atocp Posted August 2, 2012 Posted August 2, 2012 Hey guys and girls, As I said I would I thought I would post up the pictures of my front wheel that I have restored myself. It is not restored fully, as Im skint and I was quite happy with it looking good, not perfect. As you can see from the before and after pix, I have buffed the rim, removing most of the rust, but not touching the chrome. No way was I gonna get it rechromed. I also bought a 370W bench grinder with soft brass buffing wheel, sisal wheel, colour mop and 2 cloth buffing mops. Along with some brown and blue compound. The spokes were restored using the crimped brass wire wheel and colour mop. All nipples were replaced with nickel coated brass, and 5 broken spokes replaced. Big thanks to Richard Hoyland from Central Wheels and spokes and nipples I bought, I thoroughly recommend them! The hub was stripped down and brass wire ground, then wire woolled and wet and dry papered with WD40. Final buffing with the sisal, colour and buffing mops and compound, then prepped and sprayed with Simoniz Silver Engine Enamel. I baked them in the oven to cure them. Cheers to all the people who gave me little bits of advice before I started, all the advice was used!! Rims before and after. The nipples were almost rusted to breaking point. Spokes before and after. Weren't pitted much, just needed cleaned well. Hub before and after. Original BRAKE LINE sticker was kept and restuck! Hub and brake lever polished with grinder and hub sprayed. Word of caution, don't drop the hub once its resprayed. Causes all kinds of heartache. A few words to anyone wishing to tackle this kind of simple project. 1. Its well worth it. 2. Don't drop anything once you've sprayed it. 3. Take photos before dismantling. I did, but it was still murder trying to respoke it. 4. A small cheap bench grinder (mine was a 370W Draper - 55quid!) can do pretty much anything on Earth. 5. No matter how bad things go, there's always a professional somewhere that can fix it, so give it a go, see point 1. cheers all, atocp
Moderator drewpy Posted August 2, 2012 Moderator Posted August 2, 2012 good work atocp. did you true the wheel as well?
atocp Posted August 2, 2012 Author Posted August 2, 2012 hey drewpy, its partly trued at the moment, in a "using the eye and ear" method. but I work part time in a sports shop that does bike repairs, so im gonna take it in and get one of the guys to quickly true it on their jig. i didn't realise how much of a pain respoking it would cause, that was by far the most annoying. cheers
Moderator drewpy Posted August 2, 2012 Moderator Posted August 2, 2012 aye, I've respoked but bottled on the truing part! youtube is your friend
atocp Posted August 2, 2012 Author Posted August 2, 2012 thanks airhead, and thanks for the previous advice. yeah drewpy, im tempted to give it to one of the guys in work top save myself the hassle, but im going to give it a go first. the worst i can do is make it the same as it is just now. only problem i've faced so far was the spokes were 50/50 split between 90 degree and a more obtuse angle. but now the split isn't 50/50, as the new spokes were all 90 degrees. so some of them don't seem to sit right, or have a slightly bent spoke. i was told this will go away, and the spokes may need tightened when it does. here's hoping. cheers.
Moderator Airhead Posted August 2, 2012 Moderator Posted August 2, 2012 yeah inside and outside spokes are a different angle...why were they all the same?
atocp Posted August 3, 2012 Author Posted August 3, 2012 aaaahhhh, wish i'd known that before i started to respoke the wheel. i take it its not going to matter too much, as they'll bend and settle under the pressure of the tightening of the nipple...and over time? I bought 15 new spokes to replace 5 I broke in deconstruction, and give me some extra for breakages on the rear wheel and badly damaged/pitted ones. Central Wheels supplied me with pattern spokes based on a sample spoke I sent them. The closest I could get for looks and matching was 10gauge unpolished stainless steel. But unfortunately because I only sent them one spoke, they all came back the same as it. aw well, just when you think its all going swimmingly....one little thing trips you up....then proceeds to kick you in the stomach while you're on the ground, laugh and point, then run away with your high school sweetheart. i don't like bike restoration anymore. cheers, a
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