Frame/Fork Refurb

da_eddio

hey guys, been fixing up me old 1996 giant atx 850 and finally brought it vaguely up to date hehe. anyway after fitting some forks i nabbed off ebay i noticed they had been resprayed badly and that also the frame was looking a bit tatty so ive been considering stripping them down and polishing them up

the frame is already polished aluminium, but the lacquer is going nasty so any advice on how to get rid of this would be appreciated, and where i could get some lacquer/polish, best ways to apply it and which brands are best?

the forks are a little trickier tho (i think....) they are 1999 z2 bams and they had the lovely lime green sprayed over with black and now they are peeling. Ive read up on what to use to strip them, chemical paint stripper etc etc, but i was wondering, do you guys think its neccessary to dismantel the fork to strip the paint off, or could i get away with just taking the brace off? Btw i plan on getting the forks serviced afterwards by a professional (as i have no damned clue how to haha)

and if any of you know where i can get some replacement stickers for the frame//fork would be appreciated (tried ebay but they are all cheap rip offs )

(btw i know this subject has been posted to death but i was a lil unclear on some points, and a lil scared of destroying my bike haha)

Cheers

alfeng

If cost-is-no-object: www.cyclart.com

You could also contact Giant, directly, to see if they can't sell you a set.

da_eddio

cheers but i forgot to mention i live in the UK

not really looking for a custom finish, just the silver surfer look with shiney aluminium hehe

thanks anyway

alfeng

Cyclart will sell you frame decals appropriate to your specific bike -- almost any bike -- sometimes, the decals/transfers are "custom" recreations.

I contacted them about frame decals, once, then I thought better of it (the price that comes to mind is about $40US at that time).

davebee

Slightly OT but I have a giant atx 860 frame, lovely light thing, except no disk mounts which I am building up into a full bike from scratch as a project. Frame is brand new and was a £40 bargain off ebay.

If you are going to as much effort as it seems, why not do the frame up nice as you propose and ditch the bulk of the rest. Fork technology in particular has moved on a great deal since 1999 and you will benefit from a modern fork. Wheels may be lighter but maybe not significantly so. Apologies if I am telling gandma how to suck eggs.

da_eddio

cool, tho the only sticker that is kinda specific to the frame is the bit that says atx 850 with some funky lil giant design. the rest are your stock giant thingy majigs.

tried giants website and couldnt find too much unfortunatley.

fork stickers are a pain too, cant find a sodding thing haha.

but ill give em a try, cheers

and davebee, yeah is a bit OTT, but its my bros old bike (given as mine was stolen )and he is off to spend XXXX amount of cash on a new one so ive some peverse pleasure in making him wish he hadnt just see his face when ive only spent 150-200 quid turning his wreck into, a, none wreck hehe

an yeah, forks have come along way, but it was only 40 quid hehe, and jus wanted a strong, plush and reliable no fuss fork. trying to keep this lil project on the cheap hehe

davebee

Not saying your project is OTT at all. Was saying my post was OT (off topic) to the original query ie frame decals.

Doing a project on the cheap is fun as well. Why not try servicing the forks yourself?

da_eddio

oh right OT=Off topic, and i thought i had learnt all these web lingo thingies hehe

in regards to trying to service the fork myself, well, ill be honest, that just scares the be-jesus out of me. i downloaded the manual for the fork, and having looked at what goes inside it and what might be required of me, im a little bit scared of killing it outright hehe. I dont think they need a service 'just' yet, the guy who previously had them changed the oil and they have the harder springs, and from my 'extensive' (oh should that be non-existant...) knownledge they feel smooth enough.

its just the paint is a little tatty and i thought it would be fun to polish up the fork (im sure this wont be the case once i begin tho haha) and all i really need to figure out is wether i need to have the fork legs separatly, or wether i can strip the paint while its built.

if u have any tips and whatnot on it, and can assure me im not comming bike fork hari kari i might give it a go

and yeah, is fun doing it on the cheap, my bro wants to go out and get some carbon fibre giant (which looks a hell of alot like this frame) for god knows how much now and i want to rub this bike in his face (ok wont be that much of a comparison in weight//performance terms, but the cost will be )

oh and btw davebee, if u seem keen on putting disc brakes onto ur 860 atx u can buy a funky lil adaptor for ur frame, check ebay (american one), it has some going for about 25 quid.

oh and if anyone knows what i should use to strip the frame lacquer, please hand a fool a clue , i reckoned nail polish remover might work but jus wanna be sure hehe.

ok essay over.....

cheers

davebee

There slots of web lingies....!

Brake fluid strips most things but is nasty stuff so I wouldnt recommend it at all. Brake fluid is the "uncontrolled" method of stripping! I think there are proper paint strippers out there but dont know what they are. Try a painting and decorating shop?