Candy Apple Paint

If you don’t already know, a Candy-Apple paint finish is a two-step process. First a base color is applied, metallic gold for example, then a special translucent paint in a color of choice is sprayed over. The result is a finish of great depth and beauty.

One can see the sparkling metallic gold under the semi-transparent red, blue or green top coat. Just like seeing the apple under its candy coating. Hence the name.

The picture above is an example. The gold FUSO name on the down tube is actually the base coat, it was masked off, then the red candy apple was sprayed on, and the mask was removed after.

When I went to work for Masi in Southern California at the end of 1980, I was amazed at the beautiful paint work coming out of the shop.

Not only by Jim Allen, Masi’s painter, but former Masi painters, Brian Baylis, and Jim Cunningham of Cyclart, who were all sharing the same premises and paint booth.

At that time I had been painting my own frames for a number of years, so I knew how to handle a paint gun, but what I didn’t know were the little “Tricks of the Trade” it took to bring a paint finish up to the next level.

Like for example, spraying 6 or 8 clear coats over decals, then when dry, sanding smooth with very fine 600 grit paper, before applying a final clear coat. The result was a perfectly smooth finish with the decals completely buried under clear coats, with not even the slightest ripple in the top surface above the decal.

I also learned about candy apple finishes. One of the ways it was used, you would not even be aware that it is a candy apple finish. That is when used to produce a brilliant red finish. Red is one of the most difficult colors to paint and look half way decent.

The reason is the best red pigment is made from Cadmium. But it is no longer used in modern paint, because it is highly toxic and very expensive. So synthetic pigments are used, and the finished job ends up looking slightly orange. Not a true red. Red paint is also prone to fade over time when exposed to sunlight.

What I learned was the spray a candy apple red over a bright white base coat. What you see is the light reflecting back on the white undercoat, through the red translucent top coat. The result is a really intense deep red. A true red color. 

This process was not easy, because if the red was sprayed unevenly it would appear a darker or lighter shade in places where the paint was applied in heavier of lighter coats. For example, as you spray paint along the individual tubes of the frame there is a tendency to get a buildup of paint around the lugs.

If not careful, the lugs would appear darker that the main tubes. Or there might be dark blotches where the paint overlapped.

Many do not know that even on my production Fuso and Recherche frames this same candy apple red was used.

(Above and Right) But instead of a white base, I sprayed over a bright orange base coat.

The red appeared only slightly darker, but spraying over orange was a little more forgiving, therefore easier than over a pure white base.

Some of these frames are 30 years old and the red paint has not faded, the red is still as vibrant as the day it left my shop.

In the example above. The frame was painted dark metallic blue, and white decals applied. Next a candy apple red was sprayed over all, and the end result is a deep burgundy main color with red decals. Taking on a purple-ish hue in bright sunlight.

Finally, this Fuso Lux frame was first painted white all over. Then a candy apple purple was sprayed on the bottom section only. The white acting as the base coat. Where the color fade transition takes place, the tubes were masked off in a checker board fashion. The purple was faded over this masking which was removed when the paint was dry.

Then I came back a final coat of the purple, and sprayed slightly overlapping the white squares. The effect is a checkered pattern that appears to fade in from the purple, and then disappear into the white. It also demonstrates the effect of lighter and heavier coats of the candy apple paint that I mentioned earlier.

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The Bike Registry: Five Years On

I started the Dave Moulton Registry in 2010, to list and account for the many frames I built, to preserve those left for people wishing to own one. The Registry will be five years old later this years. I have just counted the number of Fuso frames listed. Roughly 250. That is only about 10% of the approximately 2,500 built between 1984 and 1993.

It leaves me wondering, where are the other 90%, they can’t have all been wrecked, rusted away, or thrown out as trash. I have a feeling I will continue adding to the list for a number of years to come.

There is hardly a week goes by when at least two or three appear on eBay. Just this week a beautiful 50cm. Fuso Lux with custom paint, and fully Campagnolo equipped, went for $735. (Picture above.)

