My new project "a daily commuter on a budget"

[weptunus]

This monday the bike pictured below was parked (ie. dumped) at the local trainstation. (where I pass every morning to go to work)
Last friday it was still there on the exact same spot so I thought "no one needs it let's give the poor thing a new home" (Also my train had been late and I had to be somewhere so I took the bike to be home a little faster and I need a bike for daily commuting, this summer I've used my MTB for that (put some slicks on it) but with the winter coming, I'd like to use that bike only for what it's made for)

as you can see, the bike had a special paint job, the guy who did the paint job didn't want to sand of the old paint so he wrapped his bike in some kind of duckt tape before painting it
the chain is lubricated very thorough and as you shall see in the video the BB can us some new bearings...
apart from that, when the bike is going, (takes some effort) it keeps running better then expected and the wheels are perfectly true...
I'm not sure what exactly I will do with it, probably keep it "retro" clean everything up, find a nice crankset, put on some straight handlebars, a leather brooks saddle, etc... suggestions are welcome, I will keep you guys posted on the progress...

here are the pics and a movie...









the movie of my unbelievably awesome crankset + BB (notice the 2 different crank arms)
ps.
I wasn't sure where to put this in the forum, you can't really call this a weight weenie project, but I thought i'd share it with you guys, also the bike wise advice (haha that rhymes) on this forum is always great...

greets,
R.

[5shot]

I wouldn't change the paint job if I were you... it's clearly by Pegoretti.

[prendrefeu]

Weigh it.
Then let's see how light we (collectively) can get it within your budget constraints.

[cpfitness]

holy shite, that crank video! Were you really able to ride that thing????? Honestly, I'll bet that sucker will clean up really nice. I agree with the other poster, it would be fun to hear your budget and see what could be done with it. Are you gonna try to chemical strip it or get it sand blasted?

[weptunus]

My budget is as close to 0 als possible I think taking of the tape wil help a lot, then I'll use some sandpaper I guess... The current "paint job" isn't very well done, the paint comes of pretty easy, I think using my fingernails would suffice to get everything off but let's stick with sandpaper for now
Edit:
Maybe some paint thinner? I don't think that can harm a steel frame??

[weptunus]

at last,
this week I got some time to finish of this wrek. Unfortunately, in all my enthusiasm I forgot to take photo's during the work.

I first took everything apart, used some petrol on to get all the grease of the chain (once all the big chunks where removed the rest came of pretty easy).
I replaced the crankset with one of another old bike found in a lost corner of our garage (the frame of that thing is few inches away from bent double).
I removed the paint and tape and whatever else was sticking on those tubes first with a heat gun then sand paper.
Then to paint it I applied a base layer of white, then another layer of white, I wasn't shure about a specific color paint job so left it white (which looks pretty nice if you ask me)
When assembling everything back together, I accidentally put the handlebars upside down (which was pretty cool so again I left it like that, and put on some bar-tape), to match the red bar tape I painted the rear wheel red to, no brake on the rear wheel, maybe fixed geer in the future.
I've gone crazy on the saddle and bought a leather brooks saddle (which increases the value of this bike by 500% )
here are some pictures of the result and a movie to show how "smooth" everything runs

video

[cpt000]

I like the cream/red mix.

[shoemakerpom2010]

Now that looks like alot of fun.

[LeePaton]

Brilliant, want not waste not!

Can't help but think you should have left the paint though.

[stella-azzurra]

So you technically stole it? Under the finders keeps losers weepers clause?

[LeePaton]

So you technically stole it? Under the finders keeps losers weepers clause?

There is a madone frame in my LBS that's been there for a while... I can just take that then?

[lalahsghost]

Aww, why'd you ditch the fenders and rack?

[Frankie - B]

Funny that this has slipped past moderation. Locked now. Cool tinkering, but nothing light weight or high tech.