"Old Soul Young Blood"

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Hows it going guys this is my first ever RRB build and I couldn't be more excited. It all started with a electra cruiser 1 I got off CL for $50. I've always liked the stretched frame look and quality of electra bikes.



I sadly didn't take pics of the next part of the build but I sanded the entire frame, painted it a duplicolor charcoal then cleared it, added origin 8 pedals, made a tank plate out of birch and I stained it with minewax, I bought a springer fork but electra's have HUGE headset so I got it custom lengthened by cutting it open adding a chopped bmx handlebar and it fit perfectly between the chopped fork. I went and got it welded and it worked great. I added some pista bars and cork handlebar tape all held on by a vintage bianchi stem. I loved how it came out.




Added some small bell LED lights and decided to get artsy fartsy with the pics




I liked it but got bored and went FULL 180 into a vintage styled electra starting with sanding the painted frame to add a rat rod look. Made my own formula to rust the exposed metal quickly. I then took my tank plate burned the stain and wood and sanded it to made it look super beat. No more nice grain :eek:This is were she started to become and old soul but with young blood :cool2:
 


Found an old guide headlight on fleabay. Scuffed her up a bit cleared with a matte clear and tinted the headlight for a more vintage look. Don't know why it came out sideways though lol
 

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I had a small rivet seat but it was too new for my bike so I scored a old vintage brooks off letgo for $20.
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It was intensly dry though and not having proofhide at the time I used shoe polish. It sort of conditioned it but apparently not enough because of my first ride it ripped clean through :20:

Hey no crying over spilled milk so I made lemonade out of lemons and sticthed her up with an old shoelace and it's my favorite part of the bike now. It oozes character haha. I got my proofhide shortly after this in the mail :headbang: :21:
But I love my frankensteined brooks
 
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As you could see I stripped my custom layback seatpost down to the metal then sprayed it with my rust formula and cleared over it. I LOVE the look.
 
I remember seeing this bike on the RRB facebook page. Really like the vibe, and the added touches, or rather 'subtracted touches' you have made! :wink1:
 
Decided to wire up my lights as well so they don't just look pretty. Got an 8 pack aa holder along with a soldering iron, wires and connections, also threw on a little toggle switch. The guide was a sealed glass headlight so I was scared the battery pack wouldn't fit but its so large that even with the bulb in the battery pack still fit in the casing.

%5BURL=http://ratrodbikes.com/forum/index.php?media/img_7415-1.677/] [/URL]

The rear bullet light was a headlight I disassembled. Removed the led light and squished in a rear led tailight I had sitting around. Wired to a 9 volt along with anther toggle switch and they both work :eek:
%5BURL=http://ratrodbikes.com/forum/index.php?media/img_7420-1.678/] [/URL]
 
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This bike is far from done and I've been working on it about a week before the build started but due to some technical issues I couldn't post the build up. Now I can so I'm taking full advantage of it. Not done yet still have a lot to go so stay tuned. I'm posting what I've done since te build started so if it seems like I'm going fast or it's done it's not it's just I wasn't able to domcunent it as it's happened
 
Hey guys so I finally have free time to update you guys on my build. I recently got my order for my beautiful schwalbe creme fat franks and they changed the look of my bike. I couldn't wait to get them installed and once I did they rode amazing. As you also saw my poor brooks suffered a rip and it got alot worse. A chunk literally fell off, I once again stitched her up and proofhided the heck out of it and ive been riding it with no issues. I love my skeletonized brooks and its really comfortable.







 
It was a nice rainy day yesterday so decided to do some indoor work.

So I overhauled my front and rear axles including my coaster brake as well as my crank. I think I ended up putting too much grease though because I had more rolling resistance but after a couple of miles I was good to go.

Also had to take a break to eat some AMAZING quesadillas with handmade tortillas and salsa my mom cooked. :rockout:

 
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I recently had a convo with the guys over with the guys on the RRB FB page about my created rust. It has eaten through my clearcoat and when I ran my hand down my forks or seatpost I had alot of rust on my fingers. After looking through various forums and asking around I came to the conclusion that I would use boiled linseed oil to seal the rust. I put some on and used the hairdryer to rush it a bit. Its pretty dry to the touch and no rust on the fingers so for now I'm good to go. Only time will tell but I'm happy. Plus it also returned the rich rust color no longer matte.
Here's the rusted forks after applying the linseed oil.
 
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Excited for tomorrow. There's a bike swap meet going on by my house so hopefully I score some nice vintage parts for cheap. I'm also waiting for my hairpin saddle to come in the mail but now IDK if I want to replace my awesome looking brooks. Also waiting for a leather saddle bag.
 
Ah, a fellow Electra builder......nice build! We had the same problem regarding the length of the steering tube and solved it the same way!
Yes sir haha I bought my new springer fork and when I realized the headset length was ridiculously crazy I was sorta bummed out. But I fabbed that up and it works great after some smoothing down the welds with a grinder haha. Great minds think alike brother.
 
I picked up some awesome parts at the bike swap meet. Got a different crank with smaller pedal arms and transferred my sprocket over. Also found some old schwinn super rusty pedals.

And lastly some killer small bike mufflers I love. I can't wait to change the look of them and rust them a bit.
 
Goose, your swap meet looks like it was a success. Nice finds! I have one of those bicycle mufflers in my stash from a meet as well. They look good on your build!

Can we get a look at a full bike shot, or is that for a forthcoming 'reveal'...?! :grin:

Also, if you click on 'Upload a File' at the bottom of your post, then double click on which ever photo you want to add from your phone or desk or laptop, then select Full Image to insert into the post, we will be able to click on the image and see an enlarged version of the photo.

Looking forward to your progress!
 

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