Pinkie Pie (little) girls cruiser

[arty dave]

Sooooo, I had to take a long break from building after a year of family tragedies…



I got this 20" wheel czechoslovakian kids bike about a year ago from a local recycling centre. It looked dirty and rusty but recoverable… actually it cleaned up pretty easily!
This is for my girlfriends daughter, it needs to be mainly pink lol
My girlfriend says she has some black handlebar streamers for it
The seat is too far gone, thinking 'bout a white banana…the handlebars will also have to go on the shelf for a few years until she's bigger. So I'll need to agree with myself on bars (I have some that could look right after a bit of chopping) and will order some new white grips. I have some alright pedals to replace the originals that have seen better days.
The original tyres, tubes and rim strip are cactus



Brass brush and al foil gets rid of the rust…
I;m reeeeaaally happy with the way the anodising spray worked on the polished steel rims…



Gunna look awesome with whitewalls!



See in the background, I 'hammered' the sacrificial painting forks into the backyard. First time I've used the drinking straw method to mask spokes…works a treat!!! Clearcoat over the red.



Also the 1st time I've renovated a coaster hub, not too hard - pull apart, clean, re-grease, and oh sheet, does this bit go back in this way or the other way around???

Primed and ready for sanding and shooting pink tomorrow...



I'm going to do a test of the red anodising spray over the pink, also with some purple I have for another project.

The chrome bits (mudguards, chaingaurd etc,) have cleaned up very nicely with al foil and brass brush, will post some more pics tomorrow. Ordered the whitewalls and new tubes on Monday so they may turn up tomorrow hopefully.

 

[kingfish254]

Welcome back to building and RRB.
Fun project!

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Welcome back, and loving the way this build is going! Those red wheels came out amazing!

Luke.

 

[Gdcast]

I want to see more, those wheels are really nice!

 

[noodlenoggin]

Is the name "Pinkie Pie" alluding to the character on "My Little Pony?" That *would* be an awesome theme for a little girl's bike...it'd make MY girls squeal, anyway.

Before you all ask...I have three girls. "My Little Pony" has been on my tv. A lot.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Those wheels look great!

 

[arty dave]

Hey thanks everyone! The wheels turned out waaay better than I imagined The first coupla coats were very pale - the can said 2 light coats followed by a 'wetting' coat. I bought this spray to do some 26" alloy rims, so it was good to practice and get great results!

The sad news is the postie has been and there are no whitewalls
But really thats a good thing as I wouldn't have been able to stop myself putting them on the rims and I probably would have screwed up the paint!

So today I've sanded the primer and shot the first coat of pink, it's been a good while now so I'll have another crack at it after I write this post.



The shiny chrome and old pedal new pedal. I'm always stoked when the chrome is good under all the crud and surface rust



I'm thinking of using the flatter bars and cutting about 85mm (3 & 1/2 inches) off each side - that will make them the same width as the originals. What do you guys think?



lol … Aussie post courier just arrived with the whitewalls - can I resist?

My little Pony - lol yes, the little one loves them and knows the story lines and characters very well. Weirdly enough, my 17 yo daughter makes my little pony plushies to sell mainly to 17 - 45 yo men . Go figure…friendship IS magic!

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Loving it! Not sure if I would be game to cut up a set of BullMoose bars though!

You say Aussie post? Where in this big brown land are you?

Luke.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Original bars fit the Character of the bike better to me.

 

[arty dave]

Woohoo! Lookin' goood! They totally look anodised but with the old school rim profile



Yeah I'm not sure either… but her arms are too short for the original bars! I got a good price on a 2nd hand 16" bike and a 'tagalong' bike yesterday - I figure she can ride them while her arms grow longer and the 'pinkie pie' cruiser can keep its cool bars.

Was hoping to score a banana seat from the recycling centre but they're rare 2nd hand in Oz and snapped up quickly. So will have to cough up the bucks for a new seat, sissy bar and grips - that should finish the build.

Luke I'm in Canberra, hey for some reason I thought you were in Perth, where in Vic are you?

So I did a test of the purple and red anodising sprays over the pink I've painted the frame. I've decided to do some purple highlight rings on the seat tube before I do the clear coats. But I have a question - how long should I let the pink paint harden before I can put tape on it, and is normal masking tape OK or should I get the blue stuff? I'm tempted to paint white the bit on the head tube where a badge would go. Only head badge I have spare is an 'S' (speedwell) but it might look cool there anyway.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Luke I'm in Canberra, hey for some reason I thought you were in Perth, where in Vic are you?

Hey Dave, we are near Shepparton!

Those wheels look really good! If I were you I would give that paint lots of time to harden before masking over it, doing it too early destroys a lot of nice paint jobs. I would try and hold back for a week minimum if you can.

Luke.

 

[mikeeebikey]

Cool bike!
Wish my daughter would ride a cute pink bike again, teenage girls don't want pink anything!