Stripping the bike

Yesterday I brought the bike to Rothar (www.rothar.ie) to ask the guys there what could be salvaged and what parts I would need to get to make it become a touring bike. The guys there were really helpful and such a friendly bunch of chaps. They helped me take off all the parts off the bike and strip it down to the frame as I have decided to get it repainted as there were patches of rust on the frame. The forks were completely seized into the frame and even after leaving to soak overnight in WD40, it was still not moving.

The picture below is Gareth using an angle grinder to get rid of the bolts for the rear mudguard.

So today, we tried again to try to remove the stem again after soaking it in Ammonia. I was told that Ammonia should help as it attacks the rust. Don't ask me why or how, but the process is a very slow one and I spent most of the day pouring down Ammonia into the stem. The worse thing is the smell of the stuff. It smells like pee and once it gets onto you clothes or hands, its really hard to remove. Sadly, there was no immediate progress on removing the stem off the frame so far. In the process of trying to wiggle it out, the handlebars were bent out of shape and I reckon they will need to be replaced as well now.

The picture below is the frame stripped out of most of its components apart from the handlebars.

The picture below is of the handlebars, bent out of shape after using them as leverage to remove it from the stem.

So, the plan so far is to keep soaking it with Ammonia over the weekend and try again on Monday to see if the bars will then come off then. If they are still stuck, the available options then are either to cut it off and lose the forks or use heat from a blowtorch to heat up the frame and hope that after the metal cools down, it will be looser and will come off easier.
Fingers crossed I don't have to resort to cutting the stem as I would quite like to salvage the whole frame. Update to come on Monday when I get back to it.

Every project has a start

I had my beloved bicycle stolen this week from the ''secure'' car park with cctv cameras around. When I went to check up on it that day, it wasn't in the usual spot and I just knew it had been stolen as there had been a notice in the apartment's notice board that a couple of bikes were stolen over the weekend. People would say that I am normally a rational, level headed person who gets rarely upset when things go wrong. But after the bike was gone, I felt terrible and barely slept that night.The bicycle in question wasn't even an expensive racer or mountain bike but I adored it anyways as it was the way I had set it up for myself. It had started out as a Raleigh Urban 1 Hybrid but had been modified over the course of a year and a half by myself to become a touring bike which was my pride and joy. So, over the last few days, I had to get used to the fact that I wasn't going to see it ever again and that some random stranger had it in his possession from now on.

This is a picture of it:

In order to try to think in a positive way, I decided to do some research on whether to get another second hand bike or build one from scratch from parts to keep my mind busy.I knew that I wasn't afraid to get my hands dirty and that I would be able to restore/upgrade an existing bike with the help of a bike mechanic. Also, I had always wanted to build a bike up by myself as I am fond of DIY projects and was looking forward to a challenge.
At first, I thought I would just get a second hand bike and modify it to suit my needs. But after careful consideration of my finances, I realised that wasn't going to be possible due to being unemployed. Thankfully, I got very lucky this Sunday when Arthur offered me his old racing bicycle after hearing that my bike was stolen. The bicycle is an old Raleigh Modele 5  from 1977, that had been sitting in the shed for the past 2 years.

This is it in its current state:

I had seen the bike before in the shed and knew that it would suit my smallish size(5ft3'). Also, being made out of lug steel, I knew it would be a good starting point for a touring/racing bike.
So the plan is to salvage as much as possible of this bike and upgrade the drivetrain to modern standards such that it can cope with racing/touring.
Tomorrow I will have a proper look at it first thing in the morning and draft a plan of action then.
Will write an update then :)