I scored a Saxonette for 100 €.
This is a stock saxonette:
pretty ugly, right?
This is how I bought mine:
Besides the obvious amateurish rat mods, it is also in a pretty bad shape, but it runs.
It was used at a post-apocalypse-themed event, and I intend to continue using it there, but first I need to fix it and make it look cool.
It looks worse in person. The paint job is horrible, and the previous owner actually bought aluminum parts in the hardware store for the mods. So everything he did had to come off. I might recycle the skull into a mad max style ornament, and the top bar (actually a u-profile) could become a rear rack. The tank and the front brake lever are busted, so they need to be replaced. I already ordered a Hercules tank.
This is how the bike sits now:
I set myself a budget of 200 € because this is a very stupid project to begin with, will rarely be used and will probably break soon, so I'm doing it just for fun and learning about motors. With the tank and the train ride to get the bike home I have 61 € left. I might spend more on cosmetics later, but for now I'd like to stay within budget.
I'd like to weld up something crazy, but I have no equipment and little experience. I might weld in one or two top bars in a rent in workshop though (or I'll just screw em in - this definitely need gender reassignment).
So right now I'm just brainstorming. I'd like it to look useful in a mad max scenario, so it should hold cargo (saddle bags and a tank net come to mind) and have knobbies (already have one slim enough for the frame, although I'd rather use fat ones). I think a seat mounted behind the tube (board tracker style) will look great. With the short wheelbase and high head tube it will probably look like a weird mix between board tracker and survival bike/street fighter. I like that. The handlebar should go lower, and I'd also like a cool fork (could get a schwinn style springer for ~30 €.)
I think it would be easier to just buy another bike and slap the motor on, but then I'll definitely go over budget (no cheap old cruisers to be had here) and it will take some time to find a cheap one with the parts I like close to me.
I realize that with such a tight budget, for the most part I'll just have to find free donor bikes and salvage and then work with what I have, but still, I'd like to see your ideas and mock ups to give me ideas. Any input is appreciated.
Update:
Quickly threw together something in Photoshop and even though it's not finished or pretty I can't wait to show you guys. Mock up time!
I have no idea yet how I'm gonna put that seat there. I kinda hope to be able to screw on the supports. If you have seen cool and easy ideas link them please!
I'm also toying with the idea of converting the old fork into kind of a low sissy bar with suspension.
Update 2
Didn't buy the boardtracker bike. I ordered a Lepper Primus seat for 9 €, a springer fork for 25 € (will use it on my dd, so the ratty one from my dd will go on this one)
got a brake lever for 1 € on a flea market and scored two pipes at work for free.
Budget left: 25 €.
To do:
- Repair the seat
(The front rivets are loose and the leather shrunk, so I'll have to stretch it to line up the holes. Then I'll have to oil and wax it so it wont break. This thing is rock hard. But hey, 9 €)
- mount the seat properly. Still no idea how, but that wobbly spring seat post needs to go. Worst case, I'll buy a layback, but I'd rather have it directly on the frame because that seat tube is so tall
- bend the top tube
- sand down the paint
- cut and weld in the tubes (found someone with tig welding equipment)
- clean, mount and connect the tank
If there is money left after that, I'll get a short apehanger and mount the skull between it. If not, I'll probably do so anyway. Might find a Mifa folding bike handlebar for cheap - that would work aswell and they're pretty common here, plus they come with a stem.
Update 3 - March 13, 2017 - It's alive!
I moved into a new apartment and set up a workshop in my living room. That occupied me quite a bit, but I was finally able to start on the build. I have not done anything else for the past month really, besides working and staying alive. My dad got me a junk cruiser for christmas that I found on ebay at 60 Euros. The bike even came with a springer fork. It is made by Velor, a now dead German brand infamous for its low quality. It was perfect for my project since it had only one top tube that goes nicely with my tank, the chainstays are parallel to the ground so as not to conflict with the motor, and it has a kickstand to connect the torque rod that extends from the exhaust.
(I don't have a pic of the original bike, sadly, so have this mockup instead.)
I found a high school friend who lives nearby and built a powdercoating workshop in his late mom's barn. I gave him the tank for paint stripping and he let me sandblast my fenders. He also let me cut a connector for the torque rod out of some old farming equipment: The kickstand is about an inch farther away from the rear axle, which you can see in the previous pic, so I had to make a new connector.
I used my car's battery to remove most of the remaining rust from the tank via electrolysis with drain cleaner.
Meanwhile I used paint stripper to remove the paint from the frame, as it was too big for the paint stripping tub at my friend's. It turned out to be a desaster since the hardware store paint stripper sucks and I had to spend 6 hours scraping paint, and the next day I took an angle grinder and rough sandpaper to it. Now it looks nice and shiny and I'm going to leave it like that until it rusts on its own. Love the Fury Road look.
