Diamond Frame Flying Merkel DONE!

[Skipton]

Re: Diamond Frame Flying Merkel 3/21 HUGE UPDATE part II

LOOKS GREAT! I like the rear fender!......... A good LBS can cut and re-thread the fork for you.

No shame!......kickstands are always good helps keep your cool bike cool! :wink:

Going to need a riding video :lol: :mrgreen:

 

[okie]

Re: Diamond Frame Flying Merkel 3/21 HUGE UPDATE part II

Sweet, nice work!

 

[Strings_and_steam]

Re: Diamond Frame Flying Merkel 3/21 HUGE UPDATE part II

Thanks Skipton, there will certainly be some riding videos! I'll schlepp it down to a Chicago ride sometime so you can try it out yourself, the saddle will be sitting far back (but not as far as your brilliant Blue X!) We could have a boardtracker race!...tho you'd smoke my flabby out of shape Buddha body.

Okie, welcome to the forum! I'm honored to be your first post 8)

I got a bit ambitious yesterday night and while battling insomnia installed the rear brake. I had to bend a few washers to act as risers for the rear fender brace, it was pulling at a weird angle under the pressure of the brake hardware being clamped down, but I think its sorted now. The brake cable will likely need some adjusting, but I'll wait to do that until things are more complete.

 

[Dr. Tankenstein]

Re: Diamond Frame Flying Merkel 3/22 give me a brake...

WOW! it looks awesome so far! The matching orange brake shoes.....nice :wink:

Cheers,
Dr. T

 

[Strings_and_steam]

Re: Diamond Frame Flying Merkel 3/22 give me a brake...

Thanks Dr.T, I thought orange shoes might look pretty cool :wink: They'll probably eat the paint off the wheels eventually (but evenly at least), and this way they won't scuff black!

 

[Dr. Tankenstein]

Re: Diamond Frame Flying Merkel 3/22 give me a brake...

The front wheel on my bobber bike is from an old MTB. The shoes wore the paint off, I liked the look so much, I left it alone.

Cheers,
Dr. T

 

[Strings_and_steam]

Re: Diamond Frame Flying Merkel 3/22 give me a brake...

Yeah I'm not overly concerned about the paint being rubbed off the rims. I know the bike is going to only be immaculate once, and will eventually be dented, dinged, and chipped. The wheel wear will add to that, a 'well used' machine. This is my daily rider after all

I've got to procure a new bolt for my front brakes. The new fork is much 'thicker', and the bolt doesn't go all the way through to the other side with enough thread for the nut to catch and hold securely (and safely for my tastes). It's some crazy metric size I don't have laying around, so if this confounded snow lets up I'll make a hardware store run. Spring break in Wisco=snow.

 

[Walker]

Re: Diamond Frame Flying Merkel 3/22 give me a brake...

What do you need for a mounting post, I just got a huge random parts box and there is a bunch of weinmann side pull brake parts including several mounting posts.

 

[Strings_and_steam]

Re: Diamond Frame Flying Merkel 3/22 give me a brake...

What do you need for a mounting post, I just got a huge random parts box and there is a bunch of weinmann side pull brake parts including several mounting posts.

Thanks Walker, I will let you know I gotta figure out the thread and bolt size to start, the sucker has to have at least 3 inches of thread length (behind the screw head). I'm terrible with metric stuff, SAE things I'm pretty good at eyeballing. I'll see if I have a gauge somewhere, I know I used to. If the hardware store comes up empty I will certainly let you know!

 

[Strings_and_steam]

Re: Diamond Frame Flying Merkel 3/22 give me a brake...

I did some rummaging and came up with a bolt to fit the front brake after all, huzzah!

I also got ambitious, and installed the pedals I have for this build, dropped in the old stem and handlebars (both of which I plan to replace, tho they don't look half bad on there as is), and mocked up controls.

I picked up a 'double' brake lever from a memeber here, but it wasn't what I expected. So I am just moving both levers to one handle. The boardtracker only had a lever on this side, and this is my attempt to replicate that. It actually works pretty well this way, I'll set it up so the rear is the first lever to grab, and the front is the second.

Some more shots

And here's something to whet youe appetite :mrgreen:

 

[Skipton]

Re: Diamond Frame Flying Merkel 3/23 controls and tank teaser

Wow! tank looks KILLER!

I like the brake lever idea.....just don't pull the wrong one :roll:

 

[stocksucks]

Re: Diamond Frame Flying Merkel 3/23 controls and tank teaser

I did'nt think it could look that awsome.

