Dad's Vibe

[RatRodDad]

Okay, it's do or die time. Down to the last couple of days so I need to get 'er done.

Here's a shot of my spray booth ...



Hopefully the parts will be dry by tomorrow and I can begin bolting things together.

I have a few options on handlebars, seats, etc., so we'll see what I end up using when it's done.

[aka_locojoe]

I'd been wondering where you were. That color combo oughta be cool.

[RatRodDad]

Thanks, Randy. I used some of that latex based paint on the lighter blue parts and I hope that turns out okay. It was messy as heck - dripping off of the parts and overspray hitting all over the grass below while I was spraying it. I won't ever use that stuff again.

I've been spending most of the time playing around with my brother and his bike frame strecthing ventures. He even got carried away and built himself a jig to hold things in place so he could keep them lined up for welding. So it's been fun watching what he builds and I ended up with 2 of the bikes so far.

So I just kept putting off working on the Vibe and just doing a little on it here and there when I had time. I thought I better get after it, though, or miss the boat.

So it may end up just a nice bike with nothing special - but at least it will be one rescued from the scrap yard.

[RatRodDad]

The paint was dry so it's time to begin putting the Huffy back together again.

Here's a shot of the first pass at putting it back together.




I tried a couple of options on the seat and also the handlebars and opted for this combination.




I put a new chain on and took it for a ride. Rides about like you would expect for a cruiser with ape hangers, haha.

I took a look at either putting on the chainguard - since it matches the front fork - or leaving it off. Here's how it looks each way.

I think I'm leaning towards leaving it off, though.






So the bike is pretty much done - in time for the deadline - and I just need to find some creative place to take a few shots of the finished product and then post those.

After the RRBBO is done I will probably go back and paint the forks a dark blue - my original plan, and also the chainguard. I may like the chainguard on it if it was darker.

[RatRodDad]

Okay, last of the build photos.

I decided I would like a dark blue fork and chaingurad instead of the lighter blue, so I got back into painting mode today.

Here are some shots with the darker blue.

I think the darker blue chainguard looks okay now, but I will probably keep it old school and leave it off. I can always put it on later if I decide I want it on.






Be sure to check out my "finished" pictures.

[ej599]

Thats my kind of bike. Stripped down, simple and rideable. very kool.

[Rat Rod]

This has turned out to be a very cool bike...I really like the color combo too.

Notice that my Dad is starting to see a nasty build up in his garage...he he.

Anyone recognize that DelSol in the background.

[Schwinnspastic]

its like 1972 all over huffy must have made that same bike for 20 yrs with very few changes, my paper route bike was that bike and I
painted it royal blue in '72 some fun times back then and lots of miles on the huffy...some things never change, I like it !

Mark

[RatRodDad]

Thanks EJ, Mark, and RR.

It was fun to take it from a rusting mess to something that looks fairly decent and rides pretty good.

I'm still not totally crazy about the paint scheme. I may end up painting the frame dark blue like the forks - or maybe painting the forks the same color as the frame. I thought a two tone paint scheme would look good but the paint colors were so close together that it wasn't exactly what I wanted.

So even though the official build is done, my changes to this one may not be done. We'll see.

[aka_locojoe]

Looks good as is but if you're still not quite happy... You could paint the front section (headtube & part of top & down tube) same as the fork. You could also paint the rims that light blue.

[RatRodDad]

Randy, based on my street rod days my first inclination was to paint the neck and front part of the frame tubes yellow. Maybe in a scallop design.

I also considered painting the entire frame the dark blue color that I used on the forks - and then hit the front end with yellow.

Actually, a yellow neck flowing back into yellow flames on the frame would be the best - but I'm not sure if I could tape off and paint any decent flames.

So there are lots of possibilities for changing it up and maybe I will try some of them at some point. It's a good testing ground.

[CCR]

at hobby lobby in the model car/train/airplane section they had some really cool flame stickers for maskin flames onto models with, might be just the thing, of course their small scale but looked to be perfect for a top tube or 4 !!

[RatRodDad]

Thanks, CCR. I will try to check those out sometime. You never know what you might want to throw some flames on.