Coming together...finally!

   At last, the Pinarello Treviso project that I started last March (see intro article here) is drawing to a close, now that the recommended time for the clearcoat curing has lapsed. Saturday afternoon I gathered the materials necessary to apply the vintage decals supplied by VeloCals.

   I had used a similar process during my Motobécane Mirage project back in 2011, except that these Pinarello decals had a special UV coating and would be applied on top of the finished paintjob, as opposed to having a clearcoat sprayed over them afterward. The key step is to spray the back side of the decals and area of application on the frame with water, mixed with a couple drops of Dawn dishwashing liquid. Some special ingredient in Dawn “relaxes” the otherwise aggressive adhesive and allows it to be manipulated into position, otherwise there would be just one shot to get everything centered on the frame.

  The wet process also allows the elimination of air bubbles under the decals by “squeegeeing” the sheets onto the frame with an old credit card. Although the decal mask wraps fairly easily around the frame tubes when you are holding it in place, I learned last time around that as soon as you let go of it, the mask will straighten out and lift the decals back off of the frame. To hold the sheets in place, I developed the technique of wrapping everything in strips of masking tape adhesive-side-out so that I could slide the rings into position where I needed them, keep tape residue off of the frame and also avoid damaging decals on the frame when I was applying the ones to the opposite side.

   I mentioned when I was working on the Mirage that I am remarkably good at eyeballing things straight and on-center, but beforehand I had drawn a light pencil line through the middle of each decal mask to aid my perspective, since the letters have different shapes that can throw the eye. I also discovered that light playing off the “candy” paint job visually distorts the tube shape! I also made sure to rip off plenty of tape strips beforehand, so that I didn’t need to make any calls for aid during the process - another lesson learned from my previous decal experience.

   I started with the single Pinarello lettering decal on the seat tube and then took care of one side of the down tube. After about an hour I was able to slowly peel away the mask and then use a lint-free cloth to press out any water that might still be present. I let the first round of decals set up overnight, and on Sunday afternoon I attached the lettering to the other side of the down tube.

   Monday morning I was finally able to dip into my collection of parts that have been sitting around waiting for months to be turned back into a bicycle. I used some tiny screws to put the head tube badge in place and then took on the small, but very satisfying, step of assembling the Campagnolo headset.

   Because they were small, I simply attached the Columbus logos on the fork and seat tube by "dry method". I will probably have the bike completely assembled by the end of the week, but there certainly isn’t any rush at this point. Not many folks are out riding in the snow and ice, and a select few are looking for vintage bicycles in February!

In the meantime, I have collected the majority of parts for the Bottecchia project - just waiting for the frame delivery from Germany. More details on both bicycles next week...