11.7.11

Back in March I showed you my mom's old raleigh that I had taken on as a spring project. Well it's been my way of getting around town for the past few weeks and I absolutely love it. I never had a city bike so didn't really know how amazing it is to be able to do most travelling and errands on bike, especially with the addition of the detours mogo pannier. I even biked with 20 pounds of beeswax in the pannier last week to a candle making night.

Although I thought I would need help with the project I ended up being able to do the whole thing solo. A time consuming yet rewarding project that has probably made me appreciate the bike even more. It started with a good cleaning, followed by lots and lots of rust removal, and then tightening bolts, oiling the chain, pumping the tires, and adjusting of the brake pads. But most of the work was removing all that rust.

I used a metal polish/cleaner that Jeff had kickin' around called Peek. I let the cream sit on the rust for a few minutes and then rubbed and scrubbed with a rag and fine wet/dry sandpaper. The cream not only helped remove the rust but made all the metal nice and shiny.

Topped off with leather grips hand stitched by Amy Kenny and a bell from DBH that makes the sound 'ding-dong'.

7 comments:

Julie said...

Looking good! Thank you for the tip on removing the rust. I have some patches on my bike and this has motivated me to remove them!

Laura said...

Your grips are great! Love the pannier, too.

Ben said...

Looks great! Such a nice bike.

Belinda said...

It looks beautiful. It must have been so satisfying to restore all by yourself.

I am going to get some of that metal cleaner. I also have some stubborn rusty bits that I have been avoiding because it seems like such hard work to remove.

mina said...

Great job! I've bought a used cruiser and took it into a bike shop where they teach you how to fix them up yourself. It definitely does make you appreciate the bike more when you work on the individual parts. I want those leather grips!

I just came over from the English Muffin - you have a lovely blog.

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