Beauty and the Beast

[Wildcat]

I picked up two frames from a junkpile yesterday. I had to get a special pass to visit the city so I wasn't going to leave empty handed.

There were more frames there but these two looked the best. Ten bucks and I had them in the trunk. The chrome one is large, a 21 inch frame, just my size.

It had a label on it that was just like the labels at the big bike shop that went out of business a few years back. They had tons of frames hanging up for many years. I think this frame is NOS from that shop. It shined up nice and I'll use it for an urban bomber. Nothing was ever mounted on that frame. The serial number IDs it as 1987 maybe. It had 2 dents in the headtube. I'll bet someone dropped it and it never sold, then went to the dump when they folded. An easy fix with a steel rod and hammer.

I think it's chromoly. It's wide in the stays so it must have been made for 2.125 tires.
The blue frame turned out to be for 24 tires but that's no problem. I thought the cantilevers were bent but it looks like it was made like that. The welds are the worst I've ever seen. It will probably just get hung up on the wall.
Then my wife surprised me with a new mountain bike.

The cheapest chinese bike I've ever dealt with. It's now just a bare frame, never been ridden. I'm going to cannibalize everything from it for the chrome bike. If it works out well, I'll get some higher end components for the big chrome bike.

 

[Karate Chicken Industries]

What brands did that shop deal in the late 80's?

That chrome frame is definitely a rider, ace pickup.

 

[Wildcat]

Here's the hand written label they put on it. All the parts they had had the same masking tape and lettering.

JQXXT, W/FORK ATB #5. No other ID except the serial number which was under the tape, A87 followed by 6 numbers They had parts for lawn mowers and motorcycles also. A whole warehouse of stuff run by one family. They took your list of items and pulled them from the shelves, it was a long hot wait but they had more than anyone else. For bikes it was a mix of cheap chinese parts with higher end stuff. The frames and wheels were always overpriced. I was looking for cruiser frames. I may have seen this frame back in 2014 when they were still open. They had a row of road bike frames hanging up that looked good but had been there for ages, covered with dust.

 

[Wildcat]

Here's the beast. It's the style frame I've been looking for.

The welds are horrific. If I use this I'll have them redone or cleaned up at a shop.

The cantilvers are shaped that way and actually flow pretty good back to the dropouts.

More primitive welds. The BB is a strange mid size but the bike shop just happened to still have an old set that fit. Cottered cranks. They probably thought no one would ever need the set.