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Well, the one thing I was most worried about happened. The locknut is seized in place and refuses to budge. There is only one solution to this problem. FIYAH!!
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Ha ha! in the first above photo I thought the handlebars were some kind of funky exhaust from the bike in the background!


Nice little stable there.
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Thanks! I sold off most of my custom bikes a few years ago and now I'm trying to build up a new fleet
 
Here she is in the most current condition. I've been hitting every nut and bolt with PB Blaster to make sure disassembly goes easy. Going to strip her down to her bare bones for the next phase of the project. Most of the chrome is shot, but I want to see if the fenders will clean up even just a littleView attachment 263856View attachment 263857View attachment 263858View attachment 263859View attachment 263860View attachment 263861View attachment 263862


Put those fenders in an OA bath. You'll be amazed at how much they will clean up!


Here's proof!
Before:
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After:
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After a few hours of effort, SUCCESS!

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Thankfully the steer tube isn't damaged, it's just the fork legs that need to be straightened. I was worried that the bike may have been run over with something and there was a bunch of hidden damage. Looks like the worst of the damage is needing a new locknut and bearings. Got most of the rest of the bike stripped down today. Tested the horn, but sadly it doesn't work anymore☹️
 
From a shop in Germany to my front door in Michigan in less than a week. The shipping costs a ton, but they always have what I want in stock and get it to me super quick
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Got most of the bike stripped down last night but forgot pics
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Came for the distopia, stayed for the rave. 🤣

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A Gazelle front sprocket! U selling? :grin:

I enjoy the sightings so far @LeMad Hatter and another Evans fork :heart:
There is a bike builder on instagram: vitalikkapchinsky who is building a cyberpunk style bicycle. Really like that style and I personally never explored that, so I'll be following this build!

-edit- Here, a screenshot:
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I really appreciate everyone's support for the direction I'm taking this build. I thought for sure I was going to anger the bike gods for defiling such an iconic bike. I'm finally going to get some stuff done on it this weekend. I've been working 12 hour shifts most of this week trying to get a high priority system built and shipped for Tesla.
 
I really appreciate everyone's support for the direction I'm taking this build. I thought for sure I was going to anger the bike gods for defiling such an iconic bike. I'm finally going to get some stuff done on it this weekend. I've been working 12 hour shifts most of this week trying to get a high priority system built and shipped for Tesla.
I'll admit, part of me cringed a little to see you modify such an intact survivor, especially with all the cool graphics, but at the same time, I'm far more curious to see how you'd make this a cyberpunk bike. Heck, I've been itching to do a cyberpunk-themed bike with a ton of LEDs at some point, so I'm excited to see how you build yours! Besides, I'm no stranger to rubbing the purists the wrong way myself. ;) I had ruffled more than a few feathers when I told folks I was going to modify this Columbia/Western Flyer Newsboy Special, but that only added fuel to the fire!
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Go for it dude! Build that Evans Colson the way you want! Don't let anyone else hold you back!
 
I really appreciate everyone's support for the direction I'm taking this build. I thought for sure I was going to anger the bike gods for defiling such an iconic bike. I'm finally going to get some stuff done on it this weekend. I've been working 12 hour shifts most of this week trying to get a high priority system built and shipped for Tesla.

I'm a purist in the sense that I couldn't part out a complete original. However, when the paint is roached, and it's not a color you are keeping for patina, why not rock a custom?

I happened to keep the patina on this Evans because the red and cream looked gorgeous!

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I have wanted to do a bare metal bike, with yellow pins and a yellow seat, for a loooong time.

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Sold this bare metal Murray before I got the chance to try the yellow detailing.

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That Evans would look INSANE in bare metal with LED highlights!
 
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I'm melting! MELTING! Whodathunkit that dollar tree oven cleaner is more effective at paint removal than most paint stripping agents? This has only been on there for about 5 minutes and it removed just about all of the paint. Best of all, because the oven cleaner is non acidic and I'm using a soft cloth to clean it up, all of the original patina is still intact. This makes me super anxious to see what the rest of the bike looks like in raw steel
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I'm melting! MELTING! Whodathunkit that dollar tree oven cleaner is more effective at paint removal than most paint stripping agents
That worked really well. I love seeing the brass joints. Could you show the can do we know what you used?
 
No issues with modding a classic but hope you are able to incorporate the rack somehow. Really sets it off to my eye anyway. Can’t wait to see what goes on with them fat hoops!
 

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