Often they are sold and bought on eBay and Craig’s List and I never hear of them again. I don’t feel inclined to list frames that appear on eBay, I need a contact from an owner. It is possible the new owner doesn’t want it listed.

Looking over the frames listed on the Registry, I find it highly satisfying that many are owned by the original owners, having bought them new in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Most of the frames listed have original paint. The cost of a re-paint is often far more than the frame is worth. I would suggest if you own one that is a little beat up and shabby, that you keep your eye open for one that has had less use.

The reason 90% of the frames I built are unaccounted for, could be because many are sitting in basements, garages, and attics. Some having had little use, with beautiful paint hidden under a coat of dust.

Recent interesting additions to the Registry include the one pictured above. It a UK built custom frame that lives in Copenhagen, Denmark. In 1976 I built a number of frames for a Richard Scho, who owned a bike shop in Copenhagen.

So when I got an email from the bike’s owner Carl Pedersen, I felt sure it was one of those that went to Copenhagen in 1976. Strangely, when Carl provided the number, it was built in 1975 and was originally sold in England. It is a mystery how it made its way across the North Sea to Denmark.

The one pictured above is an early 1st. Generation Fuso, (#190) with a special red, and blue paint. This paint scheme was done exclusively for a bike store called “Two Wheel Transit Authority.” They were located in Huntington Beach, California. Those who lived in Orange County, just south of Los Angeles, in the 1980s will remember this store.

It was a huge store, opened in a premises that was formally a Bowling Alley. Doing about 4 million in sales each year, they ordered a lot of both custom ‘dave moulton’ frames and Fuso. They ordered enough that they had their own Fuso paint colors.

The one above was further customized for Two Wheel Transit’s owner, Paul Moore, and had white stars added to the blue lower section of the frame. Two Wheel Transit went out of business in 1990.

My thanks to Richard Salinas, of Ontario, CA for the above Fuso pictures. And thanks to all those who have registered their bikes, your interest and support is much appreciated.

If you ever meet someone on the road riding one of my bikes. Please make them aware of the Registry (If they don’t already know.) so the Registry may continue to grow. If you have a frame to register, email me the relivant info. davesbikeblog[AT]gmail[DOT]com

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Fuso FRX Criterium

When I first introduced the Fuso frame in 1984 there was just one model. It was simply a “Fuso.” Then after a couple of years I was getting requests for chrome plating, and an upgraded paint job, so in 1986 I brought out the Fuso “LUX” model. LUX short for Luxury.

So now the original Fuso needed a model name, so it became the FR1. FR for Fuso Racing, and “1” because it was the 1st. Fuso. In another year or so, I realized there was a need for something in between the no frills FR1, and the no expense spared LUX model. So I introduced the FRX model, which was the same frame as the FR1 but had some “Extra” time spent on the paint job. Hence the X.

The FRX was at a price point somewhere in between the other two models, and costing a little more meant that I could offer a few more “Custom” options. I did build a few Fuso FRX track frames, and even fewer Criterium frames, like this one. They are quite rare.

I only know of two on my bike registry. I am sure there are a few more, but I never kept an acurate count of how many of the various models I built. The reason I never kept better records, I never expected to be corresponding with owners and writing on this blog, 25 or more years later.

The Criterium model was based on the geometry of my custom ‘dave moulton’ Criterium frame.

It had a slightly steeper head angle of 74 degrees, and a shorter fork rake or offset of 1 1/8in. (30mm.)

It had a higher Bottom Bracket height, also the seat stays were the larger 5/8 in. diameter as opposed to the 9/16 in. diameter on the other Fuso models.

This is the reason for the different seatstay caps you see in these pictures here. These are the long fluted kind, the standard Fuso caps would not work with the fatter tubes. As its name implies it is a specialist frame built to be stiff and responsive, and handle quickly.

This bike was built in 1989, and is still owned by its original owner. It is a 60cm. (C to T) but looks bigger because of the higher BB.

