Molteni Merckx Restoration

Thank Gods.

My fork was resprayed over the weekend and I picked it up today.  I am pleased with the repair.  Anyway, I put it back on the frame, and thankfully there is no colour change.  So far so good.

My Columbus decal showed up today too.  That was installed as well as the rear brake cable and housing.  I will install the front on the weekend after I let the paint on the fork harden some more.

I'll post pictures later.

Molteni Merckx Restoration

Quick post tonight.  Got some world logo gum hoods which I promptly installed.  What a difference it makes.  I'll post pictures later as the Canadiens game is on.

Molteni Merckx Restoration

ARGH!

First setback in the restoration.  I tore a bunch of paint out of the back of the fork when I installed the front caliper.  There was a crappy old oblong spacer that I should have changed, but I wanted to keep all the original parts.  Anyway it caught some paint and ripped the hell out of it.

The fork is now back in the paint shop.  At least the gum hoods aren't here yet so I have some time to kill.

Almost done!

Molteni Merckx Restoration

I started putting the rest of the components on the frame today.  The transmission is totally set up.  It spins so nice and the sound of the freewheel is so nice.  I was going to wait on the brake calipers, but I figured I would just place them.  I'll tighten up the nuts later. 

The handlebars are taped and look great, and I managed to find a set of "old world" logo gum hoods that are in the post right now.  I'll swap those out as soon as they come in and run the brake cables.

The replacement Columbus Tubing decal is also in the post.  Should be here soon.

Here are a few pictures I took in my workshop:

Molteni Merckx Restoration Thursday December 8th 2011

I didn't have a chance to post this yesterday.

I had the headset, bottom bracket, crankset, front derailleur, rear derailleur and chain mounted and I noticed that the rear derailleur cage was not lining up perpendicular to the freewheel.  It was on a wierd angle, the bottom jockey wheel close to the wheelset and the top jockey wheel closer to the derailleur body.  I thought maybe the hangar was bent.  I sent a picture to Pete and Jeff at Cyclepath, and after some discussion on the phone I ended up bringing it in.  We checked the hangar alignment and it was straight, and then Pete noticed that the derailleur body had a bend in it, somewhat of an arc.

He figures that it must have overshifted into the spokes and it got tweaked. 

Anyway, we mounted removed the spring, mounted it onto an old frame and used a screwdriver to straighten out the front of the body.  It made it much better.  Phew.

When I got home, I took it completely apart to see if maybe the cage was bent.  I noticed the back of the body had an arc, opposite to what the front looked like.  I used a "C" clamp and my kitchen counter to slowly push that arc back down and make the body completely straight.

All I need is a new bushing and it should be almost perfect.

Here is a before and after shot:

Molteni Merckx Restoration

I installed the decals today, well almost all of them.  I didn't like the centering of the columbus tubing decal, so I have a new one coming.  I'll install that one next week.   My next steps are to put the thing together now.   Anyway, here is some eye candy. 

Molteni Merckx Restoration

It is finally painted.  I picked up the frameset yesterday from my painter.  I have got to say, it turned out great.  That 70's formula paint is fantastic.  It is very deep, shiny and hard.  My next step is to apply the decals tomorrow or Monday.  Here are a few pictures for now!

Molteni Merckx Restoration

It's been a few days since my last post.  Not much to report on right now other than I am waiting for the bike to be sprayed.  My painter has been very busy.  I went by the paint booth yesterday, and I can report this...it looks pretty damn good so far.  He had primed it and gave it the first couple of coats.  He was just giving it a sanding to get rid of any high spots in the paint and said he was going to finish it over the weekend and that I could pick it up on Monday 28th.  Fingers crossed!  Will post pictures as soon as it is done.

Molteni Merckx Restoration

A day late, but as promised, here are the pictures of the paint.

The handlebars were wrapped in vintage Tressostar tape in the style that Merckx used by starting from the centre and working down.  I actually liked this because it is really clean at the centre with no need for electrical tape, hockey tape or any other type of tape.  The reason I epoxied the brake lever posts to the bars earlier is because this way you can remove the lever itself, and have a much cleaner wrap all the way down the bar.

