Wrath 24" 21-->1

[rickpaulos]

Acquired this steaming pile bso.
bent left crank arm, bent right crank arm, missing left crank bolt, part of the plastic covering on the left arm is snapped off like someone tried a gear puller on it. Left bb cup had threaded out as far as it could. Front der twisted. Just ugly with the yellow on chrome. My camera didn't pick up the yellow on the decals. It looks far worse in person. The back tire has been shreaded by skidding so there are bald spots.

I'm thinking of making it in to a 24" bmx style cruiser. Rigid fork if I can find the right size for it. remove the gears and go single speed. The rear end is 6" or 152mm wide. Much wider than standard geared bikes. Tires are 24 x 2.40. I think I have a spare 24" semi fatty with different tread.
Loose the decals, that should help the looks. The rims are wide, about 40mm. Straight enough to use again. The hubs are stamped steel and should to be replaced but the rear is so wide I might have to reuse that one. The bike is rust free. The frame should clean up and look very shinny. Normally I'd grind off the excess cable stops but not on a chrome plated frame.

 

[us56456712]

Pretty nice Huffy. Good material for your project idea. I’ll be watching this.

 

[wheelbender6]

It’s gonna be sweet and light.

 

[rickpaulos]

I dismantled the bike today. The fork weighs 4.8 pounds! Frame is 7.1 pounds. I washed the mud off the frame and set it out to dry on top of a black recycle bin in the 90F sun today. the heat and sun softened the decals enough so I could peal them off. Well. Not great. The chrome plating isn't. It's chrome paint. And pealing the vinyl decals off took some of the chrome paint with it. Left a yellowish primer like we see on so many chrome plated plastic bits. So much for building a chrome plated 24" bmx cruiser. I may try some chrome spray paint to hide the yellow primer. I won't be using any sand paper to roughen up the surface to keep the super shiny finish.

Both bb cups spun out without tools. Both cranks are bent. That's okay as they were kids length at 152mm and I'll want a normal length anyhow. Rear tire ground off from skidding. I did find another 24 x 2.5 tire in better shape. I'm sure I won't be finding a rigid 24" fork wide enough but due to the rather tall stock fork, I think a rigid 26 will sit lower. I'm thinking just rear brakes will be sufficient. This bike was so heavy and with the wide tires you just can't get much speed going on it.

 

[rickpaulos]

That yellow reminds me of Bondo. Do they sell spray on Bondo filler?

 

[rickpaulos]

Got a can of Rustoleum with the chrome cap. Well it ain't chrome color. More grey. I did a lousy job masking the remaining sticker so you can see the difference. Meh, so much for a chrome looking bike. I thought maybe someone switched the cap (the cap is the color) at the store but the label is specific on this non-color version. It rubbed off onto my hands too easy so I added a clear coat later on.