Chrome Molly

[Wildcat]

The guys at the bike shop who sold me these wheels swore that 3" tires would fit. I sized them up when I got home and it looked impossible. Yesterday I needed something to do so I gave it another try. I had previously put them on the rims without tubes just for a look but I went ahead and put tubes in and aired them up. Sure enough, they fit! The seats looks good and I think they will work fine. I looked up info online about wide tires on narrow rims. Advice is against it, but that was for offroad and heavy use. I only plan to cruise around on paved paths or mild offroad. So Molly will be getting fattened up. I put the rear wheel on the front after widening the forks and lengthing them with fabbed up flanges. I need brakes up front, the band brake works well, only not when rolling backwards. I'll change out the rims with wider ones if I can ever get some.

The plan is to have extensions made up for the rear wheel to be situated farther back and lower to fit the big tire. These are 3" tires but measure only 2.5" wide on these rims. I'll have to make the changes large enough for wider width when they get wider rims. The front forks are already set. I'm having the bike ship lace in a rear hub into the front wheel, identical to what was on there, so I'll have two of the same wheel, with band brakes front and rear. I may have a smaller freewheel cog on one to have a different ratio. The dropout extensions will have to have enough
slot to take up the slack in the chain between the two cogs, if I change the wheels back and forth. I think the lower ratio it has now with a 48/24 will be the way to go. The weight even without a rear wheel feels like 40 lbs.

 

[Wildcat]

I rethought the tires again. The shop in town got a shipment of new tires so I asked what they had. One kind only, 26 x 1.90 unknown brand. But cheap, about 5 dollars each. So I purchased a set unseen. They aren't too bad and went on Chrome Molly no problem. I have wide rims and smaller cog on order.

With 2 rear wheels and band brakes it has plenty of stopping power. I added my old bars and stem, I still don't like the big bars that much. The very second they lift the Covid restrictions, I'll go for a ride.

 

[Wildcat]

I still can't do any real riding until they lift the restrictions here, but I have Chrome Molly ready. I subtracted a lot of weight so I can ride all day when I get the chance. The forks that were too short work with the handlebar stem serving as the lockwasher. It holds the top nut down. I just have the rear gears set up, I won't need more than 6 speeds on the flats where I'll be riding.

I hope to ride the perimeter road around the old airfield at Cubi Point, about a 5 mile ride around it. I used to ride it back when I was stationed there in the early 80's. All along the waterfront. There's still a decent beach canteen on the far side that has great home cooking.

 

[Wildcat]

So I redid Molly again for my daily ride. I took all the stickers off the forks and rims. I'm using my good rims with one speed freewheel and band brakes. 48/24 ratio is ok for me. Also put my good crankset back on. Lesco a good brand?
I ride the neighborhood roads that are flat as possible and walk back up the hill, it's a good workout for me. Usually 30 to 45 minutes then the heat index gets high. Going downhill I need better brakes on the rear so a new cable is needed to use the band brake. The rear caliper brake has the same pads as the v brakes up front but has little stopping power.
This shows how I made the short forks work. There's just the threaded race with a washer on the forks. The lip on the handlebar stem holds it.

 

[Wildcat]

Did away with the caliper brake and am using the band brake on the rear. Still not as good as the v brake up front though, but at least getting a ride in every day again.

 

[Jude Ephesus]

I picked this up from a dump here in the Philippines. From a dump in a third world country, a NOS chromoly MTB frame. I repaired the dents in the head tube and checked it closely. It had never been a whole bike, it was an unused frame! I wore out a brass brush cleaning it up.
View attachment 135449
It cleaned up nicely and the serial number may indicate 1987.
View attachment 135450
The dents were removed carefully with a 5/8ths steel rod and hammer.
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Then I happily tore apart the new mountain bike my wife got for me. She liked how happy I was to get it. I was actually smiling looking forward to tearing it apart. LOL! That bike provided most of what I needed for Chrome Molly. The forks were 1 inch short so I had to borrow the springer from my build off bike and bear claw pedals from my stash. It's a big urban bomber. One pedal that came with the mountain bike was broken. I have a seat Kingfish gave me way back when that went right on. I didn't hook up the shifters or front derailler, just adjusted the stop to keep me in one gear. Less chance for failure with cheap components. I was ready for a test ride but the brand new pump had a hole in the hose! But it's ready to roll. It's the biggest bike around here.
Later, it'll get a different fork and better components. It'll go through refinements.
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Love it!

