Hot Rod Girl, DONE!

[onelesspedestrian]

I've been trying to figure out what I will build since the build-off email was sent out... I was hesitant to do a ladies frame, since I am also doing another one at the moment for my girlfriend, and I wasn't sure how ratty I could get with it. My other option was a high end alloy 90's Trek MTB frame that I found in my alley, but I did some mockups, and it still reeked of MTB. I also have a sweet Norco touring frame, but I just don't see it as rat material. well, it could be, but I have other plans for that one.

After a lot of pondering, I think I have some ideas that will make this thing cool. She won't be the type of girl you want to bring home to show mom. I'm gonna put a bunch of holes in it. Drillium! the hot rodder's secret weapon! add a little bare metal, pinstripes, and possibly a burlesque/pinup influence, and it will be... The Hot Rod Girl



Please note, the picture is from a couple moths ago, I took to send to a friend who said she wanted it, but it turns out she doesn't, so here it is in the build-off.

[N8NBOX]

really digging all of the ladies bikes getting built...used to seeing people just trash them for parts so nice to see them getting some love. And always two thumbs up for anything pin-up related

[OUTLAW]

ohlala, another Lady to join the pack.make her badd, make her sweet, we are going to spank the little boy fleet. oh yeah. the Lady's rule.

Outlaw

[icyuod2]

always good to see another canadian bike in the fleet, love those ccm sprockets.

[herr_rudolf]

Love the bikestand ;-)

Good luck with the build. Girlybikes do can look mighty fine!

[Singlespeed92]

ohlala, another Lady to join the pack.make her badd, make her sweet, we are going to spank the little boy fleet. oh yeah. the Lady's rule.

Outlaw

Seconded! Can't wait to see her! LOL,and I was-at first-a little taken back to build a lady's bike for my first build,I'm really glad to see my support group ( ) on here! G'd luck!

[onelesspedestrian]

a few more pictures before tear down... (dim garage + cell phone = crappy pics)





after a little work with a 3M disc, to get a feel for the bare metal look, the first mockup:



I need to curve the fork to get it down to that point. I put the 24 on (the stock fork) for a test spin before tearing it apart, and it rode good, maybe better than before, so think bringing it down a little more will be ok. Not sure yet what I want to do on the bars, but I do want to put a stick shift on somehow, and I think it would be cool for that to be the tallest part. Having said that, I think a set of small apes would look good. I have been thinking more of a wide swept back bar though.

[onelesspedestrian]

I threw the front wheel off my singlespeed on here to get a better idea of proportions. I am going to get some wide whites for it, so the final tires will be a bit smaller, but this is a better idea than the previous mockup. My brother said he will give me a DX-32 rim for the back, since I want to bulge the tire like crazy (it's quite a wide rim). this pic shows with the triple clamp fork crown I might use, but I am still leaning towards the re-curved original. for what it's worth, I'm still at $0 for this build.

[N8NBOX]

looks like a nice $0 to me

[onelesspedestrian]

I decided to go with a "stock" fork, as opposed to the triple clamp style I was also considering. I want kind of a big n' littles thing going on, and the crown and large tubes (1 1/8") would have added too much bulk to the front. I set to figuring out how to bend the stocker to set the crown near the 24" wheel...



here is my first attempt... which failed miserably. the clamps just slid open, and even if they had held, it probably would have pulled my threshold off the door... my garage is ghetto.

I had these gratings lying around, which covered my oil change pit. they are made of 2"-ish heavy tubing, spaced about the same apart. I stuck the fork in there and put my weight on it. I had to bounce pretty good with my whole weight out on the steerer to move it at all! Unfortunately, once it did move, it caved in the tubing a little bit. Now I'm frustrated, which is why I didn't take any pics of this. all in a fuss, I stripped another 26" fork off another bike, and had at it again. this one had smaller diameter tube, so I figured it would bend better without kinking, which turned out to be true. it also has nicer dropouts. the original fork also had a cracked steerer up where the washer rides on a flat, so there was the potential that I would have always had headset trouble with that one anyways. I will go back out and take a pic of the setup I used to bend,later, now that I'm not all upset about it.

here are a couple pics with the new fork:





as you may also notice, I found a better bar setup. I pulled a steel negative rise stem from an old 10 speed, and used bars with a bit more sweep, to give a bit sleeker look like I want. I may splice in some more material in the centre to widen them out a bit, they are still only 21" wide even with the grips dangling off the end like this. The fender shown is off the same bike as the fork (Sears 3-speed with 26 x 1 3/8 wheels) I kind of like how it doesn't quite cover the rear tire, making the tire look bigger.

[KOTA]

Don't know if this will help ya in the future............I've ruined my share.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9254&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

[karfer67]

that is sick love the bent fork. i know there are a few on here that do those style forks but i always wonder how they hold up putting such a bend in the metal? i dig the bike well done

[OUTLAW]

oh yeah, luv that look. get that Lady down to the ground. lookin good.

Outlaw

[herr_rudolf]

Whoa! That bent fork makes the bike look way cool...
I know some of you guys around here have done this succesfully, but aren't ya afraid it wont hold up..? In my life I've witnessed two accidents caused by breaking frontforks, resulting in broken off front teeth... (No stunts, just commuting) I have two bent forks that I'm hessitant about to bending em back to it's original configuration. Should I? Ah wait, I'll look it up in the 'How to'-section.

Keep up the good work. The lines on your bike are great.

[KOTA]

If you have a "radical" bend, and you're worried about a failure, make a truss rod system....NOT one just for decoration. I used 5/16 cold rolled steel bar, with a 1/4 inch hardened steel washer and grade 8 hardware to make the one below. the rods are welded to the washer on top, then an acorn nut is welded to the other end, to attach to the fork at a fender mounting hole. The thing with these forks is the negative trail you create. It changes the handling of the bike so drastically, you have to learn to ride, almost, all over again............The only way to explain.....When you turn the bars to go LEFT, the frame actually tries to go RIGHT............Once you get used to it, not to bad at all......NOT for everybody though! Be safe! Because these CAN be dangerous.



Forgot to mention....NOW would be the time to check for pedal clearance. I used 6 inch cranks, gave me 2 inches of clearance.