J.C. Piggins

[Mr. Monkeyarms]

I used Meguire's Paint Cleaner on painted parts yesterday after removing hardened grease from the frame, fork & inside chainguard. The grease used on this bike originally is crazy to deal with 60 years later. After I was finished with this step Señor Jefe was inspecting the results & commented "I think you can skip the polish with Show Car Glaze & go to a couple coats of Carnuba wax! You can only put so much lipstick on a pig before you reach the point of diminishing return." Since I in total agreement (& out of the Glaze ) I will just get a good coat of Carnuba Wax applied later today.

Tank on left is after paint cleaning. Poor lighting doesn't do justice to the job this stuff did with the paint....

I also buffed the chrome pieces again & they came out nice. Here's a comparison of original crank & chain ring on right. Going to try out the lady's crank & ring for a little better gearing & easier for an adult to ride. Excited to get this on wheels to see if there is enough pedal clearance.

 

[Bike from the Dead]

J.C. Piggins is looking good so far! I'm excited to see the end result!

 

[Mr. Monkeyarms]

Thank you! Me too! Got busy at work after coming back from the Holidays this past week & stalled. Probably good since 4 days of scrubbing & rubbing on parts to clean this up as best as possible had my arms, hands & fingers getting sore. Finger tips were getting raw despite wearing thick nitrile gloves. Was nice to let my body recover for a few days. Headed out to get everything coated with a couple coats of wax shortly & start assembly. Excited to see if the longer crank will work & if I will be able to fit the rear fender.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Nice!

 

[Mr. Monkeyarms]

Got everything protected & started assembly. It's a roller but was too dark to get a pic. The Meguire's paint cleaner & Carnuba wax created an almost clear coat effect. Very nice.

Cleaned up the kickstand & seat post while waiting for wax to dry.

First seat post I've seen that says: MAXIMUM INSERTION.

Wheels

Tires

Wheels & tires

I will post a pic of where I finished in the morning before I fit the crank & chain. Then I'll have a better idea if I can fit the rear fender. Gonna be tight.......

 

[Ulu]

The paint came out really nice. It was definitely worth saving.

 

[Mr. Monkeyarms]

Thanks @Ulu ! It's amazing what can be done with good products. Glad I was out of the Show Car Glaze. It would have been too much. Wait until I get this pig in the sun!

A couple pics of where I left off late afternoon yesterday after a little assembly......

 

[The Renaissance Man]

That looks amazing!

I hope there is not a chain line issue with the rear tire. Looks like it barely squeezes in the frame!

 

[Mr. Monkeyarms]

Thanks! I took a quick look & should be room for the chain. The fender may be problematic. Seat stay bridge is close to the tire. Getting the drivetrain fit is first on the list today. We'll see what kind of room is left to work with. I could go with a 2.125" that would be pretty easy to fit with a fender I believe. But my problem is I like to stuff as much tire as I can on anything with wheels. Fender gap has no home here......

I did this a little while ago for giggles & to wheel around. Gotta get it outside for a better look as it may be just the right amount of ridiculous.

 

[twojs.bike]

Perfect amount of ridiculousness!! Looking great!

 

[Mr. Monkeyarms]

Thank you! I wanted this bike to represent what would have been done with what was available around '60-'63. (With exception of 2.5" tire found at a favorite LBS at a deal since they only had 1.) Was going to use tall, wide early bars but may have to go in more of a resto-mod flavor with the huge apes.
Where the rear tire ends up in the dropouts will indicate fitment of other accessories. Having said that, I have been known to go to drastic measures to fit fattest tires possible under fenders without issues.

 

[Mr. Monkeyarms]

First thing was to dry fit the longer crank from a ladies 26" Murray middleweight to check for ground clearance at the bottom of the pedal stroke.

