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@Brommers
After I'd fitted a Super Record groupset to my Hetchins, and Cycliste had fitted a 7200 Dura Ace groupset to her Roberts, I found that I had a good number of Shimano 600 Arabesque parts which we taken off the two bikes. Given that the Arabesque groupset is one of my favourite vintage models, it
seemed rude not to indulge in a little gentle eBaying and LFGSS-Classifieds-ing to get the remaining parts. Now, with a complete Arabesque groupset, the only problem I had was that I didn't have a frame to put it on.
So I bought a Dawes frame and fork from peawet. It may, or may not be, a Dawes Galaxy. It's almost certainly a Dawes, but which model is uncertain. The upside is that it was cheap (can't remember how much, but it wasn't much) and the chrome on the forks looked fixable. The downside was that someone had repainted it, really badly, in dark blue Hammerite. It was originally a dark brown colour, which was visible where the Hammerite had flaked off, although in parts it was difficult to tell what was the original brown paint and what was brown rust.
Just in case you can't see from that crappy phone picture just how badly it's been repainted, here's some detail pics.
So the plan is to strip it, repaint it in a nice metallic dark blue with new decals, and build it up using the Arabesque groupset and some Giles Bertroud stainless mudguards. It'll also end up with the wheels which originally came with the Hetchins, with slightly wrong-for-the-year 105 Hyperglide hubs.
This plan has a degree of urgency which it didn't originally, as a friend of mine has signed up for the Pendle Witches Vintage Velo ride this year, and I've promised him he can ride the Dawes.
I've started stripping it, having gone out and got some Nitromors. It's a while since I last used Nitromors, and the stuff I've got is as depressingly ineffective as modern Nitromors is said to be. I'm pretty sure I've got shower gel which would be as effective, if not more so. Also, you have to shift the blue Hammerite before you can get to the brown paint properly. Still, I'm making progress. I've started on the tube junctions, on the basis they'll be hardest to do, in order to get them out of the way. After 3 coats of Nitromors, this is where I've got to.
Once I've finished stripping it, I can get stuck into applying the new paint. More to follow.