Crunchy's Lil' Brother Tweaker

[tjwilson]

More of a revision than a build...

As a break from some of the tedious finish work on ECHO I made some quick, down and dirty revisions to Nautilus for this riding season. Nautilus never seamed right to me. To rough to be what I think of as a stretched cruiser, to long to be a rough bobber. The color always bothered me too. Looked like it was made of wood. Plus, the ride was sluggish and it suffered from a heavy back end. And, I could never get the chain to stop from rubbing the guard!

Guard removal, a couple cuts and re-welds, different seat, a spray of black, and pass at different handlebars. I'm much happier with it (for now). Definitely a better ride and it will actually stop without foot-drag assist. Hopefully some more of the existing rust will start to poke through the new black soon.

The before:

 

[tjwilson]

In-process

 

[tjwilson]

Assembled

 

[Brian macumber]

The new look is awesome. I have that same headlight I picked up at the flea market do you know anything about it like year?

 

[Chad T]

Looking good. Smart move with the v-brake but you might need a linear pull lever to get the most out of it.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Looks good, liking the higher rear ride height, it suits it.

 

[toro1978]

View attachment 93224

Now that is just awesome front end. I like those vintage german brake levers. And the "swan neck" lamp holder with the old headlight is great. I love how well those stems integrate with the fork into a whole unit. The grips area great finishing touch.
I remember this build vivdly. What are those wheels again, 24 in the rear and 28 in the front?

 

[tjwilson]

The new look is awesome. I have that same headlight I picked up at the flea market do you know anything about it like year?

Thanks. My lights came off a ‘72 Schwinn Collegiate, along with the cranks, sprocket, and front tire & rim. The generator markings say “Schwinn Approved” and “Made in Germany”. I think the lights and generator were sold as one of the accessories available through Schwinn dealers.

 

[tjwilson]

Looking good. Smart move with the v-brake but you might need a linear pull lever to get the most out of it.

Thanks and thank you for the lever suggestion. I grabbed the old Weinmann lever for looks rather than function. It was an improvement over the previous set-up but, I just swapped out the lever for a linear pull one and it made a huge difference. I can actually skid with it now. Nice since it only has one brake.

 

[tjwilson]

Looks good, liking the higher rear ride height, it suits it.

Thanks. I think I was just trying to go in two directions at the same time with it originally.

 

[tjwilson]

Now that is just awesome front end. I like those vintage german brake levers. And the "swan neck" lamp holder with the old headlight is great. I love how well those stems integrate with the fork into a whole unit. The grips area great finishing touch.
I remember this build vivdly. What are those wheels again, 24 in the rear and 28 in the front?

Thank you. I like those levers too but the linear pull lever really woke the brakes up. The tire rear is a 24x3 Innova, the front is an odd Schwinn size: 26x1-3/8x1-1/4.