G'day...
I've only recently discovered the amazing RRB... and I've spent most of my time reading and looking rather than detailing a build like I probably should have been, so there won't be too many of 'the making of' photographs... as I haven't really snapped many on the way to the finished product... but I will try to detail all the little pieces I've done to my bike over the last 6 months...
This thread will be a work in progress, so you'll just have to watch if you like what I'm up to...
Now... I'm in Melbourne, Australia... Land of Vegemite, Goon Bags, Bogans and Holdens... not really a massive Bicycle culture, unless of course you like to wear your girlfriends jeans and tote fixies a lot... and I certainly didn't wan't to head down the path of looking the same as all the other hipsters and having a fixie with all the right branded parts, leaned up outside a cafe whilst I plundered their wifi on my apple product (illuminated logo facing window so other hipsters can see) wearing a t-shirt picturing a socially credible band I've never actually listened to... But I do like some of the faux retro bikes their dads shops are starting to sell...
My favorite's, I think, are the cycles styled on the French Porteur bikes, which were pretty much the postie bikes of their era, with their sweet racks to carry stuff... and a lot of stuff apparently... especially the front rack, I think it's wicked how they can pretty much put a front basket on a bike without making it look like Mary Poppins owns it... I love the swept back, almost wrap around handlebars, and the mudguards/fenders... the signage some of them had in the middle of the frames, kinda like butcher bikes, and/or all other vintage companies that used cycles for their local deliveries... I really really dig that butcher bike look... they just have a bit of a different look than your standard vintage/retro/hipster bike... a bit more industrial maybe...
But, again... I didn't want another stupid hipster bike... so... I thought I'd try and blend my Porteur with another want/wish I'd always wanted to have... cue minor midlife crisis buy... well, build... and as I have a fairly limited budget, .... job, rent, kids etc... I thought It may be the only way to get a few wishes ticked off the list... so decided I'm going to smoosh my Porteur dream together with my Beach Cruiser and Lowrider dreams... and see what kind of frankenbike shows up at the end... and being that I know more than you do right now... I'm quite excited!
So with influences from the French Porteur bikes... the racks and bars... and Californian Beach Cruisers with their fat tyres and oversize frames and leisurely beers before lunchtime laid back look... and maybe the style that will fill out most of the influence on this build, as it's forks and height will contribute to the shape... the Gangster looking Low Riders... y'know the ones that often accompany the sweet Impala's, Lincoln's, Buick's and Cadillac's from the motoring Low Rider scene... the Chicano Gangster Bikes... super modded, super low, showy twisted retro choppers... and of course with that in mind, I'll be taking a few cues from the car scene too... wood & leather, lots of lights & chrome... but I'll try to keep the bling to bike ratio even or even 30/70... too much showy shiny .... and people are gonna think I'm listening to asap rocky instead of Aesop Rock...
So without further foreword... I'll get to the bike...
I mentioned at the start, I'm in Melbourne... Australia... where there is a bit of a custom scene, but for the most, (and being that I'm originally from New Zealand, I better throw one in...) they're all sheep here, same same same... same bikes, same clothes, same music, same beard, same orange girlfriend, same cars... so it's hard to find a bike, or clothing or anything for that matter, that is a bit outside the box, and if you do find it, there is the Australia Tax and Tax Tax and other phantom figures attached to the price tag...
I needed to find a frame that would suit, but not really a real retro fixer upper, as I am in no way shape or form, an engineer or a fabricator... as much as I'd like to be, I pretty much only have a couple screw drivers, a set of allen keys and some spanners and socket wrenches in the garage...
So for my birthday, my wonderful missus bought me a Beach Cruiser from Reid Cycles... and at $170 on sale for the complete bike, it was a steal... or not if you're American and know nothing of Australia Tax...
Sorry there's no real life photograph of the bike from stock, but the above shot is from the Reid online shop... exactly the same...
