Pre-War Western Flyer(?) - Balloon tire racer

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Oct 10, 2014
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Hello everyone, I hope I am conforming to the rules by tossing my hat in the ring this late in the game but i just checked my ePay history and everything except the frame and crank was purchased after May 1. For hoots-&-hollars I tore it down yesterday to bare frame and crank, as I bought it Sept. '14. The frame components got fresh lube but the bike remains unwashed. Anyway. here is the story....

(link to entire album)
http://imgur.com/a/DDmqd#0

So here is what I started with:

cX10HH3.jpg

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Then I started to mock up up a concept in Photoshop. I wasn't sure of the forks, but I thought these 144 spoke 26" rims would look pretty sweet on the frame so I took some pictures of the frame and snagged the images from the ePay auction and mashed them together just to be sure it was a good idea... here is the result of that effort:


DzNoVmt.jpg



So While I was mulling over the wheels and front-end... well let me pause. I knew I wanted a leaf-spring springer, but just could not find one that had complimentary patina and was in my price range. As fate would have it, on May 4th i scored these forks off the bay:

7UrGTyH.jpg


And I had to put on the only extra wheels i had these rims are 24"and came off of a 24" '55 Hudson balloon tire bike i got on CL for a hundy. (that may be next year's build off submission...)

qXdY0GF.jpg


And the same day I got the forks, i got the seat!!! This thing really ties the bike together for me, and it is genuinely comfy to ride for hours.

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May 6th i fell in love with this stem and bought it:

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then on May 7th, I caved in and got the 144 spoke wheels by a company called "Wizzard"(?) I couldn't find any real information on them but the wheels are true so whatever.. Now at this point i have 26" tires on my city/commuter bike that are getting stalked like a deer in lion country once the wheel set came in. The city bike lost the war that day. Also, the Hudson gave another organ to help bring this together, the handlebars. Below is a combination of all of these parts.
stRzvHQ.jpg


Now i can sit on it!!! I still want white torpedo grips, white/cream tires and a headlamp... But there are bigger problems than those things, like fitting a modern hub/sprocket to a 1" pitch chain.... Well I had my friends at Transport Cycles near my house in Philadelphia replace the 19t sprocket that came with the wheel, with an 18t that they ever so carefully lopped off every other tooth leaving it a 9t. Now i have a final drive that is 26/9, which is pretty manageable for cruising in the city.
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Ok Fast forward to May 19th and those white tires you see came in!! now the red/white concept is starting to materialize.

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Now there is just one thing holding me back from saying "DONE!" which is the headlight... It took until July 15th for me to find one that had similar patina and color as well as close to the same era as everything else on the bike. This reminds me to mention that i was also toying with the idea of putting a carbide lame instead of the headlamp i chose but ended up opting for the sealed beam because i intend to retrofit an led lamp inside the housing and storing the rechargeable AAA batteries in there as well so there are no wires.

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Here is me Mocking up the LED... Oh did i mention that it was a re-purposed LED flashlight? and the battery pack to hold the 2 rechargeable AAA batteries is from a wireless mouse that ceased to function... so there is that :)

ebiRStB.jpg
 
Welcome to RRB and to the Build Off.
CWCs are always cool.
I don't think I have ever seen skipttooth 144s before.
 
Welcome to RRB and to the Build Off.
CWCs are always cool.
I don't think I have ever seen skipttooth 144s before.

Thanks Kingfish. I have been a lurker for quite a while and finally decided to jump into the community and build off feet first. My dad got me into the rat rod bikes and i have been really inspired by what everyone here has done both in this builld off and previous years as well. It is great to finally b a part of this. :)
 
Thanks for the kind words Luke and Hammer, This is my first RRB, and it is nice to see that the decisions on parts worked out to something I am proud of. And this thing gets miles put on it too! Easily 30 miles a week for the past 6 weeks or so since it has been rolling. Now i just need to take a nice beauty shots and post it to the done thread :)
 

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