'68 Sting Rat

[Chad T]

Here's some inspiration and spiritual boost while you wait for things to 'shift' your way again...

Thank you for that! Reminded me of a song by one of my favorite Norwegian hair metal bands. Probably not your cup of gruel but the solo @ 2:50 is pretty tasty.



Got the shifter today so should be able to jump back on that horse tomorrow. Hopefully knock out the brakes and gears. Might have to settle for faux sissy suspension for now. Seat should only take a few hours. Kinda have to just dive in and go for in on those.

 

[Chad T]

Made some progress today. Shifter solved the issue with the gears. Didn't want to use a trigger shift on this as it hogs up a lot of room on these '68 apes. Can never get the shifter far enough over to make it comfortable to shift.

Decided to try the shifter mounted in a different location. Really works great. Upshift button is in the perfect spot. Lever is in a good spot but the action is a bit different. More of a diagonal throw.

Cable is extra long in that pic. Didn't want to cut the housing until I was sure this shifter was going to work ok.

This Apex road flat bar shifter is kind of a heavy tank compared to a SRAM MTB shifter but it works great. It's almost all alum so could be polished but need to concentrate on the big picture for now. Would like to at least polish the lever though since it sits horizontally like a stick shift.

Shifter works great and derailleur shifts like it looks like it should. 11 speed '68 Sting Ray the hard way...

Brakes are done! New hoses, bled, mounted. Don't think I've shown the front on the bike yet. Like the way it looks on there.

Guess it's pretty much a runner.

Finishing is definitely looking doable now.

 

[kingfish254]

WHOA!!! That Krylon cloaking upholstery paint is better than I expected!!!

 

[OddJob]

Chad, the Schwinn designers are standing up and applauding you in their graves tonight! Your work with modern brakes and shifters / drive trains is very progressive and ultra cool!

Looking forward to you 'wrapping up' this build...if you know what I mean!

RaT oN~!

 

[MattiThundrrr]

This is so sick!
(In a bad=good way!)

 

[Dr. Tankenstein]

Resto-mod musclebike, love your style Chad!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Chad T]

Thank you fellas!! Took her for a quick romp today. Gears work good. Brakes are a little spongy but have plenty of stopping power. Was able to easily keep up with a geared-up chick on a road bike..

WHOA!!! That Krylon cloaking upholstery paint is better than I expected!!!

...my faux "Ghost Seat".....Here's a real Ghost seat. This won't be on the bike long as it's a valuable artifact.

Thinking about a tall sissy for this.

Would actually make creating a sissy suspension easier. I think this bike may have had a tall sissy on it most of it's life too.

Looking forward to you 'wrapping up' this build...if you know what I mean!

RaT oN~!

Belt matching the shoes?.......Yeah I need to get on that.

In other news I got the shift lever polished. Really pleased with the way this shifter worked out.

Little headache action involved with that.

This piece was missing for a couple hours. Finally sat down to get a break from the stressful searching and spotted it on the living room floor.

Finally got it back together and working. Was quite a puzzle. Decided to ad the last purple doo dad to keep me from messing with it anymore.

Time for a nap and some coffee...then maybe some more work on this....all that extra time sure is going by quick!

 

[toro1978]

It hurts my head just thinkig of looking for missing pieces that "I just had in my hand 5 minutes ago!!!" Then 30 to 45 minutes of searching through the room throwing parts and tools around - thus causing other pieces to go missing as well

 

[OddJob]

Nice recovery of the shifter spring! You sure get into your work!

Bike looks cool. The frosting (in this case, purple) on the cake will be that seat! So you don't want to leave your precious "assits" on there? That seat actually looks kind of neat on the bike.

Def go with the tall sissy. I actually like the 'double sissy' look you have with the low one and then the extension of the tall one in that photo. Something different.

RaT oN~!

 

[Chad T]

Glamour shot practice.

 

[SkyknightJohn]

2nd, then 3rd, IMO. Both good pics. Great bike all around.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Man, I just want to ride this thing!!! I looks so fun!

Another awesome Chad T bike, you never disappoint!

 

[KJV]

Where is the purple Pete seat ?
Looks good.

 

[kingfish254]

That seat is really got set off this already awesome build!!!

 

[toro1978]

A purple chain would finish it nicely and make the drivetrain more distinct. I've seen color chains in 1/2 1/8 size only though, I don't know if they offer them for multispeed bikes.

 

[Chad T]

Where is the purple Pete seat ?
Looks good.

It's coming. Hopefully get that and the sissy bar done Friday.

A purple chain would finish it nicely and make the drivetrain more distinct. I've seen color chains in 1/2 1/8 size only though, I don't know if they offer them for multispeed bikes.

Thought about this one but was delivery from China and also prefer to go name brand with 11 speed chain. It's an oil slick finish.

 

[OddJob]

Really slick bike build Chad! That 2nd photo shows the bike best, but that 3rd one is the 'artsy' shot, pulls me in.

Are you doing a fresh Schwinn decal set on top of the vintage original condition paint? Might be kind of cool. Give it that little bit of tie in with the new parts and 'pop' the frame a bit more.

And, don't you hate it when guys like me suggest ideas during the last week of building??

 

[Chad T]

Time to get busy on this seat.

Were some dents in the nose. Hammered everything flat, filed and sanded the edge.

Got the first layer of pad ready.

Are you doing a fresh Schwinn decal set on top of the vintage original condition paint?

Don't want to put a new decal on this. I don't have a white one anyways. Did think about making it like the non-drive side. The orginal decal preserved the paint under it so when I rubbed it with steel wool the green came off and left the paint that was under the decal.

I think I have a black decal somewhere..

 

[kingfish254]

Man that is so sexy seeing all of that shiny chrome and purplisciousness in contrast with the ratty frame paint.

 

[Chad T]

Seat almost done just need tag and sissy holes + grommets. Time to start the tall spring sissy. Been itching to get to that is it will be a fun project. Seat is not that fun and I'm never 100% satisfied with the result but it should go with the theme.

Gonna wait to get the sissy on before I put it on the bike.....I may take a quick peek though..