Dawes Double Blue.

[southcoast]

Amazing! Almost the same gears.

Yes top and overdrive? 50 and 52 rings?

 

[Illaveago]

Yes top and overdrive? 50 and 52 rings?

I'll have a look to see if they are numbered or will have to count them. Close ratio? Must have been used on the mountain stages in Holland !
It's no wonder I found it a bit hard going.
I contacted the shop and they said they would sort the bike out when I brought it in .
Yesterday I masked up the areas where the gold paint had worn off on the seat tube and applied some more gold. I will lacquer over it today to seal it.

 

[Kempstonian]

I'll have a look to see if they are numbered or will have to count them. Close ratio? Must have been used on the mountain stages in Holland !
It's no wonder I found it a bit hard going.
I contacted the shop and they said they would sort the bike out when I brought it in .
Yesterday I masked up the areas where the gold paint had worn off on the seat tube and applied some more gold. I will lacquer over it today to seal it.

Yeah, I hear those Dutch mountains are killers!

Are you going to try to fix up the DAWES DOUBLE BLUE decals too? If so that's going to be tricky.

 

[Illaveago]

Yeah, I hear those Dutch mountains are killers!

Are you going to try to fix up the DAWES DOUBLE BLUE decals too? If so that's going to be tricky.

I'm thinking about that . I'll see how the lacquering goes to day. I will touch in some of the paint chips first. If that goes as planned I may then think about the lettering.
I have some blue candy paint but I'm not sure how it will look as it is slightly on the green side. The light metallic blue reminds me of the colour of some cars from the 70's. IIRC the Rootes Group had loads of nice metallic colours.

 

[Kempstonian]

It would be nice if you could find a spray shop that could match the colour for you.

 

[Illaveago]

It would be nice if you could find a spray shop that could match the colour for you.

I know of a motor factor/ paint supplier 14 miles away. Trouble is 1/2 of basecoat a litre at ?£ is a bit like overkill. The dark blue is a candy colour, a coloured transparent like lacquer which is applied over a silver base. The closest I have seen so far looks like the purple/ blue that Ford are using.

 

[midlife]

BITD loads of bikes were finished in "flam" (for flamboyant.) A silver base covered in a semi transparency lacquer. Metallic paint had the metallic flakes mixed in with it and looked different.

In the sunshine flam finishes looked a million dollars


Places like Bob Jackson still do flamboyant resprays at £120

 

[Illaveago]

I may have a look at some nail varnish colours but it may provoke a laugh from my wife. She thought the hormone injection had an immediate effect when I noticed that false nails were held on with superglue.

 

[Illaveago]

I have been doing some cleaning and polishing on the frame and alloy parts.
Yesterday I masked out the areas on the seat tube which had the remnants of coach lines and painted them gold.
Today I carefully painted the outline of the name gold using a fine brush and wearing a visor magnifier. Once It was dry I filled in the letters using a Humbrol light blue paint which seemed to match the original colour.

 

[Illaveago]

Yeah, I hear those Dutch mountains are killers!

Are you going to try to fix up the DAWES DOUBLE BLUE decals too? If so that's going to be tricky.

Yes, it was and I felt tired afterwards from all the concentration.

 

[Kempstonian]

Good job!

 

[Illaveago]

Good job!

Thanks!
I have now got to do the other side!

 

[Illaveago]

BITD loads of bikes were finished in "flam" (for flamboyant.) A silver base covered in a semi transparency lacquer. Metallic paint had the metallic flakes mixed in with it and looked different.

In the sunshine flam finishes looked a million dollars


Places like Bob Jackson still do flamboyant resprays at £120

Yes I agree! I can stare at those colours all day. They mesmerise me !
Flamboyant and Candy colours are very similar. A very bright aluminium base is sprayed on, and then as you said a coloured transparent lacquer is sprayed on top. The number of coats applied can affect the final colour. With Candy colours a clear lacquer is finally applied over the top. The colour is pure and has depth! Whereas metallic finishes have finely ground aluminium powder mixed in with the colours which tends to muddy the effect. If metallic paint is applied very heavily / wet , the metallic particles will float and lay at a different angle to that when sprayed dry which will lay flat. The result of heavy spraying wil be darker but will give more of a sense of depth and sparkle.

 

[biggs682]

Looks like it's coming on well

 

[Illaveago]

I took the bike back for the shop to sort out the gears. They adjusted the front mech so this morning I took it out for a test ride. I am still recovering from a cold so my first impressions may be a bit affected by that. I found that the gearing feels a bit high. The large chainring has 49 teeth. I cycled my usual route out to Biddestone which is a long gradual climb in bottom gear with a slight head wind blowing. I had to stop 3 times on the way out to admire the view.
I didn't take any pictures as I discovered the camera's batteries were flat.
It was a nice sunny day and I was enjoying the ride. I am not sure how the bike compares with my others as I haven't done many miles on it yet, plus the fact that my other bikes have narrower alloy wheels. The brakes work well despite the chromed steel rims. My other bikes tend to be, say a prayer before descending!
On the way back I could take advantage of the gradient and change up through the gears onto the big chainring. The gear changing works well now and I built up quite a pace on my way back. I will need to do some more rides to get a proper comparison.
I have included some of the pictures of the repairs to the transfers on the downtube. The bike still has the transfer from the shop which originally sold it. Samways Weymouth.