This one of my other builds. Once i had driven with my friend to the near Grodzisk Mazowiecki city to see a Trabant he was curious of, and on the way back we were talking about old bikes, so he said to me "I have a junk folding bicycle if you want it." We went back to his workshop and took it from underneath a pile of scrap. It had no stem or steering bar, no seat, no pedals, a destroyed front wheel, and a rear tyre that had to been cut down becouse the rubber was solid as a stone :shock: . 8 hours later it looked like this:
The frame was all coverd in stickers that had faded to white in the years, after removing all the stickers it turned out that it is one of the first folding bicycles ever produced in Poland - the Karat (Carat). Not all thet it was painted in deep blue mettalic, and the original decals were still in good shape. The titles were not saying "Karat" but rather than that - Universal. It was a brand in witch ZZR and later Romet bicycles were sold in the exclusive Pewex stores and where going on export markets. The main differences where the paint (always mettalic) and the available equipment (most of them had front brakes, 3 speed torpedo made by shimano, sattle bags for tools and leather seats finished in color of the frame, mine should have a blue one with white on the side, and the same coloured bag). I also found that the bike was made way back in 1969. I bought a stem (for 15PLN - 3$), found a steering handle with bars, a seat, a new front wheel in a strange size of 18" that is missing one spoke :mrgreen: , one of the lights from my 10$ packageand original ZZR pedals. Fork is chromed and desined for a 28" wheel. The rear whitewall is a very rare polish product made by the company Stomil. I left the original color, patina and decals, becouse Karats are very rare folding bicycles in Poland, and it's even harder to find one branded with the Universal brand. I also found after a lot of cleaning, that the rear torpedo was not made by ZZR but by the company Łucznik (Archer) that mainly made sewing machines and... guns 8)
I was riding it a couple of times but it was nothing special to me, so I called my friend who works in the Warsaw Subway system and told him "Dude, do something with this!". He has a very large and well supplied workshop, and he said to me "bring it on! how would you like a bigger steering bar?!", so I asked "how bigger?" - "MUCH BIGGER!!!" And few hours of cutting and welding later - it was done. Two 70cm pipes were wleded to the steering bar.
Hooked up the electricity to a 6V battery (the headlight has two working bulbs, one of 2.6Watt, and the other only has 0.4Watt), and you could call it done 8) Then a quick shot with me with the "Choppers only" sign in front of the Warsaw Hard Rock Cafe
And two shots from the page East Side Ratikalz, from the 2010 Cultstyle.de Car Show, next to my friends Trabant.
The frame was all coverd in stickers that had faded to white in the years, after removing all the stickers it turned out that it is one of the first folding bicycles ever produced in Poland - the Karat (Carat). Not all thet it was painted in deep blue mettalic, and the original decals were still in good shape. The titles were not saying "Karat" but rather than that - Universal. It was a brand in witch ZZR and later Romet bicycles were sold in the exclusive Pewex stores and where going on export markets. The main differences where the paint (always mettalic) and the available equipment (most of them had front brakes, 3 speed torpedo made by shimano, sattle bags for tools and leather seats finished in color of the frame, mine should have a blue one with white on the side, and the same coloured bag). I also found that the bike was made way back in 1969. I bought a stem (for 15PLN - 3$), found a steering handle with bars, a seat, a new front wheel in a strange size of 18" that is missing one spoke :mrgreen: , one of the lights from my 10$ packageand original ZZR pedals. Fork is chromed and desined for a 28" wheel. The rear whitewall is a very rare polish product made by the company Stomil. I left the original color, patina and decals, becouse Karats are very rare folding bicycles in Poland, and it's even harder to find one branded with the Universal brand. I also found after a lot of cleaning, that the rear torpedo was not made by ZZR but by the company Łucznik (Archer) that mainly made sewing machines and... guns 8)
I was riding it a couple of times but it was nothing special to me, so I called my friend who works in the Warsaw Subway system and told him "Dude, do something with this!". He has a very large and well supplied workshop, and he said to me "bring it on! how would you like a bigger steering bar?!", so I asked "how bigger?" - "MUCH BIGGER!!!" And few hours of cutting and welding later - it was done. Two 70cm pipes were wleded to the steering bar.
Hooked up the electricity to a 6V battery (the headlight has two working bulbs, one of 2.6Watt, and the other only has 0.4Watt), and you could call it done 8) Then a quick shot with me with the "Choppers only" sign in front of the Warsaw Hard Rock Cafe
And two shots from the page East Side Ratikalz, from the 2010 Cultstyle.de Car Show, next to my friends Trabant.
