Skinny tired Cruiser Code named Greenie:o)

[Powder Keg]

New guy here. I've been riding my old Mt bike to work and back the last 3 months or so to get into shape. I decided that I wanted a cooler looking bike to ride. I've had this old Murry hanging around for several years now.

A couple weeks ago the weather here was Awesome!!! I decided to start on my project. I began by taking the bike apart and stripping the paint. Got to love paint stripper!!!

That left me with a nice clean frame to work with.

The bearings were pretty sad. I bought some new Balls but I'm going to reuse the races.

Here they are all cleaned up. I polished them in my lathe)

I turned a new seat post and bent it into a layback style post.

I like how the bike is coming together. A friend is building me a set of skinny 1.5" wide wheels for her. The rear wheel will have a Sturmy Archer 2 speed kickback hub with a coaster brake. I'm also thinking about trying some Ape hangers like the old Stingrays had. I need to come up with a rack so I can carry my thermos. Oh, And I'm planing on painting it Sublime Green pearl.

This is where I'm at. As soon as the wheels are done I'm going to put it all together and ride it for a week or so to see how it all works.

Later,

~Wes~

 

[Powder Keg]

A neighbor gave me some bicycle stuff. In it was this old Rat trap springer. It needs cleaned up and some new pivot bolts, but it should work fine. Too bad the chrome is gone(

This will save me some time) I'll probably end up painting it when I paint the bike.

~Wes~

 

[wheelbender6]

My experience is similar. I had been doing my fitness rides on a nice drop handlebar road bike. Due to boredom, my fitness rides became less frequent. I began taking quick spins on my cruiser bike. The quick spins on my cruiser lengthened into fitness rides because they were fun.

 

[Dr. Tankenstein]

Lovin' that color! It's a shame you don't live closer, I've got a rat trap with decent chrome that I'm looking to sand down and paint!

Can't wait to see where you take it!

Cheers,
Dr. T

 

[kingfish254]

Looking forward to seeing this one. Nice so far.

 

[Powder Keg]

Thanks for the compliments!

I pulled the springer apart and am going to have a buddy bead blast it for me. I should have a couple days to find some shoulder bolts. 2 are missing and regular bolts were installed. The other 2 are in sad shape.

I talked with my buddy and my wheel parts should be here on Wednesday\o/ I still need to decide what I'm going to do for a rack. After that I want to put everything back together and ride it for a week or so before I paint everything.

It won't be long now)

~Wes~

 

[Xcruiser]

Nice look to it so far! What brand of stripper did you use?

 

[Powder Keg]

Hey Xcruiser, That stripper is called Tal-strip made by Mar-hyde. I got it at O'reillys.

Today I had the springer bead blasted. It cleaned up great!!! I ordered new bearings also. The cone on the stem was all beat up. The bolts in this thing are non existent. You can't buy them. I'll be making some spiffy new stainless ones.

My new wheels and tires showed up also\o/ Here is the new front one next to the old one. Nice and skinny)

All the parts for the back one are here also. Were going to lace it up on Friday I'll get pictures.

~Wes~

 

[Powder Keg]

I am trying to come up with a nice looking, functional, smallish rack to fit on my bicycle. I think I'm going to have to compromise with a nice looking one. To be functional and be able to carry stuff it can't really be that smallish. I'm going to try and paint her up this weekend. That way I'll be closer to finishing something.

~Wes~

 

[JaxRhapsody]

Thats it, im building a beach cruiser.

 

[Powder Keg]

The rack is ready to braze onto the frame. I brazed rivets on the bottom for Bungee lugs.

I was going to paint today but the humidity is too high. Don't want to chance it.

~Wes~

 

[Powder Keg]

One of the chainstay tubes that the dropout is spot welded into was cracked a little. I decided to braze them all up while I had the torch out) Better safe than sorry. Now I just need to file them down a little and clean everything up for paint.

Weather is supposed to be better later this week\o/

~Wes~

 

[Powder Keg]

The stainless for my new springer bolts showed up\o/

The old bolts were just barley long enough.

I wanted to go with stainless Ny-locks. They are a tad longer than the old nuts that were on the springer. The nylon part wouldn't have touched the bolt.

It's nice to be able to make your own parts. I'm making the shank a few thousandths of an inch bigger to take up the wear in the bushings.

Here I am single point threading the end.

I cut them off and faced the end up so they look nice) I made the heads a 1/16" longer than the originals so that my wrench would stay on better.

More later\o/

~Wes~

 

[Powder Keg]

I put it back together to see what it looked like all cleaned up. I'm liking it)

I think I'll have to make a couple spike nuts?

Maybe I'll be able to start squirting some paint on this weekend)

~Wes~

 

[Powder Keg]

Its coming together\o/ I got the white sprayed on today. Here's a sneak peak.

The green will go on as soon as I figure out my mask)

~Wes~

 

[Powder Keg]

Today I started masking off my design. I had an idea to make a cardboard template that I could trace my design onto the masking tape. I stuck the masking tape to some waxed paper, traced my template, then cut out the design. My way of thinking was that this would be perfect. Not so! The wax paper didn't have enough wax on it or the tape was too sticky? The tape would tear the paper if you could find an edge to separate the two. Grrrr.

I ended up using a scrap of plastic that I had lying around. I marked my design out and cut it out with a razor knife.

This actually worked very good. After a couple I started to get a little fancier with my design.

After it was all masked I sprayed my Sublime Green Pearl on. I took a lunch break and let the paint set up a bit. After lunch I unmasked everything. Here is a sneak peak at the fork.

I'll be able to wet sand it and squirt on the clear coat tomorrow after work)

~Wes~

 

[Doon]

Looking good! i love the color.

 

[Powder Keg]

Thanks Doon!!!

Here's another peak)

This was pretty fun to paint. It's went pretty good so far. It takes a lot of work to make sure everything comes out nice. Especially the masking of the designs I put on. I'm using a $10 gun from harbor freight and pre-mixed paint. I can't wait to get the clear on)

~Wes~

 

[billywilly]

That looks awesome so far. I'm excited to see a picture of the frame and fork together. How did you have this set up to paint it? I'm thinking about painting my bike but I want to figure out a rack that will hold it up and allow me to paint all sides very easily.

 

[Powder Keg]

Its hanging from 2 strings. 1 through the seat tube and another through the steering tube. The string is tied around a block of wood to keep it from pulling through. You just have to be sure to get underneath. I think I only missed one spot and it's on the forks. It will be covered by the bolt that goes through the spring. A rookie mistake)

Glad you like it)

~Wes~