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jyl jyl is online now
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Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Nor California & Pac NW
Posts: 24,770
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Replace freewheel and toe clips, too rusty. Maybe replace chain. The brake hoods may be too far gone, if so there are reproductions, or Cane Creek makes some modern hoods that look close.

Everything else is aluminum with steel fasteners. The aluminum will polish, up to mirror finish if you want. Metal polish and a buffing wheel is what I use. If there are significant scratches in an aluminum part, you can remove them with 200, 400, 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper then buffing.

For rusty steel and chrome, get oxalic acid (wood bleach), put 1 tbsp per 1 gal water, and soak the parts for 1 day, check, maybe do a little gentle wire brushing, keep soaking. It will dissolve the rust away, may take days. Usually will not harm paint or decals, sometimes people soak entire frames. Though no 100% guarantees, and I've often heard of paint needing a waxing after. Do not soak aluminum - it will be damaged.

The rusty chrome fork legs - fill a gallon milk jug with oxalic acid as above, set the fork legs in it, and let them soak for 1-4 days. Adjust level so that the water/acid doesn't go to the paint to avoid even a small risk of affecting the paint. The rust will be gone, the chrome may still be pitted. Rub it with aluminum foil, it will leave shiny aluminum in the pits, partly disguising them. Then clear coat, or keep it dry.

The grease is dry and the bearings will be damaged if you don't rebuild them before re-installing and riding.

You'll need a few bike specific tools. The aluminum parts will mangle easily otherwise. Let us know if you are not familiar w / that.

Or, for rusty non-chromed steel bolts/nuts, just wire wheel them bright.

The original paint and decals must be saved. Repainting a valuable vintage bike severely lowers its value. Powder coating destroys its value completely. Those decals are NLA and even if there were repro decals for this make, they a adhesive vinyl not the original water slide. Plus a good bike repaint costs a lot!

Wheels - are rims and spokes steel or aluminum? Probably latter. Remove tires and rim strip, apply penetrating oil to spoke nipples, then true and tension wheels (yourself or a good bike shop).

Last edited by jyl; 06-23-2013 at 07:43 PM..
Old 06-23-2013, 07:32 PM
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