Hot In Here

In preparation of sandblasting I have been doing the last bit of prep for the frame. It's now clean and without any labels or grease. To remove the grease I've been using a product called Contracter's Solvent. It's non-hazardous and non-corrosive which is a big deal because I'm trying to be as planet- (and me-) friendly as possible. I'm pleased with the results and any of the more difficult spots could probably be taken care of better with a wire brush instead of a nasty chemical. In line with my eco-friendly attitude is the method to remove stickers. I borrowed my wife's hair dryer and blasted each sticker on high for a minute.

The six stickers came off without leaving any sticky residue. Of course the area underneath the sticker was without blemishes. This makes me, for a moment, reluctant to remove the paint on the whole frame. I'm just hoping to make my finish as nice as the bike was originally. There's a very good chance it won't be and that's ok. This is a learning process that I'm doing so the next bike will be better. 

Speaking of the next bike. Toady, while riding my Spalding road bike to work, it creaked, groaned and pleaded for a tune-up. I've beaten it up pretty well this summer and it's served me well. Time to reward it with an overhaul. 

A Little Progress

It seems that whenever I am stuck at a particular point of this project I stumble across an answer on Youtube or another blog. Such was the case with the remaining pieces of the crank. I had trouble unscrewing the last couple of nuts because I wasn't able to hold it whilst using my tools. After some blog browsing I hit upon the idea of using a vise to hold the crank. Thankfully I have Gpa Charlie's shop vise mounted to my work bench and once I had the crank locked in there I made quick work of it.

Now that I have the crank completely dissembled and cleaned I'm eager to get it back together. Unfortunately I have to hold off until I can get the new ball bearings, grease and paint. I'm thinking about a green color.

First steps...

The original idea behind this blog was to show each step of dissembling, cleaning, reconditioning and reassembling of each bike. In my excitement to get started I didn't document the full break down or even take some 'before' pictures. Above you can see the frame of the trail-a-bike I decreed the guinea pig.

The trail-a-bike is a Kent Co-Pilot that we bought a couple of years ago for $20. The kids have used it well but are getting to big and heavy to make it practical. Since it's only half a bike with a coaster brake it is much easier to start on. The plan is to clean every part, strip off the blue paint and spray on a yet to be determined color, reassemble, test ride and then sell it. As the picture above shows, I have the crank out but not yet broken down and the bearing cups for the bottom bracket are still in. All the other pieces I'm keeping 'organized' by tossing them into a spare bin.

You can see where I've started sanding the front arm. This would be very time consuming to do, thankfully I've found a friend that has a sandblaster. Next on the list: Improving the lighting in my garage and getting replacement ball bearings.