Friday, July 25, 2008

Wrenching on the Del Rey


Having rapidly divested myself of one of my 1984 Del Reys, I'm starting on the other. First issue is to get everything lubed, cleaned, and functional. Tore apart the headset, a typical steel Hatta Vesta that graced countless bikes in the 1980's.


Thats the top locknut after a soothing oxalic acid bath. Below is the upper cup after cleaning and the same oxalic acid bath - the races are completely smooth, no scoring or pitting, so this headset is probably good to go for another 24 years.


The brake hoods had the mange pretty badly, which is unfortunate since they had a "Fuji" imprint.


Rather surprisingly, City Bikes, conveniently located on the Georgetown Branch trail whereupon I commute, stocks non-Aero Cane Creek (nee Dia Compe) brake hoods. A bargain at $9 and no ebay latency. I think the black will look good on this bike.


Been thinking about handlebar treatment. Recently, I've been into harlequin wraps. Here is one I did recently on my 1980 Fuji America.



And here is a partial harlequin wrap on my 1981 Gran Tourer.



I have 2 rolls of out of production green Velox tape and also some Velox yellow. I'm considering either a harlequin of the two, or solid green or solid yellow. Regardless of which combination, amber shellac will tone down the green towards the dark olive of the frame and similarly shift the yellow towards the gold trim on the bike.


Still undecided on this, might be having harlequin overload.