Retro Rocket

[JimK]

I really like this build!. The suggestionmade by Kingfish on the fins would look perfect in my opinion. Keep going

JimK

 

[Duchess]

That was the original plan, but they'd be too fragile made of coroplast, too dangerous lurking in my house at night made of something sturdy and the rumors following my demise involving a phallic bicycle is not the kind of thing I want to leave behind for who's left of my long-suffering family. But, I am making them removable, as transport in a bike rack behind the car on the highway would destroy them, which also means I can make different versions. For now, I'm going with something that gives it more visual forward movement.

 

[Duchess]

Inside of the hatch doors are lined with aluminum so that I can form them to shape and they'll retain their shape (hopefully), fins fixed, and the shifter mounting bar is in place (forward of the front hatch).

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Somehow a flamethrower needs to get fitted to the tail...

Luke.

 

[Fv2]

Somehow a flamethrower needs to get fitted to the tail...

Luke.

Hairspray and a bbq grill igniter.

 

[Duchess]

The best I'm going to do is a 12V tail light inside the nozzle.

Hatches lined on the inside:

Drilling these shaft collars for the shift rods:

Relocated grip shifters. The tube beyond the collars will be cut off:

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Nice work!

Luke.

 

[pholTmonx]

Great touches. I love the saddle redo.. ill maybe even stop after stripping to run a cheap "new" ratty seat.
Seen these thought of your build.

 

[Duchess]

Those stem caps are great!

Yeah, once you strip the finish, it leaves a really nice natural finish with a soft texture almost like a tamped down suede. I'd bet some riding on it like that would give it a real nice variance where rubbing would smooth out and darken some of it. The frame could probably have some vinegar put on it for a little while to age that up, too.

 

[pholTmonx]

I work with an arts foundrey... patina chemicals a plenty but yup sounds like a plan.. and can play and ride and not need worry about an expensive rotting seat.

 

[Duchess]

Learning about painting HDPE. I didn't think about it until really late in and, for some reason, I was under the impression that it was ABS. Anyway, so far, I've sanded it with 220, flame treated it, used adhesive promoter meant for this family of plastics, Krylon Fusion flat white as a primer, then yellow Rust Oleum 2X at the ends. Surface was still too rough, so I sanded it again with 400 and the paint seems pretty robust and is certainly not scraping right off as it normally would. In fact, this is after sanding and there's still plenty of yellow.

 

[Duchess]

For next year, I might build a fiberglass tube to replace the HDPE drain pipe because it is suboptimal.

 

[pholTmonx]

So mutch fun... Looking great!
ready mix cincrete tubes make great molds for cylindrical fiber has a wax coating already!
*Edit... Your ride shot need to be split screen with reaction shots of those you fly by please and thank you.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Showed my wife you finished pic and she said: 'It needs ACME painted on the sides!'


Luke.

 

[Duchess]

I am going to put "ACME" on it! I was thinking that as I was building it because it reminded me of any number of Wily E. Coyote's rocket-powered things, but I originally planned for more fancy graphics. However, now that I've come to accept the limitations of the drain pipe until I can build a better rocket body out of fiberglass as the (hopefully) final evolution of this bike sometimes next year or so, I can go with the ACME for now.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

 

[Duchess]

A couple stupid issues prevent it from being ridable today—frozen jockey wheels and the need for a flexible noodle for the front V-brake (the cable goes through the steerer tube, out the bottom, around the back of the fork to the V-brake from the side and the metal one doesn't seem to want to bend enough without crimping).

I did add the rocket valve caps:

 

[Georgeediii]

Am I the only one who sees the humor in "riding a pink rocket"?

 

[Duchess]

I hope not. I'll tell you, you really have to not care about what people think of you to ride this. Luckily, that description suits me and if history is any indication of the future, I may be surprised by the interesting (female) people I'll meet in spite of (or because of) its anti-coolness, like my old high school car:

 

[Georgeediii]

Personally I would have thought long and hard about painting it red, for comedic purposes.