(this is after stripping the top tube)
I then assembled everything, kludged the tank to the bike with some foam and a strip from a kid's metal construction toy and finally, today, installed the only new parts in this whole build, a gas valve and hose. I managed to start it, and the first thing it did after springing to live was doing a burnout on the kitchen floor. This 13 mph rocket has character, I like it. I then took it for a spin around my back yard and it was the most glorious feeling in the world. All this hard work, countless evenings, all paying off in the end.
(This is the bike I rode today, before mounting the gas tube and the fender
All in all, I still spent less that 200 Euros to get the whole thing on the road, not counting gas, the bike my dad bought, the small donation I made torwards my friend's workshop and the springer I ended up not using. Is that cheating? Don't care, I'm still pretty proud.
So what is next?
Tomorrow I will visit the workshop from some dude I met to have my seatpost welded to the end of the seatstays.
This bike has 590 mm rims, which means the tires are the widest there are for this size. Not acceptable. But I am in luck, there is a rear rim in standard mountain bike size. I'm not sure if they are compatible, but I guess they should be. That will set me back about 80 Euros, but I want those knobbies and since my original rim has a broken spoke, that is one less thing to worry about as well.
I also want to mount an old fog lamp I found, but I'll have to kludge something to hold it and build a 12 V battery tray.
I am still waiting for a 10 Euro bike that I bought unseen for its bmx style handlebars, and a brake lever and cable I bought since the rear hub brake was actuated by a lever on the crank that won't fit the new frame (I tried).
I didn't expect this, but this thing absolutely reeks of gas now, so I can't use my living room to work on this anymore. The bike will have to stay outside and I'll use my workplace's workshop for wrenching (I live in the same building)
Update 4 - March 14 2017
Went to the garage and the guy welded my seatpost for free, just told me to bring beer next time. I messed up because I cut the seat post too short, so we had to reuse the clamp of the seat tube to extend it a little. Maybe I'll have him do it properly later with another seat post, but this is fine for now. Can't have my seat as low as I hoped anyway or it will hit the fender when bouncing. We used a washer to cover the hole of the old tube.
I shortened and mounted the rear fender and installed the front wheel from the donor bike because the saxonette's drum brake doesn't work properly. It's now mismatched till I get my rear rim, but at least it stops now. I also changed the stem for the donor's tall one because the old one kept coming loose.
Once I get my new rim the only parts left from the original saxonette are the motor, the kickstand, two cables and the throttle. I didn't expect that, but literally all the other parts were either junk, incompatible or plain ugly.
This is a stock saxonette:
pretty ugly, right?
This is how I bought mine:
Besides the obvious amateurish rat mods, it is also in a pretty bad shape, but it runs.
It was used at a post-apocalypse-themed event, and I intend to continue using it there, but first I need to fix it and make it look cool.
It looks worse in person. The paint job is horrible, and the previous owner actually bought aluminum parts in the hardware store for the mods. So everything he did had to come off. I might recycle the skull into a mad max style ornament, and the top bar (actually a u-profile) could become a rear rack. The tank and the front brake lever are busted, so they need to be replaced. I already ordered a Hercules tank.
This is how the bike sits now:
I set myself a budget of 200 € because this is a very stupid project to begin with, will rarely be used and will probably break soon, so I'm doing it just for fun and learning about motors. With the tank and the train ride to get the bike home I have 61 € left. I might spend more on cosmetics later, but for now I'd like to stay within budget.
I'd like to weld up something crazy, but I have no equipment and little experience. I might weld in one or two top bars in a rent in workshop though (or I'll just screw em in - this definitely need gender reassignment).
So right now I'm just brainstorming. I'd like it to look useful in a mad max scenario, so it should hold cargo (saddle bags and a tank net come to mind) and have knobbies (already have one slim enough for the frame, although I'd rather use fat ones). I think a seat mounted behind the tube (board tracker style) will look great. With the short wheelbase and high head tube it will probably look like a weird mix between board tracker and survival bike/street fighter. I like that. The handlebar should go lower, and I'd also like a cool fork (could get a schwinn style springer for ~30 €.)
I think it would be easier to just buy another bike and slap the motor on, but then I'll definitely go over budget (no cheap old cruisers to be had here) and it will take some time to find a cheap one with the parts I like close to me.
I realize that with such a tight budget, for the most part I'll just have to find free donor bikes and salvage and then work with what I have, but still, I'd like to see your ideas and mock ups to give me ideas. Any input is appreciated.
Update:
Quickly threw together something in Photoshop and even though it's not finished or pretty I can't wait to show you guys. Mock up time!
I have no idea yet how I'm gonna put that seat there. I kinda hope to be able to screw on the supports. If you have seen cool and easy ideas link them please!
