TRADITIONAL Hops and Gnarly

[Da Gas Man]

Regrestoration. I like that. Can I use it? Is it okay if I modify it to Regretstoration?
Because I have a lot of regrets about some of the resto-work I get into sometimes.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

I like Regretstoration. It reminds me of when I worked at Unique Motorcars helping develop jigs and molds for a new kit car, we had the term 'F&R Department'. It was a little different meaning but similar. It wasn't about restoration but it did come with regrets.

F&R was a substitute for R&D (research and development) which meant 'F-up and Re-do'.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

The Hopalong Cassidy bike came with these cool 'Longhorn' handlebars.

I'm not sure if they were exclusive to the bike or if any other bikes used them, but they certainly fit perfectly with the cowboy theme!

I can just imagine a kid pretending to be riding on the back of a Texas Longhorn Steer!

 

[kingfish254]

Never heard of those before. The Torrington longhorns that I've seen have always wider than normal cross-braced bars, but those truly fit the moniker much better. Those must have been re-chromed in that condition. Are you going work some aging back on them?

 

[The Renaissance Man]

There are several pieces that have been re-chromed. For now, I'm not messing with it. I will let the owner make the final decision on the direction that I go with the chrome. This project will most likely go beyond the deadline of the build-off so some of the details like that will have to come later.

There are only a couple more weeks left in the build-off but I have a plan to have it ready to ride and photograph for the competition and then blow it apart again to finish it to the owner's liking.

 

[Da Gas Man]

I've had what I believed were long horn handlebars, but they didn't have
that extra curve at the neck. Really does make them look like cattle horns.
Very cool.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

I've had what I believed were long horn handlebars, but they didn't have
that extra curve at the neck. Really does make them look like cattle horns.
Very cool.
View attachment 273213

Never heard of those before. The Torrington longhorns that I've seen have always wider than normal cross-braced bars, but those truly fit the moniker much better. Those must have been re-chromed in that condition. Are you going work some aging back on them?

I'm not sure if that is the correct name for them. I saw some referred to as 'Longhorn' on a Google search. 'Hopalong' handlebars is probably a more accurate name.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

The fenders are the roughest parts of this project. I made some patch pieces from a junk fender to have butt welded in place. I took the fender to a friend to weld them with an oxy-acetylene welding torch. He didn't get very far before deciding that some of the metal was too thin to weld without burning holes.

So I decided that the only way to make the repairs is to put a backing plate on the underside of the fender to have something to weld to.

The first repair is a dime-sized hole where one of the decorative rivets had somehow broken through.



This is the plate on the underside. I used my spot welder to weld it in.



This shows the round plug welded to the backer.



Due to my old eyes, I covered it with a piece of white tape to mark the center and center punch it. Much easier to see!



Lastly I broke out the Roper Whitney punch, selected the size die needed, and pressed a hole. If you have a need for making clean holes in sheet metal, this tool is a must!



This is all that I'll need to do other than add some paint because the replacement rivet will hide the repair.

More repairs tomorrow.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Another thing is the chrome rivet. There has been some discussions about aging chrome and I still don't have a good process (yet) but here's what I've got so far.

All I have done is rough it up a little with varying grits of sandpaper. I will probably follow up with some wood stain later.

Here's a new one next to the one I worked on.

 

[Da Gas Man]

Depending on the degree of "aging" you're trying to achieve, you may want to
consider this: place a piece of 80 grit sandpaper on the object and give it a rap
with a mallet. Just a hit, and check the results. Usually enough to get a few small
random, uneven dimples. I like the results that you got on that rivet. Doing it!