Cycling UK Forum

Well, after being given a Dayton bitser that had been languishing in a garden for the past 20 years I spent yesterday stripping and polishing.

Sadly i forgot to take any 'before' pictures as i got locked into an autosol polishing trance!!

Frame: Cleaned, autosol used to polish out the numerous paint chips. These will then be covered with a thin coat of clear lacquer and then the whole frame polished up again with auto glym. Only headbadge and shop sticker remain, no decals. The frame isn't too pretty but this will be a super low budget build and a respray would mean i'd get precious about it and this is gonna be my london bike so shiny is out.

Parts: Seatpost came out with no drama and polished up just fine
Bars/stem polished, threads cleaned and regreased
Brakes/levers dismantled, polished, rebuilt, hoods still pretty grotty but hopefully will clean up in the end.
Right hand crank arm is trash, as is rear derailleur so these will have to be replaced.
Front wheel is straight and has been polished, requires new bearings, rear is buckled and also requires new bearings. They are going into the shop a week today for a once over.

I need:
Pedals, generic french right hand crank arm, rear derailleur, cables, chain, brake blocks, saddle, tyres. Possibly a new bottom bracket as well.




This is one afternoons diligent scrubbing and polishing and has so far cost me £14 in autosol, penetrating spray and polishing cloth. Hoping to keep it below £100 in total inc labor (got a bargin price for the wheel work)

Thank to rob of Rob's bike shop, Mountgrove road, london for finding some stuff about Dayton; only in business between 48-55 based round the corner from where i used to live. I think my bike is a Classique and was prob orig set up for 27" wheels.
Any suitably cheap/free parts greatly appreciated. Can collect round central/norf london.
More to come

Well, today saw yet more polishing and the brake hoods are now as clean as i think they're going to get, still a bit stained but this is going to be a patina bike not a show bike so discolouration is allowed.
Loosened up the cranks ready for the cotter pins to be removed by LBS and new cottered cranks ordered(bargin at £12 inc shipping. quality remains to be seen however). Along with new spindle bolts/washers etc to rebuild the brakes as a few bits were missing. That and some plain white cloth tape for the bars.

Quick question, have regreased and oiled the headset which although a bit grindy still has plenty of life in it i reckon, is the same likely to be true of the bottom bracket? Obviously it's received far more wear over the years, again it's a bit grindy but theres no play side to side.
Can the bb(a baylis wiley i believe) just be regreased as well or should it be replaced/rebuilt? if so, are old school bb easy to get hold of? Don't know what size it'll be presumably til i have it removed and measure the threads.
Also, the rear wheel has a later 5speed shimano cassette mated with the old derailleur, which i assume used to work together(no cable so couldn't check. The cassette is very rusty but spins freely so should clean up. I am replacing the derailleur as it is a cheap huret and is missing a spring and a few bolts are completely seized. Have seen an early shimano 600 mech which looks about right, is it safe to assume it'll work with the huret shifter? non-indexed and only 5 speeds. Is older kit more interchangable than nowadays?
The rear wheel was also quite tight in the frame as i think originally it may have only been a 3 speed. Will read the cold setting thread but if anyone can recommend a foolproof way of stretching it about 8-10mm without damage then it'd be greatly appreciated

This bike looks like its going to come together a lot faster than i first thought and i'm pretty excited, not going to be a show stopper but it'll definitely wear it's age with pride instead of being dolled up too badly. Looks like i may end up spending a bit more than i first thought but it seems better to get the drivetrain and brakes sorted even if theres a few newer components involved. When its finished i'll borrow a camera and get some decent pics.

Thanks in advance for your wisdom.

Still need, suitable rear mech, pedals, chain, saddle, cables

If the BB is rough after repreasing then you might be better off putting some new bearings in rather than hunting for a new one (assuming you want to keep it original). Even if the new bearings don't cure the problem you can still use them as spares when you do get a new BB

As long as the mech is wide enough to take the chain it ought to be OK. You are right in thinking that older, non-indexed ones are much more interchngable.

More pics
Coming together nicely, frame and shiny bits polished, rust cleaned as best as possible, threads cleaned and regreased and a bit of test fitting.




Still to do:
Wheels service/tyres
Pedals
Set up brakes/gears
Fit cheap repro chainset
Wrap bars and consume 2 nice bottles of red for bar plugs

Got nearly all the bits now, test fitting today was good, definite improvement to how i found it!!

looks in great shape!

by the way is autosol a bike-specific polish or a general use one??

ive never heard of it . i use a polish on my own bike - but recently bought a different brand and sadly found its not as good

lauriematt wrote:looks in great shape!

by the way is autosol a bike-specific polish or a general use one??

ive never heard of it . i use a polish on my own bike - but recently bought a different brand and sadly found its not as good

I'm guessing at autosol being Solvol Autosol, a chrome and alloy cleaning/polishing compound. It's widely used by motorists and motoyclists who have lots of exposed chrome and alloy.

Thats the one nice and cheap from halfords. Their polishing cloth is also far superior than the stuff from my local diy shop.
Sold my giant bowery today so have money for parts. But not daily bike, so more haste is required.

And yup, other than the paintchips and the drivetrain its in pretty good nick for a freebie.