A dream of mine. Not a BMX, but has some BMX parts

[Taipan]

I really like that fella!    love those type of wheels and those bars are sweet! what does she ride like?  I'm only just getting used to riding mtb's with 27.5" wheels myself 

[Midschoolfool]

I can't say on this setup as I haven't ridden it yet. Want it insured before I take it out, and the winds are insane.

What I can say is that on the PK frame it was a blast to ride. I would not ride 29" wheels on a MTB again as they feel like cart wheels, but when light they are a different story.

PK is next. Going to put it all back together with some of the original parts and lots of leftovers.

[Midschoolfool]

"Just one more job".

I realised a few days back the rear axle was bent. I think this happened because of the spacing, and me overdoing it with the chain tensioners and then going ham with the ratchet on the wheel nuts. I think the ogre in me and my BMX side causes that, so unless something has a torque value I always go stupid.

This isn't a huge issue. I bought these for 16 quid with a voucher, as sadly the donor axle is the wrong thread type.



I could have left it, but I didn't want anything bad happening on a ride with me miles from home. Any way, whilst piddling around with all that a few days ago I also noticed the sealed bearing that seemed perfect was actually far from it. It is 30 years old, and when you removed it and span it it rumbled and there was lots of play. Not an issue, took me about 5 seconds to ID it and buy a replacement for about 2 quid delivered.



I then took another look at the wheel, and the murky matt clear coat was pissing me off so bloody bad. I knew if I tried to buff it I ran the risk of making it shiny, and that is exactly what happened. TBH the whole wheel was rushed because I did not want to invest a shed load of time (or money) into it if it was not going to work. However, as 30 miles on it showed last summer, it definitely works.

So, knowing the real risks and how hard it is to paint satin or matt clear out of a can (you can't fix any blemishes as they just go shiny when you apply any compounds) I decided to go balls out. Enter Chromacoat.



It's new, and expensive. Unlike chameleon or flip paints it can change through three colours. Now I used something similar on my Ruben, and it looked great. Until you touched it and it just fell off. However, that was the fault of the rubbish 1k clear coat I bought.

This time I decided to do it properly.



That's real, with activated hardener, 2k clear coat.

[Midschoolfool]

Spending my Sunday giving HED.



With happy ending 

[Midschoolfool]

OK the hard bit has been done. Getting the fine line tape down.





The rest doesn't need to be precise, just cover anything up I don't want painting. Talking of paint, it arrived alive and well (I hope) this morning at mum's. So a good chemical wash (alcohol or something) and these and I will be ready to paint.



I reckon May is when the weather will be nice, so it is all hands on deck until then.

[Midschoolfool]

Other notes. The wheel has now been completely rebuilt also. Axle is new, and both the sealed and unsealed bearings are all brand new now too.

I *may* use a touch up brush to paint along the lines of where the carbon sheet joins in black. We will see. You can see what I am talking about with the above pics. They were still visible when I cleared them before, and, IIRC were visible when I got the wheel. It is not a flaw, it is just how early carbon was done. They wanted the wheel as light as possible back then, so did not layer on more than one single layer of matt. The wheel has a sort of sponge core, then they laid literally one layer of carbon over it, so the joins in the sheets are visible.

I am unsure if the chromacoat layer would hide this, so yeah I may indeed paint along those in black to conceal them under it. Again like I say, I will see.

[Midschoolfool]

TBH that took the longest. Hours.







I got four coats in, then the rain started. I wanted five, I will take four.



2k clear tomorrow. Well, providing the weather forecast says absolutely and utterly no rain. After 12 hours the inside of the can will turn into rock, so I get one day with it and that is it.

I also treated myself.



That fookin thing cost me more than the wheel and the paint for it  but peace of mind wins. I also got this. Hand made real leather frame pad.

[Midschoolfool]

Dear god......



That's without any sunshine or clear coat.

[Midschoolfool]

I would say that challenges aside (fukkin wind snapped the wire and it fell with no damage, nozzle clogged after one fukkin coat but the one from the chromacoat worked) it came out flawlessly.









Given it will be useless by tomorrow I also shot the amp controls (not the sprocket, that just got satin black at the same time) as well. Been restoring an old Musical Fidelity B1 for my care worker since last winter. Just had no good time to paint, and even now is piss boiling given the wind.

[Midschoolfool]

Took the masking off last night. I know how hard 2k goes.



And the graphics I am working on.



For which I ordered this.

[Midschoolfool]

Decided not to use shit vinyl on the wheels. I stuck to HED colours, IE white. I had a huge length of genuine 3M left and it's the best.

I have now cut and weeded the huge edge ones. Just the HED 3 ones left to do. Will give it another day or two to harden before I fit them, though.

[Midschoolfool]

I need to cut and polish it. However, last time I sanded on clear I had to wash the tyre 5 times. Being tubular it is a dildo to change, and will cost me a tenner in tub tape. The tyre only has about 10-15 miles on and will be replaced with a 28mm tyre. Problem is they are 120 nicker and I want to at least F it up somewhat before I change it. For now? I would say it is a 100 percent improvement over the before.





Totally different colours under LED lighting.

[Midschoolfool]

I was so stoked with that I then celebrated by buying this 



Next post we will be talking about a cheap tracker.