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Looks really good!

Yeah, you're right. Paulo, and the forum, I'm sorry, I was pretty harsh and unfair. Whilst I haven't seen the bike in the metal, I'm afraid that in my opinion, the photos you've put up don't make it look like a decent job worthy of a £650 bike, and I think you need to show off more.

I used to work in a paint shop doing set and stage (the company is called Stage One, based near York). Whilst I was the painters' assistant rather than a 'Painter', I did do all levels of prep, painting and finishing. The last job we did when I was there was Walking With Dinosaurs Live:

If Paulo wants to stand out as a painter (and his price tag implies that he does), he really needs to do something extravagant, rather than just a run-of-the-mill job with a poor finish. I'll apologise for the way that I worded my comment, but I'm not apologising for what I said - sorry but I don't think it's good enough.

what never ceases to amaze me about this forum is it's propensity to piss on a dizzying height on the aspirations of total strangers in what can only be interpretted as some juvenile attempt to make the detractor feel ever so sleightly less dissapointed in their own utter lack of ambition.

Have you seen the bike? I'm all for constructive criticism, but it's just plain bad. If he wants to start a business, he needs to show off his painting skills, not just do something that looks like anyone with a few cans and some wet-and-dry can do. It needs to look at least as good as factory and be very cheap, or significantly better than factory for the kind of price he's asking. I used to work in a paint shop (for set and stage) and I wouldn't have let work of that quality be seen by potential customers unless it was very much on the cheap-and-cheerful side.

Dicki if you love Paulo so much why don't you marry him?

Trying to get his business off the ground? Looking at that bike, he needs to try a hell of a lot harder.

That's a fucking joke. I can do better with rattle cans. I can do significantly better with my compressor and gun. But I'm still nowhere near good enough/arrogant enough to offer professional services. If you want people to take you seriously, perhaps you should do some interesting paint jobs with a decent finish, rather than flat-looking metallic blue.

I've never had any problems using secondhand Brooks saddles. Just Proofide them regularly for the first few months and they seem to re-shape themselves.

A cheap Brooks is the old B5N which was their cheapest leather model back in the 60s and 70s (I think). Also, look around car boot sales - I got my honey Brooks Professional for £10.

Any chance of some pictures?

Can't you cut around the axle? Just remove as much metal as possible until it falls apart

Cup-and-cone bearings last for years and years with regular maintenance (my old 1950 Claud Butler was still on its original BB cups and axle).

A thing to remember with square-taper cranks is that they're not designed to be removed and re-installed as this will eventually enlarge the tapers - so a sealed no-maintenance BB is perhaps a better option than reinstalling every six months.

Steel chainrings last for ages and ages.

how would you sync the shutter of the camera with the sensor? the same applies for iso.

Using the flash sync to turn the sensor on? How does it know when to turn off though? You could set the ISO with a little dial on the digital back. Also, film advance would be difficult.

So yeah, I think a cheap aftermarket digital back would be a crap idea. The only real advantage would be the 'feel' of using an old camera (i.e. metal knobs and levers rather than plastic buttons). Otherwise DSLR + old lenses.

I'm not convinced. All designers are like that. All of them!

It's true - even the stylists say it!

I took the survey, and I'd be interested to see your design. We have a 'bike innovation' thread (UTFS) that might be the best place for it.

^ Desperados sticker is nice.

Went to Oxford yesterday. At least half of the bikes in the city centre are just freelocked. Out in the suburbs I saw a lot of bikes left in front gardens not locked at all. Crazy.

That will fall off within a month. Not designed for bare metal. I speak from experience.

Dry it out against a warm radiator overnight, and just put any old topcoat over it. In fact, so long as you don't leave the bike outside/in a damp shed, red oxide will probably not cause any rust problems.

The bastards.

Yes it is shellac. You can buy shellac flakes in hardware shops, then you dissolve them in denatured alcohol and paint onto the cloth.

Also found this:

http://www.frost.co.uk/automotive-paint/eastwood-clear-coat-gloss-finish-for-bare-metal-surfaces-aerosol.html

An aerosol clearcoat designed to go over bare metal. The POR15 brush-on stuff has loads of great reviews though.

^ red oxide is very slightly porous, so after a few months it'll absorb water and your frame will rust/paint will start flaking off again. It's not designed as a topcoat. Epoxy primers are waterproof though.

Cheapest permanent solution would be Hammerite or a similar one-step primer/topcoat system.

^lovely! Here's my old Datsun with DIY paintwork. Cost 150 quid in true rat style.

Unfortunately the underside was as ratty as the bodywork so 18 months after buying it, it was consigned to the scrappers.

Er, anyway, bikes!

That's not rat.

Watch this space for my Carlton build. Baremetal frame + Motorhead headbadge.

Yep. I don't know what you mean by 'rail' saddle - every saddle uses rails (except those really old sprung ones where the clamp is integrated into the springs). The only difficulty could come if you want to use a modern carbon-railed saddle which have larger diameter rails, but I imagine that all old saddles and the majority of new ones (except those with carbon rails) will fit.

If that doesn't sound right, then post some photos of the existing saddle and clamp.

oh right yeah, i used to live just across on burnham road.

one vision imaging.
yeah good luck with snappy snaps, i've found them to be really good.

Cool I'll check them out.

Some shots from my Zenit E with Ilford HP5+