My First Build: The Micheal Delaney Rampar

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Like all great things, it started with a small idea, something very innocent. We all know how those go, so here's my submission: The Micheal Delaney Rampar.

My father-in-law (who rat-rods steam powered boats 8) ) found me this Rampar mystery bike. It's also shown in Bike ID since I can't find anything on it on the interwebs.

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Anyhow, the bones looked very good, it just wasn't very well taken care of. Hands down one of the cruddiest bike I had ever seen.

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So I got to taking apart and cleaning. And cleaning. And cleaned some more. BTW, a 48 hour soak in Spray Nine will do a good job of loosening up any dried varnished grease. Check out what it did to the hubs!!

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The hubs were each completely redone and repacked. The Bottom Bracket bearings weren't so lucky.

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They were shot. So was the chain. Had to use a hacksaw to take it off.
Buying new bike parts has been a learning experience for me. For example: make sure you have every fraking measurement possible before you buy! Do you have any idea how many 1" threaded headset variations there are??? The one I bought ended having to great a stack height and couldn't use it. Darn good thing I had kept the original! Onward....

So I figured with the trick front fork and distinctive frame, I'd be going "muscle bike", but I needed a more precise theme in there. I immediately drifted to Mr. Cool - Steve McQueen. From there, the vision led me like a blind man.

Rebuilt the wheels with fresh 12 ga. spokes (first time lacing wheels!) with bends a little too long to leave alone with no spacer, so I used #6 nuts to make them look like 3-piece rims. And the tires? Nice 2.1"s:

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Advice for new wheel builders: Even though it appears a third of the spokes need to be adjusted for long wobbles, start with only 2 or 3 centred on the wobble - the key ones tend to bring others with them that don't really need adjusting. Moving forward...

Micheal Delaney is Steve McQueen's character in the classic racing flick "Le Mans", and he drives a (actually 2) Porsche 917 in my favorite livery, the Gulf Oil blue and orange. I did not dare put a number plate on it. Those who have seen the movie should understand :wink:

For paint, I used Rustoleum Carribean Blue and Real Orange. Those aren't the TRUE tints for the Gulf livery, but I think it's a good modern interpretation. And more importantly, I think it looks killer. I also learned how to do wet-on-wet spray painting. The fork and trim parts were painted gloss black for a good contrast.

So, to wrap this one up, I had a fun time, some frustrating times, some head scratching time, and now, I have pride time as I ride my new bike around town with the girls (and on my own) and catch other kids silently gawking at my ride! That part does NOT get old. Here it is - The Micheal Delaney! 8)

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Thank to those who soldiered through my long-winded diary, and hope you like it. This project has bitten me like a bug, and I've caught the ratting fever. In fact I'm almost done my 2nd build already. Stay tuned!
 
Thanks guys!

If you make a fork like that, throw in more trail: the bike absolutely hates going slow! The front end is all over the place, and the headset is fine. Then again, it may be the Steve McQueen in it.......
Left out a few interesting facts in my diary post:
- Original Schurmann rims from West Germany, 20 x 2.125 (kept those!!)
- Original Union pedals, but stamped "made in W Germany" around the spindle. They're a little loose and may change them.

Odd, really, when you consider the bike was made in Canada... More coolness for me! Achtung! :roll:
 
Rampar bikes have a tie-in with Raleigh; they were a
budget line for Raleigh and Taiwanese made, at least in the case
of the one I had, which was 3 speed Roadster.

Looks good!
 

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