Sunday, March 6, 2011

DL-1 Tourist: Update

Spent all day yesterday working on the loop frame. Here is a breakdown of activities and a few pics:

- I got the fork aligned. One very disappointing thing about the shipping was that the fork got bent. I took it to Recycled Cycles in Seattle and they trued it up for $20

- Got the chain off and into citrus degreaser. One nice thing about bolt on seat stays... You can take the chain off without having to separate a link

- General cleaning and a coat of Turtle Wax. The chainring had build up grease and dirt that required a wire brush on the end of a drill.

- Boxed up my 3-speed coaster brake and front hubs for shipping to Yellow Jersey in Madison.

Here are a few pics...






Here she is on the stand right out of the box from Toronto.  Hard to tell from this angle, but the form is bent a bit.  One tine is a little lower than the other.




Here is the SA 3-speed coaster hub in the frame with the chain on it.  The chain looks serviceable, but desperately needs to be degreased, cleaned and lubed.




Fork, stem/handlebar unit  and chain removed.  The bottom bracket spins freely and since I do not have the tools to remove it and repack the bearings, I'm leaving it as is.




Here is a view of the frame from the head tube down... The headbadge was lifted up a bit on the right side (as you ride the bike) so I used some maximum strength construction cement and clamped it down.  Worked pretty well.  I had to trim a bit of residual off the frame.  You can see the many scratches... My current plan is to just leave them as is and not try and repair the finish.  I've never had good luck doing this.




Looking down the chainstays.  Look at the grease and dirt!!




The crank arms are pristine... no rust, just dirty grease.  They polished right up with my favorite tool... WD-40 soaked 000 steel wool!




Here is the bad part... The paint has taken a real beating.  There is pitting all over the frame, scratches and nicks.  The frame is true - no dents or bends though.




Since the back wheel is gone, I cannot date this girl.  There is no serial number that I can find either.  The cable stop and the cable roller are plastic though (I've already ordered the steel replacements for these parts from Gentleman Cyclist)  The chain guard is "hockey stick" and there are NOT braze ons on the frame to hold it on.  According to Sheldon's guide, this places it in the 1962-1967 range.  The finish decals are identical to my DL-1 Gents version, which according to the hub is a 1980.  Did they keep the decal set the same for all those years??




The fork (now true) and hockey stick chainguard




There is a bit of rust on the brake levers that doesn't clean up completely with WD-40 and steel wool... too bad... but it isn't that noticable.




The shifter looks dirty, but workable.  It's missing the plastic cover... luck I have a nice one left over from a Twenty rebuild!!




Here are the grips... in cream.  They are pretty stained and dirty.  I wonder what would clean these up??

~charles

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

4 comments:

  1. Eek! You have cream grips! I'm awfully jealous. I'm restoring two loop frames- a 1969, and a 1981; both rust buckets at the moment- and both of mine have black grips. Hoping to find some grips that are a little more "femme." Can't wait to see more of the restoration. Good luck!

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  2. @kiwigem
    I have been remiss in getting some pictures of her up on the blog... the restoration has gone very well and I'm about complete... stay tuned! Pictures soon.

    Do you have a blog of your loop frame restorations??

    charles

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  3. Hello, again. I'm afraid I'm not a blogger, although I think I will post photos of the process when all is complete. It will be a longish process as I am pregnant and thus can't attack the chrome rust for a few more months when I am allowed to handle chemicals again. I did, however learn that I can use Rit dye to turn white grips cream! So even, if it isn't "period" I can get the look I want. BTW- did you ever date the bike? The decals you have are post-1972 according to all the catalog scans. I dated my later one (which looks like yours) on the rear hub as opposed to the frame itself.

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  4. Oh, please disregard my last statement as I just realized you were missing the rear wheel entirely *facepalm*. Perhaps I should try actually reading people's entries as opposed to merely skimming text and admiring photos.

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Let me know what you think!