Great to hear from you @Wildcat !

I have not seen you for a while, knew you were moving from Hawaii, but was not sure where you landed!

Hope all is well. The build os awesome.

How did you bring back and create that epic shine?

 

[Wildcat]

Even though it was scrapped, it was under a roof, out of the weather. The scrap places here are like warehouses, everything is sorted and gets a second chance at life. Things will sit for decades waiting to be reused somehow. That's why the chrome is still good on this bike, or that's just how chromoly is, I'm not sure. I used a small brass wire brush with soap and water, then waxed it a few times. It wasn't as much work as I thought it would be.

 

[Wildcat]

I went for a ride to celebrate my birthday this morning.

I rode further than before, past the new "Waltermart" mall and down through the crowded sidestreets in town. The gearing is just right for navigating all the hazards.

 

[Verrt]

I went for a ride to celebrate my birthday this morning.
View attachment 143162

I rode further than before, past the new "Waltermart" mall and down through the crowded sidestreets in town. The gearing is just right for navigating all the hazards.

Happy birthday.

I love this bike

 

[Wildcat]

Big changes. I added the wheels I cobbled together with 26 x 3 whitewalls.

The springer was widened and lengthened to make the tire fit.

The rear had extensions made from a donor frame, looks like chromoly to me also.

I used a SRAM 2 speed automatix freewheel hub and installed two band brakes on the front.

I also made up the chainwheel extra sprocket, it's in low gear, I can manually go to the bigger chainwheel but not going to anytime soon.

The 2 auto gears are enough. I'm using the heaviest KMC chain I could get. It's ready for a ride.

 

[Wildcat]

They just increased the restrictions due to covid. Walkers and bikers must now wear a mask and a face shield. in this heat it's a no go for me. It was tough enough without a mask. So, my wife, after seeing my failed attempt at a stand, had this stand fabbed up by a local guy working on a house nearby. I painted it, made it fit and now I ride in my office.

 

[Wildcat]

I use my computer to show videos and play my music while I ride. There are tons of good bike videos on you tube. It's not like a spinning class, I coast on the downhills if I want. The clicking of the rear hub makes it sound like I'm actually coasting. Now I can get at least a half hour riding everyday. There's no tension on the rear wheel but It's still exercise. I would recommend a stand for those who are wintered in. On a cruiser or rat is more fun too.

 

[Wildcat]

I used two inner tubes, both 1.75, in the wheels previously, but they made the tire a funny shape so I didn't pursue that idea. When using 2 tires it was fine though but for the big whitewalls it didn't work right. I had another idea today. I used one 1.75" tube with the 3" tube at the same time, only left the 1.75 with no air.

As I aired up the big tube I let out all the remaining air in the smaller tube. It worked!

Now if the tire goes flat, I just air up the extra tube already in there. Which valve is which? The extra tube has a plain valve cap, the big tube has the skull cap. As long as there's no nail left in the tire, it'll get me going. I just need to get a frame pump and I'm set. I also found that the stand they made for me works great as a work stand on the rear, it's not bolted to the dropouts.

Next I have some brackets coming on order to replace the band brakes with v brakes. The band brakes don't have enough stopping power and I don't want to put any stress on the wheels, so rim brakes are it. If the brackets don't seem stout enough, I'll use them as templates and have the steel shop make up a heavy set.

