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nothing exciting to look at - just all sanded down and flooded with braze into the worst pitting. also major drama where the gear cable went under bottom bracket - the guide did not keep it off the metal so it was sawing through the BB shell. Got it sprayed with wd40 to keep rust off and just waiting to get a hundred quid spare to get the paint. will put pics up when that happens.

still going on this thing! it is going to make it - no question of that. i have run out of money and i would rather take longer and do it right rather than get it back on the road with dodgy parts and a hand spray. got wheels, crank,2 brakes and seat - still need bars and an armourtex paint job (unless anyone has better ideas). i will be sure to put pics up when it is done.

thanks sausage. i will look it up. i have done a bit with 'wax resistance' - if you put anything waxy or oily on a bit of steel it stops the solder or braze taking. its a funny thing.... when you want to stick things then the tiniest impurity stops it from working. when you want to keep the flow away from a bit of detail you can be sure it will get in there and lock on harder than G St. Pierre. I will look at silicone though - it makes sense.

thanks EE - and yep Moonboy - i dont want gears on there so i want the smooth and the minimal. sticky out things with nothing bolted on dont do it for me. if you got original paint then fair enough - but this one was never going to be back to original glory so i think that is license to carve it up and do what you can??

the answer to anything stuck to anything is heat. just pour a load of oxy-propane heat on it and pull. it will move. of course the paint will be utterly buggered, but the surfaces of the metal will not.

i can now answer the question of the thread..... 'can this simoncini be saved?' The answer is - Yes. It can. But it will cost so much time and effort and oxy and files and wet and dry - it would have been quicker and cheaper to buy a perfect frame off ebay and walk to Russia to pick it up!! It has been an absolute joy though.

dropout hand filed to mirror the non drive side. i would have just whipped these out and replaced them with track drops but they have 'simoncini' stamped, so i thought i would have a crack at keeping them. i hate anything on a frame that is not in use so if there aint a rear mech there aint a mech hanger!

front shifter braze-on removed - and seat tube deformation.... those wops certainly know their art work!!

lugs filed off pretty aggressively to get the pitting away.... tube ends where the metal is thickest got a bit of the file but could not do this to anything middle tube

gear shift braze-ons removed

have these been done yet? i was going to leap at them till i saw they were lo-pro

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220602326413&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_500wt_1174

http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/4669/sim5r.jpg
thanks - and i am certain the rest of the frame + forks makes it.... just the top tube still up for possibly getting cut out. worst spot is pictured - and as you see, it is a horror! not as bad in the flesh - this pic. really is nasty!

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/5691/sim3.jpg
outside BB - tricky job of flooding the pitting without flooding the makers stamp. not sure what to do here....

http://img208.imageshack.us/i/sim6.jpg/
many thanks for the tutorial.... inside BB shell. Not too bad, but not the neatest work i have ever seen!

http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/9754/sim2p.jpg

and i cant work out how to put pics up... can anyone advise?

i hear you.... but i got some tricks up my sleeve. i have a welding / cutting / heating setup. i can do it all myself. dont have a blasting cabinet - might get one. i used to work in electronics, and i can get stuff x-ray surveyed for next to nothing. i will get it looked at before i put money into paint. if i have to replace tubes to make safe, i will do that. i dont have any funky profiled tubes - but i can buy 501 and 531 bikes at the local council tip for £5 and nick round tubes for fun. i live in the country. people here are not that tuned in!!

and thanks for the pointer on the cleaning. it might not work for this one - too much work to do - but i am going to fire a Holdsworth over there and see how it comes back. cheers Lance.

hopefully i have worked out how to post the pics.... the BB shell is going to make it, i am pretty sure. all braze-ons are now removed and i have 1 major concern left.... nasty patch of rust on the top tube. i will be devastated if i have to rip it out and replace it with a round one. Anyone got a spare Colnago they don't mind cutting up???

thanks for the interest - and sure, i can pop images up as the work goes on, if you would like to see it. i have started removing all the braze-ons and getting the rust back to metal. i'll get some pics tomorrow. And thanks for the message on decals - looks like stickerless then!

kjhughes - exactly right - when i took a wire brush to it, the rust was a big ball of fluff. The metal is certainly pitted, but it has not lost too much volume. i will get it back to clean then flood it with silver and grind it back.... should get a finish, and there is no loss to structural integrity.
EEI - thanks for the comments. It certainly looks like the tubes were supplied coated and fitted to non-coated lug set. The tubes have very small local faults, whereas the lugs are about buggered! And by the way.... the owner used the bike to ride down the sea front, so it has been exposed to salt for years. i might appreciate your knowledge on sourcing decals later, if you would help me??

i bought the bike for the 124 quid and drove 130 miles to collect it..... it can be saved! Boggy - you were probably right not to buy it unless you are a metal worker.... it took me 2 hours on the oxy torch to strip it down - everything rusted solid and stuck on. Chainset was cracked through and i wrecked most other bits with the heat getting them off. Hope that makes you feel better? East End Images - you are dead right about the nickel - the tubes mostly have a bright silver coat and no tarnishing. Trouble is, there are gaps in it, where the rust has set in. I think this one was made by a trainee. On his first day. After a heavy pub lunch.