glenanderson
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,098
Club RR Member Number: 64
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Nov 23, 2020 10:41:06 GMT
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Nice. I’ve always found something oddly captivating with the most basic of “pedal-and-pop” mopeds. One step up from a bicycle.
Now that you’ve cleaned that front rim up, I’d mask the spokes and hub, and give it a good paint up with some proprietary rust inhibitor, followed by a couple of coats of primer and then silver/grey top coat. They’ll look fine and the finish will easily outlast the cheap chrome that was on there originally. Any other course of action starts to get really expensive, really quickly, with spoked wheels on cheap bikes. Another option would be to strip them off and have the rims blasted and powdercoated, or even replace them with shiny new ones, but the cost is likely to be more than the value of the completed bike, and the money would be better spent on new tyres and tubes.
As for the rest of the rusty chrome, yes, in your shoes I’d just be sanding it down and painting it. The standard of chrome on cheap commuter bikes is always poor, and even if you could get a set of NOS handlebars easily, you’d be able to watch them deteriorate in front of your eyes if you actually used the bike.
Anyway, bookmarked. And if you don’t know what to do with it once it’s finished, I could be tempted... 😃
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My worst worry about dying is my wife selling my stuff for what I told her it cost...
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dan91
Part of things
Posts: 414
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Nov 24, 2020 18:13:45 GMT
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Another rail guy? Between you, me, glenanderson and a few others, we could start our own! Probably couldn't do any worse. Spent quite a few months in Swindon (in between overseas trips) living in the Rose and CROWN in Ashbury, fortunately before it was done up. Loving the enthusiasm on this little thing. Indeed, i work for Knorr-Bremse if you are familiar with them at all, previously Westinghouse in Chippenham many years ago. We have equipment all over the world. I have briefly read your manila thread from time to time but never really spent proper time digesting it but certainly looks like a fantastic part of the world! Ah awesome, i know where you mean, Ashbury is the other side of Swindon to me but not too far, I'm in Calne. Nice. I’ve always found something oddly captivating with the most basic of “pedal-and-pop” mopeds. One step up from a bicycle. Now that you’ve cleaned that front rim up, I’d mask the spokes and hub, and give it a good paint up with some proprietary rust inhibitor, followed by a couple of coats of primer and then silver/grey top coat. They’ll look fine and the finish will easily outlast the cheap chrome that was on there originally. Any other course of action starts to get really expensive, really quickly, with spoked wheels on cheap bikes. Another option would be to strip them off and have the rims blasted and powdercoated, or even replace them with shiny new ones, but the cost is likely to be more than the value of the completed bike, and the money would be better spent on new tyres and tubes. As for the rest of the rusty chrome, yes, in your shoes I’d just be sanding it down and painting it. The standard of chrome on cheap commuter bikes is always poor, and even if you could get a set of NOS handlebars easily, you’d be able to watch them deteriorate in front of your eyes if you actually used the bike. Anyway, bookmarked. And if you don’t know what to do with it once it’s finished, I could be tempted... 😃 Yeah i've never had any sort of interest in 2 wheeled devices like i do 4 but its old, mechanical and interesting so I'm quite drawn to it! AAnd yes i think painting may certainly be the way forward, i think for now the plan is to clean everything up and get it all back together and running, give myself motivation to then spend more time tarting it up. I did consider powder coating through a company we use at work but I'm not a huge fan of powder coating as a process for anything that is "used" and really honestly prefer paint when done properly. I can source tyres easy enough, and a carb but it appears bits specific to the Smily are fairly thin on the ground. Id imagine the wheels will beo k to source as most mopeds of that era like this will run similar if not the same? Got quite lucky with my friend painting the painted parts for me previously, definitely saved me a few hundred £. And i'll keep it in mind! Ill see how i feel when its done, i am tempted to donate it to the local motor museum if they are interested, only a small little place but held some fantastic events over the years.
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dan91
Part of things
Posts: 414
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Apr 11, 2021 12:18:32 GMT
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So yeah, been a while since i updated this, far too long really. Motivation has been low with all things vehicle related until a few months back, when my truck let me down! Radiator failed and unfortunately it was too late before i noticed/the lethargic 90's temp sensor caught up.. leading to this. In reality, not worth the time, cost or effort to rectify.. but i've grown quite attached to my truck. So approximately £900 in parts later.. Which through some sort of sadistic joy i quite enjoyed doing, during the -1 temperatures and snow.. on my drive.. But she's back to daily duties and working well. Which in return gave me motivation to get the Mazda prepared for the summer last weekend. So hardtop off and put into storage, a full service and fitted the new alloy rad I bought embarrassingly long ago. In the process of cleaning up the garage after working on both cars, i unwrapped the Smiley from it's protective covers and took another look at it, disappointed in my lack of progress. So i did a few little jobs, rear wheel put back together and fitted, engine put in, exhaust. Some progress is better than none i suppose! I'm hoping the warmer lighter evenings will help motivate me to get back out and do stuff, life is still hectic but i want to dedicate some more time this year to my existing projects rather than buying more stuff like i have a habbit of doing! Anyway, few pictures of the progress on the Smiley, hopefully more to come in the future
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