Mods to Casey's Kustom UPDATE 9/5 Now with suicide bell!

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two spot

two spot

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After finishing Casey's bike I am now in the stage of "tweaking" things. Here is the bike after I finished it:
IMG_3695.jpg


I think the drag bars look cool but man, I sure found this thing uncomfortable to ride. I don't know how you board track guys ride so stooped forward. :shock: :?: :mrgreen:

I decided to try out a set of Electra mini apes that I picked up at my LBS:
IMG_3783.jpg

IMG_3784.jpg


It did improve the riding posture a bit. I felt that is was too much of a departure from the look I was after though so I settled for an in between solution. I will have to post pics of that later.

For now I do have one more mod to show off. This is my hand fabricated headlight bracket/front fender:
IMG_3785.jpg


I liked the collar clamp method that I used for the tank so I decided to use the same technique to mount the headlight.
IMG_3786.jpg


This bracket is STOUT!!!! It is so rigid you could probably use it as a step. :wink: ok well maybe not, but the thing is darn strong. Two pieces of 1/8" aluminum plate, separated by washers, sandwich the headlight tab. The aluminum was sanded smooth with progressively finer grits, and finally, a Scotchbrite pad. I then clear coated it for protection. Hardware is stainless.
IMG_3787.jpg


There is a scribe line in the aluminum to define the "fender" portion. The headlight bracket portion was drilled with descending sized holes for style.
IMG_3788.jpg


I have some additional mods to show those pics should be up soon.

Regards,
Two Spot
 
Re: Mods to Casey's Kustom

Really like the color combo - black rims, creme tires and ruddy brown primer. Looks kickin together. Not sure about the mini apes either. You may try a different goose neck/handle bar combo to get the look/ride height you are looking for.
The headlight bracket is waaaaaay cool! I think it makes the whoe thing come together. Did you hand fab it? How long did it take if you did?

Joe
 
Re: Mods to Casey's Kustom

Yeah that headlight bracket is beautiful.. Wanna job?
 
Re: Mods to Casey's Kustom

I agree on the bracket. nice fab work. Where did you get the those collar clamps?
 
Re: Mods to Casey's Kustom

Great bike and headlight mount. I like the colors you used, they came together nice.

I agree on the boardtrack comment, a few of them look good but cant imagine would be comfortable to ride. But I guess its what everyone likes round here...

Take a look at this stem on ebay, it might solve your problem and allow you to use the Apes.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=001
 
Re: Mods to Casey's Kustom

Thanks for all the compliments. It's nice to hear. I did fab the headlight bracket. I really like making stuff out of aluminum. I always make a full size template out of masonite or cardboard first. I get the fit just right and then start cutting metal. A piece like the headlight bracket takes about 8 hours from concept to clear coat. Larry I took a look at your web site. You make some really amazing stuff. I am in love with this desk:

shop%20007.jpg


The collar clamps come from http://www.mcmaster.com. Just enter "shaft collars" in the search box and they will pop up. I use the two piece aluminum variety. You have to modify them for this application. I cut a slice out of them to accommodate the thickness of the aluminum plate. For the tank I had to cut 1/8" out of them and for the headlight bracket I had to cut 1/4" because it is made of two layers of aluminum. If you have a milling machine you could mill the extra clearance out but I just use a hack saw and file. I also bought the aluminum plate from McMaster. They are not the cheapest but man- they have EVERYTHING.

Leo that stem is pretty cool. I did find a set of bars that I like a lot. I just need to get the digital camera out an pop a picture. I also have come to accept that the Velo Hairpin saddle that I am using is uncomfortable :? . So I scraped a couple pennies together and bought a new saddle. I won't say what kind of saddle I am getting but it starts with a "B", ends with an "S" and rhymes with "crooks" :D It will be here next week :mrgreen:

Regards,

Two Spot
 
Re: Mods to Casey's Kustom

hope you dont mind I photoshoped some stuff onto your bike...what do you think?
IMG_3695n.jpg
 
Mods to Casey's Kustom UPDATE 9/5/08

Hmmm Veeeeery Eeeeeenteresting. Friggin Photo Shop-- that's awesome! I'm a ruddy brown sort of guy though so I must say that I prefer it with less of the cream graphics.

Ok! I have a few new bits to show off. I mounted a suicide bell on the seat post tube.
IMG_3790.jpg


I fabricated the bells ringer-handle-lever-dealybob in the same way that I made the headlight bracket. I bought a pack of real dice so I could make one into a knob for the lever. It just so happens that the brand of dice I used is Bicycle.
IMG_3795.jpg


I also made a "heat shield" for the seat tube.
IMG_3793.jpg


The shield is made from a piece of aluminum tube; drilled, cut in half, sanded, clear coated.
IMG_3794.jpg


Finally, new bars. These are black Electra Townie bars. For me this is the perfect solution. They have the perfect amount of rise and I think they look good to. I am open to opinions but these bars give a really comfortable riding position so changing my mind on them would be a hard sell.
IMG_3789_001.jpg


IMG_3792.jpg


Regards,

Two Spot
 
Re: Mods to Casey's Kustom

very well done you did not tell me that you make parts like that though although now that i think of it with your other hobbies you would have to make parts. very well done
 
I've been thinking about using that same seat on a project, can you tell me anything good or bad about it? Comfy, noisy, anything? It looks great on the bike! Nice job.
 
Thanks again for the compliments.

Andrew, if you are interested I will give you that seat at a great price. I would send it to you for $20 + actual shipping costs and I will throw in the grips which are real leather. The seat alone cost 35 bucks new. In the interest of full disclosure though I will say that I find the seat a bit uncomfortable. The black piping I think is the culprit. It is a bit stiffer than the rest of the vinyl and it causes some comfort "issues". I could see that this seat might work better for a different person but I decided to bite the bullet and get a new saddle for it. PM me if you want it. Apart from that it is a high quality saddle. It's pretty quiet for a spring saddle and the materials are nice. It's made by Velo. They also make the Saddles for Electra and those are great.

Karfer, I do fabricate a lot of parts for my steam engines, but also for work. I am a professional exhibit fabricator for a museum in San Mateo. Actually making bike parts is fairly simple compared to stuff for steam engines. Like I said though I am pretty comfortable working with aluminum. Here is a picture of a working 1:12 scale railroad crane that I built entirely from metal-- mostly aluminum:
IMG_3206.jpg


Regards,

Two Spot
 
If headhunter doesn't take you up on that seat/handgrip combo, I'll take it! Bike looks great by the way. the suicide bell is awesome.
 

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