ECHO

[Chad T]

Thanks. Yeah, @Chad T and I could probably swap home remedies for finger print repair after sanding most of ours off.

Ha ha! Steel polishes up really nice. Darker than alum. More like chrome. Doesn't rust very bad either unless it's out in the weather for a while.

Jaw dropping job on that shifter. Another unreal build. Been lurking since it was moved but re-subscribed for the finale'.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Oooo, we must be getting close!

Just in time to start RRBBO14!

(Fingers crossed)

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Just in time to start RRBBO14!

(Fingers crossed)

Oh, I really hope @tjwilson is joining us!

 

[tjwilson]

Ha ha! Steel polishes up really nice. Darker than alum. More like chrome. Doesn't rust very bad either unless it's out in the weather for a while.

Jaw dropping job on that shifter. Another unreal build. Been lurking since it was moved but re-subscribed for the finale'.

Thank you.

I'm surprised just how well polished steel holds up. I have a few pieces from three or four years ago that still look good!

 

[tjwilson]

Just in time to start RRBBO14!

(Fingers crossed)

Oh, I really hope @tjwilson is joining us!

Thanks for the encouragement. Wish I could say that I will be jumping in. I always miss out on the big one! The warm summer days in Michigan just seem too few and far between for me to be able to justify spending them in the basement building during the main build-off. Plus, throw in a camping trip or two, a little travel, summer holidays and outside repair projects around the house... I can never find the time to fit it in. Not this year anyway.

 

[tjwilson]

Oooo, we must be getting close!

Closer...

So, I broke probably the very first rule of color selection for this project. I picked a color from an image displayed on a computer screen from off the internet. What looked like a purple with warm red highlights turns out to be more of a red with purple-ish shadows. The color does look nice, especially in full sun, and has a lot of flip to it. It just isn't quite what I originally had in mind. It is growing on me though. Still working on sanding and polishing the frame. I've got the chain-guard graphic pretty much finished and here's a couple in-process images of that.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Graphic looks good!

 

[tjwilson]

Assembly

Because I'm holding my breath to keep form scratching fresh paint I usually don't get too many in-process final assembly images! Same case with this build. Should have images sorted and ready to post of the finished build in a day or so.

 

[Green T]

Sweet!

 

[tjwilson]

Final Images

Ended up back at the old standby location. It's a railroad overpass close to my house. The sunlight bouncing up off the sidewalk near the edge of the overpass shadow creates lighting that's really hard to beat.

 

[tjwilson]

Bunch'O Detail Shots

(still looking for the right blue dot, red dot?)

 

[tjwilson]

And, a couple more overall shots in the sunlight.

 

[tjwilson]

Build Summary

I'm really happy with the way this one turned out... even if the frame design is a little more conventional. The color has grown on me and I like the contrast with the little pops of orange. I was hoping to improve on the ride quality of "Twist of Lemon" and think I was pretty successful. It's not light but it does feel nimble. "Twist" came in at 50.8 lbs. This is just over 9 lbs. lighter at 41.6 lbs. As reference my '69 Fastback weighs 36.6 lbs. Not exactly a lightweight benchmark but I'm already thinking of ideas to try and get under that next time around. Another big difference between the two was the shorter wheelbase on "ECHO". The wheelbase is about 4 1/2" shorter than "Twist" at 38.77" vs 43.33".

 

[Duchess]

Wow, that bike is beautiful! Also, and I know this is a small thing, but you got that brake housing sweep just right. So many bikes have housing run like an afterthought and it always makes my OCD twitch.

Do muscle bikes use really heavy gauge steel tubing? I've never had one.

 

[Ty Henderson]

Dang dude... so ridiculously neat. I'm a sucker for the blended welds. Really love the handlebars as well. Like you mentioned the small orange / white details really spice things up. This is just all around tasteful and classy, even down to the hardware!!!!!!! I wouldn't change a thing.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Nicely done.

 

[Brian macumber]

The color is good kinda of a burgandy from what I can tell

 

[LukeTheJoker]

I can already tell this build will be a highlight of the year, just came out so nice!
You really hit it out of the park!

 

[Captain Awesome]

Amazing!!

 

[Ty Henderson]

Is there a name for those 'style' handle bars? I know you made them yourself, but I've seen similar shaped bars on vintage muscle bikes. Not sure what to look up while searching for a set.