Dr. Sizzle's "The Wolf bike Bobber"

[Dr. Sizzle]

Well it's raining and cold here and what's better to do than to build the next bike in my monster bike series. I've acquired this 1936 Rollfast Harvard frame right after finishing the Nasferatu bike for the RRBB04. I've always love this frame and was excited to build something really cool with it. The Wolfman being one of my favorite monsters, I thought it would be the perfect fit. Here is the frame and the rat rod that is inspiring this build.

As I mentioned before the only real significance my bikes have to the monsters they are named after is the color scheme and a few little details. So the obvious color pallet here would be brown black and white. First I'm gonna need some wheels. All I have right now is a shiny set of 26" chrome rims and a crusty old pitted front wheel someone sprayed painted silver. The chrome ones could work but I'd like to steer clear from all the chrome if I can with this build. I love the black steelies with white walls against the red primer look. So painting the crusty wheel it is.

 

[sensor]

im interested on seeing how you get the rear wheel above the beltline on that zep :lol:
now seriously i hope youre not too tall those frames are a bit on the small side(even thought theyre a 26") and looking forward to seeing what you come up with on this one(i thought you did a great job on the build off and was wondering when youd do another :mrgreen: )

 

[Danimal]

now seriously i hope youre not too tall those frames are a bit on the small side(even thought theyre a 26")

Oh stop it. I'm 6'8" and have the same frame to work with on my build. No worries here. :mrgreen:

 

[sensor]

5'11" and mines crowded but then again my seat and bars are slammed :wink:

 

[Dr. Sizzle]

I needed a back wheel now so I did some searching for a freebie or something really cheap and in my searching I scored this set of 24" wheels with tires and tubes on eBay for $6 + shipping!!!! Holy poo! Apparently this lady was clearing out her garage to and just wanted her son's junk outta there and he didn't want it so she sold it all on eBay. I was so excited to find wheels this cheap I didn't think to check what else she had. Grrrr. oh well.

Now I need a drive train. Since I had a pre-war frame it would be nice to use some of it's cool features. Never built a skiptooth bike so now seems like a good time.

 

[Dr. Sizzle]

OK so I got this nice skiptooth crank cleaned up really nice and fits perfectly. Just the whole chrome thing again isn't what I want for this. I guess I could grind it clean and paint it. But that would be a waste. I might be able to use that for another build. It'll stay for now. One problem those $6 wheels are not pre-war and definitely not skiptooth and darn, I don't have a chain.

More digging around on the internet. I stumble across this skiptooth sprocket. Seller hasn't any clue what it is and thought it was a car part. HAHAHA wow. So I bid $3. I hadn't taken the rear hub apart so I wasn't sure if this thing would even fit or if it was even usuable. Well guess what. I got it for $3 and when it got here it looked like this.

So I soaked it in WD40 and gave it a scrubbing and it looked promising.

 

[Dr. Sizzle]

Now to disassemble the rear wheel and see what I'm dealing with. Lot's of confusing little washer things. lol I better do this slow incase things don't work out I need to remember how to put this thing back together. Have I mentioned in all my bike repairing years since a kid I have never took a rear hub apart? lol Yeah I know I'm a rookie. Well this is what I ended up with

IT FITS!! Here it is installed on the 24" rear

 

[Dr. Sizzle]

Now I have a skiptooth setup with wheels, ready to do a rough mock up. I used a set of Schwinn blade forks to get and idea of where I'm at.(no photo, don't wanna ruin the surprise) the 24" wheels are too small and the crank arm is touching the floor. Now I have to find 26" wheels and hope the rear hub will work just as easy? Or I resort to my original plan an spray the crusty wheel black and get a new tire. That might raise it up a little. After shopping for a tire and rear wheel I decided to just spend a little money to make this bike proper. So I invested in a set of FELT all cream tires. 24 x 3 thick brick for the back and 26 x 2.125 quick brick in the front. My logic was, the fully inflated 24 x 3 is almost exactly the same diameter as the 26". Plus I loved the look of all white tires on the pre-war bikes I've seen in many of the builds on here. Very inspiring.

Also, what would a werewolf bike be with out some silver bullets? So I picked up a set of these gems.

 

[Dr. Sizzle]

I had this old seat from another bike and liked the idea of having a white seat to match the tires but this was way too beat for my liking.

So I took it all apart repainted the bottom and recovered the top with new white sparkle vinyl with a little help from my friend Andy at the upholstery shop at Berlin mart (NJ). BTW Thanks Andy!

The frame came with a lucky 7 seat post I plan to sand and paint black and use. I always liked those things.

 

[Dr. Sizzle]

Picked up a drop kickstand from Danimal(Thanks again) and the fender clip and mounting hardware from a reliable source.

Also new adjuster screws since the old ones were badly bent and the threads were shot.

I had an old set of fenders from a girls' balloon bike. I used the rear one on Nasferatu and had only the front left. So that's gonna have to fit some how. Should be too bad if it clears the 3" Thick brick.

Any good Wolf has to have a set of white fangs. So I'm going with these.

 

[Dr. Sizzle]

Next I got my self a Diamond skiptooth chain and it was a little more than I intended to spend but couldn't get one in this good of condition for less than $30 which isn't that bad come to think of it. Another mock up(The chain is too short! 56" and it needs another 4" so I need to find a piece of chain. While doing some shopping with a fellow member he had some scraps. But there was that shiny chrome crank busting the groove of this non-chrome bike color scheme. I wanted to grind it and paint it but instead I found the rusted girls crank. Went to Mike Little's shop and ground it down to bare metal and painted that. Fit like a glove. Gives me more pedal clearance and now the chain fits perfectly. Plus it has the dog leg arm and I like that look. This pic shows the new crank. The wheels are off the bike in the pic so it looks really low.

 

[stretch]

lookin good! what about bars? personally, id do some flipped cut down moon bars or flipped long horn bars.

 

[Dr. Sizzle]

You know I've been thinking. I've built a classic drag bike last time, and before that a clssic cruiser, I'm thinking classic 50's bobber. Perhaps some crazy black apes. with peek a boo mirrors? I haven't build anything like that and I think it might just work with this one. Thoughts?

 

[stretch]

peek a boo mirrors? like little ones on the bars? that sounds cool.

 

[Dr. Sizzle]

lol sorry I meant Peep view mirrors. Yes the little round ones hangin' down off the apes. I already have a set and the tall apes are on their way. Should look really cool. If all goes well this weekend I can have the frame blasted of the terrible powder coat someone put on top of the original paint. eck! a few minor accessories and a tank would be great. Hopefully Rusty can finish that tutorial.

 

[Petrohead]

Very cool project. I believe the color on the hot rod is a red oxide flat (probably primer) but they do that color in a paint now. That would be ultra-cool.

 

[Dr. Sizzle]

Thanks!

Ok I got the bars and mounted the mirrors, grips and a rusty stem I cleaned up, primed, and painted.

Now I need some opinions here. I have two pairs of pedals and am having a hard time choosing.
Either way I will paint the silver parts black. Which you think fits best for this build?

 

[JLarkin]

Bow pedals are for Schwinns.

 

[bebanovich]

I like the bow pedals and think they go better with the look you are creating. I think the block pedals would be the only blocky part of the bike and won't go with the lines as well.

 

[Dan Jose]

good work so far.