1960 Little 500 Roadmaster

[minnphatts]

Here's some pics of my 1960 Little 500 Roadmaster. My dad was a team captain in the 1960 Little 500 race (it's the race featured in the movie Breaking Away at Indiana University). He passed away a few years ago, so I thought it might be fun to make sort of a rolling memorial. About 80% of the parts are period correct, I'm still looking for some U.S. Royal Super Rider balloon tires to put on it, does anyone have any for sale? Thanks to Skyrider for the headbadge.

Here's a link if you want to view the entire album:
http://s422.photobucket.com/albums/pp310/minnphatts/?


Here are a few pics of the actual race bikes:

 

[maddogrider]

That is very cool man. Diggin the old race bikes 8)

 

[jimw1960]

Great pictures. Thanks for sharing.

 

[KLZW]

nice bike.. i just love these retro bikes

 

[thatismytruck]

Your bike is way cool. 8) Thanks for sharing.

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

your Dad was team captain of the Cutters? how cool is that. great bike. i'll duct tape your feet to the pedals (or did they use athletic tape?)

 

[sean138]

Being from Indiana, thats very cool! We ate at a restaurant in Bloomington not long ago and the guy has it decorated in bikes from The Little 500. Yours is way cooler than any of his modern fixie racers.

 

[Gold Street Customs]

Wow you never know whats going to turn up on this site...very cool.

 

[ang1sgt]

Very cool reproduction! I loved the Movie and I watch it when I get the chance. Love the detailing on your bike.
The Bendix looks cool with the Red Decal or paint on it like that.

 

[JoeyMac]

Hey! Glad you found your Little 500 Roadmaster frame! Sorry I couldn't sell you the one I had, but it is now my build-off bike!

Your tribute bike came out really well, and what an honorable way to pay tribute to your father. Good job!

 

[Hammond Eggz]

Now that's just plain cool!
And what a great tribute to your dad - well done!

 

[minnphatts]

Since you mentioned "The Cutters" I figured I'd post pics of my 70's era Cutters bike. The Roadmasters they raced in the 1970's (the Breaking Away era) are quite easy to find on Craigslist, as they often are badged as K-Mart. So while I was collecting parts for my 1960 bike I threw together this bike as well. Not the coolest ride, but it takes me back to the era of the Blue Light Special!

If you want to view the entire Little 500 album:
http://s422.photobucket.com/albums/pp31 ... ?start=all



Here's the Cutters Bike:

 

[JoeyMac]

cool bike, I like that movie too. But i gotta ask about your pictures, they are really good, are you shooting film?

 

[minnphatts]

Joey Mac, I am shooting with a Nikon D80, not film. Though I do process my images through Photoshop using a variety of cross-process and Lomo actions, curves, scripts etc. Many are available for free, if you are photoshop savvy? I'm a graphic designer and I also shoot a fair amount of projects for clients.

Speaking of photos, would you happen to have a close up shot of the green oval Roadmaster sticker on your Flying Falcon? I have been redrawing Roadmaster artwork to make stickers, and I haven't found a good shot of that sticker so I can reproduce it. (see attached photo)

 

[Floyd]

Great tribute bike! I just watched "Breaking Away" a few months ago again. Great movie!!!!

 

[JoeyMac]

Joey Mac, I am shooting with a Nikon D80, not film. Though I do process my images through Photoshop using a variety of cross-process and Lomo actions, curves, scripts etc. Many are available for free, if you are photoshop savvy? I'm a graphic designer and I also shoot a fair amount of projects for clients.

Speaking of photos, would you happen to have a close up shot of the green oval Roadmaster sticker on your Flying Falcon? I have been redrawing Roadmaster artwork to make stickers, and I haven't found a good shot of that sticker so I can reproduce it. (see attached photo)

that's cool, those are good cameras. I shoot with a Canon EOS 10D myself, and have been using photoshop for about 10 years. I am technically a graphic designer by trade, but I have no formal training in either photoshop or graphic design in general. I was an animation major, haha. Anyway, that's cool, I would be interested to hear about your techniques.

As for the decal, I do have one picture that I know of right now, I can take more later. It says MASTERWELD, CLEVELAND WELDING CO.
(click on it to see full size)

The Flying Falcon frame I got a little while ago has a different decal... might be hard to see in this photo, I will have to take a better one later, it is a strongman trying to bend a frame.

 

[herr_rudolf]

Nice bikes!
Finally I see a 'cruiser' with racebars. Cool tribute. And beautiful photo's btw...

 

[roadmaster]

great bike! frame looks a bit older than a 60', but i really like that amf/roadmaster headbadge. now i just gotta find one for my 59'. really enjoyed the picts of the old racing bikes, too. kinda coll to see picts of cruiser with drop bars and kinda inspirs me to do a racer build in the future. that chainring is sweet! :mrgreen:

 

[skyrider]

Your welcome. I was glad to see it put to use.

 

[minnphatts]

JoeyMac thanks for posting the pics. PM me with an e-mail address and I can share with you some photoshop info.

Roadmaster, I'm curious what makes you think this frame is earlier? I've been looking for catalogs/ads from 1959 and 1960 for Luxury Liners and Flying Falcons without a great deal of success. My best guess, with some help from Phil over on theCABE, is that this is a late 50's Luxury Liner. It seems to match the Roadmasters in the race photos and footage I have. The 1960 race probably used 58 or 59 model bikes, as they trained with them throughout the year. Here's the bike I built it from, it it similar to your 1959? Any information you may be able to contribute would be appreciated!

One of the interesting things about this build has been collected the correct parts for a specific bike that wasn't stock. The racers adding their own road or track bars, Brooks saddles, Wald chainrings, Schwinn bow pedals on the Roadmaster frame/forks.

Here's a newspaper clipping of my dad's bike. Anybody want to ride around with one of those old hairnet helmets?