When will the "fun" EVER end?

   Besides being frustrated by a backload of finished projects that I need to sell off, my series of unfortunate events continues, as it was discovered the Pinarello FP2 frame had a couple of hairline cracks on the drive-side chainstay. The problem was hidden on the inside of the tubing by the back wheel, and since I somehow managed not to see it (perhaps distracted by the condition of the rest of the bike and the great deal I thought I was getting - ha!), I would like to think the person who sold it to me through craigslist wasn't aware of the problem either. 

   Just when I had the seatpost issue fixed and thought I was in the clear, I now have to have to take the frame to a carbon expert to have it assessed. I'm praying that it is simply a flaw in the paint and topcoat, but with my recent run of luck (all bad), I really am expecting the worst.

   Understandably, my friend Scott no longer wanted any part of this bicycle deal, so I am on the hook for this Pinarello, one way or another! 

   The other Pinarello is a mix of news. VeloCals returned my email with some helpful advice about removing their decals with a blow dryer. Unlike a heat gun, its temperature is gentle enough to not harm the finish, yet warm enough to soften the adhesive. Using a small butter knife (also a suggestion from the folks at VeloCals) I lifted a corner of the decal. Moistening my fingers with soapy (per instructions, only using Dawn dishwashing liquid) water, I kept the heat over the decal as I pulled it from the frame.

   The Pinarello Treviso font is slightly less bold than that on the Vuelta, but this proved to be any advantage, as the transparent buffer zone around the lettering made each decal almost an exact fit within the voids left behind in the clearcoat by the old flaked-off logo.

   I wet the back of each letter in the soapy solution so that I could line them up correctly, then squeegied out the water with an old credit card I saved just for this process (now that it's become fairly frequent). I applied a bit of hairdryer heat to take the curl out of the decals and to help reactivate the adhesive. The process took quite a bit of time, but the results look better than the initial attempt at applying the decals.

   The bad news is that I am having an impossible time tuning up the shifting. I'm pretty sure there is a spacing issue between cogs, which can be solved, but I can at least I can hit all of the cogs with some "chatter" on the up shift. I'm more concerned with the derailleur skipping when down shifting, which seems to be from too much tension on the cable. I suspect this may be due to an awkward bend from the cable entry point on the derailleur to the cable clamp. I have to do some experimenting with another derailleur that I know functions properly to make sure the lever's ratchet mechanism isn't shot.

   I've met a fellow vintage bicycle enthusiast named Ron, who seems to enjoy collecting and researching more than the "wrenching" aspects of the hobby. Although he recently hooked up with an interesting frame from the well-known Italian builder Basso, I get the impression that he prefers some of the smaller European builders.

   He requested some alterations to a 1970s Vainqueur bicycle from Luxembourg, which had a crazy mix of British and French parts, including old cottered cranks which were well past their time of usefulness. And what did we replace them with? Japanese Shimano parts, of course! I was disappointed that I couldn't save the French Simplex rear derailleur (see stock photo on left below), which had pulleys that were severely worn down. I was hoping to just change the pulleys, but they had a different axle width than those I had in supply.

   Ron had supplied me with a spare Shimano rear derailleur, so I installed that as well. The front derailleur (above right pic) worked perfectly, although in a manner I had never seen before. Instead of a derailleur cage that pivots on a parallelogram shape, this Simplex derailleur had a telescoping arm that extends/retracts to change chainrings!

   A very cool frame from an obscure Italian builder, Monteverde, was another of Ron's finds, and it had interesting cut-outs in the lugs and a really unique art nouveau logo font. Unfortunately the paint has issues and the logos were damaged badly. However, Ron is enthusiastic about stripping and repainting, and I convinced him that I could put my art/graphics background to use and recreate the artwork for some custom decals.

   Finding a matching font online was relatively easy, and luckily the headbadge wasn’t majorly complex. With a Canadiens (a trial separation is in place from the forever-frustrating Flyers) hockey game on in the background I was able to reproduce everything in a couple of hours with a CorelDraw program. Luckily this admittedly outdated software has an exportable format that will work with VeloCals’ Adobe Illustrator program. For some reason the colors don't match in the reproduced image, but they do in "real life".

