Buff's Classic/Vintage/Retro rebuilds

[BuffsVintageBikes]

Before we get back to bicycle building, this was the final product of the KLX450 build, taken just before I went and raced the 3 day, Tankwa XC Rally on it.

[BuffsVintageBikes]

The Daccordi SLX build is now complete: Here's a few BEFORE photos

[BuffsVintageBikes]

Duplicate

Edited October 21, 2019 by BuffsVintageBikes

[BuffsVintageBikes]

The top tube was sporting a chain stay protector which I figured was hiding something nasty... my suspicions were unfortunately true. Luckily it was only paint damage so off to James at Carbon Bicycle Repairs it went. He did an amazing job of touching it up and blending in the colours

Edited October 21, 2019 by BuffsVintageBikes

[BuffsVintageBikes]

The finished product.

 

She's sporting a mostly Suntour Cyclone 7000 groupset except for the front derailleur (Shimano 600) and the brake levers which I was forced to use Shimano as I couldn't find a matching Cyclone lever to replace the missing one. The search however continues.

 

The wheel set is Cyclone 7000 sealed bearing hubs mated to MA40 rims.

 

The bike rides like an absolute dream and is a real head turner with all the bling chrome.

[Loose cog]

I may have a pair of levers for you but they don't have hoods. I am in the process of arranging to have a mould made for the hoods whereafter I will let you know.Finding NOS SunTour aero hoods is virtually impossible.

[BuffsVintageBikes]

I may have a pair of levers for you but they don't have hoods. I am in the process of arranging to have a mould made for the hoods whereafter I will let you know.Finding NOS SunTour aero hoods is virtually impossible.

 

Thanks LC, the one lever I have has a good hood if you're needing one for a mould but it's only the right side. Keep me in the loop if you have them made please.

[Loose cog]

Thanks LC, the one lever I have has a good hood if you're needing one for a mould but it's only the right side. Keep me in the loop if you have them made please.

The hoods are left/right specific. I have located a set of NOS hoods from which we will make the moulds. Ready in probably a month. I have three sets of Suntour levers without hoods but one pair already accounted for.

[BuffsVintageBikes]

Great, drop me a PM with a photo and price please.

[BuffsVintageBikes]

Spent last week stripping down, cleaning and servicing this old Shimano 600 Tri-colour groupset. It's seen a fair amount of neglect over the years but because of the grey anodizing I can't (or rather prefer not to) strip it right down to metal to polish it up. It'll have to sport its battle scars with pride. The idea is to use it on the Peter Allan restore that I'm about to start but I have the feeling the seatpost size might be a small issue (haven't actually measure it yet).

Edited November 4, 2019 by BuffsVintageBikes

[BuffsVintageBikes]

Next on the work bench:

 

Here's some before photos of the Peter Allan (Reynolds 453 tubing) that I started with yesterday. I've been looking forward to this build for a while as I've been wanting to restore a bike to pay tribute to the late Peter Haupt (the Peter in Peter Allan) who was a good friend.

 

The bike is showing its years and being 453 tubing, has a fair amount of rust spots on it, mostly around the brake cable guides on the top tube. I'm thinking I might need to respray this frame completely as there's just too many little spots to touch up. I'll be doing the respray myself, it's an art form I need to learn.

It's currently sporting an old Suntour groupset that will probably be replaced by Shimano 600 set in the previous post. The seat needs to be recovered and the handle bar replaced as it's got a slight bend in the left drop. Other than that it's structurally sound.

 

But before I strip it down to metal I need to find someone who can redo the decals for me. Any leads would be appreciated

[BuffsVintageBikes]

I'm still waiting to hear back from the two companies I approached to possibly redo the decals for me. In the mean time, my impatience got the better of me so I measured up the decals, took enough photos and started the strip down of the frame and fork.

Yoh, I seriously underestimated the amount of effort it takes to strip a frame to bare metal, even with the help of an orbital sander and paint stripper. It's a pretty labour intensive effort and certainly not cost effective if you're planning on ever selling the bike.

 

If you ever wondered what the brazing on the old SA built frames look like, here's some pics of the end product before I laid down some undercoat. Actually not the entire end product, I still flatted the frame down further with fine water paper.

[Wayne pudding Mol]

I'm still waiting to hear back from the two companies I approached to possibly redo the decals for me. In the mean time, my impatience got the better of me so I measured up the decals, took enough photos and started the strip down of the frame and fork.

Yoh, I seriously underestimated the amount of effort it takes to strip a frame to bare metal, even with the help of an orbital sander and paint stripper. It's a pretty labour intensive effort and certainly not cost effective if you're planning on ever selling the bike.

 

If you ever wondered what the brazing on the old SA built frames look like, here's some pics of the end product before I laid down some undercoat. Actually not the entire end product, I still flatted the frame down further with fine water paper.

not sure if you tried CBR in Durbanville - they have done decals for me on bikes that they painted.  I'm not sure if they do it as a stand alone service

[BuffsVintageBikes]

not sure if you tried CBR in Durbanville - they have done decals for me on bikes that they painted.  I'm not sure if they do it as a stand alone service

 

I have yes, Justine is still going to get back to me but they're willing and able. Velotex in town have literally just called me back, they're also willing and able

[BuffsVintageBikes]

Justine got back to me on the Peter Allan logos , she's putting some artwork together for me

 

I laid down some Primer on the Peter Allan last week but the howling wind this weekend made conditions less than ideal for a DIY spray job so while I wait for better days (literally), I decided to finish off a Fixie that I've been tinkering on for some time.

 

I picked up the old Alpina on the forum some time back. It had been resprayed matt black and it had an incomplete groupset but nice set of Wolber rims so I decided it was the perfect candidate for my first fixie/free-wheel project.

 

The most difficult part of the build was finding a 26.4mm seatpost but I eventually came right at  Nils from Woodstock Cycleworx. He's a wealth of info and has a great classic parts collection to dig into

The fixie crankset, pedals, stem and freewheel cassette I sourced of on old Peugeot fixie that I bought just for the parts and picked up a 110mm BB from Rook Cycles in town.

The bars, brakes and saddle was from my own stock collection.

RJ the Bike Guy on YouTube was a great help in getting the chain line spot on and explaining how to re-dish the rear wheel.

 

I'm currently running it was a 16T free-wheel and thinking of going flat bar with mtb type brakes and an 18T sprocket in the future. I'm also going to respray the stem and brake calipers matt black when I get a chance.

 

For now I'm really enjoying the minimalist nature of the bike and use it on my very short commute to work.

 

 

[BuffsVintageBikes]

It's been a while since I updated here so here's what's been going down:

 

The Peter Allan frame was posted off to Carbon Bicycle Repairs in Durbanville for a fresh decal kit and a clear coat. I did all the prep work and shot the primer and base coat of metallic silver but decided to get the pros to do the final coat. I'll hopefully be collect it later today and will start the assembly during the holidays (sneak peak below of how it's turning out so far). While waiting for the frame I cleaned up the groupset and did some polishing of the scratched stem and seatpost.