Girvin forks nearly finished

[Apache]

After buying a 1994 Proflex frame and rare Girvin Vector forks a few months back, I've finished the forks (apart from changing all the rusty steel bolts for titanium ones)

Thats the old (hardened) elastomer damper.



Which I changed for a Shockworx air / oil damper. Required me making new bushes and pivots for the shock. A pleasant afternoon of lathe-ing.



Ooooh, new sexy titanium brake bosses!



'Correct' period Dia-Compe 987 cantis, in period anodised purple! Bought as new old stock from the good ol' US of A for a mere £20 for both pairs!



The lovely lovely polished aluminium Vectors in all their glory. They'll get a final polish when the bike's assembled sometime next Spring.



While I'm on the subject, is there a way of taking paint off an aluminium frame without damaging the aluminium? (ie - no heat, no sanding, no blasting) I've tried Nitromors, but the paint seems to be a fairly tough type and Nitromors isn't aggressive enough.

[yoshie]

Fantastic mate.

[slobodan]

I don't know what language you are talking.

But the pictures look good.

I'm sure you could get the frame 'dipped' somewhere.

[Apache]

Yeah I was thinking of a dip of some sort. Will ask at my local friendly engineering firm tomorrow.

I want to strip the frame and just polish it as the welds and alu quality are just too lovely to paint, and as this bike will only come out of sunny days, it'll be fine.

[frontman]

It's a bike.

www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=jPHSxBcvtvw

[Apache]

Is it??

Shit, I thought it was a hang glider. I've wasted my life...

[slobodan]

Antelopes get mad if you ain't dripping with titanium .

[Albannach]

While I'm on the subject, is there a way of taking paint off an aluminium frame without damaging the aluminium? (ie - no heat, no sanding, no blasting) I've tried Nitromors, but the paint seems to be a fairly tough type and Nitromors isn't aggressive enough.

Water blasting?

Our local(ish) blaster reckons he can clean anything without damaging it. He uses several types of media and different machines, depending on what he's cleaning.

[gary-r]

Yeah I was thinking of a dip of some sort. Will ask at my local friendly engineering firm tomorrow.

I want to strip the frame and just polish it as the welds and alu quality are just too lovely to paint, and as this bike will only come out of sunny days, it'll be fine.

the forks have come out real well

try a local metal polisher for a stripper - the one i used had a pickling paste that took paint off the ally without harming the base metal. its a time thing, leave it too long in the tank and its goosed. the other way is with polishing mops coated in grit - i used to use fine grit and it works well but is very time consuming.

[DaveHMS]

Is it powder coated or paint? In the marine world with ally hulls, on a well prepped, etch primed surface the twin pack top coats used stick like the proverbial and are a total ####### to remove without fine grit blasting. You may want to try and strip a small discrete area to see what the ally looks like below - etchprime does what it says on the tin.

[Apache]

Definitely paint.

Took a 1/2" patch off under the bottom bracket area later last night. Took 3 coats of Nitromors and a lot of work with a nylon scouring pad. Polished up very nicely though.

[DaveHMS]

Probably the long, hard slog method may be the best for the frame. A mate of mine has a stripping tank - effective but vicious - I'd avoid dipping a frame in a tank, the stripping juice could get into areas that cant be thoroughly washed out & you don't want essentially corrosive stuff eating away unseen.
A job for the long, dark winter evenings methinks. More power to your elbow mate! I'm sure it'll look stunning when you're done.

[J i m s t e r]

You on http://www.retrobike.co.uk, Apache?

You can swap out the rear elastomer if it's goosed for a Land Rover part :

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Land-Rover-Dis...d=273146583507

[John h]

MOD been using Soy Strip ?

[Apache]

You on http://www.retrobike.co.uk, Apache?

You can swap out the rear elastomer if it's goosed for a Land Rover part :

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Land-Rover-Dis...d=273146583507

Yes I am, and I'll probably do that in the meantime. The long term plan is to fit air / oil to the back as well.