Another rainbow

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us56456712

us56456712

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Joined
Sep 17, 2013
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Location
The middle of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
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Bought this today for the long spring seat. After replacing the seat I'm giving it to my son in law.
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RustyGold said:
Is that a Colson? I had to fight tooth and nail to get one of those for months to pry one of those out of a CL'ers hands :grin:.

Good score...lucky son-in-law :thumbsup:
Jason
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No head badge but I think its a Snyder built Hawthorn. The reason I think this is its a local bike from a 90 year old guy that saved up all his money as a kid and bought it locally. There was a Wards store there and it has Wards Tires.
 
us56456712 said:
No head badge but I think its a Snyder built Hawthorn. The reason I think this is its a local bike from a 90 year old guy that saved up all his money as a kid and bought it locally. There was a Wards store there and it has Wards Tires.
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I took it apart, nothing stripped or stuck. It's got a fork just like my Colson though. I'm confused as to what kind of bike this is? Looks like people think it's a Colson.
 
Wildcat said:
Looks like a 1940 Colson.
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Mine has a long spring saddle and no chain guard or truss rods. The original owner says he bought it in the 1930s. Says it had no chain guard. I looked and the Colson Motorbike had no chain guard in their 1936 catalogue so perhaps that is what it was. The fork stem was too short for truss rods. It was striped so I cut off the fork stem and welded on another from one in my fork stash. You could only put on the fork stem bolt with out the keyed washer so I cut the stems off with a pipe cutter, bridged the two parts with a gusset filed down from an old handle bar, drilled and tapped 4 holes with 12 - 24 tpi, countersunk the inserted bolts with the heads cut off and slotted for a screwdriver so I could counter sink them, and welded in the bolts and then the seam. The gusset and bolts kept it straight and tight for welding. There was an old gooseneck jam nut stuck in there that I removed. The head set was worn out so I replaced it with a Wall set I had in my spare parts but I had to Dremel out the buttons on the cups and shim the bottom fork race. The Torrenting bars had a loose and stripped knurled center section which I removed. I want to keep the bars so today I will put in a 7/8 to 1 inch Problem Solvers Shim. These shims work really well as I have them on 7/8 motocross handle bars on a Klunker and they don't slip on rough going. The fork stem is now long enough for a truss rod and I have one from a 1940 Schwinn I will use. I also have spare spokes to replace the missing one. Today I will rebuild the bottom bracket and disassemble and lube the New Departure hubs. I hope nothing else is a problem. Its a Colson, not a Snyder as I suspected. It has the same Fork as another Colson fork I have and the seat post stem is larger than 5/8 like my Snyders. Two or three years ago I sold a long wheel base Colson frame to another Rat Rod Bikes member so I should have recognized it, but there are so many Snyder bikes around here that I assumed that is what it was without really looking. Lucky me.
 
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The front wheel needs re spoking and it is double drop centered. The rear is drop centered. The New Departure rear hub had fairly fresh grease and was easy to clean. The crank looks like it is nickel over copper plating and the chainring is chrome plated. One rubber on one of the pedals has been replaced with a non matching pattern but I'm not going to monkey with that. The bottom bracket was replaced in the past and corks placed on all the tubes, weird. It's not as worn as the head set but I am replacing it with a new unit I have in my parts stash.
 
New Departure and crank back together. Front wheel completely disassembled as it had broken and bent spokes. Rebuilt that tomorrow.

Lengthened fork tube with truss rods.
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Rebuilt crank assembly


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Front wheel, work for tomorrow.
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This is not a build, just taking apart and cleaning. It will be the same when I finish except for the addition of truss rods, a different seat and newer used tires.
 
Chain ring looks Colson, forks look Colson; those can be swapped.
Frame looks like Colson rainbow bike, straight down tube; but others had them too.
Colson frames may also have peculiar rear drop-outs, where the top tang ends in angle or wedge shape, but often hidden from view by braces for fenders or racks.
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I believe Colson head tubes would have common 2-3/16" vertical holes for badges.
My Colson motorbike has 3/4" seat post, don't know of another maker that used those.
The cranks look like the dog leg will accommodate a chain guard.
 
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Phil Fink said:
Chain ring looks Colson, forks look Colson; those can be swapped.
Frame looks like Colson rainbow bike, straight down tube; but others had them too.
Colson frames may also have peculiar rear drop-outs, where the top tang ends in angle or wedge shape, but often hidden from view by braces for fenders or racks.
View attachment 83222
I believe Colson head tubes would have common 2-3/16" vertical holes for badges.
My Colson motorbike has 3/4" seat post, don't know of another maker that used those.
The cranks look like the dog leg will accommodate a chain guard.
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That looks like the dropouts and it has 3/4 seat post which turns into 5/8 after the lucky 7 bend. It's raining now but tomorrow I will measure the vertical head badge holes. Thanks.
 
Colson head badge fits. Need grips and to install the chain and its done. I used a homemade long spring seat using springs from an old recliner rocker I found dumped in the woods. I have made 3 of these. Not as nice as the real thing but a reasonable facsimile if you don't look to close.
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us56456712 said:
Thanks for fixing my picture. I have a smart Track Phone as there is no cell service out here in the boonies but we have wireless so that is all I need. I tried a lot of stuff but it always comes out upside down. I think the phone is smarter than me.
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It may sound silly and I'm not trying to make a joke, but have you tried holding the phone turned 180 degrees when you take the picture?
I can't think of what else could be causing it...
 

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