The DUO-MA-TIKI

[Lucky13]

Since the frame that I was gonna use for a chopper project has been stolen right out of my backyard, I will start a new project that I have in mind for a long time now.
The AUTO-MA-TIKI
(or DUO-MA-TIKI, depending on which hub I can get)
I'm trying to get a Sachs Torpedo 2 speed automatic hub. Since they are hard to find and everything but cheap I would also be satisfied with a Sachs Torpedo Duomatic (change between 1st and 2nd gear by slightly kicking the coaster brake). On both hubs I like the fact that you don't need shifter and/or wiring so you have the clean look of a single speed coaster hub.
The bike will, as you might already have guessed, feature the Tiki-style. I got pretty much inspiration from the Sneeky-Tiki (I will use some twine rope as well).
I still have an old frame from this bike:

It's a 26" no name cheapo that I won on eBay back then. I'll stick to the 26" rims, paint them black and dress them in some nice 2.25" whitewalls.
The paint job has seen it's best days and so the frame will be sanded down to bare metal, I'll do my best to also sand the welds to be smooth and nice.
I still have a springer fork that hasn't seen that much rust yet and a big apehanger. A Tiki-style antenna topper is all that's left from my very first car and might also find it's place on the bike.
I'm not sure if I shall spray the frame in metalic green (Plasti-Cote rattle can, has a nice baby-flake like effect) or black with a metalic green flame job.
Another thing I'm note sure of are fenders. They are not pretty but pretty usefull.
Today I will stip down the frame and bring it to my garage so that I can start working on it on wednesday (or, if my date doesn't work out fine, even tomorrow) and have it ready painted after the weekend.

[cman]

This will be cool. Those hubs are cool. The automatic would be cool. This guy has NOS hubs in both styles. $$$$$ though

http://hubstripping.wordpress.com/fs-torpedo-automatic/
If you are interested in a Torpedo DUOMATIC or AUTOMATIC hub please contact me:

pizzaman_karlsruhe@gmxdotde

The price for one hub is 100,- Euro.

A hub includes a new 36 hole DUOMATIC / AUTOMATIC hub with a original F&S 19 teeth dished sprocket, two nuts, spacer ring (to optimize the chainline), snap ring and a protection cap. See picture for all the mentioned parts.

[Pawel]

subscribing to this cant wait to see progress.

[Lucky13]

Today I got an offer for an automatic hub for 60€. that's ok but I'm watching a duomatic hub on ebay so I'm not sure of which one to take.
I just started sanding down the old paint. I hate sanding... and now I remember why I got the frame so cheap back then. I had to use loads of bondo because the frame had lots of dents. I still have some spots left to sand but for today I'm fine with what I accomplished.
I also tried out the spray paint from Plasti-Kote on the headlight:

click thumbnail for larger image
I like it

[Lucky13]

I did a lot of sanding today, primered the whole frame and noticed that there is still sanding to do... I guess I'll be through with the sanding tomorrow and can lay the 1st coat of paint on the frame. I'll take some pictures of the ready sanded and primered frame tomorrow.

[Lucky13]

uh, been a long time since I was last able to spend my time with building bikes. My job took almost all of my time, my gf took the rest
Now things are going a little bit easier at work and I'll continue/restart the work on the Duo-ma-Tiki.
Last week I got the duomatic hub on eBay for ~50€. I also got new rims in 26" as well as a new frame

It's a Dyno Glide copy cat and I just love the shape. I bought it from a member of a german cruiser forum (http://www.tretharley.de) and he made me a real good price. The old frame was that full of bondo that it would take weeks to get it in shape.
It still got some layers of old paint on it. Unfortunatelly, the spray paint that I wanted to use (see picture of the lamp above) seems to be not available any more. I'm trying to get it directly from the manufacturer but just in case I will have to use a different paint, I will go for viper-met. as seen on the '08 VW Scirocco for base coat and flake it with Lil' Daddy Roth's Gang Green Baby flakes. To be honest I really really hope that I can get that spray paint somehow, never used real metal flakes before
I should clean up my garage next week to have enough room for painting.
Right now I will disassemble the hub and clean it, I guess the 30 yrs old grease isn't that good any more.

[Lucky13]

I was able to spend some time now and then to continue.
so I figured out a way to install a wooden panel the strapless way. Neither will I have to modify the frame by welding or drilling.
I asked someone to build me some kind of bridges for the two slim tubes in the tank section.
here's a sketch, only done in paint but will show what I'm talking about:


and this is what all pieces look like:





the small bolts will be glued into holes in the bottom of the panel and the small screws will press onto these bolts, keeping the panel in its place.



I also painted the rims and clearcoated them.



I decided to go with a 3 leading 3 trailing lacing to get a more customized look.


before and after centering

next I took the fork and some twine rope, this is the result:



the next thing on top of my to do list is cutting out the wood panel and having the frame ready to be primered and painted. I already got the flakes (Lil Daddy Roth Lime Squeezer) and know which paint I'm gonna use (VW Scirocco Viper green metallic).

[OUTLAW]

i like the new frame better. what color did you use on the rims? this will be a very kool bike.

Outlaw

[insomniacshotrods]

Looking great ,I love metalflake and would love to learn how to paint better with it..Oriellys sells a prizm metal flake in a can for 20 bucks and i bought some and sprayed on a black tank and it was really beautiful looked like a rainbow with the sun shinning on it.

[Lucky13]

i like the new frame better. what color did you use on the rims? this will be a very kool bike.

Outlaw

it's bronze out of the rattle can. I primered with aluminum primer, applied two coats of bronze and clearcoated it three times. should be enough

[buzzy]

looking good you will most likley finish yours before me

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=12124

[Lucky13]

I'm not too sure about that... I still need to have the frame sandblasted, then primer it it finally I need to paint and flake... so that's gonna take quite a while...

[Gold Street Customs]

Those wheels are the cats meow, I need to try that sometime (when I'm brave) I am looking forward to this build.

[elvis51]

dude post up some tutorial type things about how to get my wheels like that!

Easy E

[Lucky13]

well, that's pretty easy, I'll gladly do a tutorial about that...
I'll take some pics when lacing the rear wheel. It still need's two coats of clear so that might take another two days.

Today I made a stencil out of cardboard for the wood panel and transfered it onto a piece of wood. After cutting it out I noticed that the stencil wasn't too good so I'm gonna use the first try to make a better stencil since I was able to see where I had to add a millimeter or two.