Ross "Diamond Cruiser"

[jackdaw]

Got this off my bro'-in'law. I was thinking orange with red lugs or yellow with orange lugs or something bright like that. I remembered I had another blue anodized wheel. The brakes are Dia-compe blue anodized but faded real bad, the levers are almost like three speed levers though, not like BMX levers at all.

Anyway, with all that blue and finding that other wheel I think I may stay with the gray, or maybe hammer finish. I've never done a bike in hammer finish before. I'm going to get a single speed hub and relace the rim onto it. The hub that's on there has a pretty tall flange so I hope I wont need to buy new spokes :roll: . I'm looking for a spider and 42-44 tooth ring, something not too beat but no-name is good.

I opened up the bottom bracket, and saw this :shock:

I don't know what it is, someones nest or food cache or something. It's like greasy coffee grounds, with bug parts? in it. Gross. No rust though.

I think I'll keep the stem... maybe. I saw an old Redline stem on Ebay for $65, I had no idea.

I think she'll clean up nice. I hope I can find parts that work at the right prices. I just spent all my birthday money on my wife buying me a welder! :lol:

What do you guys know about hammer finish paint on bikes?

 

[KickBackCycles]

I'm pretty sure there is a hammer finish powder coat but I don't know what it would cost.

Good luck on the build, it looks like it has a lot of potential!

 

[jackdaw]

So I've done a little. The rear wheel that came with the bike is blue ano with a blue ano hub. I had a blue ano front, it does not match perfectly and it has a silver hub but wudda ya want fer nuthin'? I got a single speed freewheel for it. So I think they cleaned up alright.

I stripped down the frame and cut the superfluous cable guides off, primed the bare spots and hit it with gray hammer finish paint. I can't paint a frame worth a hoot, I end up with powdery stuff on it, overspray drifting down I guess. Anyhow, the hammer finish paint hides things quite well. Looks good, I think.

I've got cranks coming and have a chainwheel picked out, the wife and I balanced the checkbook , no more play for a while, gotta keep on top of that more. I can probably afford bearings :lol: .

I think this bike is gonna end up pretty cool, it's a pain to have to spend the $$ on parts, my other "rat" builds have been strictly low dollar affairs, stuff I had on hand, maybe some bolts or a can of paint. You know.

 

[jackdaw]

This is as far as I can go without MORE MONEY! :roll: But I'm pretty happy with it so far. It's not like I don't have other bikes to work on. :lol:
I'm reusing the Dia-comp brakes and levers although they are quite faded, I think it'll all come together.

 

[old_skool]

It looks like what you have there is an early 80's Ross mountain bike/BMX cruiser hybrid that is similar to Schwinn's King Sting and others from the same era. You have some very nice old collectible parts on that bike. The SR MTS-100 slingshot alloy double clamp stem, the vintage alloy blue anodized rear wheel (is it Ukai? Araya?), Avocet saddle, the BMX style Dia Compe caliper brakes and rigid BMX fork are probably worth some real $$. Great bike and definitely worth the time and money to fix up!!

You probably shoudn't have stripped the OG paint job off of it, but... oh well

 

[Araya51]

Came a cross the build a it's coming along quite nice.. I like the fact that the parts are in great shape and your reusing them. I also like that you cleaned up the frame and it give it a smooth look to it.. Keep up the good work and hope to see the finished progress..