Monday, December 17, 2007

Pink Lemonade


It's been a couple of weeks since I picked up the Premier Cycles bike from the dump, looking worse for wear (whatever that means). I wasn't even sure if it would be salvagable but even if I only ended up with the old school bars for Betty Blue, I would have been happy. As it turns out the frame was in excellent condition with only surface rust. The cranks were Suntour SL and the ring was still good. The forks were goners and the rest I wasn't interested in anyhow.

So with a lot of TLC, Kill Rust and grease she turned out great, and rides like a demon.

I'm running the original 42 tooth ring as it was only a little hounds toothed on one side so I reversed it (which happened to be it's correct direction) and it's good as new. 42:15 is good with the 28mm tyres (the 40mm's as seen on Frankenbetty were a little too close for comfort in the front forks). I reached 47.92km/h comfortably today, flailing like a maniac I'll easily reach fifty and can sit on thirty five nicely.

The cranks were originally going to be polished up to a shine, but after going at them with a rough grit paper I liked the look. The bottom bracket was amazingly still quite smooth so I cleaned it up and re-installed, with lots of grease!!

The only thing left to do is strip the original head badge, which is pressed brass covered in silver paint, and mount it. The blue saddle has to go too. Then she'll be finished off nicely and will see many a day of commuting and bad weather training.

So what is it?
Frame - Premier Cycles Japan (Forks - from the basement)
Paint - Kill Rust - Woodland Grey
Wheels - Velocity Deep V (Velocity Hubs, Dura Ace 15t cog)
Tyres - Inertia Kevlar Armour Shield 28mm (Bike shop clearance $5 each!)
Cranks - Suntour SL (with 42t ring)
Chain - KMC Kool Chain Gold
Pedals - Crank Brothers Egg Beaters
Stem - Rithchey Comp 110mm
Headset - Shimano 105
Bars - Truvativ Team
Saddle - SDG Bel Air
Brakes - Legs like steel springs!!!