The Black and Tan - Part 1

A few months ago, I found parts for an early 1980's mountain bike FREE at a garage sale. Ironically, Stace and I were having a garage sale of our own that day when I cruised down the street and returned with more "junk".

But, Stace was actually very supportive. She knows my love of old bikes and that I already had a 1940's era Schwinn in our garage, ready for restoration. She had only one request: "Don't bring another old bike home until you finish one of these first."

So here is the start of the story of "The Black And Tan". I don't know how interesting this is to anyone, but I will post updates about this project from time to time.

1. Disassemble the bike, organize the parts I have, and decide what parts I'll need:


As you can see from this photo, the bike is missing a few parts. I actually got the bike with the handle bars and brakes, but I already removed them before this photo. But I'm missing a seatpost, seat, and chain. Some of those thing are kind of important.

2. Sand and prime the frame:

The 22 year old frame was almost rust free. Removing old decals was the hardest part. I had already decided on a paint scheme by this point. I was inspired by a bottle of Guinness Draught. The "colours" would be black and tan. (Because I'm Irish, I build bikes, and I drink Guinness.)

3. Paint the frame:

I sprayed three coats of the light tan (or "cream") color first. Two days later I taped that off and I sprayed the rest of the frame three coats of black (over a few days). In this photo, I'm sanding between coats.

The Black And Tan. Coming along nicely. Now I must find some bike parts....