See when I got a hold of it, well, I had no idea of blogging the build and I decided I am not going to ride it in it's current form, as this was only the base and I didn't want to get attached to how it looked now... so It's lived in the garage, brand new and un-ridden until I'd amassed enough parts to start stripping and modding... and I actually didn't like how it looked now, I like a couple of the bits on it, but it was it's potential and price I was interested in.... Good base for a lowrider, a full 26" size bike, as much as I love lowriders, I can't help but think adults look stupid on them because they're mostly 20" kids bikes with massive ape hangers and a raised seat so adults can actually use them... so a 26er with a sweet price as I'd like to keep this entire build under a grand, ...., under $700 if I can... to 1. keep with my lil' budget, but also to show you can build or buy a sweet bike without shelling out $1500 - $2500 for a Branded bike straight of the showroom floor... so $170 later... I have a base.
For the most, the guards and the already Matte Black frame was about all I was considering keeping from the stock bike, possibly the white walls and although the twisted spokes we're a pretty good score to start with... there was not enough of them, and I'd always planned on putting 144 spoke rims on it... a bit like this... full bend, not just a little bit, I want this bike slammed... and I promise I will get to actual real life build pictures, but I'm gonna have to start adding them in where I'm at in the build, which is about half way....
I love these rims, but I'm gonna have the guard slammed right back on the ground... and probably an extended crown to get the stance even lower... which, and this happens every time I find something to add... brings me to the million dollar ?uestion about adding the Porteur element to this, so far unnamed build... How am I gonna put a front rack on this with the springer fork??? most Porteur Racks mount at the brake bolt on the bottom of the stem, or to the V Brake Bolts, or have arms from the wheel bolts and also mount to the brake bolt hole and attach to the front guard... but all of that is for bikes with a rigid front fork... My 26" springer forked porteur has movement... How am I gonna put a slab in the front rack while it's bouncing up n down...??
I needed to find a way to mount a front rack and get it out past the spring and attach it in a way that carrying things will actually work and it's not just a show basket that bounces with the suspension???
And being that my "me time" is now over for the morning... this is going to be continued... if I can get some shots today... I'll keep up with the post later on....
I've only recently discovered the amazing RRB... and I've spent most of my time reading and looking rather than detailing a build like I probably should have been, so there won't be too many of 'the making of' photographs... as I haven't really snapped many on the way to the finished product... but I will try to detail all the little pieces I've done to my bike over the last 6 months...
This thread will be a work in progress, so you'll just have to watch if you like what I'm up to...
Now... I'm in Melbourne, Australia... Land of Vegemite, Goon Bags, Bogans and Holdens... not really a massive Bicycle culture, unless of course you like to wear your girlfriends jeans and tote fixies a lot... and I certainly didn't wan't to head down the path of looking the same as all the other hipsters and having a fixie with all the right branded parts, leaned up outside a cafe whilst I plundered their wifi on my apple product (illuminated logo facing window so other hipsters can see) wearing a t-shirt picturing a socially credible band I've never actually listened to... But I do like some of the faux retro bikes their dads shops are starting to sell...
My favorite's, I think, are the cycles styled on the French Porteur bikes, which were pretty much the postie bikes of their era, with their sweet racks to carry stuff... and a lot of stuff apparently... especially the front rack, I think it's wicked how they can pretty much put a front basket on a bike without making it look like Mary Poppins owns it... I love the swept back, almost wrap around handlebars, and the mudguards/fenders... the signage some of them had in the middle of the frames, kinda like butcher bikes, and/or all other vintage companies that used cycles for their local deliveries... I really really dig that butcher bike look... they just have a bit of a different look than your standard vintage/retro/hipster bike... a bit more industrial maybe...
But, again... I didn't want another stupid hipster bike... so... I thought I'd try and blend my Porteur with another want/wish I'd always wanted to have... cue minor midlife crisis buy... well, build... and as I have a fairly limited budget, .... job, rent, kids etc... I thought It may be the only way to get a few wishes ticked off the list... so decided I'm going to smoosh my Porteur dream together with my Beach Cruiser and Lowrider dreams... and see what kind of frankenbike shows up at the end... and being that I know more than you do right now... I'm quite excited!