Now, I just need to wait for the frame to be finished up.  The suspense/wait is killing me.

Molteni Merckx Restoration

It had been a slow week till today.  I got a call from my painter and he told me to come pick up the fork so I can let him know how the colour is.  I'll post a picture in the morning, but wow, the orange is nice!  I wrapped the bars in vintage Tressostar tape today too.  I'll post that picture tomorrow as well.

Molteni Merckx Restoration

Not a whole lot going on today on the restoration front.   When I got in from work there were two packages waiting for me.  The first contained the decals.  They look great, but I don't have the frame painted yet, so they are sitting in a box on my work bench.  The other box contained a brand new set of Ale toe clips in size large.  They are the only decent pair of clips I could find in a size large.  Those were mounted, and they look pretty good.  It is late, so I will post up some pictures tomorrow. 

Molteni Merckx Restoration Sunday November 13/2011

The blogs are all caught up now!

I cleaned the front wheel today. It was, as the other parts were, very dirty. I managed to clean and polish the hub to a decent state, and with some oil it is spinning like new. They are now sitting at cyclepath getting trued!

Now, I can't wait for the paint to be done...

Molteni Merckx Restoration Saturday November 12/2011

I have had nothing to report over the last few days. The frame is at the painters and it won't be done for a week or so. I can say this though, his paint supplier was able to get the RAL2004 paint code matched perfectly in a Sikkens paint. I went Friday and saw some beautiful looking "reinorange" paint. I can not wait to pick up the frame.

Molteni Merckx Restoration Wednesday November 09/2011

Off to the painter today. 

I masked off the shifter braze on mounts, the bottom bracket cup, and the chrome dropouts on the fork and frame since I decided to paint the whole bike, including the chrome. When I spoke to my painter, we decided to go with a poly-urethane paint, the same as they would have used back in the seventies. It is a single stage paint, and tough as nails durable. If I do at a later date decide to give it a clear, he can do it. This works out well as I have a chance to look at it without first.

The other little tasks I did today were to file out the rear of the front derailleur clamp a bit so that the replacement nut fits better.  I also polished all the aluminum on the front derailleur. 

I read about this little trick that some of the old mechanics used, so I epoxied the brake lever posts to the handlebars. I will explian it further at a later date.

Molteni Merckx Restoration Tuesday November 08/2011

I spent some time today doing some final prep work on the frame prior to painting it. I went over the frame again with 180 grit paper and a steel brush to remove every last speck of original paint. I decided to paint the bike fully, so after speaking to Mike from Colormelt he suggested I also use the same grit paper to scuff the chrome enough to take the primer and paint. I did a final pass with 400 grit, and the frame is ready to paint. When I got into the lug work to remove the last bits of paint, the cut outs, which I originally thought were triangles, were actually hearts. I am going to have the rear water bottle lugs removed as per Merckx's bike as it is much more period correct, and it will take the decals better. Speaking of decals, I practiced applying vinyl decals with soapy water. I had some old sheets of sign vinyl and practiced on an old frame. Works like a charm.  Here is the frame, ready for it's new coat!

Molteni Merckx Restoration Monday November 07/2011

Back to the paint dilemma. I went in to Cyclepath today to return a tool and started talking paint to Jeff. Anyway, he showed me an old Cambio Rino he had repainted many, many years ago. It is in enamel with decals over the paint and no clear coat, very period. It actually lools good. Bottom line I am going to discuss the paint with my painter in person when I drop off the frame and go from there. 

My patent 73 Record front derailleur showed up in the mail today. I wasn’t happy to notice the nut that holds the clamp shut was missing. I emailed the seller and hopefully it will be rectified because the derailleur is in nice shape. I managed to use a spare nut from another Campagnolo derailleur and it works like a charm, (for now).

Molteni Merckx Restoration Sunday November 06/2011

No pictures today as all i did for three hours is sand down the frame and fork. I used 180 grit, a steel wheel on a dremel and a wire brush. I got almost all of the original paint off the frame, and really all that is left is the little bit that is caught between the frame and the lugs, which I will attack later.

