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Gonna keep the descriptions short because it's already 2pm and I haven't started on the bike yet today.

Here's what I got done yesterday:
I stripped the fork and gave it a satin clear coat. Once that was done, I stuck it in my dad's powder coating oven to let it dry.
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I shined up the fork spring using a mix of steel wool, the brass wire wheel on my dad's grinder, and a variety of hand and drill-mounted brass wire brushes.
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I also cleaned up the seat post, crank, bearing cups, bearing races, nuts, bolts, and other fork parts using the same technique for the fork spring. I also decided to take a few macro shots of the Schwinn stampings on a few of the parts. It's just neat to see those little markings on these parts. Anyone know what the little crown shape is about on some of those?
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I would have worked on more parts, but it was already past 10pm, and I figured it'd be better to head home before I got too tired to drive.

It's raining all day here today and tomorrow, so I may have to change a few of my plans around to accommodate for that. Today I'd like to clean the headset and bottom bracket bearings, get the wheel hubs apart so I can clean those up, buff the paint on the frame and chain guard with rubbing compound and Johnson's Paste Wax, install the bearing cups and maybe the complete bottom bracket assembly, and continue cleaning up whatever parts need a good wire brushing if possible.
 
Ok, I didn't make any progress on the Hornet Monday and Tuesday because something had come up (nothing bad, but certainly unexpected,) But I was able to make some progress on Wednesday.

I started off yesterday by testing out some rubbing compound on the paint. Now, I've heard and learned that you normally don't want to touch the accent paint on these old Schwinns, but I just wanted to try something...
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I rubbed part of the stripe on the chain guard with a microfiber cloth, and found that it helped remove some of the oxidization!
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I immediately went to work on the rest of the chain guard, and managed to bring back a bit of the original color and luster to the paint. It's not perfect of course, but it looks nicer.
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But I wasn't done. If rubbing compound could remove the orange rust off the bit of white paint on the chain guard, then what would happen if I used it on the currently orange paint on the frame?
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Magic. That's what happened. When I started this build, I was still on board with stripping the paint later when I had the means to build this Schwinn the way I wanted. Now that the paint is on its way to looking... not exactly show-quality, but certainly not as rusty as it did, I think I want to leave the original paint alone. It's survived 70 years so far, and all it needed to look less rusty and dirty was a little rubbing compound, a little patience, and a lot of elbow grease. I'd rather find another Schwinn straight bar to build and paint the way I want than mess up this one. Red and white are still my two least-favorite colors, but after rejuvenating the paint on this 70-year-old bike, I wouldn't want to paint this bike with any other colors.
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I don't think my phone camera does it justice. This paint was DULL the way I found it.
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Now there's an actual glossy sheen to it, especially on the white paint!
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Before I got too carried away with shining up the paint on the frame, I went ahead and disassembled the wheel hubs yesterday. I wanted to get to Dad's shop so I could wire-brush the axles and a few other parts. There was also something else I wanted to take care of while I was up there...
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I forgot to bring the handlebars with me when I clear coated the fork, but this time I remembered to grab them, and I cleaned them up and got them cleared. Admittedly, I sprayed the clear on a little too thick on both coats, so I had to quickly wipe where it dripped. It'll probably show in the final product, but this is just a quick and dirty "get it riding" sort of build. I can always come back and do it better later. Right now, it's all about meeting that October 30th deadline.
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I also cleared the little caps for the springer fork, just to help slow the rust. I guess these were chrome at one point, but the chrome ain't there now!
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I also wire-brushed a ton of other parts while I was up at my Dad's shop; nuts, bolts, axles, races, just about anything that I couldn't clean with the ultrasonic cleaner or a soak in Evaporust.

Here are today's goals:
- clean bearings
- clean coaster brake parts
- finish buffing the paint on the frame
- install bearing cups
- install bottom bracket assembly
- soak various rusty parts in Evaporust
- whatever else is possible to get done today

I don't know if I'll be able to finish all of it today, but I'm going to do as much as possible.
 
