Mountain bikes
- Thread starter Grant
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Help Support Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum:
Bikes I piece together and sell off.
Here's one for you guys, a 1982?3? Schwinn High Plains rebuild...
MattiThundrrr
Rattus All Terrainus
How my RockRat looked when new...
My current substitute
Someday, baby. I promise we'll roll again
My current substitute
Someday, baby. I promise we'll roll again
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Here is one I’m working on.
MattiThundrrr
Rattus All Terrainus
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I quess you know what I’m trying to do. There is still a lot of work that it needs. Water bottle mounts, air pump mounts, seat post clamp, cable guides, cantilever brake mounts and the bottom to the brace that fits between the seat tube and the lateral braces. It’s got frame and fork parts from nine other junk mild steel frames. Wah, I had to dig deep in my parts stash. I still need a Brooks B 72 saddle but that isn’t in the cards. They want as much for a B 72 as the whole project cost. I had most of the stuff floating in my junk.Man oh man oh man oh man...
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Yes, but only Breezer 1 had the fork with the truss rods. I was originally planning on modifying a road fork and making truss rods but then I located the one I’m using in my stash as it is similar to the ones that were on the series one from number two to 10. All I had to do is to make the fork tube longer. I’m kind of cloning a 1977 model, which I believe had a 2 x 6 drive line with tall gearing, something like 34 x 26, which was all they had and was considered low back then.
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MattiThundrrr
Rattus All Terrainus
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Gosh, that’s a lot for a pile of vintage parts and a somewhat crudly finished frame. It is a cool bike though, and Joe Breeze doesn’t mind imitation. He said something like it’s better to be imitated than forgotten. If I finish mine it should be worth $30. It’s a novelty, like a giant cigar from a tourist trap.
MattiThundrrr
Rattus All Terrainus
I'd assume it is the historical significance you are paying for. Literally the first bike made specifically for what we now call mountain biking. Also, he had the decency to do limited numbers, so it's more exclusive than the ones Tom made for Charlie and Gary's Mountain Bike company, or anything Specialized did.
I'd like one of each...
I'd like one of each...
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Yes, historical significance and small numbers is what makes them valuable. As far as I can determine Breeze only made 10 with the laterals. I also read that he abandoned the laterals because he couldn’t keep up with demand and not using the laterals saved him 11 braze joints. The laterals are time consuming to fit, a real pain, they have to be equidistant, level, the right length and notched and fitted to the drops. The seat tube cross brace also adds a lot of time to the build. He must have saved a lot of time by not using them.
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I’m using an old Huffy mountain bike fork with the stem extended with a Huffy Cranbrook stem. The fork has reinforcing gussets made from tubing from an exercise bike, a Schwinn seat stem and a steel rod pounded into the whole works after the guests were welded in place. Pins are driven through above and below the fork extension welds, through the gussets, and tacked in place. If the fork breaks the pins will prevent a catastrophic front end crash. It will only feel like an extremely loose head set. The fork was clamped into a piece of angle iron to keep it straight and tack welded. It was then assembled in the frame to make sure it didn’t bind when spun. It was then welded up. The laterals are from another Huffy but this one was a mixtie. This bike was chosen because it has no lugs, it was just brazed. I was at the Escanaba Walmart about two weeks ago and they had 3 Kent Ridgeline single speeds for $98 each. I figured this could be the frame as it has a three piece crank and rear facing track style drops. It had 700c wheels so it would need new cantilever mounts. An old Fuji donated the pump mounts, another Huffy donated the chain stay brace, a J. C. Penny bike donated the upper cross brace on the laterals, the same bike donated the head tube cut in half and flattened by vice squeezing around a mandrel for the lower cross brace and another two bikes donated the cable guides. I have a fence made out of old bicycle frames and they are frozen into the ground which made cutting parts out easy. The next step will be making a jig for the cantilever mounts. Both the frame and fork needed drop widening. It’s been colder for for three days so that has slowed things down in the unheated shop. It is 8 F but will probably be 20 later today. All I got done yesterday was fabricating, fitting and welding the bottom plate onto the cross brace between the laterals and the seat tube.Cool build! I am also thinking of building a Breezer replica. A friend sold me perfect donor for $5. Old made in USA Huffy mtn. bike. Maybe build off idea?
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That’s it, my main donor frame section. It had nice true rims I’m keeping for whatever idea I get. I might also use the bars. The original bars were German motorcycle bars with a stem shim. The Ridgeline bars are similar. It had a plastic chain guard and I ground off the mount. I also cut off the top tube cable guides from the bottom as they have to be on the top for cantilever brakes. The cantilever mounts were cut off the frame. I saved the fork for that idea I might get. It takes a real man to destroy a new and unused bicycle frame.
Quite the coLoR SchEme on the Kent Ridgeline single speed!
