To rebuild or ride?

[Aston]

I'm new to all of this, I was on the look out for a suitable touring bike to get back into cycling and weekend cycle camping.

I've just acquired an early (1995) Thorn Club Tour, initially happy, but then realised there's corrosion under the powder coating on the down tube and rust at the top of the forks. I'm torn between three options: A - leaving it it as is and just riding to see how I get on, B - bodging the down tube rust with a wire brush, Kurust and some enamel paint on the affected areas or C - strip everything and have the frame stripped and powder coated. The downside of C is that the decals are no longer available, seems to bother me, I'm not sure why! Plus I've not stripped/rebuilt a bike before... though many years ago built a kit car and restored MGs, but a long time ago.

I know it'll be 'how long is a bit of string' type question, but how difficult/easy is rebuilding a bike?

Here's the bike...

 

[Dogtrousers]

Entirely up to you really, but just saying that the mechanical skills required are not great, especially not for a bike of that vintage. Even I can manage bikes like that.

Me, I'd probably do A, then after a while B, and then C when I saw what a horrible mess I'd made of B.

 

[IanSmithCSE]

Good afternoon,

Don't forget that 1995 is 30 years ago! so I sometimes link back to an earlier post of mine https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/broken-steel-i-guess-i-was-lucky.273776

The frame looks a bit unloved as I had tried a rattle can respray which was a bad idea and it was destined for a better job.

But note how thin the downtube is just above the gear levers.

Having built a kit car assembling a bike would be trivial, I had a Moss Monaco, which had instructions such as cut the stearing column in half and weld an extension tube!!!!!

Bye

Ian

 

[wafter]

Personally I'd ride it for a bit and see how you get on - should probably help focus your mind as to where you want to go with it.

I think there are folks who'll print custom decals (try ebay) so you could potentially get copies made if you can get a decent enough image / dims of the originals.

I'd argue that working on bikes to a good standard is non-trivial, however with your background most stuff should be straightforward enough.

 

[All uphill]

There's rust and there's rust.

I would want to see what things look like after the rust is cleaned off. I'd also want to thoroughly check other areas where rust might be expected - the inner surface of the chain stays particularly.

If everything looked sound I'd paint and see the inevitable colour mismatch as part of the bike's history.

 

[Ian H]

That looks like a fairly easy colour to match with, say, Humbrol. Sand down; Kurust (best to sand again and Kurust again); undercoat; top coat. With a bit of care it won't look bad.

 

[si_c]

If you go the repaint route, take a look at H Lloyd cycles - they've made up a set of replacement decals from photographs in the past and they have a lot they already have ready to go.

Edit to add: This also includes all the regular Reynolds stickers etc.

 

[Punkawallah]

If you are going to de-rust and paint, consider making a ‘band’ of contrasting colour where the rust has been removed. Getting a good paint match can be challenging. Good luck!

 

[Drago]

Get it repainted or a good quality powder coat job, and then ride it for the rest of your days.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I would check out the rust first
You don;t want to find out that it is critical when the frame snap half way downa steep hill!

after that ride it a bit then fix it bit by bit

as said above - decals can be made - just take detailed photos of them all before you start and there are people who can make exact replicas
That hairy bloke on the telly in the morning does it a lot for petrol cans and pumps - and engines

just enjoy yourself

p.s. lovely looking bike!

 

[biggs682]

I would do a check on the rust and if only surface rust then i would ride it so you can see what needs doing and also you can check it our size / fit wise .

If rust is bad then i would sell it on and let someone else have the aggro

 

[davester65]

Is it definitely powder coated? Most bikes get enamel painted. If it's just surface rust, buy a car detailers product called Iron Remover (Amazon) removes surface rust from painted surfaces brilliantly (take a look on youtube) with no damage to the paintwork. Not sure if it's compatible with powder coating though. As si_c mentioned above H Lloyd Cycles have a vast back catalogue of old graphics/decals incl some Thorn decals & just about every Reynolds tubing decal ever. Good Luck with whichever way you decide to go.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Regarding the question of how easy it is. I'm assuming that the seat post and stem move OK. If they are stuck then you might want to move on.

1995 is a good age because much older than that you get into bikes with freewheels rather than freehubs and narrow dropouts and wheels rims with sizes that are no longer standard and it becomes more of a pain if you want to fit new parts. But 1995 is modern enough not to suffer from that, yet old enough to still have very nice simple components. Most of the work will be variations of: Undo whatever it is, take the ball bearings out, clean everything, pack it with grease, put it back together, faff around a bit setting the locknut right. Repeat for some other different looking, but fundamentally similar bearings. Take a few other things to bits, clean lubricate and reassemble. Replace some cables and brake blocks. Replace the chain. Adjust the gears. You're done. If you've worked on cars then it should all be simple.

 

[Vantage]

That's a gorgeous looking bike.
Personally, I'd go the whole hog and restore it.

 

[Big John]

Ride it as is would be my first choice. See how it goes. It looks in reasonable nick but photos can be deceptive. I still ride steel bikes as a preference even though I've got a carbon racing snake bike. I've got one steel one with Reynolds 708 tubing with all the original stickers and needs nothing doing to it....a thing of beauty.....and one that needed a lot of work, which I did, but I sanded it down and used Hammerite as a paint job. It has no stickers and the paint is wearing a bit thin after a few years of constant use. Rides like a dream. It's up to you on the finishing touches, each to their owning guess. A mate of mine fully restored an old steel bike and forked out over £600 on a paint job. Looked superb. He no longer rides it, so he tells me.