POISON APPLE: '79 Schwinn Fair Lady Trike

[Bike from the Dead]

BIG NEWS! BIG TIRES! BIG GRIN ON MY FACE!

I managed to make $50 today on an old Tonka Winnebago toy I got at a garage sale years ago for $2, and then this afternoon, I bought this 26" x 4" fat tire bike for $60, with wheels and tires that are arguably worth 5x what I paid for the whole bike!

I've already taken it for a test ride, and this beast rolls and stops well! I wouldn't mind leaving it like this and just goofing off on it, but this bike's donating its wheels and tires to Poison Apple. Funnily enough, both of the bikes that donated parts to this build are/were green, so now I practically have to make this trike green!

There's just one small snag I'm immediately worried about: when I disassembled the trike rear, I learned that my welder accidentally welded the basket frame to the axle, which is no bueno. I still have yet to hear from my neighbor on the fab work stuff, but that can wait until after this garage sale my family's starting tomorrow. With any luck, I'll be able to sell most if not all my unwanted bike stuff so I can fund this project!

 

[hamqqea]

It's a Mongoose Beast. Found a thread dedicated to customs.
Can't go wrong with green!

 

[Bike from the Dead]

It's a Mongoose Beast. Found a thread dedicated to customs.
Can't go wrong with green!
View attachment 143370

Sweet! I was sure it was a Mongoose, given that it's the only brand of fat tire bike I could find with a coaster brake, but I wasn't sure what kind of Mongoose. That one you shared looks pretty cool all dressed up like that!

 

[Bike from the Dead]

Hey, on these 3-piece cranks, is there supposed to be a nut that holds the crank arms in place so they don't fall off under your feet while racing your brother down the cul-de-sac, or are these things supposed to be "quick-release?"

 

[restodave]

Hey, on these 3-piece cranks, is there supposed to be a nut that holds the crank arms in place so they don't fall off under your feet while racing your brother down the cul-de-sac, or are these things supposed to be "quick-release?"

Yeah there's definitely supposed to be a nut, although the version you have there may be the speed limiting governor, the cranks fall off at 20 mph to ensure your safety.

 

[Bike from the Dead]

Yeah there's definitely supposed to be a nut, although the version you have there may be the speed limiting governor, the cranks fall off at 20 mph to ensure your safety.

Well, that's one poorly designed governor! When it kicked in, I lost my brakes!

 

[restodave]

Well, that's one poorly designed governor! When it kicked in, I lost my brakes!

Be grateful it was just your brakes.

 

[Bike from the Dead]

Finally had an opportunity to work on my art some more today. Among the things I sketched, were these ideas for Poison Apple. I started with the "icon" that would go with this trike. The first two designs were me just getting a vague idea down, with the third one being closer to what I want to do for the final rendition. I wanted the final design to look like the badges for the Dodge Hellcats, Demon, and Viper. I'll clean up the line art in Adobe Illustrator when I'm ready, but this isn't far from what I want to do. I just don't know if I want to put this on the chain guard or the tank...

At the bottom, are two new designs for the final version of my muscle trike. I decided to scale back on the custom body work, and just settle for some dovetail fenders and a tank. The rest will be just a steel frame with a seat positioned over the rear axle.

So, what do you guys think? I'm open to any and all critique!

 

[Captain Awesome]

Finally had an opportunity to work on my art some more today. Among the things I sketched, were these ideas for Poison Apple. I started with the "icon" that would go with this trike. The first two designs were me just getting a vague idea down, with the third one being closer to what I want to do for the final rendition. I wanted the final design to look like the badges for the Dodge Hellcats, Demon, and Viper. I'll clean up the line art in Adobe Illustrator when I'm ready, but this isn't far from what I want to do. I just don't know if I want to put this on the chain guard or the tank...

At the bottom, are two new designs for the final version of my muscle trike. I decided to scale back on the custom body work, and just settle for some dovetail fenders and a tank. The rest will be just a steel frame with a seat positioned over the rear axle.
View attachment 143739

So, what do you guys think? I'm open to any and all critique!

Sketch looks sick! Love the bucket seat in between the fenders

 

[Bike from the Dead]

Sketch looks sick! Love the bucket seat in between the fenders

Thanks Captain Awesome!

