ELGIN DECOLUXE

[The Renaissance Man]

... Great vision. Now where is the handle going........

If that old door handle is going to be a shifter, it would be funny as I had been looking for an old 30s-style door handle like that for that purpose earlier on.

Wow! This bike is going to have doors?!

A shifter handle is a great idea, but this is going to be a single speed bike. And Tyler, how could I have doors with only one handle?
If I can make it work, it will be used in a way that I don't think anyone (except @Dan Hampton) could guess. Dan could easily guess since I just told him my plan this morning at work.

 

[OddJob]

First thing that popped in my head was a 'seat rail'...but I can't remember what the seat or handle looked like! So it's just a guess...

 

[sludgeguy]

The handle will be a Latch for the drop stand.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

First thing that popped in my head was a 'seat rail'...but I can't remember what the seat or handle looked like! So it's just a guess...

Not sure what you mean by seat rail. ??

The handle will be a Latch for the drop stand.

Not it, but that's a good idea! I should just post things that I'm not sure what to do with so you guys can suggest ideas.

More on the handle later!
_________________________________________________

When I'm building I tend to 'sweep everything to the middle', meaning some things like cutting the end of the fender or adding to the tank gets postponed while I move on to other more pressing things. Right now I'm looking at mounting the chain guard. I've come to the conclusion that the Western Flyer 25t chain ring that I had decided on is just a little too big to get a good line on the WF chain guard. I will have to adapt the chain guard to fit the skirt guard either way, but it will look better if it is down slightly lower. I'm not sure if the Western Flyer chain ring was made in a 24t version, but I have a 24t 'Flying Hearts' chain ring that I like also. So for now I'm going with that unless I find something that I like better.

This bike will be used for casual cruising and we do have some hills in our area, so I calculated the gear ratio and I think the smaller chain ring will make it a comfortable rider as long as I don't get in any races. From what I've read, 70 gear inches is a middle of the road average and with the rear cog that I'm using being at 10t, it will give me 63.6 gear inches with the 24t. If that turns out to be geared too low, I can change out the rear cog to 9t and get 70.8 gear inches which is closer to average but not quite as hill friendly. With the WF 25t ring and 10t cog it would give me 66.3 which may be a little better, but not so much that it causes me to sacrifice the looks of the bike. (You know- women's shoes... looks first, comfort second).

If any of you gear head experts want to chime in, please do before I start cutting up my chain guard!

 

[Duchess]

I run a 23 x 11 on my 1912 Iver racer (slack, cruiser-like geometry by today's standards) and I find it to be a good ratio for that bike. I can cruise at around 14 mph, 18 at a fast spin, and still manage average New England hills and get off the line fairly easy in city riding.

 

[OddJob]

TRM, I was referring to the rail or bar that runs across the back of some cruiser seats....

 

[Chad T]

That's a sweet sprocket! I need to learn more about these gear inches it seems.....

 

[The Renaissance Man]

I run a 23 x 11 on my 1912 Iver racer (slack, cruiser-like geometry by today's standards) and I find it to be a good ratio for that bike. I can cruise at around 14 mph, 18 at a fast spin, and still manage average New England hills and get off the line fairly easy in city riding.

What size tires/wheels?
My Schwinn Covertible that I built a few months ago is 46 x 20 which is what Schwinn decided was a good ratio for a young girl to ride comfortably. It rides good for slow cruising but may be just slightly on the low end.

TRM, I was referring to the rail or bar that runs across the back of some cruiser seats....View attachment 25689

I thought so, just needed clarification!

That's a sweet sprocket! I need to learn more about these gear inches it seems.....

Thanks.

 

[Chad T]

Young girl ratio sounds about right for me......so those numbers are front and rear sprocket sizes?

What would a 32-11 be like on a 26 inch wheel? (Potential top gear for 11 sp so tall would be fine.)

 

[OddJob]

Chad, find the hardest gear you can spin in ( keeping a 75-80 rpm cadence). In about 5 yrs your quads will be so strong you won't have to worry about gear inches!

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Young girl ratio sounds about right for me......so those numbers are front and rear sprocket sizes?

What would a 32-11 be like on a 26 inch wheel? (Potential top gear for 11 sp so tall would be fine.)

Here's an online calculator.

 

[Duchess]

Oh, sorry, it's a 700c x 35 (width is more the manufacturer's best drunken guess, it seems, and these Linus 35s are about the same size or larger than the 40s on another hybrid).

 

[Fv2]

On my build I'm using a 24t front and 10t rear. I don't know what that means in gear inches, but it pedals about as easy as a modern cruiser.
Pretty flat around here with a few small hills, rode about 7 miles today without getting worn out.

 

[hewey]

This is shaping up great mate.

 

[OneHorsePower]

iam guessing 25 x 10 on skip tooth equal 50 x 20 in modern days sprokets/chains ... thats high ratio

i ran 42sproket x 16t cog on my last 700c build , but for a heavyer cruiser style bike i imagine around 18t or 20t would about alright ..
i usually just choose a 42+ chainring and play with rear sprocket untill satisfaction

then again , this must not help you much since i don't work with gear-inchs or skiptooths

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Thanks for everyone's input here.
Just to be fair, I have to admit that my knowledge of gear ratios is limited to just a small amount of info that I have gleaned from Google University's 101 classes! That's why I wanted input from some of you experienced guys! My biggest concern was mounting the chain guard in a position that would not allow me to change to a larger chain ring if it where needed.

I feel confident now that the 24t will work fine without fear of having to later rework the chain guard position. From the sound of some of the comments, I could go even smaller and still be OK with the right rear cog combination.

It's time to cut up some vintage sheet metal!!!

 

[Duchess]

I think you're fine on the gears, particularly the chainring. If you did want to drop the ratio, you can change the cog and the diameter won't result in a drastic change in chain height, nor would the future possibility probably be hard to allow for when installing the chainguard.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

I started the chain guard yesterday. It doesn't look like much progress, but I spent a lot of time moving it around checking the chain clearance and staring at it before I committed it to the saw. After my best estimation for the cut I used a couple of pieces of angle iron in my vice to clamp it and did my best to unroll the top of the guard. The last thing then was to clamp it in place making sure that the lines were parallel with the lines in the skirt guard.

Here it is so far:

 

[metalchewy]

That integrates together well[emoji106]

 

[OddJob]

Did I miss your 'patina' step TRM, or did the skirt and guard match that well?