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Large Printable Posters

A magazine ad from 1986 was brought to my attention last week. I remembered I had a large format file of that print. (Above.) The picture was composed and taken by photographer Mike Graves. He used an old sheet of plywood that was on the floor of his father’s garage for many years, to catch oil drips from an antique car.

On this somewhat dirty rustic backdrop, he laid out a brand new pristine Fuso frame, surrounded by various tools. Some were tools he borrowed from me, others were from his father’s antique tool collection. The result, a very interesting black and white art photo.

The magazie ad can be seen left. When Mike Graves sent me the original file a few years back, he described the picture as being, “Sharp as a tack.”

It is, the detail is pretty amazing. I set this picture up in PDF format as a printable 24 in. x 18 in. poster, and downloaded the file to my Bike Registry website.

You can open the link here:

http://www.davemoultonregistry.com/pdf/MikeGravesPoster.pdf

It is a large file and may take a while to open. Hit refresh if it is taking too long. Or maybe try a different browser. There is no need to copy the file, if you know of someone who has a large format digital printer, you can simply email them the above link, and they can print you a copy direct from the web page. I had two test copies printed on semi-gloss paper and the results were good. Try not to handle the prints too much before they are dry.

Another 24 x 18 poster I have (Above.) is a copy of one I had printed for the 1990 Interbike Show. It is a color picture of a Fuso frame built in Columbus Max tubing. It has all the specs printed at the bottom. The PDF for this poster is here:

http://www.davemoultonregistry.com/pdf/FusoMAXposter24x18.pdf

Make sure the printer is set on “Print full size.” Feel free to print copies for your own use without further permission from me. Both these posters will fit in a standard 24 x 18 inch poster frame. These are quite inexpensive to buy from places like Target and Wal-Mart.

These links are now permanently on the Bike Registry website. There are other PDF files of articles I wrote for “Cycling” and “Velo-News” back in the 1970s. Also other interesting stuff, like spec sheets for the Fuso and Recherche, and prices from the late 1980s

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My Philly – New York City Trip

I just got back yesterday from a weeklong trip to Philadelphia and New York City.

It came about when I was invited to speak at the Philly Bike Expo, held at the Convention Center there. (Pic left, Broad Street entrance.)

My wife and I decided to travel on to New York for two and a half days after, to take a mini-vacation.

My wife had never been to New York, and I had never been back since 1980 when I worked for Paris Sport in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey, and was located just 7 miles from NYC, just over the George Washington Bridge.

Philadelphia is a very nice city that I would like to visit again and spend more time there. It seems they have a great bike culture. It was a pleasure to see bikes mingling with motorized traffic in what appeared to be a somewhat orderly and cooperative fashion. Not too much honking and yelling that I witnessed.

My previous memories of Philadelphia was from 1980 when I rode my last bike race there. I had come from England the year before, where bike races where a safe and friendly social event that combined fun and exercise for riders of all levels.

I found in the US, at Category 4 level anyway, people had no clue what racing was about and thought that bike racing was a contact sport like football. People were actually trying to knock me off my bike. In my mid-forties I realized I was not going to make it back up to Cat 1 or 2 again, and US style Criterium racing was not for me. I hung up my racing wheels and concentrated on building bikes from then on.

I gave a talk at Noon on Saturday (Pic above.) with a somewhat tongue-in-cheek title of, “The Bicycle: Evolution or Intelligent Design.” I had what I thought was a pretty good size and attentive audience. I will have to write about the content of my talk in a later article, as this one is about the actual trip.

I got to meet Bike Snob NYC, who gave a talk on Sunday. We had corresponded by email before but never met. I envy this young man for his ability to poke fun at the cycling culture with impunity. When I try to do it I get blasted as a retro-grouch or a curmudgeon.

Rant alert: For me cycling is fun. For that matter life is fun, and I find too many people take both way too serious. The bicycle is one of the simplest and yet most efficient machines that mankind has ever built. You push one pedal down, and the other side comes up. The further you stray beyond that concept, the more you stray into the realms of bull-shit. Just ride the damn bike, lighten the fuck up, and don’t over think it or get too technical. (End of rant.)

