Fresh ????

[rat royale]

Sarasota schwinn has a schwinn cycle truck that he restored it is real nice it is black. what kind of old bike stuff do you have . I have a lot of schwinn bikes and parts. I live in lakeland,fl. between tampa and orlando . Tony 8)

Tony,
The old stuff is pretty much all Schwinn. I started out with a Hiawatha Apache as the first ballooner, and then found a Straight bar DX. After that, it kinda mushroomed. (presently sitting at a headcount of 27) Traded the Hiawatha away last year, bought a Bianchi that I just decided I didn't use enough and sold a month ago. Shoulda kept the Hiawatha!

Prior to ballooners, I had middleweights. A pair of Typhoons, A Speedster (turned Manta-Ray clone), a "was nice" Hollywood and a minty violet Starlet III for the wife. The Hollywood was detroyed by the Savage Baggage Master unit at UPS. It is now a White Rat! I also like the lightweights, and have a few of them in several stages sitting. I had the "Not-So" in the Diamond Frame Build-off.. It is a favorite for quick rides. There is a 72 Super Sport sitting over here, in REALLY nice shape, and it is also a gas to ride.

Of late though, I am leaning toward the ballon projects. (Maybe because I resemble a balloon?)

I have a Curved bar DX in the works, see the "D "X" coming" project under "Builds" in this forum. I am going to be working on it later today. Hopefully I'll get some progress made towrd ridable!

Thanks,
Rat Royale
REC Elsewhere

 

[rat royale]

Re: Freshly ridden!!

This evening the new to me Cycle-Truck made its maiden voyage! :mrgreen:
Got the stand fixed and with the new tires and overhauled brake, this thing is now good for a ride. (And rides pretty good too!)

Things learned:
HEAVY! Those tiny sprockets they come with from the factory are now understood. (Mine was changed to a 46 tooth before I got it.)

Different feeling - control is not bad, just felt VERY odd at first, and the basket staying stright when turning throws your feeble brain for a loop!

Fun!

I'll get some pictures of it up soon.
Gotta get to work on a couple of other projects sitting here...
Maybe pictures of those soon to...

Rat Royale
REC Elsewhere

 

[rat royale]

Well, another interesting thing has happened... The big basket now has an occupant, and pretty much full time. My wife is teaching him to go there at her whim... (she's cheating by giving him treats!)

Ladies and gentleman..... Basket Cat! (or is that a Bas-Cat?)
The bike is in the Florida room while I am working on it, and Spitz (the cat) takes advantage of any good place to flop for a while.. This is the spot de jeur...
Rat Royale
REC Elsewhere

 

[rat royale]

First "Official" Ride !!

Well, the Cycle-Truck got it's first "official" ride in last night.
The Freakbike Militia "Trailer Trash Tuesday" ride was last night, and I rode the CT for it. No problems with the bike at all, and it was quite a nice ride out.... the ride back was a little bit different.
First - photo of the state of the bike as purchased (to save looking further into this posting):


And the current state is this:

photo courtesy of "Schwinncoll".
Some minor changes in appearance, but most things that were done you don't see. It rides like a dream, the only objectionable thing is the seat creaking (maybe I should lose some weight and see if that goes away!), I'll be looking into lubricating the springs to see if it will quieten down.

The fenders were a welcome thing as just before we were ready to make the return trip, a short monsoon came and gave us all a little splattering! (Last time that happened, I had a 3" wide rear tire throwing water up my back ALL the way back to the car!) This was a nice thing, other than I really didn't want to get caught in the rain after cleaning this bike from top to bottom. I reckon I'll be doing that again now!

Loads of fun, and it created a good bit of conversation.

Rat Royale
REC Elsewhere

 

[ricksterr1221]

B-E-A-UTIFUL Bike my friend. May i ask one thing.. I have a few friends that have moved here from florida, i know some people in florida.. I want to know WHAT IS A FLORIDA ROOM? Please lol

 

[JoeyMac]

is a florida room what you have in replacement for a basement? :lol:

 

[rat royale]

B-E-A-UTIFUL Bike my friend. May i ask one thing.. I have a few friends that have moved here from florida, i know some people in florida.. I want to know WHAT IS A FLORIDA ROOM? Please lol

Thank you!
Well....The Florida room is kinda like a "used to be porch" that is now a room. Ours is not too big really...

is a Florida room what you have in replacement for a basement? :lol:

No, not really. That would be a septic tank! :shock:

If you went out and dug a hole about five feet deep in my back yard, you find a free gift... water. We are not very far above the water table. That may be an incorrect statement where I am now, but I lived two miles closer to the ocean (and only about 7 blocks from the intercoastal waterway) for 21 years. I moved 3 years ago, and am on a little bit higher ground now, so you might be able to go 6' down...

The only houses here with basements are built on hills (hills ???? in Florida ????) and there a VERY few of them.
I wish I had something like a basement.. other than the issue of it being filled with water.
On the opther hand, maybe that would be an indoor pool here!

I think my "Florida room" is 12 X 18 feet, and it is also my office. It is pretty well packed right now. The wife and I are going shed shopping tomorrow, as she wants the tool boxes out of the master bedroom and bathroom, and as she also works out of the house, wants to use the extra room to have a place to do her work.
I am hoping for a 12 X 20 shed... but will settle for a bit less. I would then be able to unload (and sell) the trailer, and take the other bikes out of the house, and out of both the trailer and the other shed. I want to have the tools and bikes in the same building, as well as being able to work on them in it.
We shall see.....

Present conditions:
Florida room: 5 completed bikes (3 ballooners, a 10 speed, and a cycle truck), one frame, and a LOAD of parts.
Master Bedroom: 3 complete bikes (two of them are choppper bikes which = LONG), a 6' tall, 3' wide toolbox, with 2 sideboxes stored in the bathroom. (The bathroom is pretty big)
Trailer (6 X 12): 4 complete bikes, 5 frames, and another LOAD of parts.
Present shed: 4 complete bikes (one is a 7' long chopper, one is a Tandem), approximately five partial bikes (not including a Town & Country that is disassembled) as well as all of our odds and ends that didn't fit in the house..
Side yard: 1 complete, non-rideable bike, and about a dozen wheels/rims in various states of incompleteness..

I'd have to say my wife is somewhat tolerant of this disease, to the point of actually tellng me to buy stuff.

A house with a 2 car garage would have been the best idea!

REC

 

[Gold Street Customs]

Nothing like airing bike laundry, :lol: so here goes mine but I will catagorize mine as 1. riders 2.fix a flat 3.projects 4.parts bikes. In the garage I currently have 5 riders 2 fix a flats 2 projects and various wheels ,tires and parts.The backyard consists of 5 riders 6 fix a flats 8 projects 4 parts bikes. And the sideyard consists of 2 project bikes and 3parts bikes. Now that was my house my parents garage is 3 blocks away and is currently holding 7 project bikes and there is one rider at work in the warehouse.

 

[CCR]

ive recently trashed my old garage (wasnt in the best shape to begin with)

i think im going the shed route to replace it too, either that or wait another year to build a smaller garage than what i had, but im really leaning towards a shed ... im thinking roughly 16' x 20' but i wont have my mind made up until im standin in one that size. currently downsized to 6 musclebikes , 8 cruisers and my buildoff bike. im just wonderin if it would be enough room for a "growing" collection as i know theres at least 20 more bikes "i need" :lol: suppose i can always get another shed later on down the road if needed :mrgreen: but i hope to have enough room to work on "project bikes" in there too.