Before...

This is Claudette. She's spent 20 years a little bit unloved and unused. And she's got the wrong kind of handlebars on too. Let's see if  I can make her all shiny and nice!

Here's what she looked like back in the late 70s/early 80s:

(although I suspect she's always had flat bars - the brake levers are certainly original Weinmann ones)

Starting Small

Ok, So really I should have documented dismantling Claudette. I didn't, but that means more suspense as I photograph each individual part as I clean the rust and dirt off and reassemble them.

The things in the bowl are brake straddles from the Weinmann centre pull brakes. I learnt two things about these today; first off that they're called brake straddles and second there aren't many of them that fit these brakes about anymore. At least not if you need an extra long one to go round the seatpost on a Mixte frame (which Claudette has). Thankfully they're only rusted on the outside and a little careful caressing with some aluminium foil and WD40 has them looking good as new. Well, good anyway. 

I'll start cleaning some bigger bits of bike soon

Wheels!

Still awaiting the arrival of the right spanner to reassemble the forks and frame, so I decided to sort out the wheels. As you can see below, the rims were a bit rusty, the tyres covered in 20 years of dust and dirt and the drive train very grungey indeed.

First up I removed the freewheel and gave that a good scrub with some degreaser. It was really pretty grubby, and full of some very solid chunks of gunk, but fortunately underneath it all it was actually in pretty good condition:

So much so that now you can not only read that it's a Regina Corsa freewheel, but also if you look carefully at the bottom that it was made in Italy back in 1978 (or possibly 1979 as they didn't stamp this one very clearly.). The same age as me!

With the freewheel off I could then remove the axle and bearings from the hub and clean them up too:

 I'm pretty sure no-one had ever had these open since the factory and the grease was really pretty disgusting after almost 40 years, but on the plus side the bearings and their cups seemed to be in really good condition, so after cleaning them up I turned to the rust on the rims.

WD40,  tinfoil and elbow grease was the key here, turning the rust spots into a browny silver sludge that could then be wiped off. Here's a little before/after of the rear wheel:

There are a few permanent pits and bumps, but the rims still seem very sturdy - and on removing the old tyres even the rim tape was OK. 

With the rims cleaned and the bearings etc cleaned and dried out, it was time to put on some new tyres, and reassemble the wheel with some new grease to get it running smoothly.

Much better!

A quick "before and after" comparison with the front wheel...

The front wheel then followed basically the same procedure, without having to remove and clean the freewheel. It was also a bit less rusty, so pretty soon: