Beauty is in the eye... Liner. ~FINISHED~

[Missing Link]

I found myself with no bike to build this year, until yesterday. While walking the massive acreage of rusty junk at the Pate Swap Meet at Texas Motor Speedway, I came across a bike frame sitting in a tub of auto parts, the $25 asking price was great, although I talked the seller down to $20 and thus, one day prior to the beginning of Build Off 11, I had my build off bike.





At another booth I found a tank, not the right tank, but a tank all the same, I picked it up along with a black and chrome old school flashlight for $10. I have no clue what it's from, but the patina is right, the bezel looks like an owl, and it's structurally, although not mechanically (the battery tray was dust) sound.



This should be a pretty straight forward build, clean and clear the frame and tank, figure out something cool to do in lieu of the lights as the battery tray was toast and there's no lense, mock intake? Chrome bullets? Glass reflectors? I have ideas, time will tell how they materialize. As far as the rest is concerned, I see chrome everything to contrast/ compliment the patina.
I'm very excited to get this build underway and can't wait to see all the amazing things that everyone else will bring to the table this year, I wish you all the best. Now to get those wrenches cranking.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Very nice! Spaceliner and an awesome tank! Some red jewels would be cool where the lenses were...

Luke.

 

[Duchess]

Owl eye light lenses from painted clear plastic? They'd glow more than be usable lights, though.

 

[kingfish254]

I've never met a liner I didn't like.
Love that tank too.

 

[Missing Link]

I started the mock up process, had to cut the crank as the left hand pedal would not budge, so I threw together a new crank with a larger, possibly later, Murray chainring. I found a seat post that fit and it happened to have a seat attached so that made it into the mock up as well. The wheels shod in flat white walls, are likely the ones I'll be using after a rebuild and truing, and the old school BMX stem may or may not find it's way onto the final build. I tried the tank on after finessing the screws that hold the bezel on for 30 or so minutes so as not to strip them or damage the patina, and I have to say it fits like a glove.





Now I just have to tear it all down and start the boring labor intensive cleaning process.

 

[Fv2]

That's a cool tank.

 

[Missing Link]

Thanks for the comments everyone, it seems I may have found a solution, albeit temporary (?), to my light problem, in a bike I've been trying to sell.



So I took the amber license plate reflectors out of the black bike and replaced them with red ones and put the the amber ones in the light sockets on the "owl" tank, if I can't find anything cooler these will definitely fit the bill.



It really looks like an owl now.

 

[OddJob]

That tank / frame combo is a fit for sure! Like your ideas....watching with 'binocular' vision!

 

[Schwinnspastic]

Looks like the starting of a great rat, I'm following along !
Mark

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Nice match with the tank. Lots of options for the lights, it'll be fun to see what sticks!

 

[Missing Link]

Not a lot of progress, but hey we're only three days in. My wife decided she wanted to enter the build off so she has hijacked my work stand for the time being and is photographing her frame and doing her mock up. Hopefully tomorrow I'll at least get around to cleaning the frame, the tank, the wheels, anything. But as for the time being I'm stalled.

 

[Missing Link]

I had some time this afternoon to get some work done, I went over the frame, fork and tank with soap and steel wool. I also plated around a bit with tire/ wheel options.







I'm still not 100% on the wheel/tire combo, I may stick with a more subtle big and little configuration, 26x2.125 on the rear, 26x1.5 or 1.75 up front, Ive got plenty of time to figure it out.
Now for a bit of an explanation; the reason why I'm letting my wife have dibs on my work stand is partly because I'm a good husband but partly because she may not have as long as I do to get her bike built. On Monday she recieved an officer commission with the U.S. Air Force, so at some point in time, perhaps July, maybe in the fall she has to go to O.T.S. in Montgomery, Alabama. It's that uncertainty and love, of course, that is the reason why I'll be doing a lot of this work without a work stand. It's also the reason why she has yet to start her build thread.

 

[brett4christ]

Thank her for her service...and tell her she's getting behind!!

Great frame...love my 'Liners!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[assa9]

Very cool start. I really love that frame style. Especially as its not chrome and has a touch of the red still showing. I really love the lights in the tank.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

I love tire rake, looking good!

Luke.

 

[Missing Link]

Yesterday I had a productive, albeit frustrating day. I had the idea that some short truss rods would look pretty cool. I had a heavy duty bracket I got from slowriderz a few years ago and an old busted up Wald front rack, so I started cutting.



Had a cut off wheel shatter on me.



Today my finger is so swollen I couldn't get my wedding ring off if I wanted to.
But in the end after some bending and welding and grinding, I had truss rods.



