Detail of bicycle frame with most of the paint sanded off

Polishing and adjusting

I’m mostly done with the power tools for cleaning up Ol’ Paint now and I’ve gone back to hand sanding, this time with 3M abrasive pads.

Sanding a bicycle frame
Scrub-a-dub-dub

The 3M pads turned out to be very good not only for removing any remaining paint and getting into the nooks and crannies, but also for removing the swirl marks (and even scratches) left by the power tools.

Bicycle frame detail before final sanding
Before and …

Detail of bicycle frame with most of the paint sanded off
Shiny shiny!

I’d meant to keep the headset the original black, but whatever finish it had came off a lot easier than the remaining paint. So I ended up polishing the whole thing silver.

Head badge of bicycle with part of the finish sanded off
Less is more?

Ditto the head badge. Now I have to decide if I want to try to just polish the raised areas, completely clean it up, or repaint it.

I put in a good hour and a half this morning on Ol’ Paint before the workshop closed. When I got home, I pulled Kuroko out of the basement parking to take care of a couple of adjustments left over from the recent drivetrain overhaul. First I tightened up the front shifter cable and readjusted the derailleur.

Rear derailleur with protruding shift cable
That’s too long!

The last bit was to shorten up the cable housing for the rear derailleur. I knew I would need to do this when I replaced the derailleur, but at the time I put it off. Today was the day to clean it up.

Rear derailleur after cutting the cable housing to length
This one was juuuust right

Of course, shortening the cable housing meant cutting the cable shorter and then readjusting the rear derailleur. Hopefully I’ve got it all right and tomorrow’s ride will mark the return of Silent Running.


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One response to “Polishing and adjusting”

  1. […] was eager to see how Kuroko would behave following the recent fine tuning of the new drivetrain. I’m happy to report there were no mechanicals this trip (a rarity when I’m out with […]

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