J.B. 40

[Galtbacken]

While waiting to get the paint I need to finish the racer, I got a little restless and decided to start the thread for my next build. My big brother's birthday is coming up and I want to build him a bike! When I told my brother that I planned on trying to build my first bike he said "good, I'd like a red one!". :lol: Then a while back I was looking in a book about motorcycles from all over the world, both old and new and my eyes fell on a Dot Supersports and I knew then what my brother's red bike would look like.
Here's the picture I saw in the book: (hope I don't get into copyright trouble for this...)

And here's my sketch of the bike, with the measurements adapted to fit my brother:

I've made the frame a little taller so that the seat can be really close to the frame and still be the right height from the pedals. I like that look better than a high seatpost in most cases.
I wondered for a while whether I'd make a girder fork like the one on the motorcycle, or a stiff fork. I've decided to go with the stiff fork.
The bike will probably have ten gears and suicide shifters. It will have 28" wheels.
I'll try to run the light cables inside the frame on this bike and have one switch for both front- and rearlights. I might add a full beam/low beam switch for fun, haven't decided yet... :wink:
Here are the templates for the headlight:

Guess I'll have to burn the midnight oil to finish this bike in time for june 2:nd.

 

[stretch]

woo! another amazing creation from you! with your skills i think you'll get it done in time. :mrgreen:

 

[RocketeerRat]

June 2nd!?! Seriously? Thats my birthday too!! I wouldnt mind if you make one for me too :lol: Its gonna look great I'm sure, cant wait to see the result!

 

[Dan Jose]

You are just so talented you scare me. :shock:

 

[texasbigjon]

all right! i`d rather watch your builds,than work on my own! :lol: oh yeah,my birthday is on june 1,and any color will do! :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Quanah]

Lookin' forward to more pics!

 

[Galtbacken]

I might finish it in time...if I cut down on sleep and double my coffee intake! :lol:

June 2nd!?! Seriously? Thats my birthday too!! I wouldnt mind if you make one for me too :lol:

oh yeah,my birthday is on june 1,and any color will do! :lol: :lol: :lol:

:lol:
Hey guys I believe you're very much able to build bikes like this yourselves...you know, I'll post a ton of photos of the build and you follow the process, it'll be like a "build-by-numbers"! And any mistakes I might make you can avoid... :wink:

With the bikes I'd like to try and build, I almost scare myself too!
I'll keep the pics coming!

 

[Galtbacken]

I wrote that it will probably be 10 gears on this bike. That was because my brother gave me a bike that I could cut up and use the parts I need from, and that bike was a 10-speed. But the frame on that bike was too nice to feel good about cutting to pieces, so I decided to keep it for the next rrbbo.
Because of this I had to find another bike to butcher, and today I picked up the bike I'll use. It's a 5-speed bike with 28" wheels, perfect for this build! I'll take a photo of it when I get around to it.
Not long now until I can start building...it'll be so much fun!!!

 

[The Heron]

I can't wait to see this! This will be cool!

 

[Galtbacken]

Thank you The Heron!
Here's the donorbike:

Just what I was looking for! It's got the parts I wanted for this build, the wheels, gears, cranks, seat and stem are perfect! I think I'll use some other handlebars though.
I'll chop it up any day now...

Oh, and the hammer in the picture doesn't have anything to do with this build! :lol: It just happened to be there.

 

[Galtbacken]

It feels like I've actually started the build now, although the planning I've done so far also might be considered part of the building process I guess.
Began disassembling the donorbike the other day and ran into some problems. The bearingcups for the cranks didn't exactly cooperate with me. I don't have the special tool for it so I tried some pliers but they didn't do the job.

Brought in the negotiators...

Problem solved! Now they're in a degreasing bath along with some more parts from the donor bike. Lots and lots of old grease.
Today when I got home from work I cut the frame apart to free these babies.

I also let the angle grinder loose on the forks to prepare for the new ones that I'll make.

This was the part I was after!

Filed smooth at the bottom...

...for this piece to fit...

...like this! I'll weld those together some other day.

I couldn't start on the frame because I haven't bought tubes yet (payday on monday ), so I began making the seat instead.
I'm using the seat from the donor bike.

Removed the old cover. It wouldn't look right for what I have in mind for this build.

Wondered for a little while if maybe I should remove the padding to and make my own to give the seat a more slim look, but decided not to.
The pattern for the new cover.

The parts cut out of vinyl. The same fabric I used for the seat for the racer.

Here's before I stitched the sides on.

And this is as far as I got today. I'll get rivets next week and finish it then.

That's all for now! More to come soon...

 

[user 135]

Looks like a good start. I had a DBS bike with those stubborn BB cups. Never got them out.

 

[Galtbacken]

Thanks!
No, they can be a pain. I'll see if I can find where to buy the tool for them, because I'll probably come across more of those BB cups. The parts bike I've got for the next build is a DBS! That's a norwegian brand, didn't think they sold them in the U.S.

 

[user 135]

I found this one on CL for $20. Took the front drum brake for my Clunker build and the rear 3spd Torpedo coaster brake for another bike. I built it up as a single speed with 26" x 1.50". The pedals were way to low to the ground. The original wheels were the 26" x 1 1/2", much taller.

 

[Galtbacken]

Finished the seat!

I've also started on the frame, bent tubes:

Today's a day off from work, so I'll try to get some more things done on the bike.

That's all for now, hopefully more photos soon!

 

[MAD MR]

You never sleep ?

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

seat looks great

 

[Galtbacken]

You never sleep ?

Of course I do! On wednesdays! :lol:

Thanks ifitsfreeitforme! I think it'll suit the look of the bike.

Here's some progress:

Template for the rear dropout:

I've found this method effective when making two of something:

Look like twins!

Just like the rest of the bike the derailleur was full of dirty old grease...

...so I cleaned it as well as I could without taking everything apart.

When I've cut tubes before I've eyeballed how to curve the cut to make it fit the other tube. It works but is a little timeconsuming if you want a really close fit. Then I saw this link (probably somewhere here on rrb, don't remember but thanks whoever posted it!!) http://www.gottrikes.com/Tube_Bender.htm and if you scroll down a bit there's a simple program that you can download for free that calculates templates for mitering tubes! Whoah!! Great program and really easy to use, and it saves time! You just enter the diameter and thickness of the tube you're going to cut, the diameter of the tube it'll be joined with and the angle you wish to join them.

Templates:

Cut tubes:

Where the tubes go:

Soon I've prepared all the parts so that I can start welding the frame!

That's all for today! I think I'll actaully try to get some sleep now...

 

[Galtbacken]

When I got home from work the other day I cleaned and polished the breakes.
Before :shock: :

After :

Both front and rear:

The stuff I used (plus a cloth):

Yesterday when I was going to start welding the frame I noticed that the headtube holder on the jig had gotten crooked since I last used it. I wasn't really surprised because I made it as a temporary solution, from the end of a broomstick... :roll: So this was a good time to make a new and improved version of it!

Then I went to work on the frame and managed to tack (spelling?) weld the whole thing before it got too dark! But it was too dark to take pics though, so I took this this morning.

I'll see what I'll do today. If the rain holds up for a while I'll weld the frame, otherwise I'll find something else to do...make a new shifter or bend tubes for the fork or make a headbadge or something...aah, I've made a sketch for the headbadge but I forgot to scan it. I'll do that and post it some other time...

 

[Boardtrack fan]

Great looking bike! Nice craftsmanship. :mrgreen: