Well! If you laid off the green scourer, once a year would have been ample!!! 
To a seasoned paint care pro, a green scourer would be fine. To heavy handed chumps like me, blue scourers are a safer option!
Yeah I used a green scourer a bit too hard on a 35 year old frame on the top tube, and did notice that the clear coat faded. Do it right, especially with this beauty!
big night last night. rush to get to the post office before closing to pick up my mavic classics and hidden bolt stem, then off to the hospital to see my sis-in-law who’s there for cycstic fibrosis treatment, red rooster on the way home cos Kate is hungry…but i managed to squeeze 30mins alone time to clean the fork.
found some “magic erasers” in the kitchen cupboard, as well as my blue scourer sponges.
so in the bathtub went some Meguire Soft Wash and hot water. started with the erasers on the inside of the forks as my test area, and HOT DAMN do they work! so continued on the rest of the blade, edges of the lugs, then onto the other side. the eraser was getting a bit chewed up going back and forth over the lug. cleaned the sides, front and back edges of the dropouts, then it was onto the crown.
there is still a slight discoloration on the front, back and right near the steerer tube, but otherwise they look $2,000,000,000.00.
a quiet night tonite so will be having a bath with the frame me thinks.
pics to come thursday night/friday morning.
Good news. They’re meant to get chewed up and break down btw.
Webcast hot dfunkt on frame bubble bath action?
it wasn’t so much breaking down, more tearing as it gets caught going over the sharp change in surface height.
the main area of the eraser i used for the blades became brown as it lifted the grime off, then it tore in the middle of the side when i started on the lugs.
either way, i have more in the cupboard, and they work. so good news indeed.
cleaned the frame tonite, got a bit lazy and didn’t do the head lugs all that well.
dried it down, grabbed the car polish and went to work. a few pics below.
also nice to know it has some ID, campy dropouts on the rear…
and now for some not-so-good news:
right blade a crack goes halfway along the lug, the left blade crack goes the full length across.
Frame looks a treat, shame about the fork…
Also, I want in on bike/bubble bath webcam action.
I have an x pate frame the last one that Perkins built for him… Nice find
Frame looks a treat!!! Get a builder to look at the fork? See if it’s repairable!
You’re so sweet.
It’s not a crack, those long fork tangs are separate to the fork and brazed in place to help support and stiffen the blades. Your fork wasn’t filed and smoothed and what you see is just a little sloppy workmanship. It’s not bad, just means the builder had better things to do rather than worry about people on the interwebs would think 30 years later.
Fork’s fine … good to ride.
^ What he said.
Hey, that’s my frame to be !!!
I got a better pic to explain below featuring richie sachs Newvex Crown and tangs…
FYI - a solvent based cleaner such as the acetone based ‘goof off’ is BRILLIANT for any sticky and gernral other shit.
still no word from Europa. did get a fb-msg from Stephen Pate, but he has nfi if it was his. he said it looked like those used by the AIS in the mid-late 80’s. and as per xBBx, he has chilled out, was short in reply but nice enough. even happy to field additional questions if i find more info/links/questions.
and like most historical searches, i’ve got more links, more google searching & more emails to send. le sigh. all part of the fun i spose.
in the meantime, i dropped it off to Commuter to install a Tange headset. was gonna wait til saturday to pick it up, but am too eager, so will grab it on the way home and shove it in my bag to being assembly tonite. hopefully it doesn’t smack me in the head as much as it did on the way this morning.
Sweet! Can’t wait to see some build pics!!!
You sorted for a post yet? I have a 200mm funky SR that uses two nuts in between the rails to clamp, or a 350mm Tranz X, single Allen clamp, both setback. SR = double espresso, Tranz X, 250g Padre beans.
Par for the course. So many people make claims and references but the reality of confirming provenance and qualifying a bike or frames history is very hard unless people back things up with receipts, photo’s and actual documentation.
I could say my Jim Bundy frame was owned and ridden by a local priest. So many people selling bikes also make big calls and once it’s past a few hands I’ll find out that my Jim Bundy frame was owned and ridden by Jesus (and he’s a bit taller than I am).
This bike collecting thing is still very amateurish. All sorts of claims and misinformation fly’s around.
yeah, MikeD has me covered for seatpost.
i never set my goals high with finding out it’s origins. while it’d be nice and all, i’m happy having a “McHillBainMan” that was made/sold by Europa in the late 80’s/early 90’s.
that’s enough word talk, here’s some pics…totally ghetto, but i’m racing it, not walking.
did you use a t handle wrench to tighten the stem? A ball end Allen key isn’t sufficient.
nope, i cheated and used a full straight allen key with some ring spanner leverage. i’ve never like the ball ended ones.