38 Rollfast - Strand Shark

[Rusty]

Hi all,
As I mentioned in my intro, I just got this 38 Rollfast built American Flyer. (I believe it is a Rollfast anyway). So for my first question - I need to get a new crank for this bike because the one that is on it is bent. The one that is on it looks very similar (if not exactly) like the old dog leg Schwinn cranks. But I noticed that on Memory Lane’s site, they list the Schwinn cranks as 28 threads per inch and the Generic Non-Schwinn cranks as 24 threads per inch. I want to use the original bearing cones so I need to make sure I get a crank that has the same threads as what is on the bike. Does anyone happen to know which this bike would have had?

Thanks,
Rusty.

 

[deorman]

Re: 38 Rollfast

I'm not sure about that, but most 1-piece crank sets (not 100%) are pretty much interchangeable, aside from the actual threaded parts. If nothing else, you can swap the whole set. My guess :? would be the 24tpi.

 

[user 135]

Re: 38 Rollfast

Cool frame. Hopefully you have read about that Monark repop fork. viewtopic.php?t=599

Yeh Schwinn did alot of funky things. 24tpi should work fine.

 

[Rusty]

Re: 38 Rollfast

Thanks guys. I went ahead and picked up a non-Schwinn crank set from ebay. I think it should fit. Thanks very much for the link on the Monark forks. I have actually seen quite a few threads here regarding the problems with them. The biggest problem being that they can fold. I plan to have the powder coating stripped off and then I will weld them up right. I had planned on repainting them anyway because I had read that the finish leaves something to be desired. To be honest, they do look a little beat up. Not like what you would expect for a brand new set of forks. But no big deal because I pretty much knew what I was buying after reading up on them here. I will post some close-up pics later.

 

[Rusty]

Re: 38 Rollfast

Here are a couple of shots of the forks up close. Not show quality by any means if you plan to use them out of the box. But easy enough to fix if you plan to paint them.

 

[deorman]

Re: 38 Rollfast

Pretty sad, given the price.

 

[Rustinkerer]

Re: 38 Rollfast

That's a Snyder built frame, commonly known as the "zep" frame. Snyder built versions with Rollfast and Hawthorne badges also. ~Adam

 

[Rusty]

Re: 38 Rollfast

Very cool. Thanks for the info Adam.

 

[Rusty]

Re: 38 Rollfast

Working on the wheels today. The ones in the pictures above are just temps from another bike.

Original Wheels

Rear hub showing some promise...

Emery cloth and a wire wheel are your friend.

All the internals were sah-weet! Just cleaned everthing and gave it some new grease. Just beautimous isn't she?

My leetle helper

 

[stretch]

Re: 38 Rollfast

perfect! did you save the old spokes to reassemble, or were they like twigs?

 

[Rusty]

Re: 38 Rollfast

No, didn't try to save them. One was already broken so I just clipped them out with some dikes. I did save the brass nipples though. Not sure if the new spokes have brass ones or not. I figured I would polish them up.

 

[stretch]

Re: 38 Rollfast

most do, they're just chrome plated. yours probably were when they were new, but after such a long time, its worn off.

 

[sensor]

Re: 38 Rollfast

dont know how i missed this one......
looks good and you had the look nailed with the forks(when i did my zep i had originally planned on a monark springer just couldnt find an original one)...
post more please :mrgreen:

 

[Rusty]

Re: 38 Rollfast

Thanks sensor. Yes, I really like the Monark forks with this frame. The parellel forks looks very nice with the two parellel bars on the frame.

 

[Rusty]

Re: 38 Rollfast

Made a little progress on this bike. I had the frame and forks stripped by Burlington Engineering in Orange, CA. My dad actually found them and told me they could strip powder coating. They also remove rust. The parts looked super clean when I picked them up but began to rust from the moisture in the atmosphere by the next day.

Not much of a weld here, but you already knew that.

I got some primer from a local automotive paint shop that is both etching and high build. Here are the rims after wetsanding. They will be painted black with a flat clear coat.

The frame is actually primered as well but I have not wetsanded it yet.

That's it for now but more on the way.
Rusty.

 

[Uncle Stretch]

Re: 38 Rollfast

Looking good so far. Can't wait to see it finished. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[onelesspedestrian]

Re: 38 Rollfast

not that it matters if you have some new cranks, but if you want to keep the originals, I have successfully straightened 1 piece cranks. one end in a bench vise, and a big pipe on the other.... and then don't hit any more jumps, ya hear?

That's gonna be one cool bike regardless.

 

[Rusty]

Re: 38 Rollfast

Looking good so far. Can't wait to see it finished. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Thanks Uncle Stretch. You and me both.

not that it matters if you have some new cranks, but if you want to keep the originals, I have successfully straightened 1 piece cranks. one end in a bench vise, and a big pipe on the other.... and then don't hit any more jumps, ya hear?

That's gonna be one cool bike regardless.

LOL. 'Twernt me that bent it. Hehehe. Actually, I'm kind of embarassed to say that I tossed the old crank. I probably could have straightened it but I plan to send some of the parts out for rechroming and I guess I didn't want to spend the money on a damaged part. Still I probably should have kept it around as a spare for something else. Thanks for the compliments.

i just got these forks also. they also have a smudge in the same place. is it me or are these repro forks all show and no go. i am quite disappointed with the function, but love the aestheitcs.

Yes, it is unfortunate that crossbow usa seems to have dropped the ball on quality. They have a very cool product! If only they would go the extra mile and improve a couple of things. At least there is enough info in this great forum that if you do a little reading, you can get a pretty good idea of what to expect before you buy. They can be made to work with a little effort.

Rusty.

 

[Rusty]

Re: 38 Rollfast

One of the first things I noticed about these forks is that they seemed tight and did not want to pivot. The hardware that came with them included two thick washers between the fork and the plate. The washers were thicker than the shoulder on the bolt, so when you tighten the nuts, you bind the washers between the fork and the plate.

The other (well known) problem is that with the plates on the inside of the fork, the distance between them is about 3/4" too small for most hubs. But if you try to move them to the outside, then you have to turn the shoulder bolt around because the plate has a larger hole in it for the shoulder on the bolt. Then there is not enough room for the lock nuts to go inside because they hit the spokes. So the challenge is that you need to have the plate on the outside but still have the bolt facing the same direction, with the head on the inside and lock nuts outside.

So my dad and I got on McMaster Carr and found some stainless steel bushings that are 7/16" o.d. and 5/16" i.d. Then we got stainless 5/16-18 panhead bolts to use in place of the shoulder bolts. It seems to work very nicely! Here's a quick illustration that shows what we did.

[EDIT]
The bushings are actually 7/16" o.d. not 3/8".

 

[Rusty]

Re: 38 Rollfast

Not much progress but here is what I was able to acquire with this pay period's bike budget. :mrgreen:

The front hub that was on the bike had a lot of chrome loss so I got another one that will go nicely with the back hub. I also wanted to stick with a prewar gooseneck, but I didn't really like the one that was on the bike. It was really square looking.

I had originally thought of going with brown but they seem to be out of stock now, so cream it is. Actually, I'm kinda' liking the cream now. I think these are going to look very cool.