"Mus Malum" Ratting out an Electra Rat Rod. Now with a triple tree and clip ons!!!

[Missing Link]

I've always been a fan of the early Electra R/S, Revel, Rat Rod style frames. There's something about the flipped lowered seat stays and the massive amount of space between the top and middle bar that make them look tough.
When the opportunity presented itself to trade my Worksman klunker to member @Jsparks for an early, steel, Rat Rod, I jumped.
When I got it it had a springer, that a previous owner had painted red accents on and some mid height ape hangers. I took the springer off to strip the paint, and put a generic roadbike fork on it for the time being. I also replaced the bars with some off a Schwinn Racer, and slapped a basket on as I was going to take it out to the lake.

With the summer build off over and done with it's time to tear this bike down and show the true potential of this frame. But first I'll put a few more miles on while I wait for parts and pick out paint.

Bye Bye fenders, original grips, Schwinn bars and big cushy sprung seat. Hello chopped riser bars, Oury grips, and Retrospec riveted road saddle.
I made these mods earlier this week and took it for a few 8 mile rides. Then on a morning ride earlier today, the shifter broke, I guess 14 years is a little much to ask of modern parts, so today is the day I take tear it all down and start the total make over.

My inspiration for the paint/patina, this 50 Buick, not mine, I had 54, 13 years ago, but it's long gone. I plan to layer black and red primer over the frame, shoot a liberal amount of Krylon jade green, which matches the turquoise used on mid 50s- early 60s GM cars. Then I'm going to wire brush most of it off, leaving pops of color here and there and chemically rust the crap out of it.
I'll likely make a matching tank plate and drill a ton of holes in the chainguard. Those of you familiar with my past builds know I love drilled out chainguards, fenders, tankplates etc. and I love rust. So keeping with what comes natural, this will be one such build. Stay tuned for progress.

 

[Jsparks]

Good to see your are getting something out of it. Looks great.

 

[horsefarmer]

Krylon jade green looks like such a cool color! Awesome bike to mod!

 

[Missing Link]

Couldn't find the jade green anywhere, looked all over town, I could get it online, if I wanted to buy a case. Since I don't forsee too many turquoise bikes in my future I went with Krylon sea glass satin.
I wire brushed the decals off the chainguard, shot a coat of black primer, followed by a peppering of red oxide, then finished it up with the sea glass.

I think this color will work just fine, mind you there won't be a lot of it, for the most part the frame and chainguard will be rusted. But it plays nicely with the red wheels and white walls.

Especially once I get fresh tires on it.

I also replaced the 44t Electra chainring for this 48t Columbia one, of course it comes off tomorrow when I strip the body for paint, but had to see how it looked, just for giggles.

 

[Missing Link]

In primer!!!

 

[Missing Link]

Paint.

 

[Missing Link]

Started stripping the frame back down today.

The plan was to not leave a lot of color, just pops here and there, sorry for the shakey cam pic, an hour of holding an angle grinder will leave your hands a bit unaccustomed to being still.

I slapped on a scrap fork and wheels, put it in a stand and applied 5 generous coats of vinegar to etch the frame, and then started with the hydrogen peroxide. This is after three peroxide applications. This process will go on for days, even weeks until I get the desired look.

 

[Missing Link]

One bottle of hydrogen peroxide down and the deeper rust is really starting to come out.

I cut a tank plate out of a piece of 16g steel earlier, and hated the way it looked, so that plan is scrapped as I think is the chainguard. I think I'm going to go a lot simpler on this build for now, rust it up, shoot some clear, slap on some new tires, etc. I'm trying to find a chainring like the one I used on my BO11 bike:

If I can find one it'll more than make up for the lack of a chainguard. If not I'll just find something else with 50+ teeth, to really grab the eye. Besides I'm running a 3 speed, I'm not going to kill myself going up hill even if I were to go w/a 64t.

 

[Missing Link]

Thanks to @Crassly my 52t Ross chairing is on it's way. And now 2 bottles of peroxide in this frame is starting to really take on some character.

Almost ready for clear coat.

 

[horsefarmer]

Looks like good rustification. I used a concoction of table salt vinegar and peroxide on my wife's sonic cruiser. 3 soaking passes with a spray bottle then let it set for 24 hours and washed it off. After drying did the boiled linseed oil. Came out awesome!