That paint came out great! I really like the patina on your frame. I'm glad you decided to keep the original paint on there. :thumbsup:
Thanks Pondo! It's amazing how much I've been able to shine it up just by using some rubbing compound on it! Yeah, I wasn't really sold on the paint before, but now it just feels wrong to even think about removing it!
 
Okay, today was mostly spent going full-OCD on buffing the paint. Got a bit carried away shining this thing up.
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I might have messed up the seat post decal, but part of me actually likes it better with the white outlines instead of the black. I'm not too concerned either way.
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I may have worn out my hands and ate up most of today buffing the frame, but dang if this doesn't look so much better than what I started with! I still feel like I could do more to shine this up, but I need to stop with the cosmetics and hurry up on the functionality on this bike.
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I wasn't just buffing paint though. I was also cleaning up bearings and coaster brake parts in the ultrasonic cleaner, and soaking a number of parts in Evaporust.
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I'm going to try and start bright and early tomorrow morning on the things I didn't finish today. I won't get into too much of the details, but my main goal for tomorrow is reassembly. I'd like to get everything assembled by tomorrow night so I can test ride and fine-tune everything on Saturday. It's getting down to the wire, but I still feel like I've got a shot at this!
 
Well, I hate to say it, but I don't think this bike's going to be ready by the 30th. I was on a roll this evening getting everything assembled, and if everything went well, I probably could've had this bike all assembled by midnight. Unfortunately, I've run into a few hiccups that make me feel like I should stop and reassess everything before I go and make things worse. I'll post some photos and videos here soon, but here's what's brought this project to a screeching halt:

1. I can't get the crown race to sit all the way down on top of the top headset bearing cup. There's a gap that, small as it is, could let dust and debris inside the bearing. If this was the only issue, I'd just ride it as-is and worry about fixing it later. Sadly, that's not the only problem.

2. With the chainring and the rear sprocket facing out, I can't mount the chain guard on the frame. The chain scrapes against the chain guard really bad, so I need to either ride the bike without the chain guard, or I need to take thing apart just to flip the gears around. Again, not the worst problem to contend with, but it only gets worse from here.

3. The rebuilt coaster brake hub is not happy. I don't know what happened, but something is causing the rear wheel to continue pushing the chain when it should be freewheeling. I did notice 2 ball bearings that kept popping out of the cage on one of the bearings, but that's how I pulled it out, so that's how I put it back in. Still, I don't know if that one bearing is causing the coaster brake hub to shake and stick like it is, or if I failed to assemble some other part correctly. I'm hoping that all it is is that I just tightened an outer nut a little too much, but I don't know.

I could possibly throw on a different set of wheels and maybe tires, and at least get the bike rideable enough that way, but I feel like I need to stop and really think about what I'm trying to do first. If I can figure out a way to get this bike built before Sunday, that'd be great, but I don't want to mess up more parts and pieces in the process.
 
Last year on October 30th, 2021, I purchased this 1952 Schwinn Hornet for $40. I had always wanted to build a custom Schwinn straight bar, and this was a prime candidate for such a build. The frame was nice and straight with no damage or rust holes, the chain guard was in decent shape apart from a few small dings on the backside, and the rest of the parts, aside from the fenders, looked to be in good shape as well.
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Just one small problem though: I was torn about modifying a bike with such nice original paint and patina. On one hand, I liked the patina, but on the other hand, I was not a fan of the color. I wanted to paint this bike a different color, but I was hesitant to strip away the original paint job with the scallops still intact. So, to hopefully dodge a tough decision, I decided to try trading this Schwinn straight bar for one I would not feel so guilty about modifying at the 2022 Springfield, Missouri bicycle swap meet. Unfortunately, I didn't have too many people ask about the Schwinn, nor did I see any other Schwinn straight bars out at the swap meet. Between that and all the folks on ratrodbikes.com and thecabe.com suggesting I build this bike the way I wanted, I chose to keep the bike and build it whatever way I saw fit.

