Revenant

[BartRidesEternal]

It seems you do maintenance on that bike for about a 100 years in months. I do enjoy your project reports and you seem to know your stuff.
So thanks for the good reads so far.

Simultaneously I am reading a book called "The Wheels of Chance" from H.G. Wells, absolutely enjoy it and it kind of rhymes with your build

 

[us56456712]

It seems you do maintenance on that bike for about a 100 years in months. I do enjoy your project reports and you seem to know your stuff.
So thanks for the good reads so far.

Simultaneously I am reading a book called "The Wheels of Chance" from H.G. Wells, absolutely enjoy it and it kind of rhymes with your build

I’m a hack, nowhere near a craftsman. I figure out crude ways to fix things. About 25% of the time it makes it worse.

 

[SwissGuy]

I’m a hack, nowhere near a craftsman. I figure out crude ways to fix things. About 25% of the time it makes it worse.

Sounds like my credo a lot of times:
If force doesn't help, use brute force!
(And yes, it sometimes makes things worse as well

 

[us56456712]

Archimedes principal, put the jet sled on an incline and use displacement to raise the level. The vinegar has been used many times, I store it in gallon jugs outside hidden under bushes. It freezes in winter. It’s loosing its potency but I can use it twice more. You can see the dark iron staining from previous projects. I use concentrated 45% vinegar and dilute it 9 to 1 to be 5%. Cheapest way I could find.

 

[kram]

Really enjoying watching the battle you’ve gone through on this build. These turn of the century bikes are crazy!

 

[us56456712]

I hate to blame the weather, but this is ridiculous, even for the UP. Low of 40F, 25 mph winds, 35 along the Lake Michigan and Superior shore.

The leaves aren’t all the way out yet. There is a lot of light green, yellow and red as a lot of the leaves haven’t made chlorophyll yet. Some species leaves are only half open. It looks and feels like the end of August. Perhaps it will turn out to be another “Summer that wasn't”. Higher temps would allow my rust removal soak to work faster. Even with my paint booth up these high winds and cold will make it difficult. I’m going for a worn looking paint so perhaps it won’t be too bad. It’s too cold and windy to do any bike work today.

 

[SkyknightJohn]

I’m a hack, nowhere near a craftsman. I figure out crude ways to fix things. About 25% of the time it makes it worse.

Torques Law: (from my submariner father)
Tighten it as much as you can without stripping it.
(From my submariner step-dad [oh! Navy wives]) : If it ain’t broke, use a bigger hammer!

Keep up the [good] work!

 

[us56456712]

Archimedes principal, put the jet sled on an incline and use displacement to raise the level. The vinegar has been used many times, I store it in gallon jugs outside hidden under bushes. It freezes in winter. It’s loosing its potency but I can use it twice more. You can see the dark iron staining from previous projects. I use concentrated 45% vinegar and dilute it 9 to 1 to be 5%. Cheapest way I could find.View attachment 197184

Cleaning vinegar is also cheap, but it’s 4%.

 

[us56456712]

This is nuts. The vinegar soak makes it easy to remove the paint with a small brass brush. Under the paint on the chain and seat stays I found that they used the same method to braze them together as they did the fork. So far I have found no brazed long joints on the larger tubes.

 

[us56456712]

The frame is paint free. All tubing is made with a brazed together zig zag seam. This is the down tube.

 

[us56456712]

The dented chain stay is still a little bent. The hydraulic jig didn’t get it all. I’m trying to take the last bit of bend out with expanding pliers.

There is a crack in the chain stay that I made trying to get it straight. I’ll weld that shut once it’s straighter.

 

[kingfish254]

That cleaned up nice.
Great to see you bring this old boy back to life.

 

[us56456712]

Straight

Straight

Not straight

More brute force needed to get them parallel.

 

[us56456712]

This is as good as I feel like fixing the dent. I’ll fill the divots with JB Weld. Good enough, perfect. Some people are craftsmen, I’m not. If I try and fix it better with filler welds I stand a good chance of making things worse.

 

[OddJob]

I like seeing the sunshine and you outside working! That's at least a positive step in the right direction.
Frame is looking good. You've tackled a huge project here, and making significant progress with this relic.

RaT oN~!

 

[curtisfox]

Next time try a Chevy exhaust manifold spreader, instead of the pliers ............Curt

 

[us56456712]

This is as good as I feel like fixing the dent. I’ll fill the divots with JB Weld. Good enough, perfect. Some people are craftsmen, I’m not. If I try and fix it better with filler welds I stand a good chance of making things worse.View attachment 197786

I started filling the dent with JB Weld.

 

[us56456712]

Next time try a Chevy exhaust manifold spreader, instead of the pliers ............Curt

This bicycle has very thin walled larger diameter seamed tubing. The seam is brazed. It’s the way they made an all steel bicycle that weighed 22 or 23 pounds. It dents easily. There are sheets of drilled out steel brazed inside to reinforce the tubing at the ends, 1890s double butted. The manifold splitter might be overkill because I slightly flattened the tubing using a jig that spread the force over about 8 inches. It’s a great idea though, if I ever have to dimple stays for larger tires I’m getting one. Thanks for making me aware of this tool.

 

[us56456712]

I like seeing the sunshine and you outside working! That's at least a positive step in the right direction.
Frame is looking good. You've tackled a huge project here, and making significant progress with this relic.

RaT oN~!

We’ve had three summer days so far 80 to 90F. Most of the time and for the next 10 days it’s going to be in the 60s, 40s - 50s at night. I still haven’t gotten my short sleeved shirts out of the storage unit. Small craft advisory today out of the north. Flannel shirt needed.

 

[us56456712]

The dent is out.