City Bike Build, applying the primer.

Well since I'm working outdoors and the Montreal weather hasn't been the warmest lately, shooting paint has been put on hold until yesterday. I managed to lay the primer on between 2 gusts of wind and still got some over-spray in my glasses.

I found a place to hang the frame and as you can see from the images, it wasn't a pretty place! My number one concern was not to get any paint fly off on the finish of my car or the neighbor's house while still being able to have good access to the frame for the paint application.

Not a pretty paint booth but it works.

Since the surface to prime was already sanded and clean, see previous post, I was ready to shoot. The first thing you apply the paint to is underneath the frame and all those hard to get places. The top and sides always get ample coverage, it's always the bottom and those little nooks and crannies that get ignored in the process. So good coverage there when you start is a pretty good guaranty that you won't miss anything.

Start priming underneath and in those hard to reach places first.

Next you shoot the rest of the frame and make sure you have covered the entire frame. In this case it's pretty easy for me since I'm using a black Krylon Rust Tough primer on a red surface. Missed areas pop out pretty quick. Lay the paint in many thin coats, this will greatly reduce any drips. If you have drips that show up on your paint job, you're pretty much screwed at this point. Don't add more paint to the area, this will make it worst. Wait for the entire frame to dry, sand the spot in question and re-shoot the spot.

Frame fully covered in primer.

Talking about drying, you should wait at least 24 hours before shooting over with the finishing coats on the primer. Spray paint works this way, the color pigments are carried to the surface with thinners and you also have some propellant gases in the mixture to get all this stuff out of the can. It takes some time for all those chemicals to evaporate from the surface. Adding more to the mix by shooting another coat of paint over this doesn't help matters.

Direct sunlight will help the drying process and make any mistake pop out like Pee Wee Herman at a Board meeting!

One of the best ways to dry paint and stabilize this chemical cocktail is to expose your work in the Sun. I was lucky yesterday with bright sunshine and I was able to hang the frame in the sunlight for the afternoon. Despite this, I can still smell the evaporating thinners from the paint job this morning in my shop. I'll probaly wait another 24 hours to shoot the finish coat. Direct sunlight also has the advantage of making any spot you missed pop out instantly. It's nature's way of slapping you with a "You missed a spot".

Parts gathered so far.

I've started gathering some parts from my parts bin and other bikes that I have that are on ice for the time being. I hope to keep cost down by using what I have.

That's it for now.

Don't forget to check out the how-to articles. 

Until next time, ride safe and free.

Gerry :)

City Bike build, getting down to the bare frame.

There wasn't much left on the bike but I still had to get it down to the bare frame. First thing to go is the fork. I'm not planning on using the bike in trails anytime soon so no need for the extra weight of the suspension fork. It will be replaced by a leaner rigid fork.

Removal of a threaded fork is quite easy. After removing the stem by unscrewing the top bolt a few turns, punching it down with a hammer and pulling it out, you can start removing the fork by unscrewing the locking nut, that's the real big one. Then the rest comes off easy, the washer, unscrew the bearing cone off and then just slide the fork out. The bearing cups on the frame can be removed by gently tapping them inside the frame with a hammer and a long piece of steel like a worn out screwdriver. I've re-installed all those components back on the fork afterwards for storage. Until I locate a decent replacement fork, I don't want to lose those bits in my shop somewhere.

Next up is the crank arms and the sealed cartridge bottom bracket. Here you need bike specific tools like the puller and the sealed BB socket. There's no going around those.

To remove the cranks, start by taking off the locking nuts inside the crank arm with a 14mm socket wrench. Before you insert the puller tool, lubricate everything that moves on it. The friction you are about to create is the enemy of that tool. Protect your investment and make the job easier by taking a few seconds to do this. Clean the threads in the crank arm with an old tooth brush before you proceed. Screw the tool in by hand all the way in. If you are having a hard time doing this by hand, you have dirt in there, clean it again. If you don't screw it all the way in, you take a chance of pulling the threads out and if you do that, YOU are screwed! Once you have all that done, turn the handle and the arm should come right off.

Next is the sealed bottom bracket cartridge. Insert the special socket on the chain side and go clockwise in order to unscrew it. The thread is reversed on that side of the bike. Once it's out, remove the cartridge and proceed to remove the holder on the other side by unscrewing it counter-clockwise.

My seat post was stuck, so I installed a seat on it to use for leverage and managed to pull it out easily.

The last thing left to remove was the stickers. The best way to go about that is to heat the sticker using a hair blower on the warmest setting. This will melt the glue partially and help you remove the stickers with less residue on the frame. Whatever is still left can be removed with WD40 or other stuff made for that.

That's it for now. Next step will be to prepare the frame for primer and paint.

Don't forget to check out the how-to articles. 
 
Ride safe and free.

Gerry :)