Bike Refurbishment a Success…Finally

I had entertained the idea of re-selling the bike when I was done since the iBert did not work out, however don’t think I could resale it now.  It became quite expensive. So far I have invested $86 into the bike ($30 for bike, $5 for gas to get bike, $11 for 3 cans paint, $5 for chain break tool, $20 for tires and $15 for Chain).  If I want to make it look really adorable by adding a tan leather seat (shown) with matching grips and a basket (shown) I would need to add another $52 bringing the grand sum to a whopping $138. Not to mention I have invested maybe ten hours in labor including driving back and forth to stores. Wow. I could have bought a brand new bike.  Of course I would have missed out on the satisfaction of putting this bike into better shape.

And there were the proverbial bumps in the road (and on my head): bike chain -- I needed two (figured this out after three trips to store), head injury, putting it together wrong, not knowing what size tire the bike should have and then I finally found a tire size inscribed on the rim. OMG. There are so many things to take into account when buying a used bike that I did not for example: is the frame bent anywhere most especially where the tires are, are the rims bent, does it need new tires, are the chrome things bent so much that the rub the tire, and is the handle bar stem secure. I figured the frame looked good and that was the main part not taking into account all the moving parts on a bike that could break or not be sound to begin with.

All in all fixing up the bike was a fun and entertaining experience.  I am not sure what I am going to do with it -- keep it or sell it, but I am sure about one thing:  I am leaving bike refurbishing to the professionals and I will to stick to woodwork and painting and such.

Bike Refurbishment Saga

Since starting this project last week I have not sustained any more injuries, which I am happy about because my bump is still here and hurting four days later. The bike has been cleaned and washed, cleaned with kerosene and washed and sanded and washed -- so I am pretty sure it was clean when I painted it. However, after priming it and wet sanding it according to the guidelines I found the primer washed off! I let it dry for well over 24 hours and the same thing happened again. Well, I decided I am not going to sand this bike down to the metal since that would just be too much of an investment (afterall I do have a house to clean, a toddler to watch, and meals to cook -- well not really the cooking part but I do I have things I have to do). After the two coats of primer I put the first coat of appliance paint (yes, that is correct appliance paint is what the Home Depot Guy and fellow customer recommended). Sadly, this part hasn't gone well either. The paint left a dimpling effect behind. I am not quite sure what to do at this point, but I feel anything I do or have done will look better than what it did before.

So far the only part of the refurbishment that has gone well is cleaning up the seat. The seat had been oversprayed with paint prior to my purchasing it, however after a thorough cleaning with saddle soap and conditioning with beeswax it looks great!