The 12 Year Project- Bare Bones, Bare Metal & Barely In the Finished Thread!

Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum

Help Support Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I don't have any insight on the bike info, but it looks cool to me
Thanks KF, you were very supportive of my ill-fated one week build back in 2012, too, lol.

I have a general idea of what I want to do, but man o man I wish I could I identify this SOB! It's all about the dog leg in the seat stays. Something I never see!
 
So I finally got back out to the garage and dug out the forks I want to use. I had them on more than one bike and then stripped them and that was about it. I live a couple blocks from the ocean so the rust comes fast and furious. I ordered a die so I can add some threads and trim the top off to properly mate with my still unidentified frame.
image.jpg

I also have been hanging onto these rims for this build. I love these Electra drop center wheels. They have a real vintage look in my opinion and make an otherwise heavy bike much more rideable when you cut the rolling resistance down. I've used them many times before. But instead of dropping $150 or more for a new set with hubs I'm not even going to use, I buy old ladies Electras, replace the wheels, add a basket and grips and make them pretty and usually come out a few bucks ahead.
image.jpg
 
That rusted fork should mach the frame pretty well !
i usually do the same with wheels , buying used bikes for pennies just for the rims and small parts
 
image.jpeg
image.jpeg
image.jpeg
I've spent every spare moment on another site following threads to try and figure out what this frame is. I finally started a thread so we'll see what happens. The bottom line is the frames that match almost exactly are missing the pinched-in seat stays. And the frames with matching seat stays have very little else in common. I'm hoping that all this work will lead to this being an extremely rare frame, even though it won't really be worth anything since I have no original parts for it. The goal is to finish this build with some more interesting parts than I normally use. Then maybe track down an original component here and there once it's identified. Not too much to ask, right!?
 
image.jpg
Here's a couple more parts I'm using on this build. The post is from the Veterans Stadium swap meet here in Long Beach.

The clubman style bars are from Lossa Engineering. My buddy Jay owns the place and builds imsanely detailed cafe bikes and a bunch of other stuff. He's having some serious health issues at the moment so if these bars are your cup of tea check out www.lossaengineering.com and spend a few bucks.

I of course ordered the bare metal ones and let them rust. There is a theme developing here although all these parts may not stay that way.
image.jpg
 
Cool Bars indeed ! :113:
i am impaciently wating to see what this puppy stance looks like on wheels:nerd:
Haha, thanks man. Me too! I'm on the search for hubs and a few more things first, though. I have everything to put it together if I run out of time. But I really want to up the ante and find some cool parts since I have some time. If I I.D. the frame, I'll really be on the search for cool stuff!
 
Last edited:
just call it 'The Unknown Deluxe':bigsmile:

i know what its like to have a frame you cant ID , you just wonder what it is the whole time you onw it just cause your curiosity wants to know , its a weird feeling , and hard to explain when someone ask about the bike
 
So after scouring the Internet for info I came up with this photo from right here at RRB. It is identical to mine and the poster claims it to be a 34 Shelby. I have since found some other Shelbys that share the pinched in seat stays so I think I'm on the right track. But there is almost no serial number info on Shelbys. Does anyone have any light to shed on this? E634U8 is my serial number in case someone has a lead. Incidentally, CABE has been no help so far. It's a lot more fun over here, anyway!
image.jpeg
 
Those bars are great, I love clubman or the flatter M bars, but how did you get them in the stem?
Lol, I was wondering when someone would notice that!

That Schwinn stem was already bent so I just pried it open and clamped it back together. But I have better idea for this build.
 
Saw this in the for sale section on here.

index.php


Looks like you might be onto something with the Shelby connection.

http://ratrodbikes.com/forum/index.php?threads/1930s-cadillac-shelby-patina-bicycle.99021/
Man, I'm sold on the Shelby thing, but it could've had one of many different badges on it and still not sure of the year. Hoping a Shelby expert comes across this thread at some point and narrows it down. But hey, I love Cadillacs (the actual car ones) and have owned/built half a dozen, so I think I'm going to look for a badge!
 
image.jpeg
Has anyone ever had any luck getting rid of the printed logos and writing on tires like this or any for that matter? I typically don't use these types of tires because I feel it ruins the vintage look, but I really want brown for this build.
 
Man, I'm sold on the Shelby thing, but it could've had one of many different badges on it and still not sure of the year. Hoping a Shelby expert comes across this thread at some point and narrows it down. But hey, I love Cadillacs (the actual car ones) and have owned/built half a dozen, so I think I'm going to look for a badge!
I love Cadillac's too. Owned several cars and even a Shelby Cadillac bike. But sadly it I need to repair it again. I love your cool frame and concept so far.
 
View attachment 27746 Has anyone ever had any luck getting rid of the printed logos and writing on tires like this or any for that matter? I typically don't use these types of tires because I feel it ruins the vintage look, but I really want brown for this build.
I have used a spray made for plastic car trim and it worked pretty well and blended nice .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Back
Top