Lakes Roadster

[chaley]

Hello, this is my first try at a ratrod bike so go easy on me

Okay so I thought I'd give it a go, had a quick nose around the garage, sheds and behind the summer house to find some bits and have come up with this;
70's triumph 27" road racer frame and forks,
70's long quill drop stem,
80's alloy roadster bars,
pair custom cranks and ring,
pair of bear traps,
pair of 26"x3/4" swamy(spelling?) wheels,
pair 11/2" slicks,
60's brooks saddle,

And an idea of where I want to go, the pic that set it off,

What I've got so far,

The plan;

Add another top tube at a slight rake, fit an infill plate, add a new rear brake tube under the rear triangle to get the brake somewhere near the new rim, put a brake lever on the down tube with a 34 ford brake pedal pad fitted to have a foot brake, build a pair of fake springers for the forks, maybe with a leaf spring ala Indians, recover the seat in canvas and paint to match the ORR Roadster.

Simples, so far I have about 2 hours in the build and not a penny spent :lol: It won't be a quick build because I have a couple of 20's-30's roadster bikes to rebuild and the HotRod to be getting no with, but on the slow minutes I'll try and crack on.

Let me know what you think!

Chaley.

 

[ratrodman39]

should be cool cant wait til its finnished...i really want to see how the foot brake will pan out!!!!

 

[deorman]

http://sheldonbrown.com/home-drop.html

 

[Unchained]

cool frame to start with... and great inspiration... I really like the lines of the frame, it reminds me of the very early track bikes for some reason.

 

[chaley]

I'm getting feed up with my camera!!
No pic's as the card's gone down again , but there is now a new rear brake platform welded under the rear triangle. I've mocked up the foot brake and it sort of works, cut the new top tube just need to weld it in. I'll post the pic's if I can get them out of the camera

Chaley

 

[herr_rudolf]

lookin' cool already...
Those 26inch tires and wheels look as if they were meant to be there. I hope you get the camera up and running again. I once lost 1gig worth of refference-photo's. A complete pretty-girl photoshoot, entirely gone... Cheap memorycard.

 

[chaley]

Thanks for the comments
I have managed to get some of the pic's off the camera
So here goes,

Not the best welding in the world, but at least it has stuck

I took her out for a quick ride into the city an hour ago and think that I'll change the gogs over! 52- 13 looked like a good idea at the time It's as fast as a, but a bit hard to get rolling. The brake works ok ish, if a little too small and slippy, I'll make it bigger and a lot more grippy, the 34 pad is a no go unless I want to hit my foot on it every time I pedal :x It may still go on the down tube, as not too sure about hitting the pedal in a panic with it behind me, easyer still would be a coaster brake, but not on a no money build

Next on the list is to weld in the second top tube and take some photos, the welding is the easy part :x :roll: .

Chaley

 

[chaley]

Re: The roadster is no more!!

Sad news
The Lakes Roadster is no more, well not in my hands anyway :x :x .
I welded in the lower top tube, striped the frame, shot a coat of satin black on it, to celebrate we when to the pub to show a couple of mates, who would take some photos with a camera that works, it went down very well 8) , so well it fact that even though it was locked to another bike in the lobby to the main bar someone managed to steal them both :x .
The shame of it is that I think that it was only taken because it was locked to a very nice carbon roady.
Anyway I'm now on the look out for a new project :roll:

Chaley

 

[Krastins]

Oh, man that's so sad. I loved they way it looked It was one of my favorite bikes out here.

 

[chaley]

Krastins, cheers dude, very sad indeed
I've put word out that I want it back! So who knows it may turn up :?: It's not like I won't know it if I see it being ridden locally, is it? More than likely someone has had the wheels off it and thrown it in the river near the pub :x
Anyway I'm not put off and think that I may have to cut up the other 70's racer that's sitting behind the shed :lol:
Chaley

 

[Krastins]

Krastins, cheers dude, very sad indeed
I've put word out that I want it back! So who knows it may turn up :?: It's not like I won't know it if I see it being ridden locally, is it? More than likely someone has had the wheels off it and thrown it in the river near the pub :x
Anyway I'm not put off and think that I may have to cut up the other 70's racer that's sitting behind the shed :lol:
Chaley

Ihave an idea! Make a tribute bike for it from the other racer

 

[chaley]

Re: Lakes Roadster "The Return"

Good new! I have got the lakes roadster back!!! After having a few words with a couple of people some of the bike was returned to the pub garden. After I explained to the packed bar that the bike was a one off and not worth a penny to anyone other than me and could I please have it back, it worked, sure they had the wheels off it and pulled most of the seat off it, bent the bars and ... well you get the idea.
Anyway I picked it up last night and have thrown the old 27's back on it, put on a white seat , cut off the ends of the bars and straightened out the worst of the damage and then welded the infill plate on and chucked a bit of paint at it (it will have to live outside for a bit as there is no room in the shed!)
Here's a pic..

Now on with the hotrod for a bit!

Chaley