A good long while later the wheel is actually looking pretty good. I’m not sure it’s worth the effort but the results are good.
No time to get into polishing the rear wheel today so I put a coat of wax on the frame to see what it would look like. It gave it a nice bit of gloss , more than I expected. Next up, order some parts.
2 hrs into the rear wheel. Filed and sanded some bad spots, sanded the brake surfaces, polished, tensioned and trued (ish). But I’ve still got $0 into this wheel. It’s better than the wheels that came on the bike with the Shimano 600 hub, good quality double wall rim and stainless spokes. The front wheel has a similar double wall rim but galvanized spokes and Normandy hub. Still a decent wheelset for this price point. Now to true the front wheel and install the tubes and tires.
Unable to do tires due to a faulty pump. I’ll have to find my other one tomorrow. This seatpost is more gouged up than any I’ve seen before.
I hit it with a file, 60 & 220 grit sandpaper and a little aluminum polish. That’s as good as it’s going to get. I wonder if it was the right size post, these French bikes use odd sized tubing. It fits well enough and with some grease should be good for another 40 years.
I polished the stem a little too. Not perfect, just a bit of a clean up. I want this bike to keep its lived-in feel.
I’m sick of polishing, I’ll get back to it tomorrow. And maybe start another build.