Salt Flats Sears

[gashuffy63]

Newbie here taking a first stab at one of these build offs ( good excuse to build a bike I've been mulling over ) and excuse me if I mess up the photos as my computer and I don't see eye to eye.
The bike I'm building is a mix of two of my favorite styles, 60's cruiser and lightweight road bike. I love riding my old iron but they are a bit slow when riding across town, but I miss the classic styling of a cantilever frame. So here it is, I found this Austrian built Sears this last weekend and was suprised by how light it is.
So anyway here's the start. Parts so far include a new bb...Nervar crankset...bullhorn bars...Wolber 700c wheelset. It has a long way to go, but should be the fastest cruiser in these parts when it's done.

 

[JoeyMac]

wow, it's kinda cool that thing had a 3-piece crank to begin with. You don't see that a lot on the cantilevered frames. I think it was destined to get "roaded" out.

 

[bombshelterbikes]

Welcome! I'm diggin' where this is headed with those crazy bars!

 

[gashuffy63]

Update on the Sears. Paint stripping day today and I discovered that the tubes are aluminum save for the bb and the steering tube. The frame weighs in at a touch under 6 lbs. so with the right parts this one should weigh about 16 lbs. when finished. It should be a road bike killer when completed. Score one for the cruiser guys. Cheers.

 

[BLASTER]

Looks like a great collection of goodies you have there.
Man...I need a stand.

 

[gashuffy63]

The Sears mocked up to see what components that it will be wearing. Cheers.

 

[user 135]

I am digging the clean fast look. You should surprise a few roadies.

 

[MadMick]

How about running the chain on the inner ring which will give you a more practical gear ratio and then filing all the teeth off the big ring. I've done it before on a fixed wheel hack, it looks trick.

 

[Gold Street Customs]

Your Sears is farther along than mine, but next month I will hopefully get some time.But I like where your going with it.

 

[sensor]

looks good!
like the bobbed 10 speed bars :mrgreen:

 

[gashuffy63]

How about running the chain on the inner ring which will give you a more practical gear ratio and then filing all the teeth off the big ring. I've done it before on a fixed wheel hack, it looks trick.

I run the biggest rings that I can find on most of my single speeds. Torture from a standing start, but once everything gets rolling the scenery just flies by. My son's boss at the local bike shop swears that I'm gonna blow my knees out and she is probably right, but at my advanced age it would be a bit of a badge of honor. Cheers. :wink:

 

[copycat]

looks like that's gonna shift like '..... off a shovel' (as they says in london)

makes me tingle inside...

 

[gashuffy63]

Is it mid August already? Looked at the calendar and decided to get a bit done more on the cruiser/road bike morphe. Added new saddle,tires and bmx laid back stem. Also switched the wheel set over to Rigada with a fixed gear rear hub ( now I get to skid a bunch! ) wrapped in new 700c tires. I hope to get it finished up in the next few days. As of now it weighs in at 17 lbs. and will be under 20 lbs when it's done. Cheers.

 

[Boardtrack fan]

Very cool combination of parts and styles. If they were racing bikes on the salt flats in the 50s and 60s they would have probably look something like this. 8)

 

[KOTA]

Agreed! Fantastic mix of styles! NICE!

 

[slacker]

Lookin' good. You can get a 700C coaster wheelset from NYC Bikes for reasonable money. If you decide you hate fixed gear.

I am looking into a similar conversion for my girlfriend's pink Hawthorne. One of the 10,000 projects currently I have going. I'll be watching this build closely.