I put some of these pics up in my intro post, but i thought i should start a build thread for some ongoing updates. I mountain biked a lot as a kid, but I haven't been on a bike regularly in probably 15 years. My wife and I were looking for some new things to do outdoors, and we both found out that the other loved to bike as a youngster. So off to craigslist, youtube, and every other dark corner of the internet I went.
We could have just bought some bikes from wally world and called it done, but where is the personalization and fun in that? I've had a few older cars, and a few motorcycles that I've had and tinkered with, so our bikes had to be cool. Chopped, painted, modded, who knows? I always wanted a lowrider, so this is my first steps into that direction.
After we decided on starting with some cruisers for flat land riding, I picked up a couple beater Huffys on craigslist. Seats, bars, chainrings, and all sorts of other new parts have started arriving in the mail. I am doing my wifes bike first, and this thread will be dedicated to that bike.
Starting the teardown!
It was actually a good thing I did a tear down on this one. Someone had tried to take it apart, and stripped the bolt on one side of the bottom bracket. I don't think they knew it was reverse threaded...
And now to the sanding and trying to fix all the abuse done by the previous owner.
Up into my garage/spray area. I really need to clean, and curtain off more of my garage when I do this. Clean up is a pain.
And the base coats. A mint/turquoise that my wife picked out.
Then a couple light coats of pearl mist, so that it pops in the sunshine. I apologize for my phone pictures. Don't have a nice camera yet.
And today I'm putting clear. The crank, sprocket, stem, and grips are going to be white. I'm thinking about painting the spokes white, and the rims the same mint. Also going to go with white or cream tires eventually. Hopefully I'll have some shiny clear coat pictures tomorrow. Waiting for some parts for the reassembly, which will be good for the clear to cure hopefully.
And then on to my bike! I appreciate all comments and suggestions as I am very new to this. I have already gained so much knowledge from this site, glad to be here!
We could have just bought some bikes from wally world and called it done, but where is the personalization and fun in that? I've had a few older cars, and a few motorcycles that I've had and tinkered with, so our bikes had to be cool. Chopped, painted, modded, who knows? I always wanted a lowrider, so this is my first steps into that direction.
After we decided on starting with some cruisers for flat land riding, I picked up a couple beater Huffys on craigslist. Seats, bars, chainrings, and all sorts of other new parts have started arriving in the mail. I am doing my wifes bike first, and this thread will be dedicated to that bike.
Starting the teardown!
It was actually a good thing I did a tear down on this one. Someone had tried to take it apart, and stripped the bolt on one side of the bottom bracket. I don't think they knew it was reverse threaded...
And now to the sanding and trying to fix all the abuse done by the previous owner.
Up into my garage/spray area. I really need to clean, and curtain off more of my garage when I do this. Clean up is a pain.
And the base coats. A mint/turquoise that my wife picked out.
Then a couple light coats of pearl mist, so that it pops in the sunshine. I apologize for my phone pictures. Don't have a nice camera yet.
And today I'm putting clear. The crank, sprocket, stem, and grips are going to be white. I'm thinking about painting the spokes white, and the rims the same mint. Also going to go with white or cream tires eventually. Hopefully I'll have some shiny clear coat pictures tomorrow. Waiting for some parts for the reassembly, which will be good for the clear to cure hopefully.
And then on to my bike! I appreciate all comments and suggestions as I am very new to this. I have already gained so much knowledge from this site, glad to be here!
you might try College Cyclery on Virginia for your tires and misc parts. they had a decent selection last time I was there.
