Well, much blood, sweat and tears later (well, grease, sweat and curse words actually) ta da...
I had originally planned on using a different shade of blue from a spray range my brother had recommended, it was the perfect shade, more of a red blue than the green blue this is, and at just $7.50 a can also very reasonably priced. Their shipping charges however were $25.00, not so reasonable, so I had to compromise and go with this colour instead which I picked up at the local hardware store. In the end I am actually pretty pleased with the shade, despite my disappointment in it right up to the point I put on the bike seat and saw how well it all worked together.
As you can see form the first few pictures there was a lot of rust, and it was much harder work that I thought to get rid of it all, in the end I simply couldn't, so just had to get rid of as much as possible. I did etch prime it though, so hopefully it will last long enough so as not to cause me too much heartache when I see it resurface.
I originally bought a pair of white wall tyres to switch out the plain black ones, but after thinking about it for a couple of days decided against it for three reasons.
- Having white tyres when the paintwork trim was cream would have driven me insane, I am way to obsessive compulsive to ever have white and cream together.
- Because of my budget I could have either had the tyres or the wicker basket; given that there is nothing practical wrong with the existing tyres it seemed illogical to throw away a perfectly good tyres and not have a basket.
- I decided that if in a few months time I was riding my bike at least 4 times a week to work, and was still obsessing over having them, then I may allow myself the luxury of ordering a pair of completely cream tyres (as opposed to just the walls) in from America.
As I was on a super strict budget I could not replace the bike carrier in chrome as I would have liked and instead opted to repaint it in a cream colour instead. This matches in with the accent at the bottom of the mudguard which I had to spray anyway to retain the integrity of the original paintwork scheme, it was no extra expense and very little more effort. If I am being honest, I think it worked out better this way anyway, I like the subtle accent of a second colour.
I was drooling over a number of the Brooks range, including their hand grips, they look so pretty, but at $75.00 (more than twice what I paid for the whole bike!) it was just silly! So I used some leather and made a modified version of them myself. They are not padded, but will suffice for now, until I have a little more time to make up a padded pair.
The seat was also pretty worse for wear, so
So with a little advice from my brother via text on how to loosen rusty parts (and a tsk tsk for not using the proper tools), and words of encouragement from Keith at Cycle Trading (oh, and the supply of the odd nut and bolt that were shaken away into some earthquake/aftershock black hole) I am pleased to say that the bicycle is one again cyclable!
The total cost including the bicycle itself, has come in at $145.00, which is just over what I spend in petrol in a fortnight!
There are a few areas where the paint has chipped because they have fallen onto the concrete during the latest series of earthquakes we have had, but after repainting them up on three previous occasions due to aftershocks, I gave up and decided I would touch them up when the earth settles down a bit again (which is apparently in four years time).
As yet I have not named her, I would like something which reflects her model (Granada) - like Nadia perhaps, but also something with a bit of a bohemian but old school vibe - like Clementine, or Violet. Thoughts?
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