[CR]Ron Stout; parts polishing

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From: AdventureCORPS News <news@adventurecorps.com>
Date: Tue, 11 May 2004 08:56:26 -0700
To: OROBOYZ@aol.com
cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: [CR]Ron Stout; parts polishing

Ron Stout, a frame-builder from Salt Lake City, quit making frames some time ago. I really don't know what happened to him. He sponsored me in 1985 and 1988 with an amazing custom frame each of those two years. In retrospect, I don't know how a little one man frame shop like him could have afforded it, but I sure appreciated it and did a lot to get him press. My 1988 bike, custom made for RAAM time trialing, was featured on the last ever edition of Rodale's "Bike Tech" newsletter. Due to some unfortunate circumstances, I no longer own that frame, but I sure wish I did. A photo of me on it in RAAM 88 is featured on each of those RAAM bike articles I mentioned in my previous post. If any of you ever run across that very distinctive frame, I'd be willing to buy my frame back for its personal sentimental value.

The 1985 Ron Stout restoration should have been done now, however I am very unhappy with the paint job. It was done by a certain SoCal company that, when mentioned in passing at the Cirque banquet, received quite a few groans and hisses. Considering how unhappy I am with the paint job, and the total lack of response to my emails and letters about that fact from those who did the job, I now understand perhaps the reason for said groans and hisses.

So, I need to make a decision and plan as regards getting it repainted and redecaled (is that a word?) again. Then there's the issue of the drilled hbars. Plus I need to get the original 24 hole (front and rear) wheels rebuilt. I have NOS Araya aero tubular rims and the original 24 hole Campy SR hubs. (These wheels were made by Ric Hjertberg, co-founder of Wheelsmith in early 1985 for my SF-LA record attempt and other events and races. Turns out that Dave Scott, the triathlete, and I were Ric's guinea pigs with these minimally spoked wheels. I never, ever needed to true or replace a spoke on any of the 24 hole, 20 hole, 18 hole, or even 16 hole wheels that Ric made for me. Nowadays people take such spoke counts for granted - even for training and daily use, not just racing and double centuries and RAAM like I did.)

That brings up a question: I had those Campy hubs "polished" at an auto parts polishing place a few years ago. They sure are shiny now. However, I didn't reinstall the axles in them and left them "dry" and then I noticed that the bearing surfaces inside the hubs got a bit rusty. They've been sitting in a box for a while now like that. What to do? I've heard those bearing surfaces can be replaced. True? How? Where to get them? Or can I just clean out the rust? It's not that bad, I think, but I want to handle them right (now).

Second question, also relating to polishing parts: Is it ever bad to use simichrome on bike parts? Likewise for sending the parts to an auto parts polisher (where they use a big spinning wheel to do the job)? I've had a lot of parts polished that way and I think I goofed on some of them. For ex, my Campy C-Record cranks really go dully and crappy looking easily since getting them polished, so now I have to simichrome them to keep them looking good.

Thanks, CR Gang!

Chris Kostman LA, CA

On May 12, 2004, at 8:39 AM, OROBOYZ@aol.com wrote:

In a message dated 5/12/2004 11:25:14 AM Eastern Daylight Time, news@adventurecorps.com writes:

<< I have been restoring my custom Ron Stout from 1985. >>

Chris, we would all like to see that when complete4d. Is Ron Stout still producing bike frames?

<<.....stay tuned for details on The Technical Trials! >>

Yes, keep us posted! This should be fun! And thanks again for your photo journalism coverage of the Cirque. Very enjoyable! In case anyone missed it, look here: http://www.adventurecorps.com/chronicles/2004cirque01/index.htm (mapped)

Dale Brown
Greensboro, NC