|
Components
Being a diehard Campagnolo enthusiast meant that the bike would have Campy components from the 60's era. Over the years, I had been purchasing components on eBay for this project, while I waited for a frameset to become available. About five years ago, I was browsing eBay early one Sunday morning and noticed that someone on the east coast had just listed a complete 1965 Schwinn Paramount. It was in excellent condition except for a dent in the downtube. The buy-it-now price was a very low $295.00. I immediately purchased the bike and after communicating with the seller, discovered he also had a Bianchi frame for sale. This frame was not complete, but it did have a headset, bottom bracket, brakes and crankset. I purchased it for $200.00 These two purchases provided the majority of the components. It appeared the Schwinn was not ridden much at all as the components were in exceptional shape. The components were from the early 60's period. I opted to use the crankset from the Bianchi, which is a rare 2nd generation with the raised pedal lip. Other rare components include a set of Cinelli 1st generation alloy bars, Universal brake levers with pointed tips and a very rare Campagnolo 44 tooth 151 BCD chainring. (44 was the smallest chainring for a 151 BCD crankset) Several weeks were spent cleaning the components, returning them as close to their original condition as possible. Many of the alloy components that were not anodized had scratches and imperfections. These flaws were carefully removed with wet/dry sandpaper starting with 400 or 800 grit and moving in succession to 2000 grit. Final polishing was done with Flitz metal polish. The 1st generation Cinelli bars were not anodized (anodizing started after the mid to late 60's) and some nicks and scratches remain. But the stem presented a different problem. Polished aluminum Cinelli stems command a high price and seldom appear for sale. Because of that I took a different approach. I had several Cinelli stems from the late 60's. These are identical to the earlier models except that they are anodized. I decided to remove the anodizing from one of these stems to duplicate the polished finish. Using drain cleaner to remove the anodized layer proved to be effective, however I left the stem in the solution a bit to long. This caused some slight pitting in the aluminum that took some extra sanding and polishing to remove. In the end, though, the stem matched the bar quite nicely. 
The only severe corrosion was on the seat binder bolt. I search for a replacement and found nothing that matched. Looking at completed auctions on eBay U.K., I saw that an auction with the exact part I was looking for had closed only two days before. While I waited to see what else might come up, I decided to see if I could salvage the bolt. I mounted it in an electric drill and proceeded to remove the peeling chrome and sand until all of the rust was gone. After a few hours of work, it looked very good. I coated the bolt with a clear plastic sealer and it ended up looking like new. 
The only deviation from the 60's components was with the cable hangers for the brakes. I was again looking for replacements when I came across some unique hangars being sold by a shop in Canada. On the Hetchins.org site there is a photo of an early Sturmey Archer 3-speed shifter on a 1939 Brilliant. These brake hangars were similar design so I opted to use these instead of ones from Universal. When I received the hangars, although new, were zinc plated and had a pretty rough surface. After sanding and polishing they looked very nice but I decided to plate them so they would retain their new shine. 
There is a company called Caswell Plating that sells home plating kits. I chose their "cobalt" plating package because is was more economical than chrome plating. I was not particularly looking for a mirror finish, instead I wanted something that would not fade or need constant polishing. From their website, I discovered that achieving a high gloss finish is possible is the items to be plated are properly prepared. This was a time consuming process, making sure the zinc coating was removed prior the cobalt plating. The final product turned out extremely good and it will add to the vintage look of the bike.  
Photos of the other components         
Component Listing
|
