New Life For An Old Bike

Last year, when Yok and Ging moved to Jiabo-an, they brought all their belongings with them and then some more from us to help them in their transition from living with us here in the city to living on their own in a separate house. Yok had two mountain bike frames wasting away in the storage room we had. They were both covered with so much rust, that the parts that should be turning (what's left of them) were like welded in place. I asked for one of the bike frames along with its matching fork, and Yok was happy to give it to me. He would not have any use for it anyway so why keep it?

I went to work on it right away and spent a whole day stripping, cleaning, and grinding the old paint and rust off to expose the bare metal underneath. There was no structural damage to the frame and fork so it was sound as can be. The only problem was one of the fork's break mounts broke off and would no longer be able to accommodate one. Well, I had planned to get a BMX type front break for it so it's not so much of a problem. After satisfying myself as to the absence of any rust, I sanded everything, wiped the frame and fork down with acetone, and sprayed a coat of acrylic-based left-over paint that I had lying around. The bike was green at this point, until I have money for a couple of cans of the actual end color.

Over the months, I've slowly built the mountain bike. Adding part after part, as budget would allow. Little  by little it took shape and until last week, it was sitting gathering dust instead of gathering dirt. After a few months, all the parts were in, and the bike rides like a dream. I decided to give it to Paolo since he can reach the pedals and ride it with ease. He however, wanted it painted red. So we bought a couple of cans of bright red, disassembled the bike, and repainted the major parts. 
After drying, I reassembled the bike, which is the part I really enjoy, and we now have two bikes in the house. Paolo and Issa now ride together, along with their friends around the neighborhood. Not bad for a project not costing more than P2,300.00 to complete. Giving a new lease on a bike's life, putting it where it belongs... out on the road and not wasting away with rust waiting for the scrap dealer. Now Issa wants her BMX converted into a mini-mountain bike to look like her kuya's. Converting hers would be another project and another story for another day.