Thursday, January 13, 2011

Greg Curnoe Bike is Ready for Paint


With the kind assistance of Noah Rosen of Velocolour (who, in addition to painting bikes, also repairs them) I finally tracked down some brake cable stops. And so, with the exception of some inevitable fiddling, the frame is done.

Soon—once I have a chance to match the colours to the original Curnoe print—the really exciting part will begin: painting. As I said in my first post about this bike, it's a bit funny that the most distinctive part of this bike will be the paint job, which I won't do. But even this is "artistically justified": while Curnoe did do a watercolour painting of the bike, I'm more interested in the silk screen print on plexiglass he later produced—for which he required the expert help of a silkscreening specialist. So his was a "collaboration," and so will mine be. (The print, incidentally, was made using enamel paints—very close to the sorts of paints Noah will use.)

While I wait for the paint, I'll be sorting out a few last little build details. For one thing, I would like to find a really pretty matched set of barrel adjusters—one M6 (for the rear) and one M5 (for the front—I tapped a Mafac hanger.) If you know of any, let me know. I'll also get some red donuts for the brake cable (another "trace" of the original bike, which used continuous red cable housing on the top tube), some more Kool Stop Mafac pads, a red chain (apparently technology has progressed to the point where this is practicable), and a few other little things. I really can't wait to see it all built up—I think it will be really spectacular. When it's ready, I'm planning to ride it to London, hopefully to visit Curnoe's (former) studio.

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