Monark 26XXX

[bikewhorder]

Hello, so this is getting off to a late start but I'm hoping that starting a thread will motivate me to throw a bike together before the end of the month. I bought this bike last year and as is typical for me I haven't hardly touched it since. Some of you may recognize it as a the (ironically named) Budget Bicycle Center Monark Speedster or steel 26x. These bikes are ridiculously rare and yeah, I paid a lot for it, but I wanted it, and in the 5 years I watched it sit on their site for sale I never found another. So I pulled the trigger and got it. I knew it was a little tweaked but I was a pretty disappointed to find that it was in fact a repaint and kind of cobbled together, but I'm just going to use that as an excuse to have some fun with it. I have some cool uncommon parts I want to build it up with and I may try to make some sheet metal add-ons for it if I have time. So here's a photo of the bike as I got it last year.

 

[deven_science]

Ooh! I'll be watching this build.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Nice!

 

[Jaypem]

Budget Bike Center...I'd hate to see their full priced bikes.
This should be a cool build!

 

[bikewhorder]

So here's the frame damage, it was worse than I'd expected. When assembled the fender would hit frame. It called for drastic measures...

 

[Jaypem]

Holy shirt!
That thing got smashed...well, you've brought it to the right place.
Funky welds and funky paint and funky just about everything are the meat and cheese of rat building...

 

[kingfish254]

Wow, even in that condition that is an amazing frame! Never even heard of that one. Bring that baby back to life!

 

[bikewhorder]

Budget Bike Center...I'd hate to see their full priced bikes.
This should be a cool build!

Right, this particular bike was very reasonable compared to their typical "What the #@%^!?!" pricing. I only know of one other surviving example of this frame and its a mess too. I figured after I bought this one they would start coming out of the woodwork but thankfully that hasn't happened.

 

[bikewhorder]

Looking much better meow.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Nice work so far repairing it!

 

[bikewhorder]

Made some progress today. I started by rebuilding the fork with an original fork front section I bought from Bob U that had nicer bolts and pivots and chrome springs and a bracket. Those parts that came with the bike were all blown out so that was a great $25 investment. Then I replaced the fenders with some deeper peaked Hawthorne fenders that I've had laying around for about 8 years. I did this because I like the little duck tail on the front fender and I have some mods in mind and I didn't want to alter the originals. Then I mounted the new chain guard. This took some mods to the mounting bracket to get it placed right where I want it and I still have some work to do on the front bracket. Then I installed this mystery rack I scored off ebay last year specifically for this bike and I love the way it looks. If anybody knows what this rack was O.E. for I'd be interested to know. I hope its not too valuable though because I wasn't a fan of the braces for it and I cut them off and I will make a bracket to mount it to the fender. I put it all together and took it for its first test ride. Here's some pics...

 

[scrumblero]

I had a rack like that on a prewar ladies Schwinn, not sure if it was OG or not..

 

[Jaypem]

Black and white is a great look.
Especially when it's a bit crusty like that...if that bikes a good rider, it looks like it'd be a blast to ride around.
Head turner already...

 

[LukeTheJoker]

The rack looks good mounted on the fender, no braces to disturb the lines...

 

[bikewhorder]

Another Sunday, another update. I seem to fallen ill this weekend and could only muster the strength to do some mock ups for the metal I want to add to the bike. Its going to take a miracle now to get all this done before the deadline but hopefully next weekend will be productive.

 

[bikewhorder]

I finally seem to have shaken off this cold and I'm not ready to give up on this build yet. Here's what I got done in a few hours recently.

 

[bikewhorder]

And the rack is coming together.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Nice metal work happening there!

 

[bikewhorder]

Nice metal work happening there!

Thanks I do nice work, just not much of it. This is looking pretty grim right now. Why does this event end on a Saturday night?!?! Anyway, Here's the welded up rack.

 

[fordmike65]