So with influences from the French Porteur bikes... the racks and bars... and Californian Beach Cruisers with their fat tyres and oversize frames and leisurely beers before lunchtime laid back look... and maybe the style that will fill out most of the influence on this build, as it's forks and height will contribute to the shape... the Gangster looking Low Riders... y'know the ones that often accompany the sweet Impala's, Lincoln's, Buick's and Cadillac's from the motoring Low Rider scene... the Chicano Gangster Bikes... super modded, super low, showy twisted retro choppers... and of course with that in mind, I'll be taking a few cues from the car scene too... wood & leather, lots of lights & chrome... but I'll try to keep the bling to bike ratio even or even 30/70... too much showy shiny .... and people are gonna think I'm listening to asap rocky instead of Aesop Rock...
So without further foreword... I'll get to the bike...
I mentioned at the start, I'm in Melbourne... Australia... where there is a bit of a custom scene, but for the most, (and being that I'm originally from New Zealand, I better throw one in...) they're all sheep here, same same same... same bikes, same clothes, same music, same beard, same orange girlfriend, same cars... so it's hard to find a bike, or clothing or anything for that matter, that is a bit outside the box, and if you do find it, there is the Australia Tax and Tax Tax and other phantom figures attached to the price tag...
I needed to find a frame that would suit, but not really a real retro fixer upper, as I am in no way shape or form, an engineer or a fabricator... as much as I'd like to be, I pretty much only have a couple screw drivers, a set of allen keys and some spanners and socket wrenches in the garage...
So for my birthday, my wonderful missus bought me a Beach Cruiser from Reid Cycles... and at $170 on sale for the complete bike, it was a steal... or not if you're American and know nothing of Australia Tax...
Sorry there's no real life photograph of the bike from stock, but the above shot is from the Reid online shop... exactly the same...
See when I got a hold of it, well, I had no idea of blogging the build and I decided I am not going to ride it in it's current form, as this was only the base and I didn't want to get attached to how it looked now... so It's lived in the garage, brand new and un-ridden until I'd amassed enough parts to start stripping and modding... and I actually didn't like how it looked now, I like a couple of the bits on it, but it was it's potential and price I was interested in.... Good base for a lowrider, a full 26" size bike, as much as I love lowriders, I can't help but think adults look stupid on them because they're mostly 20" kids bikes with massive ape hangers and a raised seat so adults can actually use them... so a 26er with a sweet price as I'd like to keep this entire build under a grand, ...., under $700 if I can... to 1. keep with my lil' budget, but also to show you can build or buy a sweet bike without shelling out $1500 - $2500 for a Branded bike straight of the showroom floor... so $170 later... I have a base.
For the most, the guards and the already Matte Black frame was about all I was considering keeping from the stock bike, possibly the white walls and although the twisted spokes we're a pretty good score to start with... there was not enough of them, and I'd always planned on putting 144 spoke rims on it... a bit like this... full bend, not just a little bit, I want this bike slammed... and I promise I will get to actual real life build pictures, but I'm gonna have to start adding them in where I'm at in the build, which is about half way....
I love these rims, but I'm gonna have the guard slammed right back on the ground... and probably an extended crown to get the stance even lower... which, and this happens every time I find something to add... brings me to the million dollar ?uestion about adding the Porteur element to this, so far unnamed build... How am I gonna put a front rack on this with the springer fork??? most Porteur Racks mount at the brake bolt on the bottom of the stem, or to the V Brake Bolts, or have arms from the wheel bolts and also mount to the brake bolt hole and attach to the front guard... but all of that is for bikes with a rigid front fork... My 26" springer forked porteur has movement... How am I gonna put a slab in the front rack while it's bouncing up n down...??
I needed to find a way to mount a front rack and get it out past the spring and attach it in a way that carrying things will actually work and it's not just a show basket that bounces with the suspension???
And being that my "me time" is now over for the morning... this is going to be continued... if I can get some shots today... I'll keep up with the post later on....
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