πŸπŸ—πŸ‘πŸ• π”π§πœπ₯𝐞 π’π­π«πžπ­πœπ‘ 𝐂𝐨π₯𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐗𝐋𝐖𝐁 - BO17 Build Journal - Finished in 3rd Place - 1937 Uncle Stretch Colson XLWB

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It's pretty cool seeing the star silhouettes.


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This memory popped up from my very first RRB build off bike back in 2011. Here I am on a ride with BEER RUN

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I remember that one, I think I was the one who did all the coding on the build off list that year, copy and pasted all the photo links, and created the build off lists, lots of long hours before the forum went to the new format. Even got a free T-shirt out of it! And all that on top of building a bike. If I remember correctly that was my first build off as well where I built "The Bootlegger" bike. Back when I held the title of second most posts on the forum. I had way too much time on my hands. So many great memories. Glad to see you're still at it and building cool bikes. I took some time off the forum due to some personal things in my life and just now starting to get back into my bicycle side hustle again and going to be a lot more active on the forum like I used to. I've missed this place. I've missed all my friends. I've missed building bikes. But now I'm back. Good luck to you kingfish!
 
I remember that one, I think I was the one who did all the coding on the build off list that year, copy and pasted all the photo links, and created the build off lists, lots of long hours before the forum went to the new format. Even got a free T-shirt out of it! And all that on top of building a bike. If I remember correctly that was my first build off as well where I built "The Bootlegger" bike. Back when I held the title of second most posts on the forum. I had way too much time on my hands. So many great memories. Glad to see you're still at it and building cool bikes. I took some time off the forum due to some personal things in my life and just now starting to get back into my bicycle side hustle again and going to be a lot more active on the forum like I used to. I've missed this place. I've missed all my friends. I've missed building bikes. But now I'm back. Good luck to you kingfish!

Remember the ratrodbikes.com stickers?
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Welcome back brother! Glad to see you again. I've walked that path of building out the voting list a few times.
I remember a few different sets of RRB stickers. It would be cool if some new ones came out. Or some old ones offered up again.
Looking forward to seeing your input on the forum again.
 
Yep, It's actually a rat sized rat bike.
 
I've been trying to make a little time each day to do some bit of work on Uncle Stretch. Tonight after dinner, I decided to work on skirt fin placement as dusk was approaching.

First off finding where I needed to new seatstay notch to be. Once I cut the right side one out and filed it down a little, I test mocked it in place.

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The right side was easier because I had the top of the chainguard as a placement reference point.
For the left side, I lined up the two fins outside to outside, and then transferred the seatstay cutout placement to the left one.

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The easiest method for me to make these cutouts is to cut slivers of pie slices and then just use various needle or flat nosed pliers to move the metal back and forth until it breaks. Then I dress it up by filing it to fit. By the time I finished this, I didn't have enough light to take measurements to make sure I mount the left one at the same relative height as the right one. That will have to wait until tomorrow. I'll also need to make a notch in the lower section of the left one to make sure it clears the lower section of the seatstay as well.


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Managed to get some time on the bike before dinner this time.
Used a piece of paper to mark where the fin meets the seatstay and then moved the paper to the left side for reference.
Then marked up the lower seatstay crossing and made some cuts and filings.

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Then mocked both fins in place with tape and took some reference pics to gauge symetry and look.
Next step will be to start on the mounting methods for both of these.


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First glance through the pics, I believe I mocked up the left fin unlevel. It seems to lean down in the back a little too much. The speed darts don't seem as level as the right side.
 
Haven't had a chance to do any bike work for a few days because of being appliance repairman, plumber, and electrician at a rental property after hours.

Today I got the drive side skirt fin mounted up so far. It is very sturdy. I'm not worried at all about any flex at the tip of the fin.

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Got the left side backets made and also attached the lowest piece of the skirt to the chainstay directly. This side is sturdy as well.
Some of the #10 screws are a little long, but I used what I had for now. I'll get some shorter ones for the final assembly.

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Got the left side backets made and also attached the lowest piece of the skirt to the chainstay directly. This side is sturdy as well.
Some of the #10 screws are a little long, but I used what I had for now. I'll get some shorter ones for the final assembly.

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That "visual gap"underneath the fin desperately needs something to fill eat!
But you probably have something in mind (I smell a "Comeback of the Exhaust Pipes" coming)
 
I hadn't taken any pics in our Colonial Cemetary in a long time. The lighting seemed pretty good against this wall of headstones.

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Saw this tricked out Harley at City Market.
This really give you a feel for the size of my bike!

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