Dear Dave:
Welcome to the list, and congrats on the MKM. There seem to be more of these in the US than I thought when I first got mine.
For restorations, I was able to get a set of decals from Lloyds in England, a company that's listed on the Resources page on Dale's CR website. I would phone instead of emailing as Lloyds often takes a while to answer their email. The only problem is that Lloyds did not have the headtube transfers, but could only supply another seat tube decal. So I had my painter save and re-use the head tube badge that came with my frame. Fortunately there was enough finish left on the badge to look good. Franklin Frames in Ohio did the respray for me, and did a solid job for a reasonable price.
As far as parts go, the MKMs were apparently sold primarily as frame sets, so you can build it anyway you want for a late 70's-80's bike and be "correct". You can do a nice Campagnolo Nuovo or Super Record theme, go entirely high end Japanese with Dura Ace or Cyclone bits, or be Gallic and search for harder to find Simplex, Mafac and Stronglight items. Feel free to embellish the canvas anyway you want. Living in Lakeland, I presume you aren't overly concerned with getting a wide ranging spread of gears for mountain climbing, so any parts at all will suit.
Tom Adams
Shrewsbury NJ
>From: "Wilson, Dave" <dwilso2@tampabay.rr.com>
>To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
>Subject: [CR]MKM Newbie
>Date: Mon, 6 Sep 2004 22:12:28 -0400
>
>Hey everyone,
>
>I am new to this list and have a general question. I have an "old" MKM frame that I bought back in the early 80s. At that time, my only criteria was that it was a Reynolds frame. It is hung with very run-of-the-mill components. My current bike shop buddies have been encouraging me to throw that old piece of junk away and get a new bike. Fortunately, I found Classic Rendezvous before I followed their advice. The frame and the remnants of the paint job and decals match the MKM pictures on the CR website. It looks like I have a road frame very similar to Derel Wilburn's. Now my question. Where do I begin on a restoration? In addition to restoring the frame, I would like to replace the components with something of not only higher quality, but appropriate to the age of the frame. And of course, I want to replace the decals. Thanks for any suggestions.
>
>When I am not riding this bike, I also ride a new (sorry) Giant mountain bike on some great Florida trails.
>
>Dave Wilson
>Lakeland, FL
>
>_______________________________________________
>Classicrendezvous mailing list
>Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>http://www.bikelist.org/mailman/listinfo/classicrendezvous
_______________________________________________
Classicrendezvous mailing list
Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
http://www.bikelist.org/