Gravel Grinder Green Motobike 1930

[MazdaFlyer]

Lightly sanded the primer coat, wiped down with mineral spirits. Then I laid down two coats of Hunter Green. The frame is now hanging in the garage to cure out.

I may add some darts, we’ll see. Some good water slip decals might be good also. It will wear its battle scars proudly...89 years worth.


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[us56456712]

Yeah, the new bars ain't cheep! I was thinking about experimenting... Try to cold set an old road bike bar from the stash. Seems unlikely that I'd get both sides to bend evenly.

Yeah, I've done that, filled with sand and heated in my fire pit to get a very large area bendable to avoid kinks. The problem was that the grip angle changed and the spacing was either too wide or so narrow my knees hit, depending on what I was after. They still kinked a little and the sides were not exactly the same. I have straightened very old bent track bars back to almost original profile doing this and that was ok. For gravel an old road bike alloy drop set is all you need. If you need to you could put cyclocross brake levers on the flat part of the road drops. I have done this on my road bike. An old drop bar will give you so many hand positions that you will not get sore hands on long rides. I personally don't use the drop position on my gravel bike except when coasting down a hill. I think drops on gravel bikes are there just for comfort on long bumpy rides, not so much for wind resistance efficiency so old drops work just great. Old drop bars might not fit the new treadless headsets without a shim? I rode my single speed homebuilt gravel bike with road drops 100 KM in Hiawatha's Revenge when I was 71 and 72 years old. My hands, arms and shoulders felt great as I kept changing hand positions before anything got tired. I skipped this spring because the Revenge was the same day as the Mackinaw Island classic bike ride. My gravel bike only has brakes in the drops and I have no problem as you don't need to brake much around here on gravel because most of the time you can ride 100 K and be lucky to see a car, perhaps an ATV or two. I use the brakes a little on hills and to stop so brakes in the drops only are OK for me. On the road I like having brakes handy to wherever my hands are at the time. The Revenge is in early June and you can ride 50K, 100K or 100 miles. Your choice but the 100 mile has a lot of sand and some use fat bikes for that. I use 700c x 40 mm gravel tires with Stan's sealant in the inner tubes and 40 pounds of pressure. Never had a pinch flat using this system on gravel but I have had quite a few riding my gravel bike on single track. My frame is a 50s Columbia with a drilled and slotted hole for the rear caliper brake and the front has a 700c Chromo fork with cantilever bosses and brakes. It has a 3 piece square taper alloy crank.

 

[Dr. Tankenstein]

Love that color, if it were mine, I’d hit it with some 3000 grit to knock down the gloss, but that’s me.


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[MazdaFlyer]

Love that color, if it were mine, I’d hit it with some 3000 grit to knock down the gloss, but that’s me.


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Thanks! Maybe on the dulling, I was told not to discuss “gloss” and “dull” though. Thinking I kinda like the shine on this one. I’ll see what it looks like when it cures, still has some tack, humid here. Still need to do the fork.
Think I’d like to do some darts as it would have had, but then I’d need some pins...$$$.


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[450redrider]

Only pic I have but that frame looks real familiar lol. I can't remember who I sold it to

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[Dr. Tankenstein]

I now have some serious shop/inventory envy.... hahahahaha


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[SwissGuy]

I now have some serious shop/inventory envy.... hahahahaha


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You're not the only one...

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[sandman]

I now have some serious shop/inventory envy.... hahahahaha


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That looks like the new attraction at Disney ?

 

[MazdaFlyer]

Only pic I have but that frame looks real familiar lol. I can't remember who I sold it to

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So you’re the guy? Where did you get it?
I picked it up at El Torreon from Jacob. What can you tell me about the frame? Pretty beat up and has some brazing...survivor though.
I wonder how many hands this old frame has passed through.

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[MazdaFlyer]

I cleaned up the fork, stem and truss rods. I added primer to the fork but forgot to take photos for progress.

I then shot a few coats of Hunter Green to match the frame.

I’m undecided on truss rod color, maybe ivory, beige, gold, copper tone or more green. If I decide on darts, I’d most likely do the rods the same color.


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[450redrider]

So you’re the guy? Where did you get it?
I picked it up at El Torreon from Jacob. What can you tell me about the frame? Pretty beat up and has some brazing...survivor though.
I wonder how many hands this old frame has passed through.

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Yup I'm the guy, I got it from Tim who got it years ago from Lance in KC.
Don't know much about the frame other then I was gonna build it up as a lightweight commuter but kinda lost interest when I found the dents and another bike.

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[MazdaFlyer]

Yup I'm the guy, I got it from Tim who got it years ago from Lance in KC.
Don't know much about the frame other then I was gonna build it up as a lightweight commuter but kinda lost interest when I found the dents and another bike.
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OK thanks. Funny how these old bikes move around. Anyway it’s a work in progress now.



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[Klunkruiser]

I cleaned up the fork, stem and truss rods. I added primer to the fork but forgot to take photos for progress.

I then shot a few coats of Hunter Green to match the frame.

I’m undecided on truss rod color, maybe ivory, beige, gold, copper tone or more green. If I decide on darts, I’d most likely do the rods the same color.


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Black darts would look good.
I'd probably try some stainless paint on the trusses.

 

[MazdaFlyer]

Black darts would look good.
I'd probably try some stainless paint on the trusses.

Hadn’t thought of using black got the accents...maybe that would work, might do a test. I did get some SS paint to try on truss rods. Worked pretty good, looks better than the silver I’ve used in past.

The first pic is the SS effect.

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[Klunkruiser]

Hadn’t thought of using black got the accents...maybe that would work, might go a test. I did get some SS paint to try on truss rods. Worked pretty good, looks better than the silver I’ve used in past.

The first pic is the SS effect.

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Yeah, black goes with lots of stuff. And it looks tougher, more like a guys color, than creme or some other neutral color.

I always default to black unless you could find some old alligator purse you could cut up and make darts with.
I've thought about a lace on leather steering wheel cover.
I might've went a little overboard with the studded ladies belt I used for my "arrows". And it didn't wrap all the way around the frame.

Plus...it's pleather. So don't look too close.

 

[MazdaFlyer]

I did some assembly this morning and manage to ding up the paint in a couple of places. Simple touch up in order. The green still isn’t fully cured out. The truss rods go together like a puzzle and in one correct sequence to fit correctly.

Not sure about the bars yet. Have a few saddle, grips and pedal options to mull over.


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[Klunkruiser]

Looks great!

I really like these stem and bars for a lot of applications.

Has been really comfortable, and plenty low enough for me on a few different bikes.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

I like slingshot stems!

 

[MazdaFlyer]

Thinking I like the old Motobike stem that I have now. The bars I’d like to use are the old style upright or flipped dual purpose type, early teens. May be called touring bars currently. I’ll have to find a photo. The bars I have, have a little two much spread.


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[MazdaFlyer]

A few bar ideas...

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