Upcoming 2025 ORBO/SWBO - who’s in?

Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum

Help Support Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I have a SWBO project ready to go, if demands can wait. Otherwise I have ideas for an ORBO bike… Urban Assault. As always, TBD. Post-Turkey I’ll escape to the garage to ponder inventory over a good beverage. 🍻😄
 
Actually, they're both Shelbys. But I have to assume you mean the late '30s wishbone double bar with the Shock-eze forks and great original paint
View attachment 284014

This is a Western Flyer badged frame that I bought from JAF/CO during Covid and just haven't gotten around to building yet. It's one of my bucket list builds and one of my favorite frames. The plan is to build a klunker using vintage Sturmey Archer drum hubs with a 3 speed from a tandem that I bought around the same time frame. That's been the hold up for me. The rear hub is a 40 hole and front is a 32. I finally have the rims, aluminum 26" MTB rims, so it's ready.

The other one is, I think, a '53. Also a wishbone though it has been repaired and the wishbone area around the seat tube is pretty full of braze
View attachment 284013

My plan for this one is to use a vintage beehive springer and mostly mountain bike parts. 26" wheels, 3x7, etc. Bare metal with the brazing highlighted. Either way, I'm having fun! :113:
you’ll be fine with that concept, using a rear derailleur. For a single speed, the curved chain stays make for chain drag on the chain stays with almost all non original cogs and chainrings. Some, but not all of them, have a low ground clearance making for pedal strikes and headers. I built a klunker with a frame similar to this one with the curved stays and had to use 5.5 inch cranks, which made for real choppy peddling. I think most of them have enough clearance for a 6.5 inch cranks. I ended out giving the frame away.
 
burrito style gravity bike...
Will Ferrell Lol GIF by NBA
 
This drawing is over five years old and has been through hundreds of revisions. I really think I got the design pinned down now though. My goal is to eliminate all the stumbling blocks I've hit in the past. I was always hung up on making it perfect but now I'm just taking more of a prototype approach for this build. In certain circles a "dutchman" is a nickname for a repair in a woodworking project. Hence the name the flying dutchman. I did google it though and it turns out it's a famous ghost ship which I thought was pretty cool.
20241126_220746.jpg
 
There's a pretty cool old gravity bike thread here somewhere. The fun I think, would be the trip to get to one of the big hills guys were rolling down. Biggest "hill" around here is a highway overpass...
 
View attachment 283974View attachment 283975
I'll say I'm in the ORBO with this even as I'm about to tap out of the MBBO/STBO.
That thing has 'klunk' written all over it!

Actually, they're both Shelbys. But I have to assume you mean the late '30s wishbone double bar with the Shock-eze forks and great original paint
View attachment 284014

This is a Western Flyer badged frame that I bought from JAF/CO during Covid and just haven't gotten around to building yet. It's one of my bucket list builds and one of my favorite frames. The plan is to build a klunker using vintage Sturmey Archer drum hubs with a 3 speed from a tandem that I bought around the same time frame. That's been the hold up for me. The rear hub is a 40 hole and front is a 32. I finally have the rims, aluminum 26" MTB rims, so it's ready.

The other one is, I think, a '53. Also a wishbone though it has been repaired and the wishbone area around the seat tube is pretty full of braze
View attachment 284013

My plan for this one is to use a vintage beehive springer and mostly mountain bike parts. 26" wheels, 3x7, etc. Bare metal with the brazing highlighted. Either way, I'm having fun! :113:
That '30s double wishbone frame is cool as all get out! Freshen up the original patina, add new parts, wow! So much potential.
 
I will likely be preoccupied with a possible move down in the desert this winter. And I did just do a buildup of a new off-road tool last Fall which now resides in Mesa. So, I will probably be watching from the bleachers; although the klunker is right there with a muscle bike on my list of All-Time Most Fun RRB builds. If I did do the ORBO, it would be my 3rd such build, all done in the Sonoran Desert.
'Some like it hot'...

Desert Huntsman.jpg
 
That Worksman is a 2600 model frame, the large size, and would be perfect for a klunker. The whole thing is made heavy but bulletproof so it can stand up to offroad abuse. To be lighter would require a 3 piece crankset conversion and alloy wheels. Everything steel would need to be aluminum or alloy, except the frame.

I had a Custom Cruiser just like the one ingola shows, back in 1983, but one speed and branded Cyclepro, same color and everything. I added Z rims and 5 speeds and rode many miles in the Philippines in the mid eighties when I was stationed there.

Can we have two entries? I have one that will work fine and another that is a good idea but reality may set in yet again.
 
Can we have two entries? I have one that will work fine and another that is a good idea but reality may set in yet again.
Yes

The big Summer build off is the only one that restricts you to one entry per category. All others are wide open you could have 50 entries if you wanted.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top