Bottecchia rebuild, part 1...

Now back from my week out of town and I could not wait to get on with the rebuild. Step one, disassembling, came easily enough. I removed all components in order to make attacking the rust on the frame easier, as well as cleaning up any of the components I intend to keep. Might as well start at the front and work my way back, as good a plan as any I suppose, so off came the fork and headset. These had a ton of old lube on them which had become sticky with age. A little citrus degreaser took care of the problem, and shined the headset up like new. There are no identifying marks on the headset so I do not know who the manufacturer is, but since it cleaned up so well and there are no pits in the races I might as well keep it for the time being. It has been more than a few years since I last had to deal with loose bearings and their cages; one bearing got away from me and I had to spend several frantic minutes on hands and knees searching the garage floor for it. All's well that ends well, and here are a few pics as proof:

Next step, remove rust from the lugs around the headtube.