Cadillac

[SCHWINNRAY69]

Great bike :shock: That color combo is sweet, I can't believe you found it there :shock:

 

[scott brownsey]

those old frame styles r awsum your fender issue i have had same prob 50s hawthorne worked for me goodluck

 

[Walker]

Thanks for the color choice compliment. Picking colors is one of the hardest things for me to do for some reason. I had really hoped those grey tires would have worked out but the white ones are growing on me. Sort of wondering about ditching the reflector pedals and finding some white block ones instead? Orange grips? Wood grips?

The colors kind of remind me of a certain old time soda, so now I'm working on a possible custom headbadge with Jesusjones. I owe him a sketch and we'll see where it goes.

I picked up a skiptooth ND Rear hub this fall so maybe I wont have to grind teeth. I wonder if the drivers will just swap out?

 

[SCHWINNRAY69]

Wood grips would be nice but they are pricey and hard to find :wink: I think an orange or even a black would look good (the ones on the left) As for the tires, grey would have looked good but I just like white tires :mrgreen:

 

[Walker]

Wood ones are a bit spendy but they are cool..I've got some black pointy ones, there's those orange Vista ones over in the for-sale's. :?

Decisions.......decisions.

 

[SCHWINNRAY69]

I like the Vista ones but they might be to orange :? And they might say Vista on them :? I'd go with the black pointy ones :wink:

Wood ones are a bit spendy but they are cool..I've got some black pointy ones, there's those orange Vista ones over in the for-sale's. :?

Decisions.......decisions.

 

[Walker]

Got to work the other night on the rear fender, made a little spacer block to mock it up

dug out some miscelaneous items for possible spacer material, brass tubing, copper tubing, lamp finnials, some hexagonal threaded fittings etc.

I decided I liked the screwdriver handle since it had some design elements to it that made an otherwise mundane part interresting. Proceeded to cut off a chunk using my steerer tube cutting tool to keep the cut square (sorry no photo of that) and through drilled it.

My bench is a mess

Used a bench grinder to put a "V" in it so it would fit the fender contour a little better.

Test fit

Well, the fender is still too hight off the tire for my taste and I I think I dont like the look of the spacer so back to the drawing board...any ideas..

Wishing i hadn't rushed this frame out the door and had fixed those little cross braces.

 

[user 135]

Good job on the spacer. I usually cut a spring the right length or a little longer then bolt it up.

 

[Walker]

I've got a random spring kicking around, but I think i'm going to try the finnial pieces and see if I like that better. The look just seems wrong for me.

 

[Strings_and_steam]

Man, every time I look at this build I wish more and more it was my bike This was one of the builds that helped sew the seeds in my mind to make a Merkel tribute. Awesome looking machine!

I agree on the finials, I dig that shape! Cman mentioned springs, and a really helpful way to get spacing tweaked for fender brackets like what you're making is to install the 'trusses' to the frame, and then bolt a spring in place of the frame spacers. This way, you can tighten the bolt through the spring to make the distance longer or shorter to adjust spacing and get it right where you want it. Then, just measure the space of the spring and make your spacers to match. Even if the 'trusses' on the fenders arent finished or made, the spring method works well. When I put the fenders on my swing bike (they are chopper style and dont have 'trusses') I used springs like this to get the dimentions for the spacers worked out.

Keep it up man, great stuff here!

 

[Skipton]

Walker,

I think the bike looks great! Would the fender be secure if it only was mounted at the chain stay and with the braces?

you could cut the braces to fit the fender as low as you wanted. and not have to use the seat stay brace?

The rear Braces look pretty strong maybe they can hold the fender tight with out the seat stay brace.....I hope :roll:

 

[deorman]

I like the spring idea, painted same as the frame. Basic unobtrusive mechanical appearance. I have used black rubber hose for that, usually on the chain stays, but it would function on the upper brace. Make it a bit long and adjust it by tightening the screw.

 

[Walker]

Good Ideas guys and thanks for the compliments.

The braces are sturdy but since they are kind of a 1/2flat-1/2 round shape I'm not sure they will offer much lateral support. The fender does wedge in pretty good between the seat stays so it might work without an uppper mount.

I had a brainstorm the other day, got to thinking about this machine:

The Britten Motorcycle. If I recall, one of the many claims to fame for this work of mechanical genius is that every part is designed to do more than one job. John Britten's story is as amazing as it is tragic. Without a doubt, his motorcycles will be the Elgin Bleubirds of the future.

I was thinking a tail light of some kind would be neat, or maybe a place to mount a nice glass reflector or something. The finnial is ferrous and somewhere I've got an antique coat hook with nice curves. Hopefully it's steel and not cast iron or something. If I can weld the two together it would make a neat light bracket/fender spacer.

 

[Walker]

Worked on re-shaping the finnials and I'm thinking they are great!

tried this one with a contoured washer from an Odyssey Pitbull brake to better fit the mounting tube. Not sure I like the spacer..

Rear fender is sitting much better now.

Now I need to get to grinding on the struts and cleaning up my lousy trimming job on the fender

 

[X-RAY]

that looks great! too bad the lower one is hidden.

 

[Strings_and_steam]

To quote Dire Straights: 'That's the way you do it!'

Looks fantastic with those finnials! Are you going to leave them or paint them? I'd paint the little extra spacer a light grey (you said the frame was powder coated?) to match the frame and I think it would blend right in.

Seriously nice work here!

 

[Gdcast]

Very nice Sir!!! :wink:

 

[Skipton]

Rear fender looks great!...any updates?

 

[Walker]

Thanks for the Kudos. No updates though...I needed a brake from all the test fitting so I hung it up and started shining up the old Rollfast.

 

[imagearchy]

I like these results!