 

[Missing Link]

Looks like good rustification. I used a concoction of table salt vinegar and peroxide on my wife's sonic cruiser. 3 soaking passes with a spray bottle then let it set for 24 hours and washed it off. After drying did the boiled linseed oil. Came out awesome!

I've played around with a lot of different mixtures over the years for a lot of different finishes, on my BO9 bike "The Pepperbox Special";

I used just hydrogen peroxide on a frame that had been stripped down bare.
On the fender for "EyeLiner", this years build;

I first etched it w/liquid flux followed by hydrogen peroxide.
The light and mount I built for @Georgeediii that he used on "Riverside Hoodride";

that was a 9-1 hydrogen peroxide/vinegar mix w/ 4 tsp. of salt mixed in.
Playing around with patina is fun it's like chemistry class, but you get a bike in the end.
I will say this Electra has offered up a challenge I had not foreseen, modern steel. It rusts differently folks. If I were doing a pre or even early postwar frame, I'd be done by now.

 

[Missing Link]

Enough chemistry for now, I figure I'll let the patina continue to develope over the weekend and start shooting clear Monday.
I'm waiting on a chainring, a shifter, and my bars which are all in the mail, so I need to tackle the fork and light, wheels and tires while I wait for those to show up.
Today, wheels and tires... well, tires.
When I got this bike it had Sun Cruiser white walls on it, good tread, but unfortunately, they had split at the sidewall. I don't know if anyone else has had this problem with these tires in the past, but this is the second pair I've had do this. I had a pair in cream on my Hawthorne and after no more than 6 months both tires split, bad. I replaced them with some cream Kenda Kwicks and have not had single problem 18 months and 1000+ miles later. So anyways, I need new tires for the Electra. I thought about using some older faded Duro diamond tread white walls I have hanging in my shop, a little sidewall checking, a little fading. However when I went to pull them out, I found a forgotten, brand new pair of Kenda K-80s that I bought to use on my build off bike this year but couldn't with the fender. So I'll be using some knobby black walls.

Mounted them up and am quite pleased.

A little side by side mock up with the frame, even more pleased.
It'll look even better once the frame is wearing 4-6 coats of gloss clear and the chrome springer is on.

 

[Missing Link]

Started shooting the clear today, once that's done, let it cure for a few days while I wait for the parts to roll in.

The little bits of turquoise paint I left really pop against the rust now with the clear.
I also took some time to clean the spraypaint off the springer and polish the alloy drop stem I'm using.

I love these Panasonic/Schwinn stems with springer forks, they run perfectly parallel to the spring and look too cool, especially with drag bars, prime example, my early 40s Hawthorne.

I also cleaned up my crank and newly arrived chainring.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Nice chainring!

Luke.

 

[Missing Link]

I'm still waiting for parts to finish this but after being cooped up due to rain for the past few days, I had to do something. So here's a teaser of the finished product, the new bars and grips are in transit and the chain is soaking, and I need to scrounge up a longer cable for the shifter. It's getting close, here's an idea of what the finished product will look like.

Please forgive the poorly lit rainy day pics.

 

[alistair clark]

I enjoyed looking at this build! I like the color scheme!

 

[Missing Link]

A very wet postal carrier just brought me my new grips.

Since I'm using a NOS Shimano grip shift I got from @Dale Alan, which requires a 1" grip for the right side, just like a motorcycle, I went with some Emgo "Jackhammer" motorcycle grips.

Now I'm just waiting for my bars to get here.

 

[Dale Alan]

Very nice,that is one sweet build .Cool to see the shifter found a great home.Looking forward to seeing it completed.

 

[Missing Link]

Something about rain makes the parts come rolling in, my bars arre here. I cut 3" off either side and got them mounted up along with the grips and shifter.

If I can just find that longer cable that's hiding somewhere in the wreckage of my shop (still haven't picked up after my wife's and mine's BO11 builds), I'll be done.

 

[GuitarlCarl]

That looks good. I finally did my garage cleanup Thur/Fri getting ready for the next build...

Carl.

sent from my banana phone...