 

[Wildcat]

Big changes for Molly. Lightweight with SA kickback 2 speed is the plan. 2.125 tires of what kind I don't know yet. I'm still hunting for high end tires at a decent price.
The old bike supplier returned and reopened their business. "Lucky C" was the biggest place in the city of Olongapo for bike parts and motorcycle parts for many years. That's where my frame came from, on sale for years then tossed in the scrap heap when they folded around 2015. Today they pulled these 2 forks from the warehouse for me when I asked for 26" forks.

They are from the old store, still had the old taped numbers on them. Maybe it's the fork made for the frame I salvaged. It looks right at home on there. The blue fork was just icing on the cake. 500 pesos for both forks! That's about 11 US dollars. I would have bought more if they brought more but these were probably the last two.

I'm deciding on these bullbars or new lighter alloy bars.

I got all my ss spokes in the mail. Through Lazada, which is the Philippine version of Amazon. My 32 hole rims have yet to arrive, but I'll be able to finally be able use my SA kickback hub when this bike is done.

 

[Wildcat]

So, with an "A", it's not a Miyata. It couldn't be a 72 with those brake bosses. I also noticed Miyata frames have an indentation on the chainstay right behind the BB, mine doesn't. But I'm fairly sure it's a quality frame, better than my 76 Schwinn Traveler or any bike I've ever owned. From a technical standpoint of course. 87 seems like the right year for it.
I went for a ride last evening and almost wiped out. The streets are very steep in my neighborhood and I tried to turn around. But I made it back in one piece. The handlebars were too far forward for my back problem so I changed them out to a regular cruiser style. I need to get to flat land to give it a good ride, then find a way back home up the mountain. The springer is heavy for this bike also. I'll try to get a fork like the one shown with the Valley Runner MattiThundrrr showed above.

After dating the Nishiki I'm working on, I think the "A" designates the made for Australian market and it may be a Nishiki made frame from 1987. I'm glad I finally got a matching fork for it. I've got alloy rims coming and the bike should be about 30lbs complete.
I just realized I don't have a 32 hole front hub. Will a 36 hole hub lace up to a 32 hole rim? Just skipping holes 4 holes at certain equal spots sounds like it will work. Brakes are rim brakes so there shouldn't be much stress on the spokes.

 

[Wildcat]

The rims showed up! They are the right size and have the correct number of holes, 32. Too bad I don't have a 32 hole front hub. But I used a black 36 hole hub to match the rear, along with a bag of black spokes I bought some time back on sale. They were just the right size for the SA hub on the rear with a 3 cross pattern, but I had to go with a 2 cross pattern in the front. I spent all morning lacing them up. The bike shop will do the tightening and truing. Then I did a quick mock up to see how it sat. So far so good.

 

[toro1978]

It is very shiny. With that front end and the layback seat post and seat with chrome undercarriage it sure is a headturner.
By the way is this an expensive seat or one of those $20 imitations? If the latter how does it feel, is it comfy? Because it looks quite nice.

 

[Wildcat]

I just stuck the seat in there to see how it looked, the layback post is too small. I will have a straight post to get closer to the handlebars. I have back problems so I may have to change them out to regular upright bars. I like the flatbar look and ride, that's how my bikes were when I rode all over the world while in the Navy. I took my Hercules 3 speed with me on deployments.

1981-1988. No helmet required back then. That bike had an Ideale seat, as good or better than a Brooks. The new one on Molly is one of the cheap ones, but I haven't used it enough to judge it. I think it was 28 bucks on Amazon. There's another cheap one that I've used a lot and it's comfortable. It's also low priced, but this one was given to me by Kingfish254 a few years back. It's broken in well and is still going strong.

 

[toro1978]

Thanks for the info. I was looking at those a couple of times, but I was hesitant. Next time I don't have a suitable seat on hand I might try one of those.

 

[Wildcat]

Wheels are ready! I spent this morning in town grocery shopping and getting the wheels trued. The wife took a few pics and a vid. I can't figure how to get the vid to load so here's a pic of the guys truing two front wheels. They already had my rear wheel done.