    The Basso frame is a bit small for Ron to use for his own bike build, but he couldn’t resist it at the asking price. We plan to just touch up its (unfortunate) repaint job, add some decals that are appropriate to the bike, then simply sell the frameset. I found a feature on a restoration of the same model “Gap” bicycle (photo below), matched the decal style and colors to some in the VeloCals online catalog and placed an order.

   Bruce, my airbrush buddy, informed me that the ’70s Pinarello frame should be done this week, so yet another completed bicycle will be hanging in the rafters. I’m going to have to move some into the garage soon!

Me and My Shadow

The run of bad luck continues…

   Removing the Pinarello decals from the Vuelta frame was fairly easy, since they were flaking badly in the first place. I also found a helpful tip to loosen the remaining material, using a liquid with which I was very familiar. MicroSol is a product used by modelers to soften decals so that they conform to details on molded plastic. I have used MicroSol many times on model railroad freight cars and locomotives that I have custom painted and decaled.

   Unfortunately attempts to smooth the clear coat lines that were left around the removed letters did not go well. The ScratchX product that had been recommended didn’t do much besides leave a nice shine – no complaints there, but the clear coat lines remained.

   My hope that the Velocals would line up in the letter “voids” and negate the problem didn’t work out either. I figured they would be historically accurate, but the spacing (or kerning, as some call it) between the letters was slightly different, which made each letter slightly off even more as you view them left to right.

   Putting the Velocals in the proper spot was complicated by the fact that the original decals weren’t exactly centered on each side of the downtube. In addition, the application process involves spraying water over the area to allow repositioning before the aggressive adhesives lock down the lettering, and when wet, the clear coat lines I was using as a general guide practically disappeared. Finally, the decal backing paper was opaque, so I couldn’t get a very good view of the results as I was working. As it stands, the lettering looks like a drop-shadow effect used in artistic fonts.

   At first I thought, “Well it looks a whole lot better than the flaking old decals, and someone would only notice when looking close up, “ but I am far more finicky than that to just let it go as-is. Having to buy another set of (not cheap) Velocals is a bit frustrating, but I want it to look right – and more appealing to a prospective buyer! I could apply the letters individually into each empty space, using painters tape in combination with some guide lines drawn on the backing paper, but that would take hours to do each side of the frame! I contacted Velocals about a possible re-print using the correct spacing dimensions (which I could provide), and I’m waiting for a reply.

   A local college student asked me to help him find a bicycle with the intent that he was going to get into racing soon. I had found on craigslist a Pinarello FP2 at a very good price, which included a wonderful extra wheelset and cassette. This bike was identical to mine, except with a different color scheme, and because I love mine, I was a bit shocked that my buyer was indecisive. He thought the bike was of a more recreational level, and I quickly pointed out that it was essentially the same design that Bradley Wiggins and Alejandro Valverde rode to Grand Tour victories, just with a lesser grade of carbon fiber and without the elite-level component groups. This is a RACING BICYCLE!

   Anyway, he ended up getting something else, but I wasn’t going to let the fantastic deal go, since I knew I could find a buyer. A friend of mine contacted me soon afterwards to buy the Pinarello, and the wheelset was used on a build for another friend, so I had made a nice profit. I couldn’t possibly get by that easy, could I?

   No. My friend Scott called after he had tried to move the saddle down slightly, and the seatpost wouldn’t budge. The FP2 has an aluminum sleeve in the seat tube, and the previous owner did not lubricate the aluminum seatpost before inserting it into the bike. Needless to say, the two like metal surfaces had oxidized and fused together!

   I won’t go into all the attempts made by me and my pals at Bikesport to free the post, but it seemed that I might be faced with shipping the problem to a carbon frame expert, who assured us he has handled this issue many times and could take care of it. However, the expense of the process, plus the shipping both ways, would put me into a deficit on this transaction.

   The brilliant Bikesport guys came up with a “Plan C” that involved cutting the seatpost flush with the seat tube and then buying a replacement post that has an outside diameter that will fit inside the part that is stuck in the frame. They will use the existing slot in the back of the seat tube as a guide to cut a matching slot in the back of the post to allow expansion/contraction, so the seat tube bolt can do its intended job as well.

   One recent positive for me is that the headset spacer arrived, fit perfectly and I was able to finish up the Schwinn Paramount bicycle. I like the look of this rather inexpensive build (now for sale):