I Feel Like An Archeologist

It was obvious to me that someone had painted the fenders and the chain guard with black paint in a rather poor fashion, and I wanted to clean it off so that I could see the "New Hudson" decal hiding beneath it. I started with steel wool, but after noticing how thick the layer of black paint was (ok, it wasn't very thick, but thick enough to take an eternity to get through with steel wool) I decided to resort to a rather crude method: the knife.

Actually, this method worked quite well at removing the top layer of black paint while leaving the white paint below it intact. I presume this is because when the top layer of paint was applied, the person probably neglected to prepare the painting surface, and so the black paint just flaked off with the pass of the knife. I continued to gently scrape away the paint, and discovered the hidden decal, and couldn't help but feel like an archeologist at a dig, discovering an old fossil.

Now all that remains is to see if I can purchase similar or identical decals on eBay or somewhere...

The Cleaning Begins...

Eager to get to work restoring the New Hudson to it's former glory as a birthday present for my girlfriend, I got my can of Gunk Engine Degreaser (great stuff!) and some medium steel wool and got to work on the chrome handle bars, and the rear brake caliper. There was quite a lot of surface rust on the components, and I was a little worried that they wouldn't clean up nicely, but it turns out they cleaned up much better than anticipated!

The handlebars had a generous amount of surface rust and the Gunk really worked well in combination with the steel wool. It's not very nice on your hands though...neither is the steel wool...I'll wear gloves next time...

The finished product looks amazing! And this probably only took about 15 min of elbow grease, and $0. So far this project looks like it will be able to be completed rather frugally :)

I will buff the handlebars and other components with polishing compound before I re-assemble the bike. It will give it a shine that will last for a while to come. Of course, being a 48 year old bike, it has it's share of scuffs and scratches that won't get buffed out, but they're not very noticeable and if anything, add to the vintage character of the bike. Next came the rear brake lever and caliper. They look in rough rusty shape, but the surface rust came right off!

And voila! All in an evenings work. I would've cleaned the remaining lever and caliper but my hands were hurting from the steel wool fragments that embedded themselves in my fingertips. Gloves for sure next time.

This is the stuff I used to clean the components and it works as a penetrant to loosen stubborn bolts. There weren't any stubborn bolts on this bike...or maybe that's the penetrant working...?

Dismemberment

I finally got around to dis-assembling the bike today. The general idea will be to take everything apart, let it sit in degreasing solution for a while, clean it up/replace necessary components, and replace. The frame will be stripped of paint using paint stripper, prepared, primed and painted (colour TBD). Not sure how I'm going to deal with the decals yet. The markings on the bicycle indicate that it is a New Hudson, which I've learned was a division of B.S.A which became owned by Raleigh in 1957 and markings on the Sturmey Archer hub indicate that it is from 1962. I've had serious difficulty finding anything relating to New Hudson 3-speeds online; most of the information deals with mopeds and motorcycles from the early 20th century. If anyone finds any useful information (ie: catalogues, original paint colour variants, trim colours, decals, etc) please let me know.

The rims will need a thorough cleaning, or may have to be replaced...

All the bicycle parts have been boxed up and ready to be taken downstairs to my workshop for cleaning, painting, and general refurbishment...

It appears as though the fenders were originally white, and someone painted over them at some point with black Tremclad (or similar)...

Also, if anyone knows where I can get the decals below I'd really appreciate it :)



The retro looking chain guard resembles those found on Skidstar or Speedwell bikes, but has "New Hudson" embossed, or it's a decal; I'll find out more when I strip the layers of paint. I'm not sure how the lettering on this chain guard is supposed to look, so if anyone finds any pictures I'd really appreciate them showing me.

I'll post more pictures of the individual components as I start taking them apart and cleaning them.

A Random Stroke of Luck!

Today is spring cleaning day in my neighbourhood. All residents are allowed to throw out any large and bulky non-standard trash items (beds, refrigerators, BIKES)...The garbage truck came around in the morning whilst I slept in, so I didn't get a chance to go look for unwanted 3-speeds. Instead, I decided to take the afternoon and go to the mall with my sister to run some errands. As we were driving to the mall, just around the corner from my house something caught my eye...could it really be a vintage ladies 3-speed!?

I told my sister to continue on to the mall without me, jumped out of the car, and ran across the street to check out what I had just found. Sure enough it was a vintage ladies 3-speed! And the previous owner happened to be backing out of her driveway at the time, so I told her I was taking the bike, and she said "It's all yours". What are the odds that within a week of talking about finding a bike for Stefania I actually find one within a kilometer from my house! On the way home I called Stefania and told her the good news; and apparently brightened up her day since she's currently studying for her engineering final exams! I also got heckled by some elementary school students that didn't realize the awesome potential of the bike I had just found...kids these days...they wouldn't know a vintage 3-speed if it rode up and hit 'em in the face.

The plan is to rebuild it and present it to Stefania on her birthday July 3rd. Pressure is on! The idea here is to rebuild the bicycle to as good condition as possible given my limited budget and timeframe. Also, although I would like to keep the bike as original as possible, I will be repainting the bicycle because I want it to look 'good-as-new' when it is finished. Fitting for a birthday gift. Unfortunately it will not be a surprise because in my excitment after finding the bike, I called her up and told her about it; but I'm sure she'll appreciate it anyway.

Here are some pictures of the bicycle:

There is a good view of the retro-looking chain guard, and tacky handlebar bag. That bag will have to be replaced with a new one, or perhaps a custom built leather/canvas bag...well see:

A picture of our bikes side by side:

So, to recap, the plan is to rebuild the ladies 3-speed in time for Stefania's birthday (July 3rd), and to rebiuld my 3-speed at some point after that...stay tuned!

The Genesis...

Two days ago my girlfriend Stefania and I decided to take advantage of the nice spring weather and go out for a bike ride around the neighbourhood. I took my vintage '54 Raleigh Sports (which I find amazingly comfortable and easy to ride) and she took a spare box store mountain bike which belongs to my sister, and rarely gets any use...

As we were riding around, I was telling her the history of how I came about my 3-speed while studying Mechanical Engineering at McMaster University in Hamilton, ON. Essentially, I woke up one winter day, and found it on the front lawn of my rental house; probably there as a result of some drunken students attempting to ride it home after a night of boozing. In any event, it was in rough shape. I replaced the rusted fenders and chain guard with those from a newer ladies raleigh 3-speed which I subsequently threw away (in hindsight this was stupid, but at this point I already had 4 bicycles, and I wasn't interested in a ladies bike, and my family didn't want it either).

I guess it was after seeing how cool a vintage 3-speed really is, and after hearing that I find and throw away bikes relatively often (amazing the things you can find that students throw away in the student ghetto's around the uni...), and probably due to the fact that she didn't really have a proper bicycle, and because she wants to go picnic-ing on period matching bicycles, she asked me that if I find a ladies vintage 3-speed to fix it up for her....

Laughingly I told her: "If I ever find a vintage ladies 3-speed that is thrown out, I'll pick it up and fix it up for you", all the while thinking to myself that the odds of that happening are very low, and she'll lose interest after a month or two and that'll be that. Well...was I in for a surprise!