Unfortunately, it isn't going to work as there was waaay too much clearance which led me to dig through boxes of parts to find an even longer men's crank that had to be cleaned up for duty. A minor delay that will pay off big! I love it when my expectations aren't met only to reveal something better!
(Men's on right)

I got the crank installed & only had to remove the master link & 1/2 of another from the longer chain from the parts bike to get the axle as far back in the short dropouts as possible. With the use of a half link this should give me room to squeeze the rear fender in after it's bobbed. (It also creates another opportunity that I won't mention until I am able to run the rear fender.)

While I was doing all of that, Señor Jefe dragged a bunch of bars from the pile to choose for this bike. I have been thinking of using early, tall, wide bars from around 1960 to try to keep in the period.

I really am surprised how much I like the HUGE apes on this though. The ends of the grips on those bars indicate where they would need to be chopped to fit through an exterior door.....

I ran out of time & threw on some mini apes to make wheeling it into the living room so I can stare at it much easier & looks pretty good with those as well.

I did take time at the end of the day to start cleaning the seat.

Gave it a good scrubbing & leather upholstery treatment but no pics yet. It looks great & will share on the next update!

 

[Mr. Monkeyarms]

Not much progress yesterday with little time for bike related fun. Wiped down the seat & need to wax the pan so I can bolt the seat to the bike. It turned out pretty good. Will fit nicely with the rest of the bike.

Ready to try out some bars & find a good fit.

I did a test fit of the rear fender with fully inflated (65psi) rear tire to get an idea of what it will take to wrap a middleweight fender over a 2.5" tire. I can make a little more room at the seat stay bridge pretty easy. I put the fender over the exposed tire while mounted to the bike which basically ended up being a metal skin on the fat tire. The challenge is to stretch the fender for the increased diameter. Doing that makes the fender more narrow......

I have a couple of solutions swirling around in the hollow space between my ears. In the mean time, I will work on the other details to get this pig finished & get back to fenders if time allows. Thanks for checking out my build!

 

[Mr. Monkeyarms]

Little by little I think this is finally starting to look like something! Had some time to mount the seat to FINALLY try out the ridiculous handlebar. If I can find a stem that fits the steer tube better than what I've been using I don't think I'm going to try any others from the pile. Very comfortable & like the way they fit this little piggy!

Then, being a bikaholic, was distracted be temptation I've resisted for a month but have FINALLY found a home for some valve caps that have been collecting dust & taking up valuable space on my pegboard for too many years...

New bike smell!!

Has been listed on CL for about a month. The guy had 2 shipped, assembled one & gave it to his son & kept this one. Hard to beat N.I.B. for $200 (Black Sabbath wrote a song about it!). Couldn't build something like this for that kind of money. Now I can learn to do wheelies! I was very successful racing mountain bikes but have never been able to wheelie. I've always been about getting to the finish line first on any bike. Tricks are for kids! Should be a fun bike!

 

[JA331]

Very cool. nice work.

 

[twojs.bike]

The challenge is to stretch the fender for the increased diameter. Doing that makes the fender more narrow......

I struggled with the issue for half of an afternoon. Finally threw in the towel.

 

[Mr. Monkeyarms]

Yep. Been down that road. It could probably be done. Especially with only half the fender being used. I really just wanted a clean bike that honored the kids that started the Muscle Bike craze using stuff from the '60-'63 period. So far the big apes, stem to handle the bar & rear tire are exceptions.

I also don't want to destroy an original fender only to find that it isn't going to happen. I have a perfect solution or 2 to run fenders but actually like this in it's purest form. Simple, clean yet somewhat striking.

 

[Mr. Monkeyarms]

Very cool. nice work.

Thanks! Nothing groundbreaking but pleased with the results so far.

 

[Palepainter]

Senor McPiggins would look good with a LED headlight coming out of his belly mounted to the trusses, . Taking it this weekend?

 

[Mr. Monkeyarms]

If I was able to retain the fenders it would have a great light. Maybe in the future. I want this(like most of my bikes) to be as clean & lean as possible. I'm a no frills kind of guy.

I typically ride my 1919 Arch Frame Mead for the January OBC ride since my berfday is the 19th. But have a new bike to ride this time! Yep!