Tear Down...

I stripped the Centurion down today to prep it for paint and re-assembly.  I pretty much just pulled everything apart, cleaned bits and pieces and sorted what could be kept and what I'd throw away.  The good news is that a lot of the bike's components are pretty high quality parts, and much of the bike can be re-used.

After pulling everything apart I gave the frame a bit of attention.  The goal here was to remove the rust on the top tube of the frame and weld various holes and cut off all the unnecessary brackets and protrusions.  The frame came up reasonably well for a nearly 27 year old bike and a bit of bondo and spray filler will see it fairly smooth.

Most of the bike came apart with relative ease.  A couple of bits, namely the crank-set, did not.

The first thing that needed attention was the massive rust spot that wrapped the upper forward area of the top tube.  Luckily, the rust wasn't toooo bad.  Once the paint had been chipped off and the tube wire brushed and filed, it looks a bit better.  A bit of bondo to fill the pitting, will see it look nice and smooth.

These are an example of some of the little bits sticking out from the frame that me no likey...

Some grinding and filing had the 'sticky outy' bits looking as they should.  Gone.

There were a few places where the frame had been drilled into for screw bosses, such as the drink bottle holder and the gear lever attachments.  These bits had to be welded up and ground back.  The frame did not like me welding it and I got close to blowing major holes in it a couple of times.  I think the combination of very thin wall, old tube as well as a crazy metal composition made it difficult to weld.  I turned the amperage right down to try and minimize the risk of blowing holes in it.  I eventually worked out a good way to attack it and all was well :)

Shut your hole:

Smooth and shiny:

The other thing I did was cut off the hanger that the chain tensioner/derailleur used to bolt to.  I haven't got a photo of it before hand but there was a threaded eye hanging from the lower part of this bracket, so I cut it off and tried to match it with the other side.

So here is the salvaged pile as it stands:

I should be able to re-use the bottom bracket, pulled it apart and cleaned the ball bearings.

Most of the fixing components are made from raw alloy, including the "Turbo's Sugino Aero Mighty racing crankset", so they should polish up nice.

The list of parts that I now need is reasonably short (I'm trying to keep this a cheap project as a change from my usual projects).  The main thing is a set of wheels, see further down the page, but the list is:

- Wheels/Tubes/Tyres

- Chain ring, Probably a 46T

- Brake line Brake pads (I'm going to run fixed rear and front brake)

- Seat

- Grips or Bar wrap

I need to decide what wheel set to go with, I'm tossing up between two.  The first ones are similar to Michaels, in fact if i recall correctly, exactly the same minus a sticker.

The second set are a little different, have a good look before you form your opinion. I think they are kind of cool, they're a bit more "track style' with blade type spokes as apposed to round, triple wall rim and wider spoke spacing.  I'd likely take the stickers off them or at least one of them.

Today I was thinking that the colour scheme will be black, white and polished alloy.  Also Luke, what size is the smaller alloy tubing that you purchased for your net?  I may be chasing a small piece if you don't mind.

Let me know what you think so far and any suggestions for the bike or wheel selection are welcome.

Brad