Love that shifter! Looks great on there, and the sissy bar with the bigger curve looks fast...
Manta Racer MBBO class 2
- Thread starter ParkRNDL
- Start date
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Nice. Ok, so wait... you added the top tube?
Righto, created the top tube, removed the original top tube and added a few inches to the lower tube. The added length accommodates the 26" fork.
NICE! Gives it really good proportions... still looks like a Sting-Ray, but it also looks grown up.
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This is what I should be building, something that can be ridden for the distance. Bike looks great and I bet it’s super comfortable. Typical of my illness, I’ll say I’m building my last bike, see yours, brain floods with ideas, N+1 and so on. Thanks, dude.
furyus
furyus
Wow. Thank you. After reading through your Coda thread, I consider that pretty high praise. I like the idea of things that have a history, and I am trying to preserve some of the history of this bike while maybe writing a little historical fiction to go with it.
On a related note, I gotta say... what a great community this is. I have been reading this board on and off for years, but this is my first attempt to participate in a build-off, and it feels pretty good to be whacking something together that people seem to like even without the painting and welding and fabrication skills that are evident in many of the builds here.
Did a little experimenting today. While I'm impatiently waiting for the guard I bought off Fleabay, I figured I'd try the stenciling technique on the guard I have here with the botched paint. I tried using special stencil vinyl in the Cricut to make the mask, as it's supposed to be easier to work with because it has a weaker adhesive. It was still strong enough to rip off my lousy paint.
I'm not considering it a failure, though... as a test run I think it was great. I think the lettering looks dead-on like it should for a 50-year-old moderately worn Schwinn guard.
I mean, here it is next to an actual 50-year-old moderately worn Schwinn guard...
It wasn't too hard to do. I sponged the paint on as suggested by @RustySprockets in my How-To thread, using little sponge gizmos I got at Walmart and cheap Walmart flat white spray paint that I had around. Just sprayed the paint in the cap and sponged it up from there.
Now I REALLY can't wait to get this original paint guard in the mail...
I'm not considering it a failure, though... as a test run I think it was great. I think the lettering looks dead-on like it should for a 50-year-old moderately worn Schwinn guard.
I mean, here it is next to an actual 50-year-old moderately worn Schwinn guard...
It wasn't too hard to do. I sponged the paint on as suggested by @RustySprockets in my How-To thread, using little sponge gizmos I got at Walmart and cheap Walmart flat white spray paint that I had around. Just sprayed the paint in the cap and sponged it up from there.
Now I REALLY can't wait to get this original paint guard in the mail...
ok, so let's digress a minute to talk about common sense.
if you were shipping a guard you sold, how would you package it?
like this?
to be fair, there is a layer of bubble wrap under the contact paper, and the guard seems fine; I just think maybe a box would have been in order. Anyways...
here's the guard I've been waiting for. (I forgot to take a pic before I removed the star graphic. The pic from the auction is in post #32 of this thread if you're really curious.)
Looks a little crusty and worn, which is perfect because it matches the bike. The original guard is in more or less the same shape. The color is a little off from the bike, but I'm over it.
I created the stencils with the Cricut like I've been practicing and transferred them to the guard.
Then I used the sponge gizmo to dab the paint on. It's cheap flat white spray paint that was dry enough to touch almost immediately.
I'm pretty happy with the way it came out. Once it's had a chance to dry thoroughly, I'll beat it up and weather it down a little further to match the guard better, but I think it already looks a lot better than new white vinyl decals on an old bike would have. I realize the "Schwinn" script is off... the "c" should be closer to a perfect circle, and the "w" is just the wrong shape, and that's just for starters. But I think the overall look is right.
if you were shipping a guard you sold, how would you package it?
like this?
to be fair, there is a layer of bubble wrap under the contact paper, and the guard seems fine; I just think maybe a box would have been in order. Anyways...
here's the guard I've been waiting for. (I forgot to take a pic before I removed the star graphic. The pic from the auction is in post #32 of this thread if you're really curious.)
Looks a little crusty and worn, which is perfect because it matches the bike. The original guard is in more or less the same shape. The color is a little off from the bike, but I'm over it.
I created the stencils with the Cricut like I've been practicing and transferred them to the guard.
Then I used the sponge gizmo to dab the paint on. It's cheap flat white spray paint that was dry enough to touch almost immediately.
I'm pretty happy with the way it came out. Once it's had a chance to dry thoroughly, I'll beat it up and weather it down a little further to match the guard better, but I think it already looks a lot better than new white vinyl decals on an old bike would have. I realize the "Schwinn" script is off... the "c" should be closer to a perfect circle, and the "w" is just the wrong shape, and that's just for starters. But I think the overall look is right.
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That came out amazing!
Awesome that the guard arrived safe considering the way it was packaged.