On Monday we traveled to New York, and that evening took the subway over to Brooklyn to meet with Patrick Gilmour. Patrick is an Irishman, and a few weeks ago was walking by Teddy’s, a quaint old bar that dates back to the late 1800s. Parked outside was a ‘dave moulton’ track bike. Patrick, being a regular reader of this blog, and owner of a Fuso, thought, “There’s something you don’t see every day.”

He snapped a few pictures and emailed them to me, and I posted them here. Later he found out the bike belonged to “Fast Eddie” Williams  something of a legend among New York bike messengers. Eddie started as a messenger back in 1983. Incidentally the year I built his track frame.

On Monday I got to meet Fast Eddie. (Picture above.) At least 6’ 6” tall this 61 centimeter frame fitted him as if I had built it for him. He had bought the frame at a swap meet back in 1998. He knew nothing of its history or about me for that matter, but knew enough to see this was a quality frame. He also knew enough that it was worth the $700 he paid for it, and built it up with Campagnolo Super Record components.

Eddie had questions like, ”Why is this bike so fast?” I explained that it was designed and built to be raced on the track. Its slightly steeper angles and tighter fork rake made it handle quicker. A track rider has no brakes and relies on fast reactions to get out of trouble and to change direction quickly in a sudden attack.

Built in Columbus PS (Pista Sprint.) Tubing, much thicker and heavier that other Columbus tube sets. Not a particularly light frame it would be extremely responsive when its rider makes a sudden effort.

Whilst I would not recommend that people ride brakeless on the streets of New York, I can see where this particular bike is a perfect match for Fast Eddie operating as a bike messenger. With the physical ability to ride at the speed of motorized traffic, he relied on fast reflexes, acceleration and maneuverability to stay out of trouble rather than stopping power, much like a track rider.

On Tuesday evening I met with Alpheus Clendening who took me to his home in Queens, NY. Alpheus has a pretty unique collection of five frames and bikes I built. He has a 1983, 57cm custom ‘dave mouton’ bike that was originally built as a showpiece for “Buds Bike Store” in Claremont, CA. It has a very special paint job, which involved a lot of painstaking masking, and striping with auto striping tape that was subsequently “Buried” under 10 clear coats, then sanded and re-cleared again to ensure a smooth finish. (Pictured above.) This paint finish later inspired the Fuso decal design.

Alpheus owns a 1990 Fuso, Columbus Max frame. This was another showpiece that was built for the Interbike Show. It was featured on a poster, a copy of which I have hanging over my desk. (Above.) My copy is signed by Antonio Columbo, (Son of the Columbus founder.) And Valentino Campagnolo. (Son of Tulio Campagnolo.) Right after the 1990 Interbike Show the bike was sold and I never saw it again until last Tuesday evening. The frame is currently stripped down for a rebuild, pictured below with me holding it.

Others in the collection are a 1987 30th. Anniversary model Fuso Lux frame in mint condition. Red and Yellow fade paint. (Picture below.) Another is a first year production Fuso bike with a two-tone blue finish, one of the original four different color schemes offered.

The final bike is an extremely rare Fuso Mixte, ladies model. One of a kind originally built for a friend in trade for decals and brochures printed by their company. (Picture below.)

In addition to the Alpheus Clendening collection, his brother Daniel has a 1st, Generation Fuso bike that is also a 3 digit early first year production model. I would have liked to hook up with the other owners of my frames in the New York area, but there was not time in this brief visit. Maybe next time. As it was, for me, two very memorable evenings spent with some pretty special people.

Finally in writing this piece I am once more amazed by things that occur in life by coincidence. In February 1983 I built a total of nine custom frames that month. The first was the showpiece one that Alpheus has in his collection. The second is a frame owned by original owner Chuck Schmidt, of Pasadina, CA. A picture of this bike adorns the cover of my new book. I knew these two frames were twins, built on the same jig setting. 

What I didn’t realize until I wrote this article, was that the number 3 frame that I built in February 1983 was the track frame that Fast Eddie now owns. That just blows me away. Am I in the Twilight Zone?

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