Re: Skip find gold, in a very retro style, and a few questions.

bookieb said:

The, neighbours across the road were having a bit of a garden clear
out, and had hired a skip.
The night before last, I saw somthing suspiciously resembling a saddle
sticking over the side.
I went into full magpie mode, and and saw were several bikes in there.
Asked the neigbour, and he said go on ahead, take whatever I wanted.

Four bikes in total:
- Two Raleigh 20" wheeled kids "mountain bikes" - now tucked away in
the shed with a vague plan to build a trailer.
- A Townsend ladies "mountain bikes" - old, bit of surface rust, bit
mossy and dirty, largely made of gorgonzola, but essentially sound - to
become a "lock it at the station" hack for SWMBO.
- A Giant Track MTB, "triple-butted cromoly frame".

Delighted with the Giant - I remeber looking through the Giant
catalogue while in school (15+ years ago), and lusting after this bike
and it's ilk, and being massively dissatisfied with my own Raleigh
Mustang "gas-pipe special". General retro-inspired, childhood dream
fulfilled at last, happiness!

It's got a full Suntour [1] X-1 21 spd. groupset (including all of
the bits normally skimped on, eg headset, hubs and bottom bracket are
all X-1), and featuring the rare Suntour "under bar, clicky-button"
AccuShift shifters.
It's about the right frame size (18"-19" frame) for me (6'1"😉, and
features such interesting things as a:
- 1" headset, and a stem that can be raised and lowered! [1]
- somthing called a "freewheel" instead of a freehub. [1]
- Seperate brake levers and shifters. [1]
- Decent wheels (true, tight spokes, cleanAraya rims)

I'll be stripping the whole bike down for a complete service (full new
new set of cables and bearings, new pair of slicks).
There's a bit of surface rust on the bars and stem, and the front fork,
and the tires are a bit perished where they were flat when the bike was
left standing. Good paint, apparently original tyres, no indication of
anything but light use (except perhaps the fork - see below). Only
thing missing is the wheel skewers - neighbour had unscrewed them to
take the wheels off to chuck it in the skip, and I couldn't lay my
hands on them in the amidst all the rubbish is the bottom of the skip.

Anyway, a couple of questions:

Can anyone date the bike, based on model and groupset? My best guess
is late eighties/early ninties. I think Suntour died off if 1990,
BICBW.

The fork is a chromed steel number, and doesn't have any decals.
Anyone remember this model of bike, or could suggest a way to tell if
this is the original fork or a replacment?

The fork appears to be surface rusted only - I'll give it a good
inspection to check it's safe while I'm servicing the headset, but has
anyone any idea what to do with the pitted chrome? I don't fancy
getting it rechromed (especially if it's not original, but in any case,
it'd probably cheaper just to buy another one), so can it be painted?
What's the best way to prepare old chrome for painting?

TIA for help/advice...

bookieb

[1] Ask your Grandad, sonny...