mwg

this week again has been not the best. karen has been really ill, so i had to spend wednesday at home and doing all the family work as she was bed bound. it was bitter sweet, i hate anyone from my family being sick, but it also meant i could spend more time with the boys and karen.

aidan called me in the evening to come home, karen was really bad and when we spoke he took it upon himself to tell me at the end of the call that he will call me around 7.30. so as it turns out, that is around about where the train goes through the lapstone/glenbrook tunnel so the phone drops out. when i came out the other side i had a message from him. it seems so trivial but it was a real highlight in my life. one of my boys was really starting to grown up, is able to be relied on, and is really maturing. this is his call. lol. so bloody cute!

aidan my little man

when i dropped off the boys to school. i followed through to precision to pick up the raleigh. i had dropped it off earlier in the week and it was ready to be picked up after a sand blast. here she is ready for precision.

all ready for the blast

my head badge protection taping - do you see the problem? read on

so i picked up the frame. it cost a total of $66 which was a little more than i expected but i was really surprised with the result. i though it would be bare metal but it wasn’t. it had a kind of film? on it. i was a little confused but i knew it was as clean as so i knew i could work with it. i paid up and returned home but on the way i picked up some items to start working on the frame, steel wool, sand paper block etc. as well as a sneeky drop into a bike store at blaxland.

once i was at home i checked with work and there wasn’t anything i could do from home so i started to prep the forks. the idea i had was to patina finish the frame with hand polished [not high buff style, just autosol’d by hand] lugs and fork crown etc. the look was inspired by fast boy

fast boy cycles patina frame. just stunning

using the steel wool, i worked on cleaning/clearing the weirdish finish that was left from the sand blasting then light buffing the fork crown. i had a metal patina style paint i had picked up earlier from bunnings and i started to apply it to the main for stays. it was working exactly as planned but i also know i was going to have my work cut out steeling down the entire frame. i also had to clean off some of the old paint work from under the head badge so i was going to start there. when i started inspecting the badge my face dropped and a really horrible feeling came over me…

more crack than a plumber on a hot summers day

THE FRAME HAD A MASSIVE CRACK IN THE HEAD TUBE!

FFS! … i just walked around the deck a few times swearing. man did i have the shits. all this effort only to have the bitch have a crack… NOOOOOOO!

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i went upstairs and made a tea. as the kettle boiled i smiled. man… at least i didn’t find out whilst i was going 60km+ an hour down mitchels pass! now that could have been really seriously nasty.

so…

i spoke to justin and when he went out to pick up the paino he actually spoke to peter about it and peter did mention that he could fix it. thanks mate for asking hey, that did make my day! but all in all the bike cost $200 all up, it isn’t 531 tubing, it’s not a ultra special frame by any means. after a fair bit of thought on the train home tonight i think i will just list it on ebay. someone may buy it. i will also list any parts that came with it as well and hopefully i will recover some money and right it off as a big learning curve.

i knew i should have just brought the carbon bars with the money from scottie!

it has also made me pull my finger out and i am determined to finish all frelance work off. i have permission from management to use one of the payments to buy a new bike, so it is looking like i will be getting a new road after all. just when will be the big thing. hopefully very soon… but i will see.