Tag Archives: chrome

Raleigh International All-Chrome Custom

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This 1974 Raleigh International was a recent restoration I did, starting with a customized frame.  It had downtube shifter braze-ons and bottle bosses added, and drilled for recessed brakes.  It was custom plated in bright chrome afterwards.  The serial number is WH4003641, meaning that it was number 3641 built at the Raleigh factory in Worksop, U.K., in June of 1974.  I built it up with all-original Campagnolo Nuovo Record components, and fresh tires, tubes, bar tape, cables, and a Brooks Pro saddle.

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Jo Routens 650B Restoration

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In the fall of 2014, I acquired one of my “grail bikes,” a Jo Routens randonneur.   I wrote it about it here, after it arrived from France and I had ridden it around the city for a few months.  Then in the summer, I took the plunge on a full restoration, with the goal of bringing it to the 2015 Eroica California event in Paso Robles, California.

JR_05It was quite an undertaking, and definitely the most expensive and technically complex restoration I have ever embarked on.  The results were spectacular!

I began by having the frame, fork, stem, and front derailleur re-chromed.  These were all hand made by Jo Routens, just for this bike.   I had the chroming work done at Epner Technology, in Greenpoint Brooklyn.

The guys at Epner did a perfect job, and at a very reasonable price.  For $500, they chemically stripped and prepped the bike, gave it a bright chrome finish, and polished it.  The chrome is exquisite, with no flaws anywhere.  I highly recommend their services!  They did try to up-sell me on a 24 karat gold finish for $5000, but it just didn’t seem right for this bike.

Read on for more details on the restoration and the hi-res picture gallery.

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1984 chrome Ross Mt. Hood Mountain Bike

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I recently got my hands on a blingy vintage mountain bike – a 1984 Ross Mt. Hood.  My love affair with classic hard-tail MTB’s has been documented here before, with articles on customized Univega Alpina Uno and Bridgestone MB-2‘s that I’ve built in the past.  But this one needed no work at all, except some careful hand polishing.  It’s 100% original, down to the tires!  Read on for more details…

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Univega Alpina Uno Rivendell-style townie cruiser

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Inspired by the Rivendell "Bombadil" bicycle, I revisited the vintage mountain bike-as-a-townie concept with this build, starting with a 1983 Univega Alpina Uno hardtail frame.  Made of stout cro-mo tubing and featuring a gorgeous "biplane" fork crown, it makes a handsome base to build up a fun "around town" bike that can also handle gravel paths, fire trails, and the rough roads of New York City.  It has a 47cm c-c seat tube and 56cm c-c top tube, making it a good choice for riders 5' 5" to 5' 10".  Read on for more detail and pictures…

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1972 Italvega Super Record chrome 53cm road bike

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I built this bike up over the weekend, starting with a vintage Italian-made frame that I found online.  It was fully chromed under the paint, so I stripped the paint and polished up the chrome to a nice shine.  I added a shiny silver Shimano 600 group and Dia-Compe brakes, along with brand-new wheels and saddle that complimented the classic spartan look of the frame.

While the frame didn't have any identifying logos, some research confirmed that it's an Italvega Super Record. Italvega bikes were designed and hand-built within the noted Torresini workshop at the Torpado factory in Padua, Italy.  It was carrying a sticker from Zumwalt's Bicycles in San Diego, CA so perhaps it was their in-house brand at one point. 

It's a quality frame, with gorgeous long-point lugs and Columbus SPX tubing, one of their higher-end tubesets.  Size-wise, it's 53cm bike, with a 53cm center-to-center top tube and a 53cm center-to-top seat tube.  Read on for more pictures and details:

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Centurion Pro Tour all-chrome 650B townie

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This bike was a Centurion Pro Tour originally, a high-quality Japanese-made touring bike from 1978.  One of Centurion's top-of-the-line models, the Pro Tour had some cool features rarely seen on a production bike: brazed-on centerpull brake calipers and a fully chromed frame.   Later iterations of the Pro Tour (from 1980-1984) had more common cantilever brakes, making the early editions quite rare.

I won this Pro Tour on eBay recently, and it arrived in fairly dismal condition.  The paint had numerous scratches and rust, and the parts were a haphazard mix of original components and later replacements.  I decided to strip the paint off to reveal the original chrome underneath, and while I was at it, to convert the bike to 650B wheels instead of using the original 27" ones that came with it.  I also made many more changes and additions – read on to learn more…

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