There is no place to begin like the beginning...so here goes.
I've been building props for about 17 years now, and after teaching my son to ride a bike this summer I decided it was time to combine my love of prop building and bikes into the ultimate piece. Pee Wee Herman's X-1. The bike was built off a late 40's/early 50's Schwinn DX frame. Before I started this journey I couldn't tell you anything about them....now I know tons. It's scary really.
Recently my wife told me she felt like we didn't talk enough, or more precisely I didn't talk to her enough. I didn't share what I was thinking. My response was that she really didn't want to know my every thought and she insisted that she did so I told her I wanted to build the bike. After talking about it a lot....A LOT...she agreed I should take this project on. I was able to pick up a frame through another prop builder and sold a prop that my wife kept asking me what I was going to do with after 10 years in storage to have some money to start collecting parts.
So as of today I have the following:
frame
crank
sprocket
gooseneck
springer
seat post
seat clamp
and misc. parts that make it the Pee Wee bike.
I am still needing:
correct fenders -front with a duckbill, rear without
wheels
tires
Delta Super Ray light
tank
messinger seat
handlebars
and some other Pee Wee specific parts
And here I am with one of the real bikes....
Last week while visiting LA I had the opportunity to not only see one of the screen used bikes....but two. I was able to take a ton of pictures to help me along with my process. I feel like I have a pretty good idea about how to build this.
I am going to change a few things however.
The original bike was simply painted with spray paint and the parts have pretty much aged. I want to do as pristine of a bike as possible. I plan on powder coating the frame and rechroming everything that needs rechromed. It may be excessive but it's how I see the bike in my head.
I've been building props for about 17 years now, and after teaching my son to ride a bike this summer I decided it was time to combine my love of prop building and bikes into the ultimate piece. Pee Wee Herman's X-1. The bike was built off a late 40's/early 50's Schwinn DX frame. Before I started this journey I couldn't tell you anything about them....now I know tons. It's scary really.
Recently my wife told me she felt like we didn't talk enough, or more precisely I didn't talk to her enough. I didn't share what I was thinking. My response was that she really didn't want to know my every thought and she insisted that she did so I told her I wanted to build the bike. After talking about it a lot....A LOT...she agreed I should take this project on. I was able to pick up a frame through another prop builder and sold a prop that my wife kept asking me what I was going to do with after 10 years in storage to have some money to start collecting parts.
So as of today I have the following:
frame
crank
sprocket
gooseneck
springer
seat post
seat clamp
and misc. parts that make it the Pee Wee bike.
I am still needing:
correct fenders -front with a duckbill, rear without
wheels
tires
Delta Super Ray light
tank
messinger seat
handlebars
and some other Pee Wee specific parts
And here I am with one of the real bikes....
Last week while visiting LA I had the opportunity to not only see one of the screen used bikes....but two. I was able to take a ton of pictures to help me along with my process. I feel like I have a pretty good idea about how to build this.
I am going to change a few things however.
The original bike was simply painted with spray paint and the parts have pretty much aged. I want to do as pristine of a bike as possible. I plan on powder coating the frame and rechroming everything that needs rechromed. It may be excessive but it's how I see the bike in my head.
