Ratty Nigel Dean Senator

So - got a bit tipsy at lunch on Sunday, just as this was ending on ebay, long story short - it's mine (54 quid) - bad move ?

More rust than I realised - what's the verdict - is it worth a full restore i.e full strip and:
A - Powdercoat
B - Spray.bike
C - Hammerite

or just a tart up...

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Rusty McRustabit

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Depends.

• What are you planning on using it for?
  
• is the rust surface only or is it more substantial?
  
• How much money do you want to spend?
  
  

I like old frames like this so slightly biased, so I would stay away from the majority of your options and either clean up and keep as is, or respray to original.

For £54 its a cheap, nice 531(c?) touring frame, from a decent builder that should command some respect.

£54? Good buy!

If the rust on the stays is typical, then it doesn't look too bad: I'd just tidy it up. It should be straightforward to "spot treat" the rust and touch-up, particularly the white.

I like the paint job, as the fades are more thoughtful than the usual "fade at every tube joint" that was typical of the time.

The font is rather stylish too.

Thanks. Haven't got my hands on it just yet so not sure how 'deep' the rust situation is.

I've done a bit of digging and seems its a slightly more decent frame than i thought - so I won't blast it with Hammerite for sure !

Agreed on the graphics - refreshingly minimal for a 90's effort - head badge is on point i think.

Not sure what I want it for or how much to spend - semi respectable sunday ride I guess - i've only done rats and communters so far so this is a new bag of worms...

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The fades are good for sure but solid pink is tempting as per orig. catalogue

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Front and rear ends

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Nasty rubs on the rear stays

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semi respectable Sunday ride I guess.

Then definitely hot pink.

Some 6800 Ultegra and classic looking hoops and this could be a lovely Sunday morning set up.

I recently did my 531c Rourke up like that for winter and its a great value bike .

The rubs on the rear are from those daft clip on mudguard mounts I reckon and wont be nasty at all. I do hop it the photo that's at a weird angle though....

Great purchase, I think Nigel Dean's are really cool. I Like the graphics he used and they aren't something you see every day. I 'd make a proper job of it

Could be the photograph, but the catalogue shot seems to be a gradient too, pink to red. Or colour 1 to colour 2/3 on the sidebar.

Only relevant if you're considering originality, obvs.

As you'd expect the rear end has suffered worst, but being white it would be easy to make it presentable for minimal cost.

But if you do go for a full restoration, then I second hot pink!

Hawt pink. Do it!

A lot of love for the No. 1 Flame Magenta then. !?
Re-spray / Powder coats seem so expensive these days - is this frame really worth it ?

To me, yes.

It owes you £54 at the moment and with some decent bargains on here the respray could be the biggest expense.

Try Rourke, I’ve found them cheapest for resto jobs like this and it’s a quality job.

Plenty of decent painters out there who will do you a sound hawt pink base with repel decals though

Rourke

What about Mario Vaz?

I know he gets mixed reviews, but most of the negative ones seem to be about the scheme not being as expected. With a single colour, that's not an issue.

Yep, Vaz has a good rep, just never used them myself.

As you say a solid colour should be no bother.

I’m enjoying how this has got massively out of hand ;-) on Sunday I’m accidentally winning what I thought was nothing much - now we’re talking full resprays ! anyone know what mr vaz charges roughly ? The decals are available from h Lloyd so it’s possible not to lose the nice logos...

There's a Mario Vaz thread on here, where you can get his contact details, but he's very reasonable.

I'd guess around £150.

Clean up the surface rust, throw some parts on it, ride it.

SIT REP: F+F arrived last night - nicely boxed/ protected in an old BrotherCycles box. Eyballed the frame - looks straight enough (so the pic of the dodgy looking rear end was just angle/lens bend.)
Frame feels nice and light - 531C tubes.
Struturally seems good. Forks in good nick.
Most of the rust looks surface. The bottom of the BB shell has rust inside but other tubes look good internally as far as i can see. Threads look fine.
The red is actually much nicer IRL - its got a metallic sparkle to it.
The white is a bit more of a pearly colour - same metallic sparkle. It has cracked/crazed all over. It's kinda nice but not easy to touch up.
Decals are - as far as i can tell - just stickers over the paint.

Sounds like your options are clear

Clean up and ride

or

HAWT PINK SHW PNY

had a Senator in pink to pearl white fade in 1990, still hangs in the garage with a sheared BB shell ... Suntour GPX and Campag Athena ... sigh.
Mine came without the FM braze-on as per catalogue image
Pic's of it built up please ...

Why not build it up as is, see how much you actually enjoy riding it. Then if you like it, chuck money at a respray?

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/322392/#comment14306498

This groupset perhaps ? is price over the odds ?