Alaskan Harbor Rat

[beerbelly]

Signs of spring are finally here and its time to get my build on. For this project, my first for rrb's.com I have a 63 schwinn.

Here it look as it was when I picked it up.

I was originally gonna build something along the lines of a boardtrack with this frame but pulled out the moment I came across this Super Deluxe on the schwinn site.

The low rise bmx bars blew my mind and now I gotta use them in a build for a rat rod truck inspired rat cruiser. I feel using the bmx bars they give the bike that same low wide look like that of a truck.


In case you not sure what I mean by truck (tho Im sure most here will know) here some images for reference and btw both are major influences on this build.

Being I have no lbs I hit up amazon for a set of low rise bmx bars

Amazon Prime is very important for where I am and I got the green bars being they were the cheapest and knowing beforehand I wanted to strip them raw and finish with a matte clear coat. I also ordered me up a bmx stem, a stem adapter, and a few other goodies that have already arrived.

I am looking forward to this build and am stoked to be sharing with so many of you who's builds I have seen and enjoyed from a good couple years of lurking this site. I will post the first part of the build very soon.

 

[DeuceWheeler]

I have those bars in black, I love em!

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Cool build idea!

Luke.

 

[beerbelly]

I have those bars in black, I love em!

Im really digging the 3.5inch rise and the sweep, they feel good.

Here's where Im at, pretty stoked so far.

I had to cut down the steer tube and made a stupid mistake by forgetting to take account for the springer forks steer tube mount, which obviously means I cut the .... thing to short. I was not looking for the 1-2 week delivery time for a new part so I came up with with an idea to remove the fork race all together then file down and round out where my lower bearing would make contact to the fork, well it worked and is smooth as butter. Not sure how long the bearing will hold but this buys me some time.
I was originally gonna strip and paint the frame but with this build I'm gonna leave the scratched up crappy rattle can paint job of hers as is. For some reason the clear coat on the bars dried with a frosted look in most places, not sure what that is from never had it happen to me. Those grips on there are ODI Longnecks I've ridden them for over 15 years, these arrived as a "limited edition soft" pair which are super soft and need no breaking in, stoked on this suprise as well.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Looking really good! Those bars are perfection on there!

Luke.

 

[beerbelly]

Thanks Luke, yeah for real those bars worked out awesome! Im glad you liking my build you have a good eye.

 

[Wildcat]

It's looking good and we haven't even seen the wheels or tires yet.