I thought I'd get an early start on my build thread, so here it is. This is my first foray into vintage bikes, as well as "rat rodding" anything. I've always loved the style, but never had an appropriate project to try my hand for myself. Until, that is, my neighbor had a tag sale. I snagged this AMF for $20, immediately walked it home and tore it apart, unsure what my plans for it were.
I was a little pressed for time while tearing the bike down, so I didn't have much time to scope it out or appreciate any of the details of the craftsmanship. I didn't notice how few actual welds were used to build the frame, or how much style the bike has. Today (06-23-2012) I had some time to kill before doing some yard work, so I took the frame down from the rafters and took a few more pictures and really stood back and appreciated everything the bike has to offer. I'm in love.
Originally, I was thinking of painting the bike in a two-tone turquoise and cream, like a 1950's Chevy Bel Air. Then, the more I thought about it (and the more I looked around this awesome site), the more my mind changed and it was decided: This bike is going to be a rat.
Here are the initial pictures I took:
And after the teardown:
The original head badge is missing, and the original owner (whom my father-in-law happens to know) added a small pendant in it's place. I don't have a good pic of the pendant, but it looks just like this:
Now, I'm not a religious man, but I dig that medallion; and it will be returning to the bike once I'm done with it.
The original owner also added this cool little license plate to the rear fender:
BB shell is in nice shape:
I've never seen a stem built like this before, very cool piece of craftsmanship right here if you ask me. The chrome was pitted but some WD-40 and Scotch-Brite took care of it nicely:
Frame sticker (not sure how I missed this, but seeing it earlier may have prevented me from needing to post a thread in the "I.D." section. "AMF 2016 A":
And the serial number, stamped into the dropout. I love how the bike was built, seeing the way the dropouts are joined to the seat stays and chain stays is beautiful:
A lot of the chrome still needs work, almost all of the fender runners are bent or tweaked and will need straightening, but all of the bearings and races are in remarkable condition. I'll only be cleaning them and re-packing them with fresh grease, but honestly; they don't even need that. Even the chain is still free and flows freely, I've got that soaking and will clean it up to get a better feel of whether or not a replacement is needed; but I don't think it will be. I want to keep as much of this bike as it was when I got it rather than replace a ton of stuff.
Obviously the tires are shot, so I'm replacing them with 26"x1.75 whitewalls. The rim strips disintegrated when I did so much as look at them, and the tubes had slow leaks, so they're being replaced as well. My new goodies should show up early next week.
Other than that, I won't go into details on the build, I'll let the future pics speak for themselves. I hope you all have as much fun watching this build as (I hope) I'm going to have doing it. Cheers!
I was a little pressed for time while tearing the bike down, so I didn't have much time to scope it out or appreciate any of the details of the craftsmanship. I didn't notice how few actual welds were used to build the frame, or how much style the bike has. Today (06-23-2012) I had some time to kill before doing some yard work, so I took the frame down from the rafters and took a few more pictures and really stood back and appreciated everything the bike has to offer. I'm in love.
Originally, I was thinking of painting the bike in a two-tone turquoise and cream, like a 1950's Chevy Bel Air. Then, the more I thought about it (and the more I looked around this awesome site), the more my mind changed and it was decided: This bike is going to be a rat.
Here are the initial pictures I took:
And after the teardown:
The original head badge is missing, and the original owner (whom my father-in-law happens to know) added a small pendant in it's place. I don't have a good pic of the pendant, but it looks just like this:
Now, I'm not a religious man, but I dig that medallion; and it will be returning to the bike once I'm done with it.
The original owner also added this cool little license plate to the rear fender:
BB shell is in nice shape:
I've never seen a stem built like this before, very cool piece of craftsmanship right here if you ask me. The chrome was pitted but some WD-40 and Scotch-Brite took care of it nicely:
Frame sticker (not sure how I missed this, but seeing it earlier may have prevented me from needing to post a thread in the "I.D." section. "AMF 2016 A":
And the serial number, stamped into the dropout. I love how the bike was built, seeing the way the dropouts are joined to the seat stays and chain stays is beautiful:
A lot of the chrome still needs work, almost all of the fender runners are bent or tweaked and will need straightening, but all of the bearings and races are in remarkable condition. I'll only be cleaning them and re-packing them with fresh grease, but honestly; they don't even need that. Even the chain is still free and flows freely, I've got that soaking and will clean it up to get a better feel of whether or not a replacement is needed; but I don't think it will be. I want to keep as much of this bike as it was when I got it rather than replace a ton of stuff.
Obviously the tires are shot, so I'm replacing them with 26"x1.75 whitewalls. The rim strips disintegrated when I did so much as look at them, and the tubes had slow leaks, so they're being replaced as well. My new goodies should show up early next week.
Other than that, I won't go into details on the build, I'll let the future pics speak for themselves. I hope you all have as much fun watching this build as (I hope) I'm going to have doing it. Cheers!
