All going well I will be getting one of these exp’s and considering getting it powder coated and upgrading some or all of the components
My advice would be to get a lot of miles on it before spending any money you don't have to.
Investing in a bike as a long term project is often a good idea, the opposite is true if you decide it isn't the one.
It's an easy trap to fall into - I have two bikes that I don't really need and don't often ride, though they're both superb bikes, if I were to sell them it would be at a considerable loss compared to their value before I spent the money.
That makes sense yeah.
I thought the same things, maybe just ride it for a while first and see how it feels.
I might even like the drop bars , who knows!
One thin hmmm I’d like to deal with straight away is rust . Apparently all the tubes and stays are sealed or something (with the exception of the seat tube) so they will never rust from the inside .
But the top tube has a hole ? Drain plug thingy under the bottom bracket ) to let out any condensation/moisture
The owner of the bike showed me some video and pointed out areas of rust . There seemed to be some superficial rust down into the seat tube . The seat post was well oiled tho. I don’t know how I would deal with that 🤔
A new paint job would be nice too. I had a look on Argos racing cycles (£200+) and another couple of places . There was one you had mentioned sending your bike to get powder coated . I found them but as you mentioned they didn’t have much of a web presence . I hear you can get powder coated for less than £100 from some places ?