Yeah, remember how how I said all that stuff about not entering the Build Off this time a little over a month ago? I've changed my mind. I need to build something custom and creative to offset the semi-strict, mild restoration of another current project I'm working on currently.
Here's what I'm thinking of throwing into the mix: my rusty, ant-infested, almost-destined-to-be-a-garden-bike of a Murray Meteor Flite I bought at a local swap meet in late April.
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I had thought about just slapping it together the way it looks to see if I liked the rust before I decided to strip it and paint/powder coat it, but that all changed when I found this seat for $2 at the Springfield, Missouri bicycle swap meet this past Sunday:
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I just had to see what it'd look like on the Murray, so I slapped it on...
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...and just like that, I was sold on the rust. I'm literally going to build this bike around this $2 seat! However, I'm going to try my darndest to build this bike just using what parts I already have, without spending any more money on it than I already have. The only exception would be for new tires and maybe truing the wheels, but I'm really going to push for keeping to the shoe-string budget I'm involuntarily stuck with. So that might mean using some tires that either don't have quite the look I really want, or worse, using tires that are cracked and nearly dry-rotted. Still, on a bike that looks like this, I think I could get away with it, provided I can ride it around the neighborhood at least.
I would've have entered the Build Off, however, if I couldn't even disassemble the bike first. Amazingly, after spraying this bike down with PB Blaster (and ant killer,) I was able to loosen up every nut and bolt I needed to! The only real issue I'm facing now is that I don't have a solid project/build thread name in mind for this bike. Still, I can worry about that later. I'm ready to start building!