Day 1: strip down

I only get the opportunity to be in the workshop maybe every other weekend and one weekday every 2 weeks (the day of a test), so I have to make the most of my time in there. Today after my test I cleaned up my work area a little, mounted a bike rack and got busy. My goal for today was to completely dismantle the bike and get it ready for cleaning. This proved harder than anticipated. The bike hasn't been cleaned in so long most every hex bolt was completely seized. After lots of WD40 I was finally able to remove most of the components. I got the bike completely naked, save for the crankest, which requires a special tool (which happens to be on the way from amazon).

This weekend I'll be degreasing the bike and most of the compenents, along with removing a lot of the rust with my new knock-off dremmel tool. I was able to scrap the front derailleur becuase I am turning the bike down from a 21 speed to a 7 speed. This will save me some weight and hassle. The rear derailleur needs some serious degreasing, but should be clean soon enough. I am at a loss on what do to about the fork. The shocks are completley sized and pretty rusty, they might not be salvageable.

Aside from the surface rust the frame is still solid; I will probably start stripping the paint this weekend and tackling the rest of the rust.

For those of you wondering how I am going to do with with no mechanical knowledge whatsoever--I've been using this book which I jacked from my father. Its great, has step-by-step instructions, pictures and a very DIY attitude.

Here are some pictures from today's work;

Wheels off; nothing else done

An example of some of the rust, this is from the bottom of the seat post. Most of this came off with a metal brush

After about 4 hours the frame is nearly naked.

That's all for now, more to come this weekend.