 

[Bike from the Dead]

Today feels like two big steps forward and one small step back.

I sent Dumpster Diamond and my trike rear axle over to Welder Joe to get some work done on them, not really expecting him to get everything done in the same day, just whenever. I needed the kickstand on Dumpster Diamond shortened so the bike wouldn't fall over, and the chain guard tweaked so the crank arm wouldn't rub against it. On the trike rear, I needed Joe to redo the part he welded last time, so the axle and basket frame could separate, fix the part that was causing the chain to pop off the sprocket, fill a couple holes that weren't supposed to be there, and disassemble the trike rear down to its individual components so I could sandblast and powder coat everything later. Well, Joe not only got all that done in a few hours, he even noticed the trike axle was bent and straightened it back out for me!

Excited by the rapid burst of progress, I went ahead and took the wheels and tires off my fat bike and mocked up everything on a milk crate... and that's when I began second-guessing myself.

See, the fat tires say they're 26" x 4", but in reality, these tires are closer to 30" tall! So as a result, the small 20" x... I'm guessing 1 3/4" wheel and tire, looks even smaller. That made the proportions just feel... off. I want this to look like a chopper-inspired trike, but the front/rear tire ratio made me think of a tractor. I decided to mockup the 24" x 2.125" wheel and tire that was originally on this trike rear end, but I'm not sure. I like the width better, but I'm not crazy about the height. It didn't help that it made the frame look smaller either.

I busted out some cardboard and scissors and made a quick mockup of the tank I have in mind, figuring that might help me figure out this issue. Sure enough, the tank seems to help flesh this trike out. I'm still a little wishy-washy on the front wheel and tire size, but I think if I get a 20" balloon wheel and tire, that might be the thing that this trike needs.

Unfortunately, in the process of mocking this trike up (and moving it into the garage for the night,) I found out how important that basket frame/brace is to the structural integrity of the trike rear end. Without that piece to hold the other side of the wheel axles, the trike axle dropouts can actually bend fairly easily. Also, since I didn't fully bolt the trike rear to the Schwinn frame, one of the dropouts on the bike frame bent when the trike rear end came halfway off. The good news is that the damage isn't too bad. Everything just needs to be heated up and bent back into shape. But right now, I think I'm going to wait at least a week before I do anymore with this bike. My family and I just had a garage sale this past weekend, and I just want to be sure I didn't catch anything in the process before going out any time soon.

In the meantime, I'm working on my digital mockup of Poison Apple so I can figure out what the paint scheme's going to look like.

 

[Captain Awesome]

I think if you get a nice fat 2.4x20 tire you might like that front some more. More "substance"

The nice thing with a springer is you can keep packing tire in there and all it might need is some washers or spacers to widen out the spacing

Extreme example below

 

[Bike from the Dead]

I think if you get a nice fat 2.4x20 tire you might like that front some more. More "substance"

The nice thing with a springer is you can keep packing tire in there and all it might need is some washers or spacers to widen out the spacing

Extreme example below

View attachment 143853

Good idea, but I don't know where I can find a 20" x 2.4" wheel and tire, at least locally. I can look and see if any of the local bike shops have that, but I'm most likely just going to stick with a 20" x 2.125" wheel and tire for the sake of cost-effectiveness and availability.

Also, DANG! Never seen a springer widened like that! That's pretty cool!

 

[Bike from the Dead]

Hey guys, which of these fonts do you think would look best for the name of my trike?

 

[hamqqea]

Should be a bold font. I don't like Zakenstein, Mars Attacks or Bloodgutter

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Fonts

I like green fuzz and misfits

 

[Captain Awesome]

Fonts
View attachment 143876

I like green fuzz and misfits

Misfits

 

[Bike from the Dead]

Should be a bold font. I don't like Zakenstein, Mars Attacks or Bloodgutter

Okay, is there anyone of them that you like?

Fonts
View attachment 143876

I like green fuzz and misfits

Okay, thanks. Also, I'm kind of surprised that I never watched Happy Days, given that my dad's favorite movie is American Graffiti.

Misfits

That's 2 for Misfits! Thanks!

 

[hamqqea]

Fonts
View attachment 143876

I like green fuzz and misfits

what he said

 

[Bike from the Dead]

what he said

Ok, thanks.