Well, just last week I was stuck trying to come up with some ideas for illustrations. I figured if I started with a "safe zone" (like sketching custom bicycles,) then it might lead to more ideas for commercial illustrations. So, I decided to play around with some ideas my 1952 Schwinn Hornet. I dug through loads of bicycle and custom car photos I had saved to my computer, looking for any inspiration I could find. Ironically, what really got the ball rolling wasn't the dozens of photos I picked out after spending a day or two browsing around on my computer; it was a couple Hot Wheels cars I had sitting on the radio receiver 6 feet behind me!
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Specifically, it was the slate blue-and-gold Mod Rod and Erikenstein Rod I had that gave me the whole vibe I wanted to shoot for: a classic hot rod wrapped in modern race-spec fabrication! These 2 little toy cars, along with this sick 1937 Dodge truck I found on Speedhunters.com and this wild Model A Ford I saw on Hoonigan, all gave me the inspiration I needed to decide on the direction for this Schwinn.
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Here's the first sketch I came up with. Granted, not everything is to scale, but the general gist of what I want to do has been established. I want to stretch the wheelbase out a few inches in both directions using dropout extensions in the rear and a modernized take on the classic flipped Schwinn springer fork up front. On the springer fork itself, I want it to look like it was build by a race car fabricator, with tightly curved tube bends and aluminum filler panels with dimple-died holes. Instead of the classic chrome spring, I want to use a spring and shock absorber from a mountain bike, to help emphasize the modern race appeal. A pair of modern LED lights will illuminate the way forward during night rides. The dimple-died holey aluminum panels continue on the tank and chain guard as well. For the tank, I decided to "draw outside the lines" by having the tank flow over the front of the straight bar, sort of like the tanks on some deluxe JC Higgins bikes from the 50s. The chain guard would receive an aluminum filler panel as well, riveted to the existing chain guard. I'd use a modern BMX chainring and some BMX or mountain bike pedals to help continue the "modern hot rod" flair. At the rear would be a bobbed Monark deep dish fender. The bike will ride on either a pair of 24" or 26" x 3" tires, with either Mooneyes wheel disks or a custom set of painted disks to hide the spokes. I'd also use a pair of number plates or hub caps to hide the drop out extensions. As for paint, I'm thinking metallic gold strips on flat or stain slate blue. Odds are as I build the bike, I'll have to redesign elements to fit the actual bike, but this is the whole vibe I'm shooting for.
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That said, I did come across this green and black version of the Mod Rod Hot Wheels car, and I may choose to go a similar route when painting this bike.
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Now that you know how I want to build my Schwinn, I now have to tell you how I'm actually going to build my Schwinn, at least for now.

See, thing is, I'm currently what you may call "financially-impaired." I don't have the funds to build such a wild custom bike right now. That said, I do still have a little loose change left to spend on my bike projects. Better than that, I've got a decent inventory of bike parts stashed away that could help get at least one or two of my bikes back to riding condition. So, what better way to utilize those parts than to use them to get a bike or two rideable once again?

Here's the plan: there's this lowrider/cruiser bike ride that supposedly happens every last Sunday of the month here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The last Sunday of this month is on the 30th of October. I bought this bike on the 30th of October last year. I want to fix this bike up in time to ride it around Tulsa with this lowrider/cruiser bike group a year after the day I brought it home! Only one problem: I have never built a bike this fast before. At best, I've rebuilt a bike in 4 months. Now I'm about to try building one in a literal week to 10 days!

That said, I feel a lot more comfortable building bikes after my last project, and I should have enough useable parts to get this bike rideable in 10 days. I already disassembled most of the bike, so I know that the bearing cups and races are good enough to use, and the bearings appear to be salvageable, if my ultrasonic cleaner can remove all the crud off of them. I'm either going to ditch both fenders, or just use a bobbed rear fender. I've got a set of used 26" x2.35" cream-colored tires on some late-model Huffy wheels that I think will go with the bike's original paint and patina well enough. I've got a few handlebars and stems that would look good enough on this bike, and I have plenty of 1/2" pitch chainrings to choose from to replace the original skiptooth chainring. I've got at least 3 options for seats to choose from, so I can still ride in comfort. The only part that I may need to buy at this time is the chain, which I can get for less than $10 at Wal-Mart. I can't really use the original fork at this time (still got handlebar stem bits stuck inside,) but I've got a few springer forks to choose from: one classic Schwinn springer, one reproduction Schwinn springer, and one Murray rat trap springer. If I use the classic Schwinn springer fork, I won't have it raked forward like I have it in the photos below, as I need a 90-degree springer fork ring for the fork to fit properly. If I use the Murray rat rap springer fork though, I could rake the bike forward. I'll just have to see what I like best.