I am deciding if I should paint the whole frame or leave some chrome on the fork and rear triangle. Merckx's bike was fully painted.

Molteni Merckx Restoration Saturday November 05/2011

Got up early in the morning today and drove down to the border to pick up a the replacement Nuovo Record rear derailleur as well as the Nuovo Record bottom bracket. The rear derailleur was in fantastic shape for a Patent ’73 albeit the jockey wheels were broken. That was an easy fix, as I swapped out the wheels from my other Campagnolo rear derailleur. The bottom bracket was also in fantastic shape. I really can’t wait to get this put together.

Bottom bracket…

…and one word only for the Nuovo Record rear derailleur…Sexy!

Molteni Merckx Restoration Friday November 04/2011

It is days like today that make me remember how much fun and frustrating it is to complete a restoration of anything.

Remember the headset I "Frankensteined" up. Well I ended up going back to visit the contact Pete set me up with. I bought the Nuovo Record Headset from him, and wow am I glad I did. It is mint, and still had the original grease, albeit dirty it was original, and the smell of it was almost effervescent. It is hard to explain. Anyway I cleaned off the original grease so that when the headset is installed it will be fresh.

I have swapped. or will be swapping most of the parts over the next week or so to make the bike more vintage correct. The Headset was one of them, and obviously the derailleurs I have purchased. So now my crankset, the derailleurs, shift levers, brake calipers, bottom bracket and headset are all Pat. 73.

While I was at my new contact, I spent some time talking vintage bikes with him, and he agreed that I should do a single stage paint and just apply the decals on top like they used to be. That is the most authentic way of doing things. I gave my painter a call and he said if I changed my mind down the road he can shoot clear on top, I just need to give it four or five months to cure.
This morning I decided to clean the crud off the handlebars and install them to the stem. I then put the levers on the bars. One of my rubber hoods had a cut in it, and I was able to fix it. The solution was simple since the hood was white. After soaking them in bleach and dishwashing soap, I brushed them clean and then using a toothpick i filled the crack with white silicone caulk. It hardened, sealed the crack and is elastic enough to move with the lever.

Tomorrow I will be driving to the border to pick up my rear derailleur and bottom bracket. It is coming together slowly now.

Molteni Merckx Restoration Thursday November 03/2011

Slow day for cleaning today. I polished the Cinelli stem before work this morning. Amazing what a steel brush can do.

I followed up on that lead today. I managed to pick up a brand new in package set of vintage Campagnolo brake cables and housing. A nice rear derailleur cable housing, and a set of white gum hoods. I wish I could find tan/brown gum hoods but they are near impossible. The hoods came with a set of 1980's Super Record drilled levers which I can't use for the restoration as they have the wrong logo.
I am booked for next week to get the frame painted. I am going to have to decide if i am going to go base coat/clear coat, apply the decals and then have s second coat of clear applied to protect the decals, or stick with the 1970/80's style of a single stage paint with the decals applied on top.

Molteni Merckx Restoration Wednesday November 02/2011

I managed to locate the elusive headset. I gave my friend Pete from Cyclepath a call and he happened to have an old Campagnolo Headset from what he figures was off his old Colnago.  The only problem was that it was missing the bottom cup and the lock washer. This is the solution we came up with. I bought a new unbranded headset from him, which looks somewhat like a Record version. I used the bottom cup, race and bearings from that and mated it with the top cup, bearing, screwed race, new lock washer and lock nut. The overall effect is pretty good actually. I am looking for a bottom cup, but even if I don’t find one this scenario is pretty good.
 

The other cool thing that happened today is that Pete set me up with a local contact who has lots of vintage Campagnolo parts. I am going to go visit him tomorrow and see if he has some toe clips, and vintage cable housing. I know he has a Nuovo Record headset for sure, so I need to decide what route I am going to take.

Molteni Merckx Restoration Tuesday November 01/2011

I learned something new today, older Campagnolo Cranksets didn’t always have engraving on the rings. The rings on my crank are fine, but I am trying to source out a reasonably priced set of rings with engraving.

