Restoring 1977 Colnago Super: the clean up

Past three weeks I have been trying to sqeeze in as much work as I could on the components. Breaking them down has been interesting and some kind of fun. If you know me well I usually stick to tasks that I am good at.

When I was a competitive cyclist and racing I kept my hands off the bike mechanically. I raced a whole heck of a lot better than turning wrenches. Swapping out a cassett or changing tires was about all I felt comfortable with. Anything else, the bike was in the hands of Scott Mackey.

But I was up to the challange of breaking this bike down and learning as much as I can. Then cleaning every speck of grime and grease off of everything. Have to say this has been the most enjoyable part so far, besides getting the bike.  Now I have a huge appreciation for vintage parts. In a sense they are timeless, functional and bullet proof. What I am trying to say is the simple design is sometimes the most functional. 

So how did I clean all the parts? After doing my homework online and consulting with a few people I concluded the best approach was simply mineral spirits. A good long soak, a dish brush, paintbrush to get into all the hard spots and good rinse with water got everything brand new!

Now I'm putting things back together.... But that is another post!