Pre-Build Off Practice Build?

[handyandy1100]

In the back of my mind I started formulating a build I wanted to do and when I found out about the Summer Build off I decided to hold off on the build until May. I had bought a girls bike for parts for the build but then found another I liked better. So what to do with the extra bike? Turn it into a quickie little rat bike build to get the juices going for the main event.
Started out as a Kent Bayside 7 speed cruiser, just like my wife's bike. Can't very well ride a bike that looks like the wife's now can I? Off came the fenders and other stuff. A piece of PVC pipe was JB Welded to the frame to convert it to a boy's bike. Now I'm imagineering a stick shift conversion of the grip-shift. Gonna go with a traditional flat or satin black paint job, but with blue accents instead of red. Didn't want to go through all the work to repaint the wheels red.

Here's the before...

Here's where it is as of today...

 

[handyandy1100]

Got the stick shift mostly done today. Found some 7/8" aluminum rod and drilled a hole through it on my son's lathe. Drilled a hole through the down tube, squared the hole on the left side and ran a carriage bolt through it. Slid the aluminum piece on and nutted it down. Used a conduit clamp to hold the shift lever, 5/16" all thread. Chrome toilet supply line will slip nicely over the lever when I get back to the project.

 

[handyandy1100]

Found the shift knob. Old magazine cap for a Remington shotgun! lol
Works pretty well, too. Can also get it into 7th with out interfering with the handlebars. Doubt if anyone will be turning any tighter in top gear!

 

[GuitarlCarl]

Sleeve that threaded rod with something...
But WHAT you use will make all the difference.
For that bike I'd use thin aluminum tubing to match the other standoffs and such. That's a nice conversion there framewise and shifter.

Carl.

 

[handyandy1100]

Thanks Carl.
Sleeving the all-thread was part of the plan from the beginning. A piece of chrome-plated copper toilet supply line.

 

[handyandy1100]

Got it done to the point it looks good enough to ride. Shifter works pretty well as long as you don't need to go lower than 2nd. Kinda hard to get into 1st, but then it was like that before I started messing with it.
The headlight is a solar powered landscape night light. Just mocked up for now until I figure out how I want to wire it.
Fenders are SKS Beavertails I previously chopped up for my Huffy Parkside.
I've posed the rat bike with my wife's bike which is the same model Kent Bayside she bought new last year. I gave $20 for mine used. She paid $100 new.
Still fighting the urge to use some thin aluminum diamond plate to make a tank plate and/or fill in the triangle above the bottom bracket.

The mounting bolt is still a little long. Still thinking about some kind of cover. Hopefully the acorn nut will provide some protection in an accident. LOL
I clamped the shift lever right over the rubber grip. The grip shifter is really cheap and flimsy plastic and would probably break if clamped right to it. Couldn't find any conveniently sized PVC to JB Weld on it

 

[Indyjps]

I like your shifter. I used golf club shaft for one, grab them used for a buck or two and cut up as needed. Toilet supply line is a good idea.