stripping a bike down

[tom_eaton]

Hi guys,

I've bought my first bike a few weeks ago, on a v tight budget so as you would expect there are a few problems with it. One thing I would like to do (after i fix important bits) is strip it down, sand away rust/old paint etc and seal/prime/respray/laquer it. is this a difficult task, or just one that takes time and patience.

[PitterB4]

Check out this thread in the General FAQ forum.  It's copied and pasted here from  a previous itteration of the board which explains the funky formatting.

[Arkan Eller]

Hi, I've done this recently. My bike is a 97B6 with about 50k and several British winters on it. I crashed it, so decided that rather than replacing it I'd do a bit of a streetfighter job on it. Most of the work was actually stripping it down to component level and cleaning, repainting etc.

The advice in the FAQ is good. Photograph what you can, write down everything and bag everything up. Handy things like writing down which engine bolt the loom lead goes to etc. can save about an hour of hunting around and leafing through workshop manuals when it comes to putting it all back together.

Whatever you do, no matter how much you're tempted, even if you can't find a pencil to hand or something, DO NOT think "Oh, I'm sure I'll remember when the time comes" when you're looking at some bizarre bolt location etc. cos you won't remember. Write it down.

Good luck.

[Ranger]

[smooth operator]

I used alot of plastic bags labled with a marker. And pics. One thing for sure, you really get to know your bike. Then use blue loc-tight or replace loc-nuts when you reassemble.