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Yay! Parts be trickling in...

Alright a rough month left, better pick them taters up and get to cookin'! Parts been trickling in, I got the new gears for the steering (need to grab a couple turn buckles at the hardware store) The fork gear should be easy, couple tack welds and then fill in the gaps a bit. But I have to...

It's a rough weld not factory at all and I think it was adapted. The cog on the steering end seems of a different quality that the rest as well. My thought is the rope wasn't efficient and chain was substituted. Frame is a greasy satin black now... I'm mostly waiting on parts.

Napkin blueprint calls for a conversion to a standard bike chain and use two modern cogs for the rear steering. I've done this before, shouldn't be too hard to mod the newer fork. But I am going to see if I can find one set up for brakes. A lonely coaster brake out back is fine for a minute...

Poser. Sure would be fun to be a roller before Halloween and put a skeleton up front.

Drive donor and I've got to do some adapting... Modern drive on a turn of the last century bike... gonna need adapters.

Wanna see something cool I'm probably not going to reuse??? Bent and too skinny for my tires. Also the skip tooth gear is welded on... Notice under the gear, below the crown. Looks like a pulley to me. Rope steer? Hmm...

Ketchin'up post. KOTA bends look good. Chain stays at relatively level adds clearance too. Could bend a bit more for some rake but big guys on little bikes need the height and clearance is always good. Even street bikes go off-road once in a while. Not gold and not green, I like it already.

Shot a coat of primer... Now it looks like a camel to me. Satin black eventually.

The original blend was a true penetrating oil and worked much better than any "Water Displacement" formula. (don't spray WD in a lock it'll freeze...)

I did see that Aerokroil changed and is now Kroil. I haven't tried the new blend. They say it's the same...

Good to note, a standard crank cup will fit into the old bottom bracket. Originally it had eccentric BB's for tensioning the chain. There are high end eccentrics available now but I'm not sure it's ready for that just yet. There's less expensive ways to tension a chain. I did pick up some satin...

I got it free and apart.. There's a lot here to rework... Nice little brass bushing maybe 3/4" tall Icey split in the tube? ^^^ Trashed threads at both ends but I should have dies for all three... Yeah I mangled it but we'll see about that too...

It's moving! The inner tube is a terrible rusty rub but it's moving and the cog on the bottom is spinning separate from the tube and beginning to come off with judicious taps of a brass hammer. May be ruined maybe not, I'm thinking there can be some slop on this steer cog cuz I can tighten it up...

Oh yeah, oil every day but I'll bet money that rear steer tube is a close fit and rusted all the way thru. If I could just find a diagram somewhere... I did find another frame on eBay. 1890 Colson.

Aerokroil is my goto for freeing up parts in the past and it's what I have on hand. I was hoping to fit a gear puller on the bottom but the frame looks like it will be in the way. We'll see...

I got the headset apart with just a little effort. But that rear-steer headset is a no, and I'm not the first guy to try to get this apart. I did get the bearing cup to move and the top race will move but the threaded inner is froze solid. The bottom half is alien to me, I don't see where a...

This ain't your mom n dad's tandem... It's your grandparents!

1890s Colson I think... or something similar.

I've been sitting on this one for a while. There's a few issues. The rear steering is completely locked up. The eccentric front crank assembly is gone. (neat way of tensioning the front chain) and the rear axle screws are toasted. The whole frame is badly pitted and I'm thinking some fork parts...