 

[seefernandez]

Re: Diamond Frame Flying Merkel 3/23 controls and tank teaser

that looks sweeet

 

[Strings_and_steam]

Re: Diamond Frame Flying Merkel 3/23 controls and tank teaser

Thanks guys, I'm impressing myself as this one goes back together. I thought it would be a cool build, but it's turning out better than I had expected!

I'm going to be calling a couple of local upholster-ers to see about getting a piece of leather for covering the seat, goodwill/thrift stores have been coming up empty and I'm itching to get this buttoned up. But I was messing around with the saddle carraige and the seat post (post was made by Walker, I'm still blown away by it!) and had to take a pic or two. I wanted to make sure that the clamp would fit the post correctly and hold tight, this seat carraige wasn't made for a 7/8 clamp, and it was a bit of a battle to squeeze it in there but I got it. I did need to do some grinding on the 'wings' of the internal clamp so it would have more space to close together. In the end it was like squeezing a size 12 foot into a size 8 shoe, but just like in the shoe business, a little hammering, a teeny dab of olio, and we're in business! :shock: :wink:

It looks like this seat will sit further back then the old Brooks origonally did, which should allow me to lower the seat post even more for that 'boardtracker' profile. I'm just over 6' and have long legs, so I need plenty of leg space!

 

[stocksucks]

Re: Diamond Frame Flying Merkel 3/23 controls and tank teaser

You got it goin’ real good strings! That seat is amazing.
I think wider (maybe 2.125) tires would also look good.
Keep it up

 

[Strings_and_steam]

Re: Diamond Frame Flying Merkel 3/23 controls and tank teaser

Well I'll pretty much let the pictures do the talking. Got my handlebars in, but they won't be making the build. I knew they were smaller, and I thought I could just extend them discretely under the grips, but there's more problems than that. Turns out they're waaaaay smaller and narrower than I thought, the diameter is waaaaay smaller than I anticipated, and I simply won't be able to make them work.

Here you can see the grips that came with them, compared to a normal Felt grip.

...Could anyone use these? They're for sale :|

 

[SCHWINNRAY69]

Re: Diamond Frame Flying Merkel 3/24 Got The Handle Bar Blues...

Looks like they are for a 20" :wink: Let's get some pics of my tires while your getting ones of your AWESOME bike :mrgreen:
Tank looks GREAT :shock:

 

[Strings_and_steam]

Re: Diamond Frame Flying Merkel 3/24 Got The Handle Bar Blues...

Looks like they are for a 20" :wink: Let's get some pics of my tires while your getting ones of your AWESOME bike :mrgreen:
Tank looks GREAT :shock:

Three things, Mr. Ray-

First, I think they are for a 20".
Second, thank you for the compliments!
Third, Check your PM's :wink:

 

[SCHWINNRAY69]

Re: Diamond Frame Flying Merkel 3/24 Got The Handle Bar Blues...

Three things for you:
Your welcome for having such an outstanding bike
Call me Nick or Mr. Nick, whatever make ya happy :mrgreen:
PM replied :wink:

 

[Strings_and_steam]

Re: Diamond Frame Flying Merkel 3/24 Got The Handle Bar Blues...

A few little things

- Got the alignment all squared away for my brakes and adjusted the tension and travel of the cables to the calipers. I've got it set up now so the rear brake doesn't take much to engage, while the front takes a little more pull. This way, with the double brake levers, both levers land side by side when both brakes are 'full on'. It might take some more tweaking after riding some, but I'm happy with this set up.

- I took a few pics of the 'inside' of the tank showing how the rear brake cable runs and how the shifter sits. I've got things figured out so there is minimal clutter of cables and things eeverywhere for a sleek, more pared-down boardtrack look while still having all the amenities of a 5 speed, front and rear brake road bike. I'm very pleased with this set up (if I do say so myself! :roll: ) Granted, things wont be secured with masking tape and string for the final construction :roll:

- Seat pan is at a local upholster-er, I simply couldn't find what I was looking for to re cover it, and he's giving me a pretty good deal on it.

- A fellow member here is going to look for some bars for me at a swap meet this weekend (Thanks, Nick!) that will hopefully take care of that. And after the stem and seat pan have arrived/been completed (respectivly) I'll be buttoning up the tank and takin her for a spin.

Oh, and here are some more pics for those of you who like pics :wink:

And something more 'familliar' for me to make, here's an Irish low whistle I did up this evening for a client as well