Bonefish: The Beginnings

[MattiThundrrr]

Spent some time out there in the cold. Stripped a few parts off the Mongoose, collected a few others, arranged the other bikes for hibernation.
Here is what the Bonefish was wearing:

Certainly not up to my standards, but bolts and such may still come in handy. I can't believe how much the bars I took off weigh. Probably a couple pounds heavier than the Mongoose one.
Here's what the 'goose gave up:

It's all down in the basement shop now so I'll be able to get to it more frequently

 

[MattiThundrrr]

It wasn't all smooth sailing. The rear brake wouldn't come out. Hit it with some rust buster. Then pelted with snow pellets. This is why I'm switching to the basement shop. I was literally freezing all afternoon.

The bolt is pretty corroded, but I think it will be fine. If not, I'll have to try to mix n match

Aluminum barrel adjuster on one brake lever was mangled, so I switched it, think it is steel now. Fits tighter than the other side, maybe I should switch both, but I like the alloy knurling better

And then there's the tires...

 

[MattiThundrrr]

I wanted to see how it looks with the mags, so I put a tube and tire on the front. Wouldn't hold air. Switched tubes, and it took me 4 or 5 attempts to get the bead seated. Install, inflate, find out it is off the rails, deflate, reinstall, repeat. Finally got it to fit and sit, filled it to about 30 psi, stopped for the day. While watching a movie with the kids after dinner, a huge popping sound from the shop, and the second tube has exploded. I have strips in there, is there a mag rim technique I'm missing? Budget is so tight, even the expense of tubes needs to be considered.

 

[Karate Chicken Industries]

Clean, thoroughly rinse and dry the tire beads and rim lips, seat the tire at low pressure and let it sit for a day.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Yeah and also don't be a cheap buzzard:

I think the ones from Bonefish are in better shape, but I suspect they're at least ten years older....

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Spent some time in the Rat Lab. Pieces came off, swapped some nuts n bolts

Pieces got cleaned. Rat salad: Vinegar for some rusty hardware, 3in1 oil for some others.

Pieces went on. Here's what I have:

Holding out on the tires. I'm hoping to find a tire for the back that's bigger than the 20x1.95 on the front. I want 3 of 3, bars, seat AND tires. Also still indecisive about rear brakes. I can't remove the v brake posts, they don't seem to be threaded in. Don't want to grind, I'm trying to keep original paint.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Now let's talk about the stickers.

Sort of a weird brag. They ain't that big. Delete.

Was there a 1.0? That would make the Bonefish number two. Delete

Double gusset? I count three. Delete.

IMBA? Don't have any ideas on what that means. Delete. The little fishey is a keeper.

Ditto. Keeper

Then there's this guy. Will attempt to remove, split it in two, and reapply as Bonefish on the top of the downtube once the paint has been cleaned up

 

[GeePig]

Two things come to mind with the v brake posts - fender mounts and sissy bar mounts.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Spent a few hours down in the Rat Lab with Bonefish. Stripped it down to the cups. Everything was good, just dark dry grease. Previous owner was a girl who rode it to school and back, not much else, so no abuse. Until it met me.

found some more stickers to remove! This one has characters I don't know

The crank came right apart too. What do you see, a funky little fish?

Or a blank canvas?

Slapped it back together reversed, I'll put some artwork on there of my own.
Also peeled, sliced, diced, and reapplied Fishbone as Bonefish.

I wish I had taken more time, did more preparation. I had momentum and didn't want to lose my mojo. Cuts could be cleaner, application could be straighter. We'll see how the old glue holds up.
Also, now that the fork is off I can get measurements so I can contact my source, see what he's got for me. He specifically mentioned muscle bike parts as I was leaving last time

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Following ParkRNDL and OddJob's discussion about dual brakes in PRNDL's Sears Spyder thread, I was struck with a terrible genius idea... Has anyone ever mounted two brakes on one bolt?
https://ratrodbikes.com/forum/threads/24-inch-sears.114917/page-2#post-1199493
Maybe if I got a really long bolt, I could mount one caliper on either side...
Maybe I gotta remember keep it simple

 

[hamqqea]

Following ParkRNDL and OddJob's discussion about dual brakes in PRNDL's Sears Spyder thread, I was struck with a terrible genius idea... Has anyone ever mounted two brakes on one bolt?
https://ratrodbikes.com/forum/threads/24-inch-sears.114917/page-2#post-1199493
Maybe if I got a really long bolt, I could mount one caliper on either side...
Maybe I gotta lay off the "wake-and-bake"

You'd have to use 2 separate pivot bolts locked to each other at the cross brace or even on top of each other via a coupling nut and lock nuts. Would require cutting down the bolt ends and threading the posts with a M6 die.


Beautiful blue paint BTW... would go nicely with lime green.

 

[GeePig]

Or you could run with the single idea, but on a single piece of threaded rod, locked on either side of the cross brace with a nut, with the brakes mounted on each end. I have thought about it, but never tried it out. The trick is finding a nicely matched pair where you are happy with the pull direction.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Beautiful blue paint BTW... would go nicely with lime green.

I've gotten the double brake idea out of my head. But I can't get this out.

Seattle Seahawks color palette. That little hit of green. We'll see

 

[MattiThundrrr]

The rear brake hole isn't in a brake bridge, it runs through the extended top tube, which is thicker than a bridge.

I'm going to have to swap the bolt out from the front brake I removed from this bike to the Mongoose rear brake if I want it to fit. Those v brake posts are still present... I gotta find a fork so I can make some decisions

 

[hamqqea]

You were able to translate my brake solution

Seahawks color palette was my thinking. Also thought Denver Broncos...

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Also thought Denver Broncos..

Blorange is one of my favorite combos, back in the day I had a mad set of NY Knicks Cons...

Thinking about grips and pedals, maybe a pinstripe sticker kit. Who knows, perhaps the fork I eventually aquire will need a little bit of spraying too. That would be tricky, not going to be many days above freezing between now and then

 

[MattiThundrrr]

You were able to translate my brake solution

Translation: too much effort.
The juice ain't worth the squeeze. Gotta keep focused on my plan. This bike is trying to confuse me, I'm not listening to this one. I'm forcing it to become what I want this time.

 

[ParkRNDL]

Digging the blue/green (edit: I meant blue/orange) and blue/lime color palettes here. I'm thinking that if the muscle bike market had lasted through the '80s, we would have seen combos like that on new bikes.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Man, I talk too much. Joined RRB a year after the illustrious Mr Hampea, have nearly 10x the posts. I should probably post about it...

 

[Oldbikeguy1960]

Digging the blue/green and blue/lime color palettes here. I'm thinking that if the muscle bike market had lasted through the '80s, we would have seen combos like that on new bikes.

We actually did in the 1960s, the Sears Screamer and Murray Wildcats were 2 examples, as well as the AMF bike called "The Fast One". I have some photos and info, man they sure stood out in the ads.