Cherry Rides Again! - 1937 Rollfast 24"

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Joined
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Location
Ventura, CA
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The original 🍒"Cherry Liquor" was a dark red '80s cruiser with a widened knee-action springer, 24" Tuff wheels and 3" wide Felt Berm Master tires. "Cherry Rides Again" used the original hand-lettered sprocket, a 24" 1937 Rollfast frame and fork in a similar dark red, and a bunch of other (mostly) vintage parts to build a classy yet ratty little cruiser with some "vicla" motorcycle influence.



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I used a Bendix 2 speed in the rear, laced to an old 28H rim with semi-decent chrome with 14g straight gauge stainless spokes and long, wooden wheel nickel plated brass prewar style nipples. The front is a '60s Excel hub, laced to a 24" Schwinn tubular S7 rim with 28 more similar spokes and nipples.
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Handlebars are narrow, '70s vintage mini-apes made by Nitto, and likely meant for a small folding commuter bike, but I liked the way they feel, and I think that they complement the re-pop 26" crash bars that I adapted to the rear of the bike by using the bosses in the dropouts originally meant to fasten a drop stand. These bolt do double duty, also attaching the Velo Orange Six Pack Rack that rides above the Wald rear fender. Those 26" Wald middleweight fenders were gently spread, which not only widened them to clear the wide whitewall balloon tires, but also reduced their radius, so that they more tightly conform to the 24" rolling stock.
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A Persons sprung saddle tops a 13/16" layback seatpost, while '60s Excel red/white/black bow pedals mount to the original Rollfast crank and bottom bracket assembly. The front end is finished off with a '70s Japanese generator headlight, a prewar gothic stem and white Thompson grips.
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Overall, I ended up with what I think is a beautiful little bike, and a fitting tribute to my girlfriend, a long time columnist for the JoBlo entertainment website under the pseudonym, "Cherry Liqueur ".
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Build thread: https://ratrodbikes.com/threads/cherry-rides-again-1937-rollfast.118297/
 

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Nice (gow) job Dave! Fun to see all the custom stuff melded together into one cool bike. :thumbsup:

I missed the photo with the 6-pack in the little rear carrier? Empty it already? :21:
 
Nice (gow) job Dave! Fun to see all the custom stuff melded together into one cool bike. :thumbsup:

I missed the photo with the 6-pack in the little rear carrier? Empty it already? :21:
I almost stopped by the local specialty soda pop /candy store to grab a sixer of some cherry drinks for the photos, but truth be told I don't really like cherry flavoring much.

Thanks to you all for the kind kudos!
 
Very cherry ride! Fender fitment is great, you got a little extra length by squeezing those twentysixes, they're almost dragging through the grass!
 

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