After letting the latest batch of components soak, I started cleaning the grime off of them. The Crankset needs a bit more work before it is done. There is a little road rash that will need polishing out. The Pedals also need a little hit with a steel brush and steel wool to remove some surface pitting. I’ll work on that during the week.

I did manage to finish cleaning the Brake Callipers. They were probably the dirtiest of all my parts to date. They needed to soak for a full day, and still needed some pretty heavy brushing. The end result is very nice:

I love the logo on the Nuovo Record Brakes!

Molteni Merckx Restoration Monday October 31/2011

I started the day by doing some research on my frame. I compared all the lug work, bottom bracket shell and information on the bottom of the shell to some vintage bikes online. It looks like the person I bought it from was somewhat correct. It isn’t a Colnago, but a “Colner.” 
The below information is from the Classic Rendezvous web site:

"Colner was a second brand for Colnago produced in the 1970's and 1980's. There were two reasons they had this second brand. First, in the ‘70’s the UCI allowed a bicycle manufacturer to sponsor only one professional team, and second they decided to market a subsidiary brand that could be produced in larger quantities thus being sold to a larger range of retail shops leaving the Colnago dealerships more exclusive. While the frames were very attractive and very roadworthy, they were far less elaborate than the Colnago brand, having little to no engraving or pantographing on the lugwork."

I am actually pretty happy with this discovery. I should note that many of the Colners ended up in the UK.

I did learn though that my front and rear derailleurs were Campagnolo Victory. While generally there is nothing wrong with that, they are not period correct. 

I ended up buying that vintage Nuovo Record front derailleur on eBay this morning. I now have the period correct front and rear derailleurs coming in the post.

The only thing I cleaned today were the brake levers. I didn’t snap a before picture, but they looked as if they had dried glue all over them. I soaked them in gasoline for a couple of hours and everything just brushed off. The final result:

All in all Monday turned out to be a good learning day.

Molteni Merckx Restoration Sunday October 30/2011

I took the shift levers out of the degreaser and cleaned off the grime. I don’t understand how people allow their bikes to get that dirty.  I guess the only saving grace is that all that grime kept the parts in very good condition. 

I figured since I had the brushes out, I would further clean the front and rear derailleur. After a nice cleaning and polish with jewellers rouge they turned out quite nice.  I don't think I am going to keep those ones though, as they are not period correct, but the polishing will help them sell on eBay.

This afternoon I cleaned the rear wheel. Like I said before, it boggles my mind how some people let the grease and dirt accumulate. It was caked thick on the wheel. The first picture is of a dirty hub:

This next picture is after I cleaned the wheel, and replaced the oil in the hub:

I was really surprised, but the Regina Oro freewheel still had some of the original gold on it. It sure is something to hear the whir of the old sprocket. No modern cassette has that distinctive sound.

For some reason the seat binder bolt didn’t sit well in the frame. To remedy this I drilled out the hole by about ½ mm to allow the collar to fit into the hole. It worked like a charm.

I ended up buying a Campagnolo Nuovo Record Pat. 73 rear derailleur on eBay today, and am still waiting for another eBay auction to end so I can get a headset.  I've decided that this should be done right the first time.

Molteni Merckx Restoration Saturday October 29/2011

I remembered today that I had an 1980's Campagnolo Record Seat Pin that looked much nicer, and was a whole lot lighter than the SR Seat Pin that I salvaged off the Benotto.  There was one tiny problem though. The SR was 27.0 mm and the Campagnolo was 27.2 mm.  2/10ths of a milimeter may not seem like a whole lot, but it makes it very tight to insert the seat pin. 

I took a drive to visit my mates at Cyclepath to pick their brains.  Jeff said he had a tool that may work.  It wasn't a proper seat tube reamer, but he said that when you spin it in the tube with a drill, it may polish that minute amount of paint/crud build up and metal away.  It took about an hour but it actually worked well. 

I soaked the shift levers in a water/degreaser mix to loosen up the built up grime and grease.

