The First Cleaning

As I mentioned I don't think the PO (previous owner) did the bike any favors cosmetically. I wanted to get the bike fairly clean to see what I was dealing with.

Here's a walk around of the bike: Sorry, the video was too large. I haven't had time to slim it down.

When I first went to look at the bike I noticed rusting on most of the chrome, some of it heavy. The question remained, "how deep was the rust?

My first job was to remove the seat. Both the front and rear seat had some damage. The rear was the worst, I didn't want water getting into the foam. The front seat was no problem, a (***place bolt size here) bolt on either side with a tongue in the front. The rear was a little more complicated. 

As can be seen in the pictures this is the Interstate model with panniers and rear box. The rear box is attached to the "luggage rack" with two bolts (***place bolt size here) on the bottom of the box. Once the box is removed the last 4 inches of the rear fender area can be accessed. It had been accessed, by mice! There was a sizable nest in there, including some of the rear seat foam. It was very dirty and didn't look like it had been cleaned recently, if ever. 

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Once the box is off the rear "luggage rack" the rack needs to be removed. I didn't know or see this at first. The rack is screwed into the rear seat by two allen cap screws on either side of the seat. Looking at the underside of the seat, there were two finger hooks into the bike or seat frame. Since this is an old bike and this area hadn't been cleaned or lubricated nothing moved. As well the seat area where the rack attached it looked like the rack had torn the seat cover, so I didn't want to force anything. After a little oil on the springs and things I got the fingers moving. I then realized that the rear helmet locks (which also function to unlock the panniers) when pulled up and forward serve to force the seat fingers disengage the seat frame. It sounds confusing and was to me. With the seat bolts removed, the rack removed and the seat fingers disengaged the seat can be lifted off and slid rearward to disengage the forward tongue.

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The rest of the cleaning went about as expected. There was caked on road grease and dirt. I didn't attempt to remove any other parts other than the panniers rear rack and box.

The rear rack deserved some attention since I had it off. I took to it with #600 emory cloth. The got most of the rust off except in the weld and corner areas. This gave it a burnished look. I need to try and bring the shine back. I bought some #000 steel wool. The fellow at Home Despot recommended using higher grades of the emory paper, which they didn't have. 

I put the bike back together so my wife and I could take it to the Farmer's Market today.