BO15 Skidwell GTS
- Thread starter HuffnPuff
- Start date
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You could call it SkidMarks, but people might think you are talking about underwear
Lucked out today. Measured up the 3spd hub from the blue ladies bike, measured two alloy rims from another donor with rusty hubs and spokes to determine what spokes to buy, then figured I’d raid the parts stash and found a shiny front hub and two sets of stainless spokes the correct length. Might need to get some nipples though, seem to be short of them.
MattiThundrrr
Rattus All Terrainus
Yep this will be a cool build! This shaped frame is a sought after late 60's early 70's Aussie icon. I hadn't thought about it before now but it looks like Speedwell were maybe using up chainstay tubes from 60's roadster stock? The last of the roadsters with bolted on chain stays were made in Australia in the mid 60's as far as I know, so that might make sense. There's also a guy here in Canberra (Australia) making a very similar shaped frame - see 'Goodspeed bicycle company' on Facebook. Prolly worth lot$ of $ too 
Frame still has plenty of patina, but now under a couple of coats of boiled linseed oil. Looks a lot better now. Still pretty scrappy, but only light surface rust and the original paint is a bit shiny.
I’ve almost laced up the wheels, but short about 5 spokes and 10 nipples for the front. Unusual workshop, but managed to get each one laced while sitting in the car waiting for my eldest to finish football training.
Stripped down the blue ladies bike and found an odd bottom bracket. The bucket under this shot collected all the feisty water that drained out of the ladies bike when I loosened the BB cup.
http://ratrodbikes.com/forum/index.php?threads/treaded-bb-cup-removal.111410/Unfortunately, can’t use the BB on this build as it’s some sort of hybrid pressfit/threaded thing and requires a different sized shell. Shame, it is in really good condition.
Installed a headset. So quick and easy with my DIY headset press. Also found a BB and cleaned it up and installed.
Part of the fun is building home made tools to achieve all the necessary steps in rat rod bike building. I like your HS press!
RaT oN~!
RaT oN~!
MattiThundrrr
Rattus All Terrainus
What are the black doohickeys on your press? Do they center the press so the cups stay straight?
I've always just used my Park Tools BCW-2 (Bearing Cup Whacker)
I’ll have to admit it’s not my design. They are irrigation fittings filed down to size. I think this is the video I used to build it. Same guy, but he has a couple of videos on presses for different tasks.
It does hold the cups really well and for a few bucks much better than a hammer.
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The bars to be installed had been painted, not the right colour either.
Took the paint stripper quite a while to get it soft, so they must have done a half decent job!
I’m fairly confident these are of the correct era. The stem appears identical to the rusty ones I removed in the original tear down. The bars have a similar rise, but are more swept back.
Took the paint stripper quite a while to get it soft, so they must have done a half decent job!
I’m fairly confident these are of the correct era. The stem appears identical to the rusty ones I removed in the original tear down. The bars have a similar rise, but are more swept back.
Bars fit the build well Hfn'Pf . RaT oN~!
Oh no. Dropped to page 3!
Got sick of trying to clamp old frame bits to the work bench to true wheels so cut up some plywood and stuck it together.
Decided I’d throw some bits on for a mock-up before tensioning the wheel up. Then hit a snag:
26” rim doesn’t line up with the brakes. Admittedly they were fitted underneath before then tear down, but it looked wrong. The rim seemed way too small.
Figures maybe it had he wrong sized wheel in so tried a 700c and 27” but they really don’t fit. And certainly don’t fit the fork.
Back to 26”. I don’t really get the brake bridge, it seems to be at the wrong angle to fit brakes easily.
Got sick of trying to clamp old frame bits to the work bench to true wheels so cut up some plywood and stuck it together.
Decided I’d throw some bits on for a mock-up before tensioning the wheel up. Then hit a snag:
26” rim doesn’t line up with the brakes. Admittedly they were fitted underneath before then tear down, but it looked wrong. The rim seemed way too small.
Figures maybe it had he wrong sized wheel in so tried a 700c and 27” but they really don’t fit. And certainly don’t fit the fork.
Back to 26”. I don’t really get the brake bridge, it seems to be at the wrong angle to fit brakes easily.
H n' P, I just went back to your original photo of the bike when you got it. Look closely at the rear brake mounting; it's under the seat stays, not on top. And your 'parts donor' caliper has way shorter arms (from what I can see) and a different shape, than the originals. Do you still have the original brake calipers? If not, you can probably find some 'long reach' calipers that are made for old mountain bikes ( '80s vintage, or cheap '90s bikes) that might fit.
If your old original wheels are around, you could check the size as well. They could have been some English wheels, in a 26 x 1 3/8 size, which is larger than the metric 26er wheel diameter.
If your old original wheels are around, you could check the size as well. They could have been some English wheels, in a 26 x 1 3/8 size, which is larger than the metric 26er wheel diameter.
Thanks OJ. Yeah, after I put the wheel in I looked back and saw the brake under the bridge. all the other similar frames I’ve seen on the internet have the brake on top, which made me wonder about the wheel size.
I tossed the old wheels a while ago, they were beyond help but I’m pretty sure i sized them up against modern 26” before I decided to lace the new wheels.
Unfortunately I forgot about different brake reach and tossed the rusty brakes off it too. Spent time polishing these a bit too, might be wasted now. Might have some other brakes in the parts box, but haven’t kept a lot of caliber brakes because I avoid them where possible, preferring modern, more effective brakes.
These things are sent to try us. Just another problem to solve!
I tossed the old wheels a while ago, they were beyond help but I’m pretty sure i sized them up against modern 26” before I decided to lace the new wheels.
Unfortunately I forgot about different brake reach and tossed the rusty brakes off it too. Spent time polishing these a bit too, might be wasted now. Might have some other brakes in the parts box, but haven’t kept a lot of caliber brakes because I avoid them where possible, preferring modern, more effective brakes.
These things are sent to try us. Just another problem to solve!
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If you look at the original pic you can see the front looks like 26 3/8 but the rear looks like a regular 26. That might be how that brake got flipped.
Love these bikes! Best bet might be to try to stuff the 700c wheels on it? Short reach calipers should give you good performance. Something called Skidwell should have good brakes right?
Nice job on that truing stand.
I am pretty sure this is a front brake - that is why the bolt is so long, to go through the fork crown. A rear brake has a short bolt to bolt to the brake bridge and has more reach:
Not sure, this might be cursed. After lacing the rear wheel twice due to errors, it’s tensioned up. The front took two incorrect lacing and one correct to work out the spokes were not the correct length. Too long. Found an alternate front wheel with an alloy hub. It’ll have to do for now. I’m not buying more spokes for a rat (budget & found bits) build.
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The Renaissance Man
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Cool frame.
I actually think the bolt on chain stays are an interesting feature. It would work well for a belt drive conversion!
I actually think the bolt on chain stays are an interesting feature. It would work well for a belt drive conversion!
