Post by capitano on Sept 28, 2009 21:13:19 GMT
I originally picked up this rather tatty looking XL locally as a source of bits to replace the non-original ones on the XL I bought from Steve.
However when I picked it up I was very pleasantly surprised. For one it had been owned by one person since he got it for Christmas 1980.
Secondly, the bike hadn't been messed around with much, if at all.
Thirdly, what looked like a lot of surface rust at first glance was partly congealed 3-in-1 oil that the guy's Dad had painted the bike with when it went in the shed in the mid 80s.
I decided to do something else with Steve's old XL (hence the mags from mushroom) and bring this one into good riding condition.
Stripped, rebuilt, regreased and set up it now looks pretty nice.
I stuck on a new chain, made up new inner cables in the old ribbed outers, fitted a new gear cable from Paul and the rest had a damned good clean up, regrease and set up.
For now I've left the riginal 1980 redline tyres and tubes on, simply for the reason that the tubes inflated and stayed up. I have the nearly new redlines from Steve's old XL and some new slime tubes to go on eventually but I may ride it down to Brightona like this. ;D
As a footnote, the chain does look a bit slack. However when I cut the new chain to the same number of links as the rusty original, the rear wheel wouldn't mount in the dropouts! Therefore I added a link, hence the slack.
However when I picked it up I was very pleasantly surprised. For one it had been owned by one person since he got it for Christmas 1980.
Secondly, the bike hadn't been messed around with much, if at all.
Thirdly, what looked like a lot of surface rust at first glance was partly congealed 3-in-1 oil that the guy's Dad had painted the bike with when it went in the shed in the mid 80s.
I decided to do something else with Steve's old XL (hence the mags from mushroom) and bring this one into good riding condition.
Stripped, rebuilt, regreased and set up it now looks pretty nice.
I stuck on a new chain, made up new inner cables in the old ribbed outers, fitted a new gear cable from Paul and the rest had a damned good clean up, regrease and set up.
For now I've left the riginal 1980 redline tyres and tubes on, simply for the reason that the tubes inflated and stayed up. I have the nearly new redlines from Steve's old XL and some new slime tubes to go on eventually but I may ride it down to Brightona like this. ;D
As a footnote, the chain does look a bit slack. However when I cut the new chain to the same number of links as the rusty original, the rear wheel wouldn't mount in the dropouts! Therefore I added a link, hence the slack.
remember to post up some pics! 