Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Frame is BACK!

This evening after work, I drove down to Pittsboro to see Jerry Campora, and pick up my frame and forks. The evening was turning a lovely dusky grey, and the weather was FINALLY starting to cool off to a manageable temperature. (Alas, the Jeep, however, was overheating. I had to stop twice on the way down, and five times on the way back to let the engine cool off.)

Jerry was happy to show me the work he'd done, and for good reason. It is remarkable. The finish is even and smooth, like a glass surface. The color is dead uniform all over. (We heart powdercoating!) Jerry says the finish is three mils thick, which should provide a lifetime of protection and toughness to the steel underneath.


The finish around the lugs is quite nice, leaving the detail of the lugs visible, while simultaneously providing protection on all surfaces of the lugs themselves.


The next step will be to outline all the lugs with gold pinstriping. However, I'm having a hard time finding a pintsriper in the Chapel Hill area. Anyone know of one? If I don't find one nearby, I may be forced to learn how to do this myself.


Once the pinstriping is done, next will be lettering. I am in NO way comfortable doing that myself, so I will take my time, and find someone in the area who really knows what they're doing.

This brings up an interesting quandary for me. Originally, I had planned to get factory decals from ebay for the bike. But since I have basically discarded that idea in favor of a more retro look, I am left with coming up with an earlier Peugeot design, or ditching the Peugeot name, and coming up with a completely original Marque/Name for the bike.

In one direction, I get "Peugeot" lettered on the downtube of the frame in the original script of 1940's French Peugeots.



I also find and add a really old, retro Peugeot head badge, like this:


Or this:

In the other direction, I abandon the Peugeot logos and badges all together, instead giving it a name and identity all its own. For instance, I could call it a Renard Ruse', french for 'Sly Fox', or maybe Renard Ruse' ReCyclerie, or some derivation, and have a local artisan / jewelery maker create a custom headbadge just for me and this bike. (Like a beaten-copper silhouette of a Fox, perhaps?)

All that has yet to be decided. At the moment, my focus is on the next steps: Pinstriping, and the construction of the wheels. I will also be using the frame and forks to get measurements, thus allowing me to finalize the list of parts I need to purchase to make the bike ridable.

Many, MANY thanks to Jerry Campora. He's in the process of building a website right now, and I will link to his as soon as he's up and running. I recommend him to anyone considering custom powdercoating. He was a pleasure to work with, and made the entire process painless and rewarding.

I got my frame back! WOO-HOOOOO!!!! (^_^)

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