I'm spending the summer holidays close to my family in Northern Germany. I needed something to get me around so I start asking if anyone knows of a bike that is for sale CHEAP. My brothers wife told me that there is still the old bike of her father and that i can have it for free if I want it -GREAT, so I looked in the shed and there it was in all it's glory:
oh wow, there is something seriously wrong with that bike, hmm but it makes a good base i guess. It's a 28" diamond frame from some German no-name brand. It's got a Sachs 3-speed which goes back on the bike. After looking at it for a while I had a vague idea to build something out of it roughly in the style of a 30's-40's track racer or a Pashley Guv'nor.
I started stripping the bike and stumbled upon unsightly things like these fender/rack eyelets:
or the dynamo bracket:
and also (yes, I only remembered to take a pic once I had it removed) that thing:
the tirepump thingis also went!
I made good progress in the last two days, smoothed out a lot of bumps where brackets where removed and started to weld in another nicer looking rear frame brace bent from a solid steel rod:
Later I used bondo to smooth out the pidgeon poo welds, a trick I learned from the TV show American Hot Rod (remind me never to buy a Coddington Hot Rod, not that it's my style anyway)
This is the brace already primered
and here are frame and fork sans brackets and eyelets in primer
Further plans are:
-beige Holland bike tires for the wheels
-different handlebars
-maybe different saddle (haven't decided yet on the colour of saddle and handle, have to see what I can get)
-spray the frame black (just because my Dad still has two large rattlecans of black flying around, otherwise I might have gone for a metallic dark red)
That's it for now, I'm moving fast on this build, mainly because I wanna get out and ride as soon as possible. So tomorrow hopefully I should have pics of the painted frame, we'll see!
oh wow, there is something seriously wrong with that bike, hmm but it makes a good base i guess. It's a 28" diamond frame from some German no-name brand. It's got a Sachs 3-speed which goes back on the bike. After looking at it for a while I had a vague idea to build something out of it roughly in the style of a 30's-40's track racer or a Pashley Guv'nor.
I started stripping the bike and stumbled upon unsightly things like these fender/rack eyelets:
or the dynamo bracket:
and also (yes, I only remembered to take a pic once I had it removed) that thing:
the tirepump thingis also went!
I made good progress in the last two days, smoothed out a lot of bumps where brackets where removed and started to weld in another nicer looking rear frame brace bent from a solid steel rod:
Later I used bondo to smooth out the pidgeon poo welds, a trick I learned from the TV show American Hot Rod (remind me never to buy a Coddington Hot Rod, not that it's my style anyway)
This is the brace already primered
and here are frame and fork sans brackets and eyelets in primer
Further plans are:
-beige Holland bike tires for the wheels
-different handlebars
-maybe different saddle (haven't decided yet on the colour of saddle and handle, have to see what I can get)
-spray the frame black (just because my Dad still has two large rattlecans of black flying around, otherwise I might have gone for a metallic dark red)
That's it for now, I'm moving fast on this build, mainly because I wanna get out and ride as soon as possible. So tomorrow hopefully I should have pics of the painted frame, we'll see!
! I love these bikes and I love this messageboard!
