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This lovely 531 Gazelle Trim Trophy has been dropped in for a full service and a bit of paint restoration. I must say it's a nice frame. (A THREAD)
It's got the original dealers decal from @davekanecycles in East Belfast.
Sadly the paint is showing signs of 30 years as a daily rider. A full respray isn't in the budget and I'm hesitant to suggest powdercoating, so hours of rust removal and paint touch ins await me.
It has an eclectic mix of Japanese and French components. Everything is being kept and restored...
Apart from the front derailleur, headset and BB which are scrap
The headset is badly "indexed" due to years of wear from caged bearings. Loose bearing balls are superior! This is being replaced with a new one from Tange, the same manufacturer.
You can see the notches from the bearings, this is why loose bearings last longer than caged ones.
And the BB is full of debris, it's knackered. Thankfully a new sealed cartridge BB is really cost effective and will last probably a decade with zero maintenance.
All the bits are off, everything will be stripped to nuts and bolts and ukttasonicaly cleaned, the rust chemically and abrasively removed and rebuilt.
The frame rust will be carefully removed then the paint and decals painstakingly touched in by hand.
The frame rust will be carefully removed then the paint and decals painstakingly touched in by hand.
Colour matching has begun. It's too light obviously. I didn't have any dark blues in so I've ordered a few dark shades to custom mix something to get the best match I can.
Protip: colour match on the steerer, the paint will usually be in good condition and it's invisible when the frame is assembled.
Making progress. Have to wait on darker blue paint coming so in the meantime I'm getting on with the components. The stack bolts had to be drifted out due to corrosion.
It's important to be grateful for small mercies
The brakes and derailleur didn't put up much of a fight. I'm looking forward to polishing these, they will look great
The Simplex retrofriction shifters came apart with a bit of persuasion, I love the design of these they are very elegant
I'm glad I sprung for the larger ultrasonic cleaner. All the bits are in
It's like a deep fat fryer, only stuff comes out *less* greasy.
And it makes a horrendous noise that my phone can't record properly in real life it's high pitched and shrill
**volume down for this**
It's hard to film but you can see the whips of tiny bubbles coming off the part carrying away dirt.
I usually do 15mins then scrub with brass brushes then another 15 mins.
It's hard to film but you can see the whips of tiny bubbles coming off the part carrying away dirt.
I usually do 15mins then scrub with brass brushes then another 15 mins.
The cheerful Americans on YouTube who make out that ultrasonic machines are miraculous and the parts come out sparkling without any manual scrubbing are lying to you.
This unit can hold water at a near boil. I've used it as high as 80° in the past, but the parts are too hot!
This unit can hold water at a near boil. I've used it as high as 80° in the past, but the parts are too hot!
I spoke to soon about the derailleur not putting up a fight, the cable adjuster turned out to be seized solid. Luckily I'm handy with a tap handle, managed to get it out destructively then retapped and replaced with one from an Arabesque rear mech
I also replaced the pedal bearings, races have a little pitting but are still very usable. New balls (1/8") and grease.
You can always tell how well cleaned / serviced a rear Mech is by looking inside the paralellogram.
The next job is to reassemble these lovely Simplex retrofriction levers. A lot of internet posts make this seem more complocated than it really is. Some protips coming up in a video post shortly
