Pre-School Chopper

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Won't be a real old school chopper, but I will be taking styling queues from old school sickles to do something with this freeby 16" Huffy BMX-ish bicycle.
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The size charts say this size bike is for 4 to 8 year old kids. I started on a 20" Huffy convertible at 5 and rode it until 8 or 10 or so then went to a 24 incher. This poor thing seems so tiny. Can't imagine a 7 year old kid stuck with riding it!
Anyway, I have a 26" fork planned for install on this bike and a smallish set of apes that may be a little big on Junior here. LOL
Also some new tires are planned. Something more streetable. Maybe white walls.
I want to give it an old school motorcycle chopper vibe something like these...
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Pretty tall order for such a small bike.

Got my first grandkid coming the end of March. May just keep this one tucked away until the little one is ready to ride next summer! LOL
 
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Record breaking heat foercasted for today and tomorrow. What a way to start a WINTER build-off!! LOL
 
Record breaking heat foercasted for today and tomorrow. What a way to start a WINTER build-off!! LOL
We had that heat on Monday. We'll be sending you some cold and wet in the next day or so. Put the soup kettle on.
 
Tried some mock-ups this evening. Black forks are some 24 inchers I had. Blue ones are 26". Figure the brake mounts can be used in fabbing a truss/fake springer.

Also have a wooden display cart to build this month for my daughter-in-law's pottery business. She needs it by November 1 for the holiday shopping season. Gonna have 24" wheels so can't enter it in the build off. :)
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Think maybe those ape hangers are too big for some yard ape to hang on???

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Another freebie I'm going to use for parts. Mainly the wheels. The rusty brown ones on the chopper now are pretty flakey on the inside. I wouldn't want my kid to ride on them. These other rims are pretty clean inside. Just trying to keep it really rideable.
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Extensions roughed out and tried on for size. Need a little more work with the grinder and file and some more holes drilled. The idea behind the longer wheelbase was to help decrease the tendency to pop wheelies all the time.
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Gonna chop off the brake bosses on the fork?
Not sure. Thinking maybe leave them and use them as a mounting point for some trusses.

But cutting them off would keep it simple...

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Just a little bit of bend in those forks will go a long way towards the runt being able to control it.

Carl.
 
A few of us call it Kota bending the forks, after the member @KOTA who while maybe not "pioneered" using a hand electrical conduit bender, he definitely made it popular. It's not that hard to do. Keeping things square and taking your time is the trick. I just set the bender in the original crook of the fork and give it a nice easy pressure bending it just an inch or two, more over to the second fork blade and repeat, moving back and forth little at a time until it's what i want.

Carl.
 
Which is ..... making wooden mags? Cool!
SaND oN~!
 

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