Peace Love and Choppers (Finished)

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So my next project should I find a spindle to work will be to mount this crankset. I will only be using the inner chainring. The outer chainring and chaingaurd will come off. I first need to line up the driveline. The three bolts will stick out and get acorn nuts on them. The crank arms and the three prongs will be dechromed and gold plated.
 


And then once the crankset is on in its place, I will make the mounts for the chaingaurd. The top line of the chaingaurd will be parallel with the frame bar that ends at the end of the tank to keep a uniform flow of lines. It with be black and may get some gold trim, Im not sure at this time.
 


And then comes this. It will be upside down from this picture. The bulb will be over the front of the tank, the pipe from the bulb will go over the stem, split in to two and both pipes will come back over the handlebar and curve around the bar to come out underneath it. Im not sure of the name of the opening where the sound comes out is but those two parts will be out over the fork tubes
 
I got a qoute on powdercoating today, it appears I will be spraypainting. Is rustoleum good enough or another readily available brand? Im not looking forward to the process
 
A lot of people like rustoleum, just make sure primer paint and clear are all the same brand. You don't want it peeling.
 
Crank goes good with the wheels. If you search "cottered crank spindle" on ebay there are a few on there for cheap.
 
Chad T said:
Crank goes good with the wheels. If you search "cottered crank spindle" on ebay there are a few on there for cheap.
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The second one arrived today. The first one would not fit into my crank arms and I figured it was just thick plating. But today another one also brand new arrived. It is actually a bit longer and the distance between the area that the bearings ride is also very different. The chopper is at my house in Hollister and I only get to tinker on it on weekends. I stay in San Francisco during the work week. Its only monday and I have to stare at it all week and hope it works. Im pulling the crankest off this weekend regardless. The bike is unrideable anyways. The right crank arm is stripped out and holds the pedal on by maybe one thread. But at least getting the old spindle out will tell me what bearing distance I need. Before today I thought all spindles would have been the same length but they are not. Overall length is only about 1/4 inch difference, but width of where the bearings ride is about an inch difference. Live and learn I guess as we try to piece together lots of different parts
 
Another fan of Rust-Oleum here. You are probably dealing with one of the most complicated crank / BB configurations for old bikes. There are also a number of different cotters , but 3 most common, to choose from (in diameter). Check out Sheldon Brown's site on install and measuring....
 
OddJob said:
Another fan of Rust-Oleum here. You are probably dealing with one of the most complicated crank / BB configurations for old bikes. There are also a number of different cotters , but 3 most common, to choose from (in diameter). Check out Sheldon Brown's site on install and measuring....
Click to expand...

Will do. I thought it would simply be stuff an old crankset in a frame but maybe not. Once I get the present one out I will have a better idea of whats needed. I could easily buy a modern gold crankset but nothing i could find came close to the look i wanted. I have to make this one work.
 
Where'd you get that horn, and do they have one with more bugels?
 
Falstaff said:
Where'd you get that horn, and do they have one with more bugels?
Click to expand...
Ebay, I was looking for one of the old straight kind with three pipes and had no luck, so I found this and thought about it for a few days about how and where to mount it. There are all kinds of different horns on there
 
I'm trying Seymour MRO paint on Interrobang. Color selection is limited, but it seems really durable. I painted the headset cups, then installed them before I stripped all the paint off the frame because I'm too impatient, but it took a beating by the wire brush that I find impressive. It's thick stuff. I think getting a perfectly smooth surface might be difficult. Wish I had more knowledge about it, but it's encouraging so far in case you want to look into it.
 


So I came home after a 2 1/2 drive and tinkered for a bit. First I put a triple tree fork on my klunker and then I went after the chopper. It turns out I do not have the right bottom bracket tool to remove it and the only shop in town was already closed. Also spinning the present spindle does not feel good. Hopefully the bearings are useable. Tomorrow I have a wedding to go to and have many errands to run first. If I can get by the shop for the tool then I will have time later this weekend to tinker with it. If not the chopper shall be suspended for another week.
 

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