Painting: phase 1

I got the opportunity to do some painting at the TBS ice cream factory this weekend. Most of the time was spent sanding down the frame and the fork pieces. Then it was on to the tank. TBS uses an old ice cream mixing tank for their spray area. You have to crawl in a little hole in the side of the tank (which is made out of 3 inch thick steal). The hole looks small, but you can fit a frame in relatively easily. Respirators are a MUST. You see in the video that once you get going it just turns into one huge paint cloud.



Here's everything post painting.



I used gray automotive primer. I'm going to paint the rest of them with automotive quality spray cans (since I'll be back in Louisville). I don't care too much how the frame and fork pieces look since most people don't notice them anyway. As long as they are one solid color with decent quality I'll be happy. I am however getting the tank and seat pan painted professionally for a good price. Larry the paint guy is hooking me up! More pictures to come as we progress.

A big thanks goes out to Paul for helping with the process and for the paint.

Parrrrrrrrts

So I've been at sort of a stand still on "actual" progress on the Vespino. I need to get some pretty important parts that are simply non existent in the US. I found my way over to vespino.es and was able to locate what i need. Even though at times there's a language barrier, they've been very helpful and haven't given up on me for being a stupid American who speaks little Spanish (or at least the Spanish words needed to talk about moped parts). It turns out that some of the Vespino community saw this blog and were following it on their forum! So rad! They even gave me a login which I happily accepted. They too have been a helpful resource. For now I'm finalizing my order and hope to get this put together for the upcoming riding season.

Top tank progress

Finally got the inspiration to get some more work done on the vespino. I picked up a square, steel rod at Home Depot for the crossbar and match the square frame.

Mock up and cut.

Nate gracefully welded it up. You'll notice that I also cut off the frame tabs for the gas tank. Won't be needing those.

Cut a seat post and welded it between the crossbar and frame for the tank mounts. Will have to wrap some tape on the ends to cushion it a bit more.

I had to make some adjustments when mounting because the fork tubes were hitting the tank. So I just dropped the tank back a bit creating a nice cup holder.

All together with the seat it looks like this.

Next up painting and decals.

Peugeot Test Begins

On my visit to handy bikes I came up with a very vintage Peugeotest which is supposed to diagnose those crazy electical problems (that seem to plauge the french). Here's a run down of the procedure.


Step 1. Unpack and assemble Peugeotest.











Step 2. Place lead in sparkplug boot. Attach alligator clamps to areas for testing. (metal clamp to ground, Red insular clamp to testing area)

Close up of Alligator Clamp (be careful, they bite)








Step 3. Turn on machine and count down to test...3-2-1, engage.



Step 4. Use diagram to determine if there's a problem and how to go about solving it. In this case we find out that it's the points!




Other than this, I've used it once to diagnose some vespa electrical issues. So far so good.

The French Invasion

Woah. So I traded Nate Bandit for a bunch of French that he (or I really) didn't want...but it was too much (good?) to pass up. Some of you might be asking yourselves, "huh, I thought I heard Jason blubbering about 'Italy or Die'?" And the answer is yes, I hate the French. But here's what I got anyway...

Complete Motobecane 40T
Complete Peugeot 102
Mostly Complete Peugeot 103 (missing front forks)
(Not pictured)
Garelli Eureka frame w/NOI Katika(?) engine
Fully Rigid Ciao frame
Motobecane 40T frame

All that traded for my Vespa Si. It hurts to let it go, but feels good to gain so much to sell and barter with.

I sold the 40T frame in 9 seconds on the buy sell; and the complete Moby sold today as well.

Move em' in. Move em' out.

Bandit Basement Shop Love

Thank you Santa for the new shop lights and for the new Shop Roomies who get me to clean up my space and make it more workable.
My new organized, well lit work bench.



My new fun loving basement shop mates. Lots of Bandit bike building love in 2010!

Photoshop mock up

Here's a very poor photoshop mock up of the direction I'm going for.


Subtract Rust, Add clip-ons.

Team Zissou!