Guard looks GREAT! 
only the front bolt holding the guard on, i have to change the rear bracket...
next step, other than some daylight pics, is to swap for a Mag sprocket/crank. I might also add a chrome fork crown off a Collegiate and maybe some fenders if I can find them cheap...
next step, other than some daylight pics, is to swap for a Mag sprocket/crank. I might also add a chrome fork crown off a Collegiate and maybe some fenders if I can find them cheap...
Incredible work on the guard stenciling! Tell me about the Cricut? Did you produce the stencils at home? What kind of equipment is required?
This method fits the 'worn look' of the build so well. And great execution on your part. Is the paper adhesive backed ? The lines are so clean!
This method fits the 'worn look' of the build so well. And great execution on your part.
Is the paper adhesive backed ? The lines are so clean!
Thanks! The Cricut is a nifty little craft cutting machine that is getting very popular. It seems to have spawned a whole cottage industry of people who personalize stuff by creating stickers or stencils. I wouldn't have bought one for myself just for bike projects, but my wife and my daughter wanted one, and I'm more than happy to experiment with it.
Basically, you feed it an image in the right format (.png files are easy to find online with a Google search) or create an image/text with their software, and the machine will cut the outline of the image into special vinyl or other materials that you buy in sheets or rolls. You stick a piece of the vinyl to a mat that's made for the machine, and the machine pulls the mat in and moves it around under the blade. It works kind of like a computer printer, moving back and forth across the project surface, except with a blade mechanism instead of a print head.
The vinyl I have used has backing paper that you peel off. For a simple decal, you just peel it off the backing paper and stick it on the destination surface, but for more intricate stuff like this, they make what's called transfer vinyl, which is yet another roll of adhesive backed stuff you have to buy, but it's clear so you can see what you're positioning and where you're positioning it. You have to lay the decal face down on the transfer sheet, peel off the decal adhesive, then position the whole thing on the destination surface and gently remove the transfer sheet.
FWIW, my wife and I just used this gizmo to make a few iron-on T-shirts as Christmas gifts, and for that you use a different vinyl... the transfer sheet is already attached and you have to cut the image in reverse.
So if you want to make a guard decal, for example, you have to remove all the material around the lettering after it's cut and before you put it on the transfer sheet. If you're making a stencil, you do the opposite: remove the letters and just stick the outline or negative space to the transfer sheet.
I tried to show some of the steps in this thread on the How-To board. Check out what I have there (I actually start using the Cricut around post number 14).
Basically, you feed it an image in the right format (.png files are easy to find online with a Google search) or create an image/text with their software, and the machine will cut the outline of the image into special vinyl or other materials that you buy in sheets or rolls. You stick a piece of the vinyl to a mat that's made for the machine, and the machine pulls the mat in and moves it around under the blade. It works kind of like a computer printer, moving back and forth across the project surface, except with a blade mechanism instead of a print head.
The vinyl I have used has backing paper that you peel off. For a simple decal, you just peel it off the backing paper and stick it on the destination surface, but for more intricate stuff like this, they make what's called transfer vinyl, which is yet another roll of adhesive backed stuff you have to buy, but it's clear so you can see what you're positioning and where you're positioning it. You have to lay the decal face down on the transfer sheet, peel off the decal adhesive, then position the whole thing on the destination surface and gently remove the transfer sheet.
FWIW, my wife and I just used this gizmo to make a few iron-on T-shirts as Christmas gifts, and for that you use a different vinyl... the transfer sheet is already attached and you have to cut the image in reverse.
So if you want to make a guard decal, for example, you have to remove all the material around the lettering after it's cut and before you put it on the transfer sheet. If you're making a stencil, you do the opposite: remove the letters and just stick the outline or negative space to the transfer sheet.
I tried to show some of the steps in this thread on the How-To board. Check out what I have there (I actually start using the Cricut around post number 14).
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That looks great! I would never mail anything like that.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Cool build. I showed my wife the pics and what you did with the Cricut, she was impressed. She worked at Cricut developing products for a few years.
Thanks for the thorough explanation, Park! Sounds like a versatile and crafty machine.
This is nuts - I love it.
Mantas didn't have cloverleaf sprockets, they had Mag sprockets.
Need a little cleanup. I'm a fan of using wet wadded tinfoil to remove rust, especially if the rust isn't too bad and there's going to be bearing surfaces nearby. (edit: because I'm a little superstitious about using steel wool and not getting the remnants off and ending up with steel filings in the bearings.)
Not perfect, but neither is the rest of the bike. Now I gotta scrub on the bearings. The solvent in my little Harbor Freight/Fisher Price parts washer is gonna be COOOOLD...
Need a little cleanup. I'm a fan of using wet wadded tinfoil to remove rust, especially if the rust isn't too bad and there's going to be bearing surfaces nearby. (edit: because I'm a little superstitious about using steel wool and not getting the remnants off and ending up with steel filings in the bearings.)
Not perfect, but neither is the rest of the bike. Now I gotta scrub on the bearings. The solvent in my little Harbor Freight/Fisher Price parts washer is gonna be COOOOLD...
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