ORBO Belle: Round 2!

[Bike from the Dead]

I typically don't like using clear coats. But sometimes it can be the only good option. Other options would be things like BLO or polishing compound/wax. Or stopping while you're ahead.

My best advice is to create some test pieces alongside your final parts for experimentation. Have fun!

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll stop while I'm ahead for now, but I'll definitely try experimenting with it down the road when the weather cooperates.

Yeah, I think clear coat is best saved for a fresh new paint job, or if it's a satin clear, over shiny bare metal. I'm not a fan of the "wet look" you get with a high-gloss clear coat over rust; it just doesn't look natural to me. If I want to shine up old paint and patina, I find that rubbing compound and SC Johnson paste wax work wonders without looking "off."

 

[Bike from the Dead]

As I mentioned earlier, on Sunday I ran into a big stumbling block on this project: the rear wheels. I was ready to take apart at least a couple of these rear wheels at my dad's shop and clean up the gears, only to learn that these wheels require more work and specialty tools to take apart than a standard coaster brake hub. On top of that, apparently the wheel I was considering the most is a freewheel, which is different than a cassette wheel apparently.

I've watched a few tutorials on how to work on these wheels, and some show that I can work on them without a couple specialty tools, but I feel I need to spend more time learning about this before I take one of these wheels apart. It doesn't help that the weather in Tulsa has been too cold and wet to clean any wheel hub parts like I want, and I don't really want to spend a ton of money on tools right now. I do have a birthday coming up in less than a month though, so I could buy the tools I need after that. Plus the weather might finally be warm enough to do what I need to do by then.

This whole fiasco with the rear wheels spooked me so much, that on the same day I grabbed a couple other bikes and a bunch of parts and spent the last 2 days mocking them up in the hope that I could have something much easier to build for the ORBO.

I was thinking about building up this Schwinn Fastback frame I had as an old school BMX bike, only for it to venture back into muscle bike territory. (I like how it looked as a BMX bike, but the muscle bike mockup got a genuine "WOW" out of me.)

I also mocked up this AMF bike yesterday. I explored a number of good options, but I just couldn't find a combination that looked right to me.

Despite the hang up with the rear wheels and the weather, I can still make some progress on Belle this week. I've got a few parts that I can put back on the frame, and I could at least mount some wheels and tires on it temporarily so it's at least a roller, if not a rider. That said, I've got other things to do this week and some nasty weather on the horizon, so I don't know if it'll happen this week. We'll see.

 

[Wayne]

Yeah, this one!

 

[BartRidesEternal]

View attachment 288522

Yeah, this one!

Awesome! When I see your 'setup' pictures, I always imagine a vehicular game where you can swap wheels, parts etcetera. NFS underground or even Wreckfest

 

[Bike from the Dead]

Awesome! When I see your 'setup' pictures, I always imagine a vehicular game where you can swap wheels, parts etcetera. NFS underground or even Wreckfest

If you saw just how many mockups I did of that AMF bike alone, it definitely starts to look like that! Ha! I should totally do something like that some time, especially since I played a ton of NFS and Wreckfest! Maybe I could brush up on my photography and video editing skills and do something like this:

 

[VelolFellow]

The Schwinn Fastback brings back memories for me. That was a faster version of crate bikes. Back when I was still in grade school, my friend had a violet Fastback frame that he sold to me. I got a hold of a Schwinn parts catalog and proceeded to put together a build sheet. 5 speed, Stick shifter on the top tube (of course), Disk brakes on the rear, Drum brakes on the front, the skinny 20 rims. I got so worked up that my mom had to bring me to the Schwinn dealer where the owner told me that it was a dream, but he couldn't get some of the parts and a new bike would be far cheaper.

I wish I still had that frame. Well, I think the fastback would be cool. I liked them.

 

[Bike from the Dead]

The Schwinn Fastback brings back memories for me. That was a faster version of crate bikes. Back when I was still in grade school, my friend had a violet Fastback frame that he sold to me. I got a hold of a Schwinn parts catalog and proceeded to put together a build sheet. 5 speed, Stick shifter on the top tube (of course), Disk brakes on the rear, Drum brakes on the front, the skinny 20 rims. I got so worked up that my mom had to bring me to the Schwinn dealer where the owner told me that it was a dream, but he couldn't get some of the parts and a new bike would be far cheaper.

I wish I still had that frame. Well, I think the fastback would be cool. I liked them.

It's always cool to hear stories about these bikes and what they meant to the folks who were around when these were new or nearly new. I can't even imagine going to, of all things, a Schwinn dealership, and custom ordering parts for your bike like you would select options for a brand new car. I guess you can still do that at modern day bike shops, but I wouldn't know because I haven't had a brand new bike since I was in elementary school. Thanks for sharing that!

