The Mean Machine - FINISHED!

[OddJob]

I'm liking option 2, but with the gooseneck (quill stem) from number 1.

^^ YES!

I really like that Color Shot paint color you have! And @GuitarlCarl 's favorite trick which I have now adopted always, is to 'heat up' the cans before spraying. Just your hottest water from the tap in a small vessel , sit can it in for a few minutes, or even hold in your hand and run water over. I shake every few seconds, and you can audibly hear the paint get thicker as the ball bearing gets quieter in the shake.

You have found your groove on this one for sure! And your new shed looks like it's being well-used.

HoT roD RaT oN~!

 

[handyandy1100]

The big apes are freckled with rust from being outside for over a year. Was going to break out the steel wool and WD40 and clean them off, but now I am thinking some rattiness around the edges might be in order for this build.

Maybe more like this? Picture the yellow as lime. LOL

 

[Brian macumber]

The big apes are freckled with rust from being outside for over a year. Was going to break out the steel wool and WD40 and clean them off, but now I am thinking some rattiness around the edges might be in order for this build.
View attachment 232131

Maybe more like this? Picture the yellow as lime. LOL
View attachment 232132

Joe Dirt

 

[handyandy1100]

 

[handyandy1100]

A friend of mine is a collector of all kinds of stuff. Some is actually valuable, some is junk. He's been working on clearing out the junk. He told me he had some bikes to get rid of. If I didn't come get them, they were going to the dump.

None are really my cup of tea, but I can try to fix them up and either sell cheap or give away. The trikes and tiny two wheeler may end up with the grandkids.

They filled the minivan to the brim.

 

[OddJob]

Andy, that fattie trike has RaT RoD 'ritten all over it!! And there's a little tab on the back, you could build a cool ratty wagon for it so the G-kids could pull dolls, action figures, sandbox toys in it.

And the one front and center is really cool. Is there a name on the headbadge or tank for the maker / model?

 

[handyandy1100]

Andy, that fattie trike has RaT RoD 'ritten all over it!! And there's a little tab on the back, you could build a cool ratty wagon for it so the G-kids could pull dolls, action figures, sandbox toys in it.

And the one front and center is really cool. Is there a name on the headbadge or tank for the maker / model?

Yeah, that trike is ratty-cool.
The one in front is a Ross, as stated on the headbadge. The chainguard says Super Deluxe. It's my favorite of the 3 twenty inch bikes.

 

[handyandy1100]

After an afternoon nap, I worked a bit on the Machine. Kinda working through the design of the rear rack. Didn't have much time to play. Have to fix supper so my wife doesn't have to for Mother's Day. Will call my mom after supper.

 

[kingfish254]

Wow! You are really moving along on this build in record time! Can't go wrong with a spaceliner.
LOVE the headers on there!

 

[handyandy1100]

A couple of pictures of the little Ross...

 

[handyandy1100]

Wow! You are really moving along on this build in record time! Can't go wrong with a spaceliner.
LOVE the headers on there!

Thanks, Kingfish.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Wow! That color is awesome! '70's Muscle car for sure!

Love the little Ross with the convertible tank.

 

[handyandy1100]

ADD kicking in big time now. Finding it hard to stay focused on the build-off bike with all those "new" bikes calling me!
Never really a big fan of skinny tired bikes, but I can't keep that Raleigh mixte and Schwinn Suburban out of my head. And they're both "girl's" bikes to boot!

Another thing occupying space in my head are vacation plans. Planning a cross country road trip to see my wife's family in Arkansas. We'll be leaving in a couple of days and be back later next week. I'll probably be a "Page 2 Slacker" by the time I get home! LOL

 

[handyandy1100]

One plus to the two step-thru bikes, I am about 5-6 and both bikes have like 19" seat tubes. I couldn't safely ride them if the were "boy" bikes! ha ha

 

[handyandy1100]

Golly Bob howdy, I did manage to focus on the Mean Machine awhile this evening. Trying to mimic the trunk lid of a '70's car. Not sure, but I may have been channeling my late grandfather's early '70's Dodge Dart. At least until I made the spoiler. Grandpa's Dart never had one of those!
Anyways, from a bird's-eye view, you can see a stretched out coke-bottle shape from front to rear.

Then I had to go play with the Schwinn. As an experiment, I took the wheels off an old 700C bike I bought years ago. A mistake, but let's move on. I had read where 700C wheels would fit in place of the old 27" wheels. Looks like the brakes will work too.

New wheels have a 7 cog freewheel and if I manually push on the original derailleur, I can make the 5 speed piece climb up to the next to the tallest cog (2nd gear of the 7 speed). I really want to keep the original stem shifters, even if I can't get the chain on the biggest cog.

Anybody know off hand the seat post and stem size of a '70's Schwinn?

 

[twojs.bike]

You might just need to back off the high limit screw on the rear derailleur. Or maybe tighten the cable. The friction shifters should be fine. They don’t care how many gears you have.

It’s also possible that the derailleur arm is too short. Or possibly the chain is too short. Worst case just move the 5 speed freewheel to the wheel you want to use. You also might have issues running the original 5 speed chain on a 7 speed. 7 speed chain will s a little narrower.



And I love the high flange hubs on both the Schwinn and the mixte. Don’t throw those out! They are perfect for building new wheels.

 

[OddJob]

Clean and lube the h-e-double toothpicks out of the derailleur and chain, shoot Tri-Flow down the housing of the derailleur cable, and change the cable if it has any rust or corrosion on it.

 

[handyandy1100]

Meanwhile, deep in the Amazon rainforest (hills of western Arkansas actually) we risked life and limb to see the legendary Caddo River.

In the eastern extent of the Ouachita mountains

One of our neighbors...

Will HandyAndy and the Handy Family make it out alive?
Will they get back to civilization in eastern North Carolina?

Will HandyAndy finish his build-off bike in time???

Just trying to stay off page 2!!

 

[handyandy1100]

For those unfamiliar withe the tanks the later Spaceliners were equipped with when they rolled off the Murray assembly line, here is a picture of a red one. The girls version was blue. These tanks were plastic, and easily broken, which is why you don't see too many today. While the upper tank of The Mean Machine has a different look, part of the inspiration for the new tank is the bike's original tank (which was long gone when I bought the bike).

The exhaust system came from 2020 build-off bike, The Lean Mean Green Machine and were inspired by another Sears/Murray collaboration, the JC Higgins manifold bikes.

 

[OddJob]

I like how you are really honing this 'signature look' of your builds!

We spent time near Mountain Home and Fayetteville, AR on a Spring Break trip with our whole family, Grandpa and Grandma and my brother's family biking and hiking in 1996. Since that time the MTB off-road trail system has become a destination around Bentonville area.

Enjoy your away time, and watch out for those critters!