The first thing I did on Monday was to check up on how the Ammonia had worked on the handlebar issue over the weekend. It just hadn't made any difference to getting the forks looser from the frame and the only option was to cut the forks. Out came the angle grinder and within fifteen minutes Gareth had the forks out from the frame as I had never used such a power tool before and I didn't want to risk losing some fingers in the process.
Over the course of the day, I started stripping the paint off the frame with the help of the wire brush attachment to the grinder.
The picture below shows the frame without the forks and handlebars.
The process was a slow one and it was physically demanding to get the whole frame stripped from the old paintjob. I am still recovering from muscle aches until today. But the end result was a beautiful steel frame, devoid of rust and the old paint and ready for a new lease of life. I was actually pretty proud about the work I had done to get rid of the rust and paint.
The picture below shows the end result after hours of intensive labour.
The highlight of the day was the fact that with the help of Gabriel, we were able to salvage the original Raleigh logo on the front of the frame by removing the metal pins that held it to the frame. This was only possible due to Gabriel's ingenuity as he used a nail as a drill bit for the drill after snapping the head off it. Armed with that, he managed to get rid of the three metal pins holding the logo in place and it was free.
The old Raleigh logos are beautiful in my mind as they don't make them the same way anymore. The new ones are made from a thick plastic, glued onto the frame whereas the old ones were made out of metal and held with three pins to the frame. I am going to clean the logo to the best of my ability and put it on the frame, in its rightful place once the project is completed. That I think, will be the last thing to go on the bike but for now, the logo will live in my wallet.