I have also begun my search for a Campagnolo 1” threaded headset of the same vintage because the Benotto one I salvaged isn’t that great.  These seem to be as rare as hens teeth. 

Molteni Merckx Restoration Friday October 28/2011

I started sanding and brushing the frame to take it to bare metal. I removed all the paint around the bottom bracket, seat tube lug, rear brake bridge, and on the chrome on the seat and chain stays. I have not done the rear drops yet. I need to decide if I am going to paint the whole non drive side chain stay or leave some chrome, even though it is a bit pitted.

I did a little more shopping on eBay today.  I ordered a set of 1974 Merckx Molteni decals from a restorer called Cyclemondo, as well as a Campagnolo Nuovo Record Bottom Bracket 68-SS-120 with a 112mm spindle.

I also managed to find what paint code is required for the proper Molteni Orange frame colour.  The European standard paint code for that colour is RAL 2004 pure orange.  The RAL colour would be the exact match.  There are North American codes as well, including DuPont Imron 60659U or PPG Global BC #61646. 

Molteni Merckx Restoration Thursday October 27/2011

I started by taking apart the first of the two bikes, a Benotto Mod. 850. It was stripped of the majority of its components that I required for my build. I managed to salvage a Campagnolo front and rear derailleur (looked like 80's vintage), as well as a set of Nuovo Record friction Shift Levers.  There were also Cinelli Giro d’Italia handlebars and stem, Ambrosio Elite 19 rims mounted to Miche Competition hubs with Vittoria Zaffiro tires and a six speed Regina Oro Freewheel, a seat binder bolt, and rear drop out adjuster screws.

The frame I am restoring had some interesting components on it, like Modolo Flash brake callipers and levers and a Stronglight Crankset. Those however wouldn’t work with my restoration, and along with the Benotto frame would be sold or traded off to help fund my project.

As I removed the parts I put them straight into a bin with degreaser to get some of the road grime off, and let them soak while I spent part of the afternoon spraying the frame with paint stripper and scraping off as much paint as possible. The “ugly” coat was sprayed right over top of the original coat, so it was becoming quite the task of removing the multiple layers of paint and primer.

After supper I spent another 2 hours spraying the frame for a second time with a much more aggressive paint stripper and scraping off more paint.  even after the two attempts, there was still a great deal of paint around the lug works and bottom bracket.  The only bright point of the night was finding the Columbus tubing engraving on the frame tubes and fork head.

Like the frame, the entire fork was painted over, but the chrome under the paint is in fantastic condition. I havent decided yet if I am going to save the chrome, paint half the fork or paint the whole thing.  

That night I started searching the internet for Nuovo Record parts.  I ended up striking a trade for a Campagnolo Nuovo Record Strada Crankset, Pedals, Brake Levers, and Brake Calipers from a vintage parts dealer in Toronto for a set of new Khamsin wheels.  I also bought a Nuovo Record Bottom Bracket off of eBay.

Molteni Merckx Restoration Tuesday October 25/2011

First off, I know the dates don't match up, but I started my blog on my Facebook account and a good friend suggested a public blog, so here I am.

I picked up two vintage bikes to begin building a copy of Eddy Merckx’s Molteni team racing bike from the 1974 Giro d'Italia.

The frame I am going to restore did not have any decals on it, or if it did they were covered up when the frame was “uglied” up by its original owner. The frame is Italian made, and was told it was built of Columbus tubing.  It has chromed Campagnolo dropouts on the frame and fork, which generally is a tell tale sign that the bike is first off a quality build, and two made of a good steel as the dropouts were expensive then and not put on every run of the mill bike.  In the seventies it wasn't uncommon to see stamped steel drops on frames, so those that wore Campagnolo were high end! 

The frame itself looks like it was built in the mid to late seventies.  It does not have a front derailleur braze on mount, and the brake cable guides are of the small variety.    The geometry on the bike is virtually identical to my Colnago C40.  It is very well made, but I can’t at this point say for certain that it is, or was built by Colnago, so I will need to research to see what it could be.   
I forgot to take a “before” picture of the frame prior to stripping it. The below picture is of a partially stripped frame.