Not too shabby for rack legs, a little tubing, and a bolt, too bad I measures from the axle to the crown of the fork, as opposed to where the bracket would be, so they ended up about an inch and a half too long, not to mention throwing off the lines of the bike. So, long story short, I spent the better part of my Saturday, making truss rods for my wife's bike, and maiming myself.
So I spent the rest of the day cleaning my frame and coming up with this awesome mounting system for the tank



I also tried on my new chainring for size, thanks Crassly, it was exactly what this build needed.



And helped Mrs. Link out with some welding, although she didn't necessarily need my help.



There's seriously nothing hotter than a woman with dirt under her nails, grease on her hands, welding. She's the love of my life, the mother to my precocious little boy, and one of the coolest women I know. I hope she and all the other mothers/ wives (cause let's face it guys they're kind of like our mothers, they're the ones who tell us that no, riding a mattress off the roof is not a good idea.) have a great Mother's Day.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

And helped Mrs. Link out with some welding, although she didn't necessarily need my help.



There's seriously nothing hotter than a woman with dirt under her nails, grease on her hands, welding. She's the love of my life, the mother to my precocious little boy, and one of the coolest women I know. I hope she and all the other mothers/ wives (cause let's face it guys they're kind of like our mothers, they're the ones who tell us that no, riding a mattress off the roof is not a good idea.) have a great Mother's Day.

Luke.

 

[Missing Link]

I pulled some more parts out today and started trying to fit some of it into this build. First up, most of a '62 Galaxy 500 fender ornament.





What to do with this pitted piece of chrome plated Detroit steel?
I may be going a little Jules Vern here, but this seems like it could make a specific part of this bike bear a striking resemblance to the Nautilus.



Care to guess what? Wait for it, wait for it... the tank. You all likely guessed that it's the logical conclusion, so what the heck, tie on some cut up tube bits, to hold everything where it should be and...



...we have a winner.
I'm going to need to add a narrow strip of sheet metal to the bottom of the tank, as it is open and leaves nowhere for the screws to attach, but that shouldn't be too difficult.

I dug out some moped bars, similar to clubsman motorcycle bars only flat and more "M" shaped.



The grips were more to get an idea of how they look with grips, and how much I'll likely end up trimming them down, I like narrow bar.

I played around with a tailight, this was off some prewar work truck, possibly the REO that my headlight off my BO9 bike came from as well as the light georgeediii is using on Riverside Hoodride.



I played around with a fender as well;





But as much as I like the way a front fender as a rear kinda hanging down, complimenting the lines looks, it would force me to run a middle weight tire on the rear, and I have room for a 2.125 without, so it likely won't make it on, but then again, who knows, I have pretty bad adult ADHD so anything could happen.

 

[Fv2]

I pulled some more parts out today and started trying to fit some of it into this build. First up, most of a '62 Galaxy 500 fender ornament.





What to do with this pitted piece of chrome plated Detroit steel?
I may be going a little Jules Vern here, but this seems like it could make a specific part of this bike bear a striking resemblance to the Nautilus.



Care to guess what? Wait for it, wait for it... the tank. You all likely guessed that it's the logical conclusion, so what the heck, tie on some cut up tube bits, to hold everything where it should be and...



...we have a winner.
I'm going to need to add a narrow strip of sheet metal to the bottom of the tank, as it is open and leaves nowhere for the screws to attach, but that shouldn't be too difficult.

I dug out some moped bars, similar to clubsman motorcycle bars only flat and more "M" shaped.



The grips were more to get an idea of how they look with grips, and how much I'll likely end up trimming them down, I like narrow bar.

I played around with a tailight, this was off some prewar work truck, possibly the REO that my headlight off my BO9 bike came from as well as the light georgeediii is using on Riverside Hoodride.



I played around with a fender as well;





But as much as I like the way a front fender as a rear kinda hanging down, complimenting the lines looks, it would force me to run a middle weight tire on the rear, and I have room for a 2.125 without, so it likely won't make it on, but then again, who knows, I have pretty bad adult ADHD so anything could happen.

I didn't see the galaxy ornament under the tank in my head. That first pic you're holding it at an angle that makes it look like a swordfish, I thought you were thinking front fender.

But I have to admit, the nautilus idea is cool.

 

[Missing Link]

I didn't see the galaxy ornament under the tank in my head. That first pic you're holding it at an angle that makes it look like a swordfish, I thought you were thinking front fender.

But I have to admit, the nautilus idea is cool.

Thanks. The radius is way off for a bike fender, otherwise that would look really cool, but there's barely any gap between the ornament and tank so it's almost like it's meant to be.