A few questions, if you don’t mind

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bunnyman666

bunnyman666

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I think I have found the perfect donor for a chopper bike after perusing these pages, a Softride Qualifier in my garage.
I can’t remember if these are aluminium or steel. If steel, easy to mod; if aluminium, I don’t know about welding.
The plan was to add my seat low and extend the rear triangle and use a big tyre. I want a triple crown fork up front.
What would I do to achieve this if it’s aluminium?
Not my bike, but the best pic I can find:
3E233357-E773-4D7F-9CEA-FA12E9C100A9.jpeg
 
I can not find any specific information on the tube framed softrides, but the welds and dropouts make me think aluminum. And it's a pretty special bike, rare and costly when new. I'd take it on a few test rides before cutting it up. Apparently they are super comfortable for long (50+ miles) trips
 
MattiThundrrr said:
I can not find any specific information on the tube framed softrides, but the welds and dropouts make me think aluminum. And it's a pretty special bike, rare and costly when new. I'd take it on a few test rides before cutting it up. Apparently they are super comfortable for long (50+ miles) trips
Click to expand...
I have a Power V that is not getting cut up.

I need to actually take a good look; I may have a steel one, as the earliest were steel!
 
bunnyman666 said:
What would I do to achieve this if it’s aluminium?
Click to expand...
I know of two no-weld/no-cut extension methods. One is making up a set of extended drop outs out of thick still plate then bolting them to the to the existing dropouts with a 10mm bolt. The. Securing thwm from rotation with another bolt through the fender/rack mounting hole or other convenient hole.

Another option I've seen is to cut the rear triangle from another bike and bolt the chain stays to the dropout and the seat stays to somewhere convenient up top

Visual aides available on request
 
Verrt said:
I know of two no-weld/no-cut extension methods. One is making up a set of extended drop outs out of thick still plate then bolting them to the to the existing dropouts with a 10mm bolt. The. Securing thwm from rotation with another bolt through the fender/rack mounting hole or other convenient hole.

Another option I've seen is to cut the rear triangle from another bike and bolt the chain stays to the dropout and the seat stays to somewhere convenient up top

Visual aides available on request
Click to expand...

Thanks!

This is somewhere to jump off from, but the visual aids would be very well appreciated!
 
bunnyman666 said:
Thanks!

This is somewhere to jump off from, but the visual aids would be very well appreciated!
Click to expand...

Dropout extensions
dropouts2.jpg

This example built by bird.
Looks like in this version both bolts run through the dropouts, which you couldn't do if you have horizontal drops, but you could use the rack mount hole.
Build thread hear:
https://ratrodbikes.com/forum/index...29-columbia-w-rear-drop-out-extensions.92137/Guitarlcarl has done this method on a few builds but I couldn't remember which ones.


Add on rear triangle:
Toro did a really nice example of this in this year's build off.
IMG_20200831_090615.jpg

https://www.ratrodbikes.com/forum/index.php?threads/carcass.111028/
 
Last edited:
I think when the question "What would I do to achieve this if it’s aluminium?" is answered with "Lose the 666!" It's probably safe to assume there's pinch of jest in the answer, regardless of what their thoughts on the number or spiritual beliefs are.

Now nobody's gonna hurt anybody. We're gonna be like four little Fonzies here.
 
How big of a wheel are you thinking? I have had in my head a build using one of those box store Genesis 32" wheels in the back or a 36" if I could find one cheap with the wheel coming up high enough to almost be a back rest. It would be a proper posture reinforcer. Anyway, I was just going to do bolt on drop out additions. I don't know if it would work, but it would try to make it one piece so that it bowed up around the top of the tire in a U shape with the ends reaching around to form the drop out extensions. I didn't figure out how I'd connect to the seat tube and/or seat stays. If I could weld, it would be easy.
 

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