I got that Fastback frame at a bicycle swap meet in Haysville, Kansas for $10 last year. I didn't even haggle with the guy; that was his asking price for it. I even saw a more complete (though still incomplete) Fastback at the same swap meet for $50. Maybe you don't have that frame anymore, but nothings says you can't still build the bike of your dreams. Check out your local or nearby swap meets, especially the bike-specific ones, and you can actually find plenty of good parts at reasonable and sometimes dirt-cheap prices. Between that and constantly checking Craigslist and Marketplace, I've found a bunch of really cool bikes and parts without spending too much money. Don't let your dreams stay dreams.

 

[Bike from the Dead]

Alright! The weather's changed for the better, and so has the state of this build thread!

Not long after I mocked up those other 2 bikes, the weather got too cold for me to want to bother messing with my bikes. I just stayed indoors, working on some graphic design stuff for Dad, cleaning house, and after a brief visit to the Darryl Starbird car show, working on my art again.

I got some good advice on how to sell and promote my art, and more importantly, how to get more art done while avoiding burnout; all good advice I wish I had earlier when I was working on my coloring book nearly 2 years ago. Long story short: focus on one design at a time, start to finish. It got me thinking about what I'd rather be drawing instead of the simplified, somewhat stock classics I drew before, and so to get the ball rolling again, I whipped up a few rough ideas for some custom bubbletops I'd love to see. I don't know if I'll do anything with these, but they did what they needed to do: they got me working on my art again.

I also took some time these last 2 days to dig through some of my older sketches and find some stuff to practice coloring. Nothing serious or final, but just enough to reacquaint myself with using my Cintiq tablet again. That said, I'd love to do a whole series of robots, monsters, skulls, and robot skulls sometime! I could easily make some stickers out of these with a bit more work!

As excited as I am to be getting back into my artwork again, I'm even more excited for a full week of warm, wonderful weather! Yesterday afternoon, I took back all the bikes and parts I pulled from storage to mock up earlier this month, and got my workspace clear enough to work on Belle again.

I didn't do a lot today, but I set myself up to make a great deal of progress tomorrow! First, I cleaned up the chainring I plan to use.

Then I decided on the wheels I'm going to use. As nice as it would've been to use those slightly rusty chrome wheels or even the silver later-model ones, I decided to use these white wheels instead. They go with the white paint on the scallops and fork well enough, the rear wheel has 7 gears instead of 6 like the chrome set, and they're not going to wear out the brake pads unevenly like the rusty chrome ones would. Plus, some of these old Schwinns would've had white wheels with black striping back in the day, so from a distance, it won't look out of place. The rear wheel even spins just fine, though I'd like to clean up the gears at least. I also found all the parts I need to do an axle swap on the front wheel, which is critical for tomorrow's plan.

I also installed the rear brake mount, though the brake itself is not fully tightened down yet.

My main goals for tomorrow are to install all the bottom bracket hardware, install the handlebars and all the stuff that'll go on them, and finish the axle swap on the front wheel. with all that out of the way, Belle will at least be a roller once again.

As for the whole fiasco about removing the rear cassette and even some other multispeed-related problems, I've been doing some figuring. Realistically, I've only got about 5 bikes that I plan to build that have these cassette/freewheel hubs, and after just messing with this one, I'd like to avoid building anymore than that. I love the simplicity of a single-speed coaster brake bike and how I can put one together using mostly basic hand tools I already have. I do not like that I'd have to spend at least $75-$100 on specialty tools alone just to work on the rear wheels and cut brake cables and housings, and that's not getting into just how much more work is involved with making one of these multispeed bikes work. I've got to learn how to deal with shifters, derailleurs, caliper brakes, brake levers, cables, and cassette assemblies just to have a little more speed or a little more power to climb a hill!

So here's what I'm thinking: Sometime this week, I want to call or stop by my local bike shops and find out how much it'd cost for them to work on the stuff I don't have the tools or patience for. I've been told that one of the shops can take apart these cassettes for $5 per wheel, which is already less that half the cost of a single cassette socket. Since I don't plan to build a ton of these multispeed bikes, I don't feel like I need to spend the money on tools I won't use all that much. One of these days, I might go ahead and buy the tools I need to work on these kinds of bikes myself, but right now, I'd rather spend that kind of money on paint, because I have way more bikes to paint than I have bikes that need more gears.

 

[Pondo]

The art looks great! As for gears, you can always go 3 speed internal for more gears. It's a fair amount simpler to set up and no derailleurs.

 

[us56456712]

Some slightly better shots of the bracket and cable guide.
View attachment 288130View attachment 288131View attachment 288132View attachment 288133

My main concern now is that, because I painted this with acrylics, I'm wondering if I could protect the finish from moisture with either spray fixative or maybe a clear coat that won't dull the blue or shine up the "rust." Any suggestions?

