Monochrome Motocross

[CRASH]

I know better than to trust the parts the frame came with, but that’s what got me here. So, while I’m trying to figure out the best way to open up the inside of the tube… it was the wrong post. That’s why it was hard to get out. I just thought it was because the frame was old and needed work. But I dug though parts and found a post that was the right size and it fit right in. Ugh.

I have a seat I want to use, but it’s old and beat up, so will need some love. It also has a rear mounting bracket.

The entire seat has been cobbled together with repairs, and the pan has a bit of corrosion.

So ain’t with the restoration, I need to modify it to hold the struts better. Right now the bracket sits too far aft. I’m going to cut and re-attach them so the point 90 degrees down, rather then straight back.

… and I’m not sure about the height of the seat. I was thinking of keeping it pretty low. What do you think?

 

[Pondo]

The low seat gives it a nice stance. Also gets it out of the way for doing tricks at the skate park.

 

[Slow-Rider]

I know better than to trust the parts the frame came with, but that’s what got me here. So, while I’m trying to figure out the best way to open up the inside of the tube… it was the wrong post. That’s why it was hard to get out. I just thought it was because the frame was old and needed work. But I dug though parts and found a post that was the right size and it fit right in. Ugh.

View attachment 218646

I have a seat I want to use, but it’s old and beat up, so will need some love. It also has a rear mounting bracket.

View attachment 218647

The entire seat has been cobbled together with repairs, and the pan has a bit of corrosion.

View attachment 218648

So ain’t with the restoration, I need to modify it to hold the struts better. Right now the bracket sits too far aft. I’m going to cut and re-attach them so the point 90 degrees down, rather then straight back.

View attachment 218650


… and I’m not sure about the height of the seat. I was thinking of keeping it pretty low. What do you think?

View attachment 218649

same seat I have on my muscle bike build off bike. since yours is more MX than stingray. keep seat low.

 

[rgrrbt]

Low and slow - that is the tempo

 

[CRASH]

Tore the seat down. Sand blasted the pan and parts. Cut the bracket arms at 45 degrees.

They didn’t cut as straight as I wanted, so I’m going to take them home and work on the grinder to get them more even before welding them.

Went ahead and fixed the post mounting bracket. It was attached with a couple bolts and nuts and interfered with the post. So a put a couple screws in backwards and had them welded to a couple washers while catching the thin metal of the pan.

Cut and ground the top

And there we go. Nice and secure.

The extra holes added to the pan for who knows what reason, I’m just going to have to live with.

 

[CRASH]

As I’m working on this seat, fixing it up, the vinyl was a bit loose. I pulled a bit back to reveal more rust. So I decided to remove it so I could better address the rust. When I looked at the top of the pad….

Apparently this seat was recovered, and you can still see the flowers in the pad. Lol

 

[CRASH]

Fabricated the seat struts out of some scrap 3/4” pipe we had.

And blasted them

I’ll make sure of the fit in the morning, and clean them up with some grinding, then off to powder coating.

 

[LACABikeGuy.55]

Thanks @Wildcat. I found a picture of one in better condition. But like you showed me, they aren’t worth much. Now I wish I paid less! Lol. Regardless, I’ve got my parts donor, and I won’t mind scrapping the frame.

I really like the bike and especially the wheel reflectors. Let me know if you want to send them to CA.

 

[CRASH]

Got the stem and bars in. Mocked them up. I’m liking the stance!

 

[CRASH]

I really like the bike and especially the wheel reflectors. Let me know if you want to send them to CA.

Let me see if I’m going use them. If not, you’ve got dibs.

 

[CRASH]

The struts are done.

Those and the pan are going to get powder coated with Dead Reckoning. I’m going to push the guy to get it all done in a week since it’ll all be one color and I’ve prepped everything.

I’ll start prepping the frame/fork for paint, but it’s behind Super Fueler, which I’m going to try to knock out next week.

I feel the clock ticking!!!

 

[kram]

It's looking good!

 

[OddJob]

On my very first quick glance at this photo I thought, "Wow, Crash is really taking this monochrome seriously, he posted a black and white photo of his build."

Then I realized the cardboard boxes were their natural color. And then the fence. But it's not too far from this, where I just removed a little of the 'saturation'....

I think you've achieved your goal: Monochrome it is!

I agree on the stance, looking good.

 

[CRASH]

I should have thought about making every update black and white. That would be too clever for me!

 

[CRASH]

I was talking to Pondo about paint, and I mentioned that prep was the key. I just wanted to show this progress as I’m working on the fork. Out of the factory it was very uneven metal, so I’m trying to smooth it out. I did a lot of sanding of the bare metal itself, then 2 coats of etch primer, then 2 coats of build primer. This is the result of the first sanding after that. You can see how uneven it is. And while this is an off-road MX bike, I can’t just turn off years of muscle bike preparation. So, this is going to be a smooth and shiny MX bike.

 

[sdframe]

I think you have the patience of Mother Teresa. There will be nothing ratty about this beautiful build.

 

[CRASH]

Paint is done. It’s curing before it comes home and gets in line to be built. Here’s a preview:

 

[CRASH]

Major snag. You’ve seen the seat woes I’m going through trying to salvage this old thing. Well, the vinyl it was recovered with 100 years ago had a few small holes I was willing to deal with. But it’s so brittle that when I tried to recover it, it started to tear pretty bad.

I can’t just get another seat because the struts are specifically built for this seat. I guess my only choice is to cover it with new vinyl. So I’ll be taking a trip to a fabric store soon. Ugh

 

[CRASH]

The recover came out nice! I’m surprisingly satisfied with my work considering this was only my second time!

I’m going to give the seat a little MX flair, then set it aside while I build other projects. The frame is getting re-shot. Long story short, it took some damage in transport and I’m picky about how perfect the paint/clear is. It was my fault, so I have to pay to have it fixed, and the easiest fix was just to reshoot the paint. So that moves this project to #4 on the list. Currently working on #2.

 

[CRASH]

Here’s the underside all put back together after some powder coating of the pan and bracket. I still have some touch up work on the top which I’ll get to, but this seat is going to look killer on that frame! I’m really digging the white pan against the black seat!