I'm also toying with the idea of converting the old fork into kind of a low sissy bar with suspension.
Update 2
Didn't buy the boardtracker bike. I ordered a Lepper Primus seat for 9 €, a springer fork for 25 € (will use it on my dd, so the ratty one from my dd will go on this one)
got a brake lever for 1 € on a flea market and scored two pipes at work for free.
Budget left: 25 €.
To do:
- Repair the seat
(The front rivets are loose and the leather shrunk, so I'll have to stretch it to line up the holes. Then I'll have to oil and wax it so it wont break. This thing is rock hard. But hey, 9 €)
- mount the seat properly. Still no idea how, but that wobbly spring seat post needs to go. Worst case, I'll buy a layback, but I'd rather have it directly on the frame because that seat tube is so tall
- bend the top tube
- sand down the paint
- cut and weld in the tubes (found someone with tig welding equipment)
- clean, mount and connect the tank
If there is money left after that, I'll get a short apehanger and mount the skull between it. If not, I'll probably do so anyway. Might find a Mifa folding bike handlebar for cheap - that would work aswell and they're pretty common here, plus they come with a stem.
Update 3 - March 13, 2017 - It's alive!
I moved into a new apartment and set up a workshop in my living room. That occupied me quite a bit, but I was finally able to start on the build. I have not done anything else for the past month really, besides working and staying alive. My dad got me a junk cruiser for christmas that I found on ebay at 60 Euros. The bike even came with a springer fork. It is made by Velor, a now dead German brand infamous for its low quality. It was perfect for my project since it had only one top tube that goes nicely with my tank, the chainstays are parallel to the ground so as not to conflict with the motor, and it has a kickstand to connect the torque rod that extends from the exhaust.
(I don't have a pic of the original bike, sadly, so have this mockup instead.)
I found a high school friend who lives nearby and built a powdercoating workshop in his late mom's barn. I gave him the tank for paint stripping and he let me sandblast my fenders. He also let me cut a connector for the torque rod out of some old farming equipment: The kickstand is about an inch farther away from the rear axle, which you can see in the previous pic, so I had to make a new connector.
I used my car's battery to remove most of the remaining rust from the tank via electrolysis with drain cleaner.
Meanwhile I used paint stripper to remove the paint from the frame, as it was too big for the paint stripping tub at my friend's. It turned out to be a desaster since the hardware store paint stripper sucks and I had to spend 6 hours scraping paint, and the next day I took an angle grinder and rough sandpaper to it. Now it looks nice and shiny and I'm going to leave it like that until it rusts on its own. Love the Fury Road look.
(this is after stripping the top tube)
(This is the bike I rode today, before mounting the gas tube and the fender
All in all, I still spent less that 200 Euros to get the whole thing on the road, not counting gas, the bike my dad bought, the small donation I made torwards my friend's workshop and the springer I ended up not using. Is that cheating? Don't care, I'm still pretty proud.
So what is next?
Tomorrow I will visit the workshop from some dude I met to have my seatpost welded to the end of the seatstays.
This bike has 590 mm rims, which means the tires are the widest there are for this size. Not acceptable. But I am in luck, there is a rear rim in standard mountain bike size. I'm not sure if they are compatible, but I guess they should be. That will set me back about 80 Euros, but I want those knobbies and since my original rim has a broken spoke, that is one less thing to worry about as well.
I also want to mount an old fog lamp I found, but I'll have to kludge something to hold it and build a 12 V battery tray.
I am still waiting for a 10 Euro bike that I bought unseen for its bmx style handlebars, and a brake lever and cable I bought since the rear hub brake was actuated by a lever on the crank that won't fit the new frame (I tried).
I didn't expect this, but this thing absolutely reeks of gas now, so I can't use my living room to work on this anymore. The bike will have to stay outside and I'll use my workplace's workshop for wrenching (I live in the same building)
Update 4 - March 14 2017
Went to the garage and the guy welded my seatpost for free, just told me to bring beer next time. I messed up because I cut the seat post too short, so we had to reuse the clamp of the seat tube to extend it a little. Maybe I'll have him do it properly later with another seat post, but this is fine for now. Can't have my seat as low as I hoped anyway or it will hit the fender when bouncing. We used a washer to cover the hole of the old tube.
I shortened and mounted the rear fender and installed the front wheel from the donor bike because the saxonette's drum brake doesn't work properly. It's now mismatched till I get my rear rim, but at least it stops now. I also changed the stem for the donor's tall one because the old one kept coming loose.
Once I get my new rim the only parts left from the original saxonette are the motor, the kickstand, two cables and the throttle. I didn't expect that, but literally all the other parts were either junk, incompatible or plain ugly.
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