First build: "Church Rat"

[kchurch86]

Worked into the night lastnight, got the wheels broken down, had to cut all the spokes as some of the nipples were seized to the spokes. Did the same on a set of donor wheels I've had kicking around. Also received a sweet Komet Super from Ratfink1962 in the mail (thanks again!) and modded a round red reflector which turned out great, I'm excited about it.

Old an' grubby:



Shiny and clean:



Donor hoops from an old Trek Mountain Track 850:



Old brass nipples, I'd like to reuse these:



Scored this great leather bag from a junk collector:



As well as this great old hammer and curvy cool wrench. (These may or may not be used on the bike):



The guy had the type of garage and shed that a pack rat like myself could spend all day in, and want to take it all home.

Here's my little round reflector:









Also did some more mock ups today and finally made up my mind on the bike. Got some cutting and fabrication to do, hopefully next weekend I'll be able to get a jump on that.

Here's what I'm planning on:

Gonna cut the fenders, but keep their original pointed shape:





And I figured out a great way to mount the seat just where I want it:

[Bigdaddy772]

This is going to be one cool bike when your finished!!!

[kchurch86]

Got some real work done on the bike today, finally got to cutting! I did feel a little bad about cutting up this old classic, but you do what you gotta do.

First cut: Shortening the seat tube:



Next up was the seat post:



Then came the rear fender, just a rough cut. I shaped it later on.



I figured out the perfect way to reconfigure the seat, so I went ahead and removed the rails altogether and changed up the piece that connects the springs to each other. That connector piece will be welded to the frame truss, just above the "V" groove where the fender goes.



Here's the completed rear fender, shaped to a point just like the original (only a touch more pointy):



I also scrounged up a little chunk of aluminum that I'll be machining into something awesome at work...



...for which I also bought some more goodies. That's about it for now

[Endlesschain]

its coming along nicely

[kchurch86]

This is going to be one cool bike when your finished!!!

Thanks, I hope so!

its coming along nicely

Thank you! Now if only work would stop getting in the way and let me finish it...

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

[kchurch86]

Got more work done on the bike today. So psyched for this to be done, it's fun working on but I can't wait to go for that maiden voyage.

Drew/traced the license plate mount onto a piece of .06" 6061-T6 Aluminum sheet, don't know when I'll be able to cut it out, but the tab will be getting bent 90* and the plate will hang from the right-side rear dropout.



My sweet new headlight from Snarehead123 showed up in the mail today. I'll be doing my own LED conversion on the light and I'll mount it down low on the fork, probably off the left-hand side of the axle.



Leather bag on the bars, this will hold the battery for the lights (also decided against the stem flip, and put it back the "right" way). I'll be grounding the negative terminal to the head tube and I'll try my hardest to run the positive wire through the frame so there's no visible wire. We'll see how that goes.



Everything's better with a bottle opener! Once the frame is painted up, I'll rivet the leather straps to the frame.



Made my own "bullet" valve stem caps, using some nylon caps and some old shell casings. (FWIW, the shell casings were from my first trip out shooting with a buddy, I was shooting his Smith & Wesson .45 and on my first two shots, the casings went straight up into the air. The first one hit me on the head, the second one landed in the pit of my elbow and burned me, so I grabbed them. Finally have a fun use for them).









And, now, my personal favorite:



The old ball-peen hammer is going to serve as the front brake lever. I'll be having the Komet Super coaster brake hub from Rattfink1962 laced into the front wheel, then take a short section of chain and pin one end of it to the end of the metal bar the hammer is attached to. The chain will then go around the cog on the front hub, and the other end of the chain will be attached to an extension spring, which will be attached to the fork. I know I've seen guys here do it, and that's where I got the idea from, and I apologize but I cannot remember their names!

I went with a ball-peen hammer to pay homage to the old school chopper guys, who kept a hammer hanging on the side of their motorcycles for when an a-hole driver cut them off in traffic. Called a "Traffic Cop", I love the idea of it and I figured I'd put my own twist on it, but make it more functional as part of the bike.

I pieced it all together and propped up the tires into the frame (no wheels to set in there) and IMHO, it looks awesome. The hammer sticks far enough out to the side to still allow a good amount of clearance for steering, and it will fall just below the handlebar so reaching for it will be comfortable. I love how the rear fender and seat mounting came out, the rear end of this bike really looks menacing when it's all put together. Pretty excited for paint too, can't wait 'til I'm ready to grab the cans!

[kchurch86]

I got the LEDs for my headlight in the mail the other day, and stayed late at work to machine the piece that holds them in the headlight. It needs a little bit more work to actually fit into the housing, but not much. I installed the LEDs and tried it out, and it's pretty much exactly as I wanted it. Here's the piece I machined:



LEDs installed:





Lights on!



The center LED is green, the 8 surrounding it are white. I wanted the light to have a very slight green hue to it, which it does!

I tried real hard to get a shot of the light it throws, but it just doesn't come out in pictures. It's being powered by a 6V lantern battery here, the LEDs are wired with resistors to run on a 12V battery. I hooked it up to the battery in my truck and hooobaby, it's bright!

[irik]

Nice going, i like the idee with the bulletshels. cant wait to see them on your weels.

[kchurch86]

Well, I had to re-make the headlight insert, it needed 2 clearance cuts on the sides, the outer diameter needed to be shrunk down about .015" to fit into the headlight, and the LED holes needed to be opened up by about .0015". Got that done, and installed the LEDs into it tonight.



All assembled, the lens stays put nicely and the ground wire works like a charm:





Made a badge too, I think this bike finally has a name:

[bpellham]

very cool, nice attention to the details.

[rattfink]

Love this build Church!

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[kchurch86]

very cool, nice attention to the details.

Thanks! I'm trying to put lots of little details in, but still keep it somewhat simplistic...not sure how that's supposed to work, haha.

Love this build Church!

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Thanks!

I'm running out of things to do before I drop my hubs off at a shop to have the wheels built. I also may have changed my mind about the fork, I just have to shop around and find what I'm looking for, it's really holding up the build. I'm either going to leave the fork just at it is now, or if I can find a 27" fork with the right steer tube diameter and length, I'm going to do a ridiculous bent fork and run a 24" front tire. Right now I'm leaning towards the bent fork, we'll see if I can find what I need.

[iven]

just think ill drop this here..
some hot glue valvecaps and 40s just have a nack for eachother..

le; 5spd rat

[Endlesschain]

looking good there,cant wait for the end result

[iven]

great idea with the reflector taillights