# Parts ** RESTORE , DON'T REPLACE!**



## Wayne Adam (Oct 25, 2011)

It seems that almost every "Restored" bike I see has new rims, new seat & new pedals. People, take the time to restore the original parts. Check out the pictures below.
 Here is a set of wheels from my '51 J.C.Higgins Color Flow that will be completed this week. These were the worst possible rims you could ever expect to find. The chrome
was completely flaking off, the spokes were bent, these were nasty. I finely grinded & sanded the rims, got them to the smooth base surface & I then primed them with Nason 2K epoxy primer.
 I finally painted them the new color of the bike, single stage Dupont Centari. I removed & straightened every spoke. I sanded the rust off of the spokes & then final sanded them with 2000 grit to a high shine. I removed & polished every nipple. Yes, this all took a lot of time, but the final results were worth it. The pictures are the before and after of the exact rims. Yes, of course the tire are new.
  I am not posting this to gloat, just to inspire you Cabsters out there to restore the original parts, it is worth the effort......... Thanks for looking............Wayne


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## Boris (Oct 25, 2011)

Wayne-
You are a very sick man. It takes one to know one. Fantastic job on the wheels!


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## partsguy (Oct 25, 2011)

Nothing wrong with restoring old parts, but I'm not one to easily throw one away. Nor do I restore every bolt. Some parts are just too far gone and too cheap to replace to bother putting time and money into. I'll end up replacing a rear wheel on my '66 Silver Jet should I get around to it. There is no way that wheel can be rechromed, nor is it safe.

I do love the job you did on these and the dedication you show. Good job!


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## prewar (May 20, 2012)

*Wheels*

I'm not really following this. They were chrome now painted? Wouldn't restored for those mean rechromed? You did a great job on the wheels either way.


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## Ozark Flyer (May 24, 2012)

Bueatiful job.  I appreciate your dedication and craftsmanship.


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## BrentP (May 24, 2012)

I'm going through exactly the same exercise with a pair of wheels at the moment.  The spokes and hubs were gnarly, and had 50 years of rust and corrosion.  After trying to clean them up steel wool, Brasso, and fine sand paper with no success, I completely disassembled the wheels and soaked the hubs, spokes and nipples in that miracle chemical 'EvapoRust'.  That stuff is unbelievable.  After soaking overnight, all I needed to do was rub the parts down quickly with some steel wool, and now the hubs, spokes and nipples look brand new.  I use EvapoRust on all my metal parts to bring them back to 'like new' condition.

Next comes the fun part.... rebuilding the wheels.

Here's an example of what EvapoRust can do.  I was sure I was probably going to need to replace the chain from the '64 Spaceliner I'm doing a full restoration on, but I wanted to see if I could save it and keep the bike original.  Here are a couple of pics of the results..... before, and after soaking overnight and giving it a quick scrub with a brass brush.  The end result was a chain that looks almost new again and allowed me to keep the bike original.  In pic 2 I hadn't even soaked it in solvent yet to clean off the residual dirty lube.

BEFORE




AFTER


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## MaxGlide (May 25, 2012)

Gotta say I LOVE Evapo-rust. 

It gets all the rust out of every nook and cranny and does not harm the paint at all. 

One tip to make it last longer. Once you've let it sit and the rust is ready to be brushed off, don't do it in the bin you are soaking it in. Take it out, scrub it and rinse with water. If you scrub it in the solution, the rust stays in the liquid and weakens it as it continues to neutralise the rust.

Wayne


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## pmac (Jun 24, 2012)

*restoring Pashley Pickle*

Adam - thanks for your inspiration here.

I learned to ride on a 1945 Pashley Pickle Tricycle. My uncle restored it in the 80s when I was a kid - and I found it at a relatives house in the backyard collecting rust. I don't know if I have before photos. I already had the frame sandblasted and I primed it. 

The axle and crank arms were sandblasted - so their chrome is gone. Should I paint these - or have them re-chromed?

The rims were not sandblasted. I took them apart and started going to work on them. Do you have some tips - are these salvageable? And how do you fix the spokes (ie. straightening them).

You can see I started just sanding the rims and got some rust off - but in some areas I don't know if the rims will shine because the coating is gone.






Wayne Adam said:


> It seems that almost every "Restored" bike I see has new rims, new seat & new pedals. People, take the time to restore the original parts. Check out the pictures below.
> Here is a set of wheels from my '51 J.C.Higgins Color Flow that will be completed this week. These were the worst possible rims you could ever expect to find. The chrome
> was completely flaking off, the spokes were bent, these were nasty. I finely grinded & sanded the rims, got them to the smooth base surface & I then primed them with Nason 2K epoxy primer.
> I finally painted them the new color of the bike, single stage Dupont Centari. I removed & straightened every spoke. I sanded the rust off of the spokes & then final sanded them with 2000 grit to a high shine. I removed & polished every nipple. Yes, this all took a lot of time, but the final results were worth it. The pictures are the before and after of the exact rims. Yes, of course the tire are new.
> I am not posting this to gloat, just to inspire you Cabsters out there to restore the original parts, it is worth the effort......... Thanks for looking............Wayne


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## BrentP (Jun 24, 2012)

pmac said:


> Adam - thanks for your inspiration here.
> 
> I learned to ride on a 1945 Pashley Pickle Tricycle. My uncle restored it in the 80s when I was a kid - and I found it at a relatives house in the backyard collecting rust. I don't know if I have before photos. I already had the frame sandblasted and I primed it.
> 
> ...




YIKES!!!  Don't EVER sand something like that.  You won't get the rust off properly, and you will also cause a lot of damage to the chrome you have left.  

You can remove all the rust by soaking in EvapoRust for a couple of days followed by a light scrub with extra fine steel or brass wool.  You'll be amazed at the results.  Of course there will be evidence of pitting and exposed base nickel, but it will be shiny too once it has been polished up by the steel/brass wool, and after the application of some wax when you're finished cleaning they will look pretty good and will be protected somewhat from further corrosion


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## silvercreek (Jul 2, 2012)

You did a fantastic job on those rims. I've got a set of chrome wheels in about the same condition and was wondering what I was going to do with them. Unfortunately I don't have access to a bead blaster.


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