Flying Scot L'Ecosse SS City Project

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  • Have had this frame sitting in the shed for 4 years and haven't done any actual bike projects for even longer so though it would be fun to document turning this into something rideable.
    The idea is nothing groundbreaking. I'm thinking a clean singlespeed with mudguards for sunday strolls with a mix of new/vintage components.

    It's is a Flying Scot L'Ecosse (Supposedly) from the 60's. Has some nice lugs, bridges and other details that should look good in a new paint. Haven't decided on color yet but thinking either Black, Racing Green or Silver. Or perhaps red? I restored a Faggin Tourer 10 years ago and it came out pretty good in metallic red:

    Thoughts on parts:
    Wheels: Random silver/polished fix/free, or Coast braked wheelset(frame spacing is 115mm).
    Tires: Gumwalls 32mm. Not decided.
    Saddle: Ideale (Parts bin)
    Seatpost: Campag. Record/Super Record
    Stem: Titan Luxe Chromed (Parts bin)
    Handlebars: Classic City/Porteur Bars
    Cranks: Vintage, or new BLB Super pista. Not decided.
    Brakes: Not decided.
    Fenders: Velo Orange Hammered/Polished

    To be continued :)


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  • I like to patina, my vote is for just clear coating it

  • Been considering that too. Raw/patina and some sort of treatment. Wax?

  • I'll go over it properly with a wire brush this weekend to clean it up a little. At its current state a new paintjob sounds more appealing. But open to keeping it a little ratty.


  • Stem decisions. Would prefer to use the first Titan Luxe stem but it has a odd 27mm clamp size that makes finding fitting bars difficult. The second one is modern but has a slight rise.



  • That clamp design of the titan luxe stem would accommodate an extra .2mm no?
    I talk from experience having put 26.4mm in 26mm and not do a die.
    Edit, I had my diameters mixed up.
    Cut down seatpost as sweet fixie straight bar?;)
    Otherwise coke can shim should work no?

  • should be shimable. I have modern bars in mine, I think they are 26mm and then I added some shims I got from eBay. Careful of that Titan spacer by the way if you use the Titan, where the expander bolt goes in. If it's like mine, they are very soft and flatten and split before the stem is tight enough in the frame. I got a friend to machine me one out of a bit of steel tubing and it's much more robust.

  • ^^ Thanks for the heads up re the shim. I guess you mean the thicker part between bolt and stem? It seems solid but will look into it. I think i may be able to shim 1mm if i find a 26mm bar.

  • Re: paint. Just got reminded of hammertone finishes. I did a frame a couple of years ago that turned out quite alright with the brush-on hammerite paint. Not sure if i will go that route but it's a low cost alternative. Hammerite red is quite similar to the current red (remaining) paint.



  • Attacked the forks a little. Will proceed to do the whole frame some day, just need to dig up the ol' angle grinder or a faster drill and get a brush/scotch pad that isn't as coarse.


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  • Regarding build i have something like this but with fenders in mind.


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  • Lovely frame!
    Re the red hammerite option, would that kind of finish conceal too much of the nice and crisp lug work?

  • Hammertone

    This the generic name for the finish -'Hammerite' is just a brand name.

    When I was in the trade I sprayed gallons of the stuff, and we liked using it because it covered faults in the metalwork (also the good points like nice lugwork!) and dodgy spraying (as long as we had achieved a decent pattern). Essentially it is an industrial finish and should never be used on good quality metalwork like a lightweight bike frame.

    The pattern is achieved by adding silicon to metallic paint - the basic colour being silver, which is simply lacquer with aluminium powder. The silicon causes the pattern which might be described as 'pock marking' - if you examine the red sample above you can see that some of the depressions in the paint expose the base coat ( or possibly the metal substrate). Obviously this will soon start rusting.

    In a nutshell: never use hammer finish on bike frames!

  • Thx for the insight ^
    Yeah i doubt i'll be doing hammertone even if i like the finish. Just feels wrong with these lugs.

  • I wouldn't use Hammeriite on such an elegant frame

  • Are they Nervex Lugs?

  • Any updates on this? Love a Flying Scot.

  • On pause a bit. Will resume later this winter. Other priorities atm sadly.

  • Small update. I did apply a hammertone finish on another frame recently and am quite happy with the result. I think i'll just repeat the process on this one. Cheap and easy to do.

    Something about the contrast between the industrial finish and the quirky/elegant nervex lugs that appeal to me. It's not meant to be a restored show bike and i'm afraid i won't use it as intended if i get a too nice of a paint job.


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  • I really like that!

    Does it seem quite resilient to chipping? What was your process on this?

  • It does. In worst case you can just touch it up. It's really forgiving and floats out evenly.
    Paint remover > Scrape > Spirits > Scotch brite pad > Spirits > Apply with brush in two coats.

  • That looks very nice imo!
    I was wondering about hammertone paint, as I have discovered just how shit the powder coat on my Intec is.

    Did you remove the original finish on the frame in that image?
    And if so, did you do it by sanding or using paint stripper?

  • That reminds me of the old Stanley flask finish, that is not an insult. Nice!

  • This is lovely. Goes to show how important surface prep is as it's come out terrific. Approximately how much did you need to coat the bike?

  • Thanks chaps. I just stripped the paint and prepped it like usual down to bare metal and then applied the paint with a brush.

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Flying Scot L'Ecosse SS City Project

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