Here's one of the bottom bracket bearing cups before a quick wire brush cleaning:
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Here's the same cup after cleaning it with a wire brush:
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Here's the issue with the flipped Schwinn springer fork I mentioned earlier:
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Here's a couple photos of some mockups I did after coming up with my ideas for this bike. First with some plywood dropout extensions:
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And finally, a mockup closer to my current plans:
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So, what's my plan for later today? (It's already 1am at the time of typing this.) Well, I'm going to dig through my stash of bike parts I have stored out-of-town for more bearings and bearing cups. I'll also look at some other handlebars I have stored away to give myself a few more options. I'll also try to mock up both the unflipped Schwinn springer fork and the flipped Murray rat trap springer fork to see which one I like best. I'll also try to clean up the bearing races/crowns, and maybe remove the paint from the fork(s) using a few tools at my dad's shop. I might knock out a few other things if all goes well, but we'll see.

So, without further ado, let the mayhem commence as I attempt to build The Ratical Rustin' Hornet in 10 days or less! This is going to get wild!

go with the Schwinn springer . but don't just flip it up side down. run it in reverse. IE spring / bracket facing rider. that will rake the forks proper stance.
 
Okay, cool! Is that how most everyone else does it? I've seen more than a few photos of this setup, but I wasn't sure how they achieved it. I'll probably test it on the older ring first, as I don't want to mess up the perfectly good reproduction piece in case I want to retain the stock rake. I haven't had the opportunity to ride a bike with a springer fork, so I'll want to see how I like it before I choose to rigidize it.

Also, sweet bike! Love the lime green and black paint scheme! I also dig the lime green stripes on the front wheel. Very cool!
low rider online bike shops sell pre bent mounts to rake the stock style Schwinn fork their like $6.00 to 8.00 plus shipping.
 
will look for pictures of my 24" Schwinn cruiser I did that to.
Cant find the picture of when I hade this piece flipped in reverse. on my 24"
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Can't find my Photo book with pictures. I used a 24" bondo Schwinn cruiser. put on a stock repop Schwinn style springer 24" but flipped the hole springer deal back wards. it let the fork tubes lean back. lowering the front end of bike. while still haven spring action.
 
Cant find the picture of when I hade this piece flipped in reverse. on my 24"
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Can't find my Photo book with pictures. I used a 24" bondo Schwinn cruiser. put on a stock repop Schwinn style springer 24" but flipped the hole springer deal back wards. it let the fork tubes lean back. lowering the front end of bike. while still haven spring action.
bad picture but yes I ran 20" wheels on a 24" frame. this is it same fork /same bike. but cruddy copy of picture. :(
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Yeah, the picture's hard to make out, but I think I can see what you were talking about. Pretty cool idea, but that's not what I want to do with this bike. I might try it on one of my wilder builds though! Thanks for sharing!
 
Okay, cool! Is that how most everyone else does it? I've seen more than a few photos of this setup, but I wasn't sure how they achieved it. I'll probably test it on the older ring first, as I don't want to mess up the perfectly good reproduction piece in case I want to retain the stock rake. I haven't had the opportunity to ride a bike with a springer fork, so I'll want to see how I like it before I choose to rigidize it.

Also, sweet bike! Love the lime green and black paint scheme! I also dig the lime green stripes on the front wheel. Very cool!
I was thinking about building one based on the torsion-elastic bushing idea. I’ll have to put up some sketches of this when I get ready to build the girder of my dreams.

Anyhow the idea is used on small trailers, Where are you generally have a swing axle that pivots inside a steel container constraining some rubber bushing.
 
