Motors How I wanted to be like GOO and Jumeira_Johnny, but ended up fixing a bicycle instead

Did you get any further with this? I really want to see the finished product!

 

It's kind of on a short hiatus at the moment. We've hit the height of summer, and that means constant strings of 37+ degree temperatures, and mid-to-high humidity to go with it. That makes it hard to paint properly, and it's just too bloody hot to be outside. I'm not a warm weather kind of person.

I did get a chance to prime the frame, fork, and handlebars right before the real heat set in.



I think I'll try to get the bike painted early in the morning this weekend. Hopefully I can get the paint on and let it cure enough to bring the pieces in the garage before noon.

 

Despite the alternating monsoon and drought weather we've had recently, I managed to find some time last week to paint the bike and clean the wheels. The end is near - I can see it!

First up are the colors. We went to the hardware store and my daughter picked the following colors: pastel purple for the fork and handlebars; light pastel blue for the frame.



Here is the fork with multiple coats of the purple. Thanks to a cool front that moved through, I had about 3 days of clear dry weather. After a painting marathon of several coats with light sanding between each one, I had a smooth solid surface of paint. I finished off all the pieces with two coats of gloss clear coat.



While I was at it, I cleaned the remaining pieces. I used a cooler, a bottle of vinegar, and some 0000 steel wool to wash the rust off the wheels. There was a lot of rust, and since wheels tend to get beat up a bit on a bicycle there were a lot of scratches and gouges. I got almost all of the rust off, and what little remains isn't enough to concern me. I don't have any pictures of the tires, but I used some spray tire shine that I normally use on my car. They cleaned right up and look almost new.

Before cleaning:



After cleaning:



Comparison shot:



I wanted to finish the project this weekend, but I ran into two problems: The new chain arrived this week but the pedals are being shipped on the back of a donkey which must have gotten distracted and ended up walking to Mordor. However, even if the pedals had arrived the weather turned sour again so this weekend is pretty much a washout. By the time the pedals arrive the rain should move out and hopefully bring some slightly cooler weather with it.

It's almost done. The next step is final assembly, but I'll let all the paint continue to cure while I wait for the pedals.

 

Oh wow, I picked out the same colors for my new bike....

 

I'm just shocked that she didn't choose pink.

 

And it's done

The pedals came in and I finished the bike a couple of weeks ago. Today was a holiday from work, so I took the opportunity (and the spare time and decent weather) to take a few pictures.

First, the pedals. The old pedals were worn out and in poor condition, so I decided to buy some replacements. This is one of the few parts that I actually bought new, because making these would have been a colossal pain:


I bought new hand grips because - like the pedals - the old ones were torn up and pretty much non-existent. A new chain was needed because the old chain was rusted beyond repair. Finally, I scavenged a bike seat from my wife's bike. There's nothing functionally wrong with the old seat but there is a small tear in the vinyl, and after putting this much work into the bike that would just look tacky. My wife doesn't ride her bike anymore, so she won't miss it while I decide what I want to do with the old seat.



Re-assembling the bike proved trickier than I anticipated. For those that don't know, one of my job descriptions is to ensure that Space Station hardware providers provide detailed pre-flight imagery of certain hardware elements. This includes "build-up" imagery to facilitate troubleshooting if engineers have to fix something later. Given this, I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I didn't document the dis-assembly as well as I should have. I thought I did, but after my first attempt at re-assembly left two bolts and a washer remaining, I went back through my pictures a few more times to figure out where I went wrong. It took a couple of hours, but I finally got everything back in its proper place.



All of the bearings got a coating of graphite lubricant, and all of the moving parts got a liberal application of white lithium grease before the mechanisms were closed up and the bolts tightened. This is also the first time I've ever had to modify a chain, so that was a learning experience as well. Rather than spend $10 on a chain breaker that I'll only use once, I used a socket wrench, a nail set, pliers, and a hammer. Once I realized that I didn't have to be delicate with it, the process was fairly easy.



With the moving parts lubricated and the chain length fixed, it was just a matter of tightening the last few bolts to their final place. I'm happy with how it turned out. With a little bit of vinegar and elbow grease (plus paint and actual grease), most of the bike looks new. Just a few tiny spots remain (e.g. the pitting from the extreme rust on the back rim), but for the most part it's shiny.

Now I just have to convince my daughter to learn to ride it! Honestly, I have no idea where she gets her stubborn personality.

Once more -- a comparison of before and after:

Before:


After:


Thanks for watching.

 

That looks pretty epic man! I'm impressed with how it's come out, hopefully she'll enjoy riding it!