Hello guys I’m joining in! It’s my first build but I think I’ll get all the parts in time and the bike together before the deadline.
OK so I’m building a bike BACKWARDS. Why? because everybody takes a rusty heap, cleans it up, puts fresh paint, new parts and its a rider. What I’m doing is taking a bike from the mid 80’s with some rust, stripping it, painting it and then weathering it again and putting on old period parts to make it look like an even older rusty heap, a recent barn find.
I know how some people feel about “fake” patina… but I don’t feel like I’m actually faking much of it, the bike is rusty to start with so I’m just changing the color scheme and some details and then “putting” the rust back on…
I’m building the bike I could never find but with a twist, it can stay looking like this forever and won’t disintegrate (it’s not really rusty) because of all the adhesion promoter, primer, etc. Also I didn’t want to be oiling a rusty finish. For this I’ll be using some building skills and some scale modeling skills, the bike will be a visual exercise and a tribute to bikes from the past.
The theme of the bike is leaning towards board tracker bicycles but with a more massive antique bike look and a slight old aircraft cue thrown in.
So here is what I started with, a mid 80’s Western Flyer repro called Circa 50’s. It has some superficial rust but it’s workable. I was raining when I picked it up at an area here in Miami calles Coral Gables so I couldn’t test ride it (got soaked putting it into my car), I took it home, cleaned the rust of the rims, pumped up the tires, adjusted it and rode it, feels OK, just some rattling of the rear fender I guess but the hub is good.
Then I took it apart... This balcony is the area I have for working, unless I’m doing something small and not messy that I can bring it indoors. It’s hot as heck and humid as the devil’s armpit... (the pic was taken in a morning, when I work there its afternoon with full sun coming in)In my frame sanding sessions I would end up soaked and have to change my T-shirt 3 times while I was there, who says you can’t lose weight building a bike! I don’t have power tools right now and I don’t want to buy any since I don’t want to carry big and heavy stuff when I move to AZ in a couple months so all the work is by hand.
After using a brass brush and WD40 to remove the rust in the rims, I used liquid dishwashing soap to remove the oily residue. You don’t have a baby bottle brush? get one, you need it! my wife wasn’t around when I did this ( I meant about the bathtub, the baby bottle brush is an old one not my baby’s)
After that I put the adhesion promoter coat on, you can see the difference between the matte finish and the shiny one in front that I still have to spray.
I masked off the spokes with the straws trick, and then the primer coat, followed by the burgundy paint.
Then comes the sanding of the frame... before sanding it bare I experimented first with some spots to see where I would put the worn areas later.
I sprayed the adhesion promoter on the frame and the primer coat. I made a template on paper for the scallops and transferred it to contact paper, I felt lazy about doing each one with masking tape, this was easier. When I first sprayed the red oxide primer it looked nice but I’m changing the whole bike from red/ white to a more classy burgundy/ cream with scallops to give it a more old time look.
This are the materials I’ll be working with, I should buy Rustoleum shares. The quality of the paint has been great even in this 90-95F heat with 60% humidity.
When I painted the burgundy, it’s starting to look nice! too nice maybe. My wife said “leave it like that! it looks good” no, that’s not what I planned...
OK so I’m building a bike BACKWARDS. Why? because everybody takes a rusty heap, cleans it up, puts fresh paint, new parts and its a rider. What I’m doing is taking a bike from the mid 80’s with some rust, stripping it, painting it and then weathering it again and putting on old period parts to make it look like an even older rusty heap, a recent barn find.
I know how some people feel about “fake” patina… but I don’t feel like I’m actually faking much of it, the bike is rusty to start with so I’m just changing the color scheme and some details and then “putting” the rust back on…
I’m building the bike I could never find but with a twist, it can stay looking like this forever and won’t disintegrate (it’s not really rusty) because of all the adhesion promoter, primer, etc. Also I didn’t want to be oiling a rusty finish. For this I’ll be using some building skills and some scale modeling skills, the bike will be a visual exercise and a tribute to bikes from the past.
The theme of the bike is leaning towards board tracker bicycles but with a more massive antique bike look and a slight old aircraft cue thrown in.
So here is what I started with, a mid 80’s Western Flyer repro called Circa 50’s. It has some superficial rust but it’s workable. I was raining when I picked it up at an area here in Miami calles Coral Gables so I couldn’t test ride it (got soaked putting it into my car), I took it home, cleaned the rust of the rims, pumped up the tires, adjusted it and rode it, feels OK, just some rattling of the rear fender I guess but the hub is good.
Then I took it apart... This balcony is the area I have for working, unless I’m doing something small and not messy that I can bring it indoors. It’s hot as heck and humid as the devil’s armpit... (the pic was taken in a morning, when I work there its afternoon with full sun coming in)In my frame sanding sessions I would end up soaked and have to change my T-shirt 3 times while I was there, who says you can’t lose weight building a bike! I don’t have power tools right now and I don’t want to buy any since I don’t want to carry big and heavy stuff when I move to AZ in a couple months so all the work is by hand.
After using a brass brush and WD40 to remove the rust in the rims, I used liquid dishwashing soap to remove the oily residue. You don’t have a baby bottle brush? get one, you need it! my wife wasn’t around when I did this ( I meant about the bathtub, the baby bottle brush is an old one not my baby’s)
After that I put the adhesion promoter coat on, you can see the difference between the matte finish and the shiny one in front that I still have to spray.
I masked off the spokes with the straws trick, and then the primer coat, followed by the burgundy paint.
Then comes the sanding of the frame... before sanding it bare I experimented first with some spots to see where I would put the worn areas later.
I sprayed the adhesion promoter on the frame and the primer coat. I made a template on paper for the scallops and transferred it to contact paper, I felt lazy about doing each one with masking tape, this was easier. When I first sprayed the red oxide primer it looked nice but I’m changing the whole bike from red/ white to a more classy burgundy/ cream with scallops to give it a more old time look.
This are the materials I’ll be working with, I should buy Rustoleum shares. The quality of the paint has been great even in this 90-95F heat with 60% humidity.
When I painted the burgundy, it’s starting to look nice! too nice maybe. My wife said “leave it like that! it looks good” no, that’s not what I planned...
...I can apreciate your technique, because I work as a carpenter/fabricator for a company that makes stuff for museums and theme parks, and we're always using unorthadox ways of creating effects on new stuff to look old. Nice start.