Okay, sorry for the lack of updates. After realizing that there was no way I'd get the bike done by October 30th, I decided I needed a short break to try to calm down and relax before I continued working more on this Schwinn. Between that and starting a new job that sadly didn't work out, it wasn't until just earlier this week that I got around to copying and editing the progress photos and videos from last Friday. Here's how it all went down, to the best of my memory:

First thing I did Friday was run all the way up to my dad's shop in Sapulpa to pick up the handlebars and fork parts I had clear coated earlier that week. Once I did that, I ran to Wal-Mart for my chain... only to find that that particular store didn't have any in stock. So I had to spend more time on the road driving to another Wal-Mart that was further away from home to get my chain. Fortunately, I got my chain for just under $10 (before tax,) and I was on my way home.

Once home, I began reassembling the Hornet. First, I installed the bearing cups and seat clamp.
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I tried my best to get the "Schwinn" scripts on the bottom bracket bearing cups to sit level with the frame. It's the little things...
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Next, I installed the bottom bracket assembly.
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Then the seat...
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I decided to reassemble my rat trap springer fork next. One minor catch though: I needed a shim to fit the Schwinn race to the Murray fork. So, I hopped on Shoestring and rode out to one of the main roads surrounding the neighborhood to look for supplies. Now, sure, I could've just walked over to one of my neighbors and asked if they had any empty soda cans I could use, but I wanted to help tidy up the neighborhood, at least a little bit. Luckily, I found plenty of aluminum cans dotting the side of the road, so I did the responsible thing and picked up a few of those irresponsibly-discarded aluminum cylinders to bring back home, where they'd be properly recycled.
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Much better.
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Once Dad came home, he helped me get the rest of the fork assembled. I'm surprised how smoothly that went for my first try ever putting one of these forks back together.
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I put the fork on the bike, and ran into the same issue I had when building Shoestring: there was a small but sizable gap between the crown race and the bearing cup. This was puzzling, since the bearing cups, bearings, and crown race are all genuine Schwinn parts. I tried digging though my collection of other crown races I had at home, and yet I still couldn't close that gap. I still felt that if nothing else went wrong, I could just let that gap slide, but that's not how it would pan out...
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After fighting with the coaster brake for what felt like hours, I got that all reassembled. I plopped on the back wheel, trimmed my chain to length, and that's when this project came to a screeching, grinding, sticky halt. First, while I did get both the chainring and sprocket to line up correctly so the chain would spin correctly, I had flipped the sprockets to face out, instead of facing in. I think I did this mostly to clear the tire, as it's a 2.35" wide tire, but I'm trying to remember if the chainring looked like it'd hit the frame if I had it flipped the usual way. Either way, with the chainring and sprocket facing out, I could not get the chain guard to go back on the frame without the chain scraping against the chain guard. If that was where the problems ended, then I'd just leave the chain guard off, but there was a bigger issue going on inside the coaster brake hub...
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Not only does the coaster brake hub not sound too happy, but at lower speeds, it's catching on something that stops it from freewheeling. Take a look and listen:




I'm not sure what went wrong when I reassembled the coaster brake hub, but it was a huge pain in the rear to put back together, given that the cone nut that was supposed to come loose didn't, so I basically had to reassemble this whole thing backwards. I would not be surprised if that played a part in the hub not acting right. Either way, I didn't want to risk destroying the hub. At this point, it was already late at night, and I only had one more day before the 30th to finish this bike. On top of that, it was going to rain the next day, and right around when that bike ride supposedly happened, so it would be highly unlikely I'd get to test-ride the bike, even if I somehow corrected all the issues I ran into by the end of Saturday. And to top it all off, I had a job that I was starting on Halloween, so I needed to get ready for that. With all that in mind, I had to face the music and throw in the towel until I could properly sort out this mess.
 