Rust, I use textured autumn brown rust oleum, followed up immediately with flat rust oleum paprika, more autumn brown and then red primer. I spray one after the other before it flashes off. Sprinkle a little nutmeg here and there. I don’t use much paprika, it’s too bright. Practice on some junk first too see how heavy each color is. They bleed a little, which is what you want. The spice sprinkle can hide spots you don’t like. New hub and spokes with fake rust.
.

 

[Bike from the Dead]

The art looks great! As for gears, you can always go 3 speed internal for more gears. It's a fair amount simpler to set up and no derailleurs.

Thanks Pondo! I've got at least 2 3-speed coaster brake hubs and shifters, 1 Bendix 2-speed kickback, and I don't know how many 3-speed freewheel hubs, so odds are if I want more gearing, at least for road use, I'll go that route. Plus the nice thing about internal hubs is that the components require less maintenance than external gears.

Realistically though, after this build, I'm ready to work on something much simpler, like one of my single-speed projects I started but haven't yet completed.

 

[Bike from the Dead]

Rust, I use textured autumn brown rust oleum, followed up immediately with flat rust oleum paprika, more autumn brown and then red primer. I spray one after the other before it flashes off. Sprinkle a little nutmeg here and there. I don’t use much paprika, it’s too bright. Practice on some junk first too see how heavy each color is. They bleed a little, which is what you want. The spice sprinkle can hide spots you don’t like. New hub and spokes with fake rust.
.View attachment 289318View attachment 289319

Cool technique! Thanks for sharing!

I had thought about using spray paint and the "mustard technique" to paint these parts, but I really didn't want to spend that kind of money on spray paint just for these 2 small parts. That said, I have found this acrylic paint is far more fragile than I expected. It doesn't take much to damage it, so I'm debating whether to strip the parts and leave them bare metal, or go out and buy some small jars of enamel brush paint and redo the finish. I'll admit painting these 2 pieces to match the rest of the bike isn't necessary, nor is it probably worth spending the money on paint, but it's fun, and I like how it looks. I might browse my local hobby shops and see what they have, just to get an idea.

 

[Bike from the Dead]

Made some good progress on Belle yesterday!

First, I got the bottom bracket reassembled, but I noticed that the chainring had a slight wobble to it.

I remembered there was a trick to fixing this, so after watching this video, I decided to use an adjustable wrench to straighten out the part wobbled inward.


It's not perfect, but it's much better than it was, and that's good enough for me.

Next, I cleaned up the new front axle and bearings in my ultrasonic cleaner, greased everything, and finished the front wheel.

I worked on the handlebars next. I didn't have these things centered quite right before, so I took a ruler, found the center of the crossbar, and marked it with a Sharpie so I could line it up in the stem better. I tried fixing the one side of the bar that was bent back more than the other, but I'd need my dad's vice and probably a ton of heat to fix what basically amounts to a minor inconvenience. Had I thought of that last night, I might not have gone ahead and installed the handlebars, but oh well. Maybe I can take them off and tinker with it, but I don't want to spend that much time and effort on them right now.

I went ahead and threw on the brake levers, shifter, and of course the bell that gave this Schwinn its name. I know that usually the shifter for the rear derailleur is on the opposite side of the bars, but since the bell is basically right-hand only, and I only have the one set of gears, I figure it'll work.

When I installed the brake levers, I discovered something: my left-hand brake lever was nice and straight, but the right-hand lever was bent down somehow.

So I figured, if an adjustable wrench can be used to straighten out a chainring, why not use the same trick to straighten out a brake lever? I needed more leverage this time, so I used the biggest wrench I have to get the job done. It was a little tougher than I expected, but it worked!

I was going to put the grips back on while I was at it, but then I saw that I had these white Schwinn-style grips in my collection. I did a bit of comparing to see which set I'd like better, as the old grips matched the white of the scallops on the frame better, but the new grips matched the wheels and the details on the fork better. My phone camera doesn't show it as well as I'd like, but the old grips are actually a little more yellow than the frame scallops.

Ultimately, given how much of a statement the new white wheels make, I'm going with the new white grips, as the old grips feel more out of place compared to the rest of the bike. I won't use these new grips though. To better match the patina of the rest of the bike, I'll instead use a pair of identical grips that got a bit scuffed up after I had an unscheduled meeting with the tarmac during a test ride.

The last thing I did yesterday was figure out if the blue cable housings I have were long enough to reach the rear derailleur. Unfortunately, while the cables and housings are long enough for the brakes, I don't have any long enough to connect the shifter to the derailleur. The longest ones I have are 5ft in length, which would be fine if I was using a handlebar stem-mounted shifter, but that's not the case. So now I need to see if I can find cables and housings, preferably in blue, that are at least 6 or 7 feet long. While I'm looking at that, I might also go ahead and call or stop by some of the local bike shops and find out what they charge to work on the parts I don't have the tools for.

Regardless of what happens today, I'm just glad to see Belle looking like a bike once again.