24” Girls Rolumbiafast!!!! (Not Rollfast or Columbia!!!!!)

[Jude Ephesus]

Before you take a go at the fork, please read this

I’ll give it a shot!

one note on this….. doesn’t removing matter from he axle impact the integrity of the axle?

 

[RustyGold]

The point at which you are weakening the axle will be under compression between the lock nut (the fork) and the wheel nut. There will be negligible load on that section of the axle.

Disclaimer: conjecture

 

[Captain Awesome]

one note on this….. doesn’t removing matter from he axle impact the integrity of the axle?

How far or high are you jumping this particular Rolumbia??

 

[kingfish254]

I’ll give it a shot!

one note on this….. doesn’t removing matter from he axle impact the integrity of the axle?

I doubt it. I've filed many axle and never had a failure and I weigh around 250.

 

[Bike from the Dead]

Before you take a go at the fork, please read this

I've found an arguably easier solution: If you have some older front wheels, the axle, bearings and retainers should easily fit into a new wheel hub! No grinding, no drilling, just swapping out axles. Learned that little trick during last year's Build Off.

 

[Bike from the Dead]

You're bike's coming along nice! Looking forward to seeing the end product!

 

[marshall hudson]

Yep!. Don't drill..........file

Made the same mistake last year. That's what I like about these build offs. I've learned a lot of things just usually after I've done it the hard way ir wrong way.

 

[Jude Ephesus]

How far or high are you jumping this particular Rolumbia??

Lol!!!! I need to see what Navy girl‘s gonna do!

minimal jumping I’m sure. Just cruising I’m sure. -And she’s a little bug too maybe 120 pounds soaking wet.

I’m going to give the filing a shot.

 

[Jude Ephesus]

I doubt it. I've filed many axle and never had a failure and I weigh around 250.

So…. What’s the right way to file?

I suppose a “gentle hit” with an angle grinder is too much?

what’s the file look like?

 

[kingfish254]

So…. What’s the right way to file?

I suppose a “gentle hit” with an angle grinder is too much?

what’s the file look like?

A grinder ain't no file!!!

TRM has some pics on his build thread where he did this.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

This one right here
https://ratrodbikes.com/forum/threads/rad-rot-bikes.114235/page-3#post-1186833

 

[GeePig]

So…. What’s the right way to file?

I suppose a “gentle hit” with an angle grinder is too much?

what’s the file look like?

A file is like a small angle grinder, one that never threatens to take your fingers off.

 

[SwissGuy]

Chose your tool:
files vs. files

 

[Jude Ephesus]

...... I suppose if you’re a Navy girl, you should have a red, white and blue bike!!!!

 

[Jude Ephesus]

Here’s a loose mock-up

I’m going to try filing the front wheel today.

 

[Jude Ephesus]

The new seat won’t fit on the old style seat post;

So I yanked the clamp out of the old seat and sprayed it black to match the underside of the new seat.

Also hit the seat post clamp

 

[Jude Ephesus]

And, I hate to push this build any closer to the wire, but these tires do have some pretty glaring imperfections once you get up on them.

-I thought I could make them work, but I just can’t!!!

There’s very fine dry rot beginning on the sidewalls and, some spots, rubber has worn off making the tires look “very used” with the white wall bleeding through unevenly.

As I dig the look on some bikes, this is not the bike for that..... also, I’m not sending Navy girl off with a bike with dry rotted tires!!!!

I ordered a set of knobby 24” x 2.125”’s

I think I’ll take these and stick them on my 24” Schwinn double straight bar.

 

[Jude Ephesus]

Ok, so, I confess!

I was cursing y’all as I walked past the industrial drill bit set on sale for $5.99 with the 3/8” bit to buy an $11.00 file!!!!

However, the job came out OK and was really pretty quick and simple too. Not counting the time it took to buy the file, this job was like a 15-20 minute task.

So, pretty easy, actually.

In summary, for me, the fork drilling vs axle filing is a flip of the coin.

I agree, if this was an all original Schwinn or a high value bike, and you’re upgrading to modern wheels, then definitely file the axles.

Likewise, I really liked the axle swap idea proposed by @Bike from the Dead

As I paid $30 for the “Rolumbiafast”, even with this bike fully tuned and resto-modded, at most all I’d get for the bike if I went to sell it is maybe a couple of hundred bucks.

So, file, drill, on a low value bike, I don’t think it matters much. On a bike with value, definitely take the 15-20 minutes to file or do the axle swap.

In the end, thanks for everyone’s input here as I do have a few bikes of value that I’m going to upgrade and using the low value Rolumbiafast as a test run for axle filing was a great experience!!!!!’

Thanks Guys!!!!

 

[Jude Ephesus]

For once, I’ve got some time on my hands....

Here’s the original wheels from the Rolumbiafast.

I think they’ll look good on the Schwinn

Cleaned and lubed them.... they function a lot better than they look!!!!

 

[Jude Ephesus]

Or.....