Another Bike

It took a while! Mainly because I was unsure how to treat the frame. Whether to go back to the metal and try to recreate, or whether I could restore what was there. In the end I just started tinkering…

I got some metallic candy spray paint from the internet and found that I could overlay all of that lovely patina. It allowed me to bring back the colour without it looking new and clashing with the old. Some good old humbrol enamel allowed me to patch up the seat stay vignettes.

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I had most of what I needed to put it back together. Some chrome rims, simplex running gear, the original milremo stem and Ava bars. Just a few more bits from eBay and I was away.

Pleased to say it all runs very nicely with no drama in the build process other than the centre pulls being a bit faffy. The original galli or balilla brake levers would have been great to get hold of as they have adjusters in the brake lever. Still, it’s pretty.

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Always nice to see a bike go to a good home. I have no desire to become a collector and I need to recoup some of the cost from my spiralling obsession. So thanks to Laurie for taking the Lavadome off me!

Was happy to hear that Laurie had a trip planned for this beast and he kindly agreed to send me some pics of his London to Brighton run. So here they are 🙂

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I’ve had this slightly rough 1994 Kona Lava Dome knocking around in the cellar for a while now. Previous owner had had it from new and had updated it through the ages. Not much remained of the original bike other than the frame.

While stripping the bike I encountered a stuck BB which I basically had to chisel out of the frame. LBS chased the threads for for me afterwards.

Took me a while to work out what to do with it. Eventually I gathered up the energy to embark on a respray. I went for a different decal set because ‘why not’ and some funky crackle paint from Montana.

Other than my usual annoying handling errors and getting loads of overspray on the neighbours car (sorry Tim), I think it turned out pretty good.

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Now for the build… I bought an incredibly ugly Saracen Max Trax as a donor bike but I didn’t really end up using much of it – just the v brakes, crank and bb. There were a few issues with kit choice.

Firstly, the forks. Project 2 rigid forks would have been ideal but finding some with a long threadless steerer proved impossible. Some generic cro-mo ones had to suffice. Secondly, finding a narrow wide chain ring for my 5 arm crankset. Basically if they exist they’re expensive. Cheaper to get a new crank – which I did, meaning even less if the donor bike was used.

Anyway, in the end I found some nice finishing kit locally and some other stuff I had collected previously. Used a 1×10 SRAM X9 drivetrain taken from my modern hardtail pre upgrade. Here’s the end result.

Rides really nicely and the gearing 36 up from and 11-36 at the back seems a good fit for Sheffield. Has some bike packing bars up front with the idea that it should make a nice tourer. Now to find a home for it and try and recoup some cash >.<

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I am resisting the dastardly lures of Facebook marketplace and will endeavour to work through the material I have. This poor thing has been languishing as I have struggled to work out what to do with it.

I am going to restore it as close to the original as possible and recreate the little details on the seat stays. It won’t be original anymore unfortunately but there’s no way to preserve the good bits and get rid of the bad – so it’s back to bare metal.

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This was purchased as a full bike but I forgot to take a picture before I stripped it. It’s a mid 80s touring bike with a Reynolds 531c frame.

The frame was a bit too tatty for my liking so I decided to embark on a respray. Bought some pink spray.bike and gold keirin flake along with 2 tins of 2K clear.

Didn’t go to bare metal just sanded down where the paint had gone anyway and toothed the rest with sand paper. Then used spray.bike putty spray on the bare metal areas or where it was rough.

The spray.bike was really nice to use. Nice and even – easy to get a good coat. Applied first tin of 2K before using decals from HK Lloyd which were lovely as usual.

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I ended up with a few runs in the clear coat which was annoying and the Reynolds sticker didn’t seem to respond well to the clear. Overall though I think it should look pretty sweet and hopefully pretty durable too.

Next step is to leave it alone in the basement for a couple of weeks before sanding and assembly.

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Ok so I only lasted a week before I started building it up. Went alright though. No major issues other than not securing the rear wheel and ending up rubbing through the paint on one of the stays.