"Stella" Got her Groove Back.

[DeFresh]

Welp if my advitar looks familiar its prob from the Winter 20187 Build Off with "The Brave Little Toaster". Long story short I had so much fun building this Patina style vintage looking updated cruiser called "the Brave Little Toaster" and I had the opportunity to pick up another matching frame (but in perfect condition) that I decided to keep the "Vintage Updated Cruiser" feel and build a sister bike that was named "Stella" (my wife names all my builds)

So as the Brave Little Toaster has a "Patina" vintage feel, Stella I wanted vintage but in a way like a vintage car that has been garage kept with 5 miles on it for the past 30 years lol. Although the Toaster was my main focus, I had to post its sister because I couldent be happier with its final results. So heres some pics from this build and when the girls get their final photo shoot ill post those pics here also.

Thanks for checkin out my work!!

 

[DeFresh]

So this is the day I got it, Facebook Marketplace buy for 100$

 

[DeFresh]

1st thing, some body mods, welded tabs on for a custom insert, chopped the mounts for the rear fender and chain guard, reshapped the rear dropouts then stripped to bare metal for powder coating.

 

[DeFresh]

Wheels were a pain in the ass, I wanted silver vintagy wheels, wanted a 2 speed strumy hub, 57mm 26x2. And well I couldent find them unless I paid several hundreds to have them built, and im not about that life lol so I grabbed the closest thing from Junky rusty bikes in anodized gold and well....made them how I wanted.

Sprayed them down with oven cleaner to cause a chemical reaction to remove the anodizing......

After about 3 rounds, This is the mess I was left with.......

SO I sat there with a small wire wheel on a drill, then rubbed them down with a red scuff pad covered in polish, then a slight buff with a buffing wheel on a drill, and i was left with a semi-shinny silver wheel, almost like an old silver metal garbage can lid, Vintagy!! exactlly my vision, but my arms were soar for about 2 days lol.... Here they are with the new brown/cream rubbers I chose for this build.

 

[DeFresh]

Then I got down on the fork, this bike was mostly hours of polishing in the garage, The aluminum on a stock bike has a protective coating, but when sanded off It can be polished to billet aluminum looking mirror finish. I wanted this bike to look like a piece of jewelry.

Found these caps in Home Depot, I dont want ANY Black on this bike!!!

 

[DeFresh]

Headlight time!!! Vintage headlight off ebay and motorcycle brackets from walmart lol

 

[DeFresh]

The insert name plate I made from scratch out of an old spill plate for a dump truck, cut, shaped, polished, then Branded "Stella" with vynal

 

[DeFresh]

Ordered Velo brown seat & Velo brown grips, and Batwing bars from BikeBerry......

 

[DeFresh]

Frame came back from the powder coating.....Not perfect, kinda disapointed, this is why I usually paint my own things, and do EVERYTHING myself, but hey I can work with it. Main problem was he powder coated it upside down, soooo the bottom came out perfect and the top of the frame had imperfections, that I covered with some chrome moldings (you will see) to cover that actually added a nice look. Sometimes you have to think outside the box!!

 

[DeFresh]

Bottom Bracket conversion, Lasco 3 piece crank, MKS Sylvan pedals, and a chrome/brick chain (well 2 chains to make one!)

 

[DeFresh]

Heres the added moldings I found in Auto Zone to cover the powder imperfections.

 

[DeFresh]

AND There you have it!! "Stella" a new/vintage style sister build to "The Brave Little Toaster" some small mods and details left, but this is how she sits to date!!

 

[kirkpatrick]

I like it!

 

[Tim Maynard Jr.]

I like it!

I like it too. But not as much as your Captain Spaulding profile picture haha!!

Sent from my SM-J327T1 using Tapatalk

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Very nice!