally routed with stem mounted switch
VO mudguards
Spa cycles fake brooks

Awesome bike!

Really looks fantastic.

Surprised to hear it's a 54cm, I thought those normally look a lot longer and lower and this looks pretty square.

I have personally repainted a bike once (although I sort of regret not keeping the original scheme).

I used paint stripper for the most part, together with some high grit sandpaper to get every bit of paint off. The tubes are easy to do, the hard part are the areas around the lugs and the tight corners. I reapplied paint stripper there. Worked out reasonably well, although I'm sure that I can find imperfections. The thing is that painting over an imperfection does not remove the imperfection, unless you ise some thick primer that also fills and you sand a whole lot more.

As for the paint I did also do the whole 2k primer / colour / 2k clearcoat thing. Just make sure to apply very thin layers, it's a pain because it takes a long time, but the end result is worth the patience. One defect I noticed only after all the apint dried, is that one of the tubes did not have the same number of clearcoat layers as the rest of the tubes. You have to have a mental map of where you sprayed, because you don't necessarily see the difference between your previous layer and your new layer, and you don't want to risk over spraying and getting paint runs.

All in all, I have wondered if it was cost effective. Paint stripper was very helpful, if I were to remove allt he paint by sanding, it would have taken ages.
You also have to have the correct environment to paint in, I sprayed outside because I'm a cheapskate and didn't want to buy a mask. Very stupid. Just buy a mask, even if you paint outside. You also need the right temperature for your paint to dry. That's all fine and dandy if you have a spray room, can be tricky if you don't.

After the paint dried, I sanded back to bare metal the dropouts, where the axle is tightened to the frame, because the paint would otherwise chip. Same with the BB area, sanded that back too.

In the end I'm pleased with the result, although I want to experiment with a multicoloured frame next. Also, I did not do anything with branding or decals and I regret it a bit. That would definitely add complexity.

I'd share some pictures, but I'm currently on holiday and don't have access to either the bike nor the pictures I took when I did the paint job

After getting Tijmens Kona Unit about a year ago I finally quasi rebuilt it with only the headset, brake set, cassette and seatpost remaining.
The Kona Fork I changed because I wanted mounts for cages and am a sucker for the trick style dropouts. Added bonus is through axle.
New wheels I built myself with Novatec 4in1 hubs and WTB wide rims. Am in the process of building a second wheel set with identical hubs for less wide tyres for more on road touring.
Am digging it. Now to go find make some time for adventures. It came with a full set of bags, I'll dig up that picture from Easter last year in a bit.

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