Simply Gorge-ous

I had a great time riding on the D&L/Lehigh Valley Gorge Park Trail yesterday, mostly because of the company, but also because of the fantastic cool weather up in the Poconos. Along with me on the 27 mile round trip that became known as the "Tour de Thorpe" (nearby town is Jim Thorpe, PA) were my dad, Uncle Dan, cousin Wendy and her husband Sean. Dad is fairly close by in Bethlehem, but I don't get to see my other relatives as often as I would like since they live in North Carolina and Virginia, respectively. It was a wonderful opportunity to catch up on things during a VERY relaxed pace on the flat trail.

I was able to finish the first round of painting on Tuesday, including the layers of clear coat that needed to be applied before the decals. I had previously sanded the primer coat and then removed all of the dust by rubbing the frame completely with tack cloth.  I then undertook the painstaking process of masking around the decorative curves of the lugs.

I applied several coats of Krylon red to the headset and fork, and then allowed a day for that paint to dry. I proceded with the blue and white, masking off each section and allowing a day for each to dry as I went along. Finally, on Tuesday evening I sprayed a couple clear gloss coats over all of the color sections of the frame, leaving the lugs (that I had previously masked) covered.




I bought some Mirage decals from Velocals, which have an outstanding selection of vintage bicycle graphics in stock. The sheet included all of the Motobécane decals which were on the bicycle before I stripped the paint, so I was careful to note beforehand where each would go on the frame. The manufacturer suggests, because of the outgassing of some paints, that you let the bicycle dry for at least a week so that no bubbles will occur under the decals.

So a bit of a break on the project is in store, but as usual I'll come up with some things to talk about in the meantime. Stay tuned...