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Cool I'll give him a buzz tomorrow...then the battle with this BB can commence!
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Can I ask why people are so anti powder coating at Armourtex?
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Absolutely nothing wrong with Armourtex.
Neither is there anything wrong with powder coating - it's a good durable finish.
The main issues when dealing with classic bikes are...
1) it spoils the appearance of the lugwork - see pic below
2) it's not period correct - the bike will always look powdercoated and therefore not vintage!
3) it's very difficult to strip back if you decide it's unsympathetic to the frame/build
4) it can be difficult to apply certain types of decals to.
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Rik Van Looy - Thanks for the info...based on your information and that photo I can tell that for this project Powder Coating just isn't right...I'm really keen to keep the lug work beautifully highlighted. I'm considering switching it from Gold to Silver...but not sure what colour to go for yet...
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Spoke to Mario and am going to give him a shot...frame will be dropped off next week...he seemed like a nice guy and for standard colour it's £70 so can't really complain...
While the frame is away with him I'll get busy purchasing the required parts...
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Just read this through. I think you've a nice bike.
The bolt under the BB is an oil hole. Just take it out, but keep hold of it as you'll want to put it back in later. If you get it resprayed, it might be worth leaving in to preserve the threads.
If you're careful and it's loose enough, you might be able to remove the fixed cup of the BB with a big adjustable spanner. This is the method I've used. For the adjustable cup, the pin spanner should work. In my experience, you only need two decent holes. Those that are furthest apart are the best to use, but you can do it with the two on one side if it's not too firmly stuck.
As for paintwork, I recommend Mario Vaz. He's done several frames for me and they've all turned out fine. Don't rush him though, and make sure you give him full written instructions, as he's liable to freestyle as his fancy takes him. The most I've paid was £120, and that was for this, with decals, special colour paint, lug-lining, and two colours:
Colour-wise, it's your bike, so just choose whatever you fancy. People seem to think that in the olden days bikes came in muted colours, but this was not the case. I've seen some pretty crazy 50s and 60s paint jobs. Vikings came in bright pink and turquoise. This is a Hosteller, in faded petrol green/blue with black panels and gold lug-lining:
Parts-wise, I'd suggest cleaning and polishing what you've got already and using as much of it as you can. There's no point getting new parts if the old already work, and it'll save you fiddling around making sure the sizes of everything are correct. Surface rust comes off easily with Autosol. It also brings alloy up to a mirror shine. I'm with Ben on the wheels: Maillard/Normandy hubs with 27" Weinmann or somesuch rims would be ideal. In fact, I've a pair of 36 hole Normandy track hubs at the moment that could work, or a used set of Normandy hubs (flip-flop rear) on 27" Mavic Module E rims that I might be persuaded to part with.
My other piece of advice would be to not throw anything away, at least until you've got a working bike. First because you might find you need them, and second because you can probably sell a lot of them on later if you don't need them. I'm frequently amazed at how desirable the oddest vintage parts can be when you throw them on Ebay.
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TeeTee...drop me a PM if you do have any suitable wheels.
Rik_Van_Looy
HillyBen
TeeTee-
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Viking Allrounder Serial No. 120263
Posted by
@vintagehenley
Would be surprised if it did as the cup will be threaded to the end and screwing a bolt into it would knacker the thread. Could just be a drain plug? Take and out and see what happens. If the frame falls apart you'll know it was important :)