Fast forward to Tuesday. The job I had started turned out to not be a good fit, so to help me not get dragged down by how that panned out, I decided to run up to Sapulpa to run a few errands and to grab a few more wheels and tires to test out on my Schwinn. I didn't get home until it was dark, so I shot the photos yesterday. I want to get that rear wheel examined so I can still use it, but I'm not so sure I want to use those brown wheels and cream-colored tires now. Plus, I might have better luck using some other wheels in my inventory than trying to make the ones I had been using work. Here's what I brought home to try out:
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Most of the whitewall tires I've got are either bald or dry, but I figured it was at least worth trying some out on this bike, especially now that the white paint on the frame no longer looks cream/orange-colored. I also have these black tires with pink-ish stripes that are perfectly usable that I want to try out. I might even be able to go over the stripes with some red paint to give them a better look.
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I've also got this one black 26" x 2.125" tire that, though the sidewalls are cracking, still has plenty of grip to it.
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Now, I'm not about to switch which fork I'm using just yet, but I kind of want to see what this might look like on my Schwinn Hornet. There's a few problems though: first, the steerer tube is way too long. Second, the dropouts are not crimped into the rest of the fork very securely. In fact, they are ridiculously loose! I don't know what the best method is for fixing these forks, but if there's a way to fix them without messing up the original paint too much, that'd be awesome.
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I also grabbed this fork for the crown race.
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I pulled these aluminum wheels off another freebie bike I had in storage to potentially use. They're a little rough, but I could probably clean them up and use them. Main reason for grabbing these is for the chrome-plated hubs.
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I've got another similar set of aluminum wheels that are in much better shape though, and I might not have to do anything to them other than swap the axle on the front wheel to make them usable. I also have a set of wheels that are largely identical to the ones I had on the Hornet, with the only noticeable difference being the color. If I need to, I can rob parts from the coaster brake on this set to fix the ones I was trying to use earlier. Or I can just use these wheels and paint over them to get them to match the bike better.
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I also have this rear wheel and mountain bike tire I pulled off the same bike I got the above springer fork from. I'd rather have street tires on this bike, but there are a few gravel trails I know of close to home that'd be fun to check out. I haven't really done a klunker-style build before, so this could be kind of fun to try out! Besides, any tire can be a street tire if you don't care enough! Just look at half the Jeeps on the road today! I also grabbed the other skinnier wheel and tire just to see if that'd be something I'd like.
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I also grabbed these 2 freebie mountain bikes for the tubes and tires. I'm not sure whether I'm going with knobbier off-road tires on this bike or not, but I'm open to trying something different!
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One small problem that might stop me from using these tires is that some of them have a number of cracks throughout. I really don't want these tires to pop underneath me as I'm riding. I've already had one too many scrapes while riding; I don't need any more.
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I'm not 100% sure what the next step in this build will be, but I know I want to get this bike built as soon as reasonably possible. I haven't given up on it yet. That said, now that the paint is no longer as rusty as it was at the start, I'm thinking about changing the build name for this bike. I've been thinking of calling it "The Halloween Hornet" since I bought it right before Halloween, but maybe there's a better name for it than that.

Also, if I decide to go for more of a Bomber/Klunker-style build on this bike, I'm wondering if I should enter it in the Off Road Build Off. Admittedly, I don't ride my bikes all that hard and fast (and I especially don't like taking my bikes off any sweet jumps,) but it would be nice to have a bike that I could ride on flat dirt and gravel trails where my other bikes would struggle to get a grip on the loose surface. I don't know, it's something to think about.
 
I couldn’t get any of your videos to play on my iPhone but I will see if they will play on my desktop machine later.

There’s not too much you can do putting those coasters back together, to make them go together wrong. On some you might get the brake shoes in backwards and they can have a different taper on the ends. I think that normally causes it to lock up on assembly, yet it might not have you have a really old worn out brake.

Then it might go together but simply not want to run, because the brake and drive cone are trying to engage at the same time, at a certain point in the sprocket movement.

Did you check to make sure that the axle was not bent? That can cause the drive cone to hang on the square thread, And want to drag as it’s coasting.

If the grease you used was too thick or really cold things can drag.
 
That would make a cool klunker for sure! I'll jump bikes a little but I don't try for catching much air any more so my old frames should be safe. I think you would do fine using this as an all roads bike built up as a klunker with knobbly tires. They are pretty fun to ride as well. Whichever way you decide to go should be a ton of fun!
 

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