1920S Mead Ranger vintage antique bicycle..

[tanksalot]

I bought this covered in gray paint..I had a hunch about this bike ..

So today I removed the gray paint. This is what I had under the gray paint...
Im not done yet but man this is a lucky start..
This wont be perfect but its better than a lot of the survivor bikes like this I see on line..

Im almost done...

Im just about done finally .. I had no idea the fork would be nickel plated & the Pump was Brass Plated .. This bike was a suprise all the way through ..I cant even believe this is the same bike I started with .. I only replaced the Rims / Tires & The front light .. The light that came on the bike was junk inside & was not the original light.. I replaced the 28 Inch rims with 26 inch rims for now & put a big Balloon tire on the rear of the bike & a Middle weight tire on the front. Id say the paint is about 80% original I repainted the drop stand & some places on the fenders & a bit of the rear rack plus the top of the tank...I also repainted the leather mud flap..The paint is a perfect match again I was very lucky....

 

[Jpromo]

Holy smokes, nice! You didn't even screw with the levels in photoshop to make the first photo drab and the new one pop like they do in weight loss commercials. What technique did you go with to remove the paint?

 

[ratina]

Nice! How did you remove the paint?

 

[SCHWINNRAY69]

Beautiful bike!

 

[gcrank1]

Not only do you have a fantastic, mostly original bike; you get the lucky dog award too!

 

[retro cruiser]

Very Kool bike -- enjoy your build :mrgreen:

 

[tanksalot]

Thanks for the comments.. I removed the paint using a old Credit card a bronze wool pad & a sos pad ..Very carefully it was like removing paint from a artifact ..Also I was scared to use thinner goo gone or other stuff, I did try them but the paint wasnt budging with them.. :? I was really lucky Ive tried to clean a few repainted bikes ..This by far was my best result..

 

[gcrank1]

You know, I really dont mind the 26"ers in there; gives it kind of a 'light and airy' look........
I wonder if a set of those 29s on the Onyx would fit in though, if you just gotta have big ones?

 

[tanksalot]

Im not sure the 29s Onyx would fit ? I think the fenders would have to come off ?
The original 28 Ranger Hub is so smooth ..would be the only reason Id use 28 inch rims again & somebody was nice enough offer me a great deal on Flying Piegon rims & tires ..I just dont know If I can string the ranger hub into the fling piegon 28 inch rims ..I also like the look of the 26 inch rims with a Ballon tire in the rear & a middle Weight on the front .. This is the second bike Ive done that to & I keep the original rims for the bikes.

Heres the other bike I put 26 inch rims on..

 

[gcrank1]

Its kinda an earlier look that way, like a Ford Model T with the high 'wings'. Your gas lamp look great on there too! I found (but have not bought) a pretty pristine Miller gaslamp (asking $85)........now ya got me goin'.......

 

[tanksalot]

That lamp was a lucky find $8 bucks at a yard sale ...

 

[MplsCoaster]

Cool Bike! Great that you were able to find paint in that condition underneath

 

[tanksalot]

I was very suprised by the paint underneeth ..I was hoping it was nice original paint under the paint over. but I had no idea it would be this good..

 

[scott brownsey]

i think you hit oil on this find nice work sweet bike ...............enjoy it :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[tanksalot]

Thank you .. Ive been riding the bike & it rides great...

 

[kingfish254]

That's a sweet job you did on that bike. Probably a good thing the gray paint was on there. It helped preserve it.

 

[Powder Keg]

Those are great bikes!!! I'm going to use the paint scheme on my cruiser. I especially like the seat post tube on the first bike.

Thanks for sharing!!!

~Wes~

 

[user 135]

Sweet old bike.

 

[Pedal_junky]

Wowzer! Nice work Tanks!

 

[deven_science]

Just FYI in case you weren't aware, 700c rims with 700x40 tires measure 27 1/2", and fill the 28" spot almost perfectly. I laced 700c rims onto old hubs for my Racycle, and it fills up the frame very well.

Just a possible future option. Great job you did.