Muscle Bound DONE

[OddJob]

This was one day before he stopped shaving. Forever.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

This was one day before he stopped shaving. Forever.

Here's a portrait created by my daughter one day before I started back shaving.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

I finally got back on the Evans since the finish line is coming up soon.


Getting the fender ready to paint.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Got the body work finished and a coat of primer.

I didn't feel like going through the hassle of trying to color match and patina match the old red repaint on the rest of the bike, so I went in a different (and easier) direction.

The over arching plan with this build is and has been to recreate an early example of a 1950s custom that a kid might have done at the time. The rest of the bike already has an old crudely done paint job so the fender needs to follow suit.

I can't put a number on the amount of bikes that I have possessed that someone in the past had painted over rusty chrome with silver paint so that seemed to be the best solution with the fender at this point.

As luck would have it, I found a mostly empty can of silver spray paint that came out of the can more splatter than spray (notice the overspray on the work surface). It dried quickly and ended up leaving a rough finish that actually mimics spraying over pitted metal. Perfect! That is exactly what you would expect from a kid and a can of paint in the back yard!

After it dries good, I'll experiment a little with the final finish but I feel like it might be good enough as is. I'll know more after it is back on the bike.

 

[Slow-Rider]

Got the body work finished and a coat of primer.

View attachment 221219


I didn't feel like going through the hassle of trying to color match and patina match the old red repaint on the rest of the bike, so I went in a different (and easier) direction.

The over arching plan with this build is and has been to recreate an early example of a 1950s custom that a kid might have done at the time. The rest of the bike already has an old crudely done paint job so the fender needs to follow suit.

I can't put a number on the amount of bikes that I have possessed that someone in the past had painted over rusty chrome with silver paint so that seemed to be the best solution with the fender at this point.

As luck would have it, I found a mostly empty can of silver spray paint that came out of the can more splatter than spray (notice the overspray on the work surface). It dried quickly and ended up leaving a rough finish that actually mimics spraying over pitted metal. Perfect! That is exactly what you would expect from a kid and a can of paint in the back yard!

View attachment 221226

After it dries good, I'll experiment a little with the final finish but I feel like it might be good enough as is. I'll know more after it is back on the bike.

now sand off some paint. fill the spot back in with fake rust. or other warn paint color.

 

[RustySprockets]

Isn't that what Bob Ross called a happy little accident?

 

[The Renaissance Man]

now sand off some paint. fill the spot back in with face rust. or other warn paint color.

I found a bike in my pile that the handlebars and stem had been painted silver so I'll just use it as a guide.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Isn't that what Bob Ross called a happy little accident?

Why yes, yes it is.

 

[Slow-Rider]

ya here's what I meant. one I did fake patina on.

 

[Palepainter]

Jim is a master at fake patina.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Looks good @Slow-Rider

Thanks Mike, I think that I got it dialed in. The fresh silver paint was too, um, fresh so I dulled it down with a scotch pad and got busy copying the look from the handlebar on the junk bike with some acrylic paint.

I'm pretty happy with it.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

I started putting everything together and noticed that the rear wheel was right at the front of the dropout when I put the chain back on. That caused the wheel to be off center with the fender which made it look bad. Then I remembered that I had changed the wheelset and didn't notice that the rear cog had jumped from 16t to 19t.
(Sorry for the crappy picture.)

So I took it back apart and added a link to the chain to correct the problem. The fender still doesn't follow the radius of the tire exactly right but it's better. On any other build I would not be satisfied until I got that right, but for this bike I feel like it stays well within the limits that have set for it. I have to keep reminding myself that it needs to look like it has been modified by a kid in the 50s or 60s and not for a build competition in the 2020s.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

I grabbed the pedals from the starting parts box and took it for a test ride for the first time yesterday evening and it rides good. The shoulder level apes are surprisingly comfortable!

After seeing the white pedals on the bike I decided to dig through some parts bins to see if I had a suitable white saddle to keep the white theme going. Not only did I find an off white saddle but it also had a serendipitously silver painted frame and crash rail that matches the fender. BONUS!

The frame is more rusted but the crash rail is a very close match.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Found this stem today and tried it just for fun. This was actually a thing back in the late 50s and early 60s!

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Finished.

 

[Ulu]

I’m having a serious wave of nostalgia here. In 1958 I was a little kid in Cayucos. Dad was working up on the mountain, watching a radar screen for the Air Force.

I never lived in So. California in the old Barris days, but I went there to the custom car shops and jeep shops with my Dad.

He had a ‘53 stovebolt Chevy & traded it there on a ‘56 Belair with a four-speed & dual exhaust. Black & white with red seat trim. The first trip back up Highway one was quite a thrill for a four-year-old kid. To this day I dream about the white concrete arch bridges on Highway one.

That Belair would’ve looked right at home in your photograph, RM.