You are reading a single comment by @alibi and its replies. Click here to read the full conversation.
  • Concor is a safe choice for sure, great saddle, but I think I need something a little more special.
    Definately something with covered rails because this post has an ugly clamp I'd prefer to keep hidden. :)
    Ultimately I'd like a chorus titanium post with the nice clamp then I'll try a Flite but that's money I don't need to spend just yet!

    Anyway, I picked up one of these with good plastics but bad leather:

    and I've got my eyes on another one with good leather but bad plastics. Ideally I will swap bits and make 1 good one!

    Most of the parts here you can still buy new, just the wheelset/post/stem are old stuff and in great condition.
    I got lucky on the Khamsin, very lightly used, track threads haven't been used at all and no major dents. A lot of these discs had a hard life.

    Now for the tl:dr disclamer: Shamal stuff:

    I've polished stacks of alu parts but after the Shamal I swore I would never polish another piece of aluminium again!
    It is a pain because the anno is very thick and hard. The aluminum also (read: good quality).
    I kept the wheel laced through the whole process. I started with 250 wet/dry on the brake surface to cut smooth back any major brake marks.
    I also roughed up the entire surface with the same.
    Next, I caked the rim in gel type oven cleaner. Anything with high % Sodium Hydroxide will do the trick. Coat it thick, you should see the anno start to lift off and remove with a scotch pad or even sandpaper. Don't leave it too long, it can eat at the aluminium.
    Usually one or two treatments will remove anno but the Shamal took 5-6. Hardy. Wash it with a high pressure hose to get out chemicals may have fell inside.
    Next, move through to finer grades of paper, 250->400->600->1000->1500.. takes many, many hours. I usually polish front of the TV and spread the work over a couple days.
    Then, when my fingers are blistered and raw, I move to drill bit polishing pads and Josco polishing compounds; cloth pad then cotton to shine.
    Finally, finish the bling with Autosol Aluminium polish.

    It was hard work but the result is pretty special.
    You could always finish it with steel wool instead of Autosol to get a more milky anodized finish though after all the manual sanding and smoothing these rims look excellent in mirror finish if you can be bothered to maintain it.

About

Avatar for alibi @alibi started