The restoration of my Grand Touring is coming along fine. The paint is finished and the pinstriping is being done now (2 months and counting). Each time I see it I wonder that it may end up looking like a Colnago Cloud, or whatever. I think that at the end of the day he has a little smoke and works on it for a few minutes as it slowly becomes more complicated and beautiful, he was supposed to do the shorelines, damned artistes :-) But what the heck, he's having fun doing something new to him and I reap the benefits (it's already paid for).
But I digress, and here is my real question. How do you recognize a warn out cup and cone. Mine look fine, but after polishing them to a finish you could shave in, I noticed a fine line in the cone that is a different color from the surrounding metal. It is definatly right in the middle of the bearing race which is some unknow (to me) metal. The spindle looks like forged steel and I'm not concerned about it. I know I can get a replacement from Harris, but if it's really not an issue, I would rather not. This project has become expensive enough already and I don't even have wheels built up.
Thanks,
Richard Long (RIX)
Temecula, CA
USA