Ok, so where should we start. Here is a good spot, bought this bike from Onewheelsqueel last December, saw it in pieces in October it had some crazy tube things welded on to each side that looked like they were for baseball bats or toy guns. Onewheel cut them off and put the bike together with what he had and then decided to let it go and sell it. A true Rat through and through...
While the bike was up for sale for a little while, I saw it pondered it for a while and decided to buy it. I like a challenge and enjoy tinkering with stuff so why not. Had another Tornado earlier this year and it was a fun bike and neat conversation piece with the flat bar frame and giving it the Stingray treatment. So Onewheelsqueel and I worked out a deal and he brought it to my work and I gave him the cash and it was easy to transport as it was in pieces again. Seems he had a buyer so he broke it down to fit it in a box and quoted a shipping price and the sale just did not happen. I took the pieces home put them in a corner, dug through my parts stash, and about 3 weeks later started to assemble it. This is how it first came out.
I used the extra chrome rims that came with the bike and a bunch of parts I had laying around. I kept the bike like this for about 6 weeks then another Stingray came into my collection and it needed a seat, sissy and some other parts so the Tornado became a parts donor. Then a few weeks ago I got the itch to get it back together with the bike season coming up in the hopes of turning it back into needed cash before I take more parts away from it again. So back to the parts hunt and getting the bike back to rideable. Well I did and then I offered it for sale.
No luck on the sale thing but a lot of positive and some negative comments. Seems no one was too thrilled with its Rusty Ratty look. Everyone loved the shiny chrome and Stingray look. So I decided last night to get busy and finish her off. I tore it completely down in about 30 minutes and got out the sander, I got it smoothed pretty well, wiped it down and picked out a color that I thought would make it stand out. Here are some pic's of the painting in process.
Here is the bike being reassembled, when I had to call it quits around 12:30am this morning, note I started this whole process at around 4:30 PM earlier that day.
Then I got back to it this afternoon and got her finished. Complete with a custom MAD BRAD Stingray Leather Banana Seat. I am very pleased with the bike, my son took it for a ride and gave it the thumbs up. Here is my finished Schwinn Tornado-Ray!
And here it is parked with some of my other bikes.
While the bike was up for sale for a little while, I saw it pondered it for a while and decided to buy it. I like a challenge and enjoy tinkering with stuff so why not. Had another Tornado earlier this year and it was a fun bike and neat conversation piece with the flat bar frame and giving it the Stingray treatment. So Onewheelsqueel and I worked out a deal and he brought it to my work and I gave him the cash and it was easy to transport as it was in pieces again. Seems he had a buyer so he broke it down to fit it in a box and quoted a shipping price and the sale just did not happen. I took the pieces home put them in a corner, dug through my parts stash, and about 3 weeks later started to assemble it. This is how it first came out.
I used the extra chrome rims that came with the bike and a bunch of parts I had laying around. I kept the bike like this for about 6 weeks then another Stingray came into my collection and it needed a seat, sissy and some other parts so the Tornado became a parts donor. Then a few weeks ago I got the itch to get it back together with the bike season coming up in the hopes of turning it back into needed cash before I take more parts away from it again. So back to the parts hunt and getting the bike back to rideable. Well I did and then I offered it for sale.
No luck on the sale thing but a lot of positive and some negative comments. Seems no one was too thrilled with its Rusty Ratty look. Everyone loved the shiny chrome and Stingray look. So I decided last night to get busy and finish her off. I tore it completely down in about 30 minutes and got out the sander, I got it smoothed pretty well, wiped it down and picked out a color that I thought would make it stand out. Here are some pic's of the painting in process.
Here is the bike being reassembled, when I had to call it quits around 12:30am this morning, note I started this whole process at around 4:30 PM earlier that day.
Then I got back to it this afternoon and got her finished. Complete with a custom MAD BRAD Stingray Leather Banana Seat. I am very pleased with the bike, my son took it for a ride and gave it the thumbs up. Here is my finished Schwinn Tornado-Ray!
And here it is parked with some of my other bikes.
