The Old Lady gets her own thread......(Not a sewing adventure.)

[DJ Bill]

I've been cluttering up the fresh find thread with a "build" of sorts....

This was a local Craigslist find...What amazes me is that another old bike fan passed on it. (He didn't have wheels to fit it.??)
Got it home on top of my load of scrap metal I need to toss soon. One day I will have an empty pickup when I need to transport a bike.

Up against the fence, old lady! (you too, you whippersnappers!)

I don't know what happened when she had to give up her wheels, but I think it was a fight... Look at the brace and the left dropout!

Nice seAt....more about that later.

And the best part, the headbadge:

I didn't know what exactly what I was going to do with the bike when I bought it but eventually I decided she was worth saving and even riding.
The day before I had picked up an unused Cranbrook at a yard sale thinking of flipping it, but now....the wheels will have a new home until the right ones come along. I just can't bring myself to hogging out the truss rods and braces to fit the larger Huffy Axles, so for now, she is going fenderless. Besides, that will give me time to sort out the ugliness in the sheet metal and straighten the many bent pieces. (That one brace is a handfull... I have it roughed out already but wow, it was tough)

Here is how it looked mocked up.. Huffy chain was too short..(As are the cheap Bell chains at Walmart)

Last night I started in on reassembly, and evaporusting a few pieces.....and I couldn't stop. Well, it got around to well past midnight, but this is how she looks this morning after an hour of riding around the neighborhood:

continued.....

 

[DJ Bill]

Ahem,, I meant Nice SEAT......

Here is another view:

This is my least favorite feature on the bike... The front spring collapses as soon as I put any pressure on it....and the noise is annoying. I am attempting to trace down all the squeaks and scrapes and with the seat making all that racket I can't figure out where my chain is hitting occasionally.

I definitely need to fab up a new seatpost with some setback.(Lucky 7 style I think should work) as I am just too close to the bars and too low to teh pedals to be comfortable on longer rides. I"d like to bring it to the Howe Cavern ride IF i can get off work to do the ride, and I'm hoping to get this taken care of tonight after work.

It really is starting to grow on me.. even though it's just an ole lady.

 

[Araya51]

Wow what a change on the "Ole Lady".!!!
Personally I like the way it sits. As you mentioned just fix the annoying little issue it may have..
I like the patina and the off setting colors for whatever reason but it just flows.
I have to say, Nice save and nice job you did on the "Ole Lady"

 

[DJ Bill]

Wow what a change on the "Ole Lady".!!!
Personally I like the way it sits. As you mentioned just fix the annoying little issue it may have..
I like the patina and the off setting colors for whatever reason but it just flows.
I have to say, Nice save and nice job you did on the "Ole Lady"

Thank you! I like it a lot....even more after riding it a while.

The wheels (and black hubs)are the only non original colored components.. That blue on the tank appears to be original, although to me it doesn't really go with the deep maroon the rest was originally before fading. The white appears to have been a nice ivory color at one time, and after Evaporust treatment it looks pretty good. I didn't paint the rims due to both time constraints and the hope I can find a more appropriate set with the smaller diameter axles.

Does anyone have any seat suggestions to keep the front from dropping down on its nonexistent bump stops so easily?

 

[DJ Bill]

Down to the wire on this one, and it's not even in BOTEN...Anyhow, I got to Home Despots tonight just before closing, and picked up the seatpost steel. I didn't even leave the parking lot and I had it bent, although not as good as some. I installed it for a quick try and realized my measurement was off a decimal point or two.

Anyhow, this is the preliminary design I'm going to try out tomorrow. Just sitting on it my knees feel a lot straighter and happier. Function over form, in this case. I still have a over a foot of the steel so I can fire up my torches and bend it properly when I get time. Notice how the steel was pre-patina'd for me?

I had the fenders soaking in Evaporust tonight and they improved substantially. Too bad they won't fit with this wheelset. Well, with the new center of gravity and the lightening effect of no fenders, I expect to break 10 MPH now.

 

[late for dinner]

Wow what a change on the "Ole Lady".!!!
Personally I like the way it sits. As you mentioned just fix the annoying little issue it may have..
I like the patina and the off setting colors for whatever reason but it just flows.
I have to say, Nice save and nice job you did on the "Ole Lady"

+1 on liking her just the way she sits.
She has a definite honest presence.

On the seat spring issue, I would first try and add tension back to the spring by removing it from pan and frame and then expand the distance between mounting points.?

 

[Nagant]

Glad to see you decided to rehab the old girl and make a rider of her. I like the way you have it in every way except I feel the fenders would tie it all together looks wise. That's just my opinion and I'm biased because I tend to like fenders on many bikes. Without the cool fenders and braces she looks half naked to me. Which could be a good thing or bad thing depending on ones stance on such matters.

What did you make the seat post out of? Natural gas pipe or does the H Depot sell solid stock now? I have a late 40's to mid 50's ladies Columbia that needs a seat post like yours. I've rode it around short distances a few times but had the same cramped cockpit issue as you experienced. IIRC I measured it from seat tube to head tube and found it be shorter than a boys frame of similar vintage.

 

[DJ Bill]

The seat post is from Home Depot - 5/8 solid rod steel, and it held up fine on our ride this afternoon. I bent it in the safety chain holes on my pickup's bumper. I will attempt to redo it with a sharper bend someday, but for now it works!

I'm working on the fenders....but I need wheels with smaller axles to slide the braces over, as I don't really want to hog out the holes. Plans are for them and the truss rods all to go back on.

A lot of the noises went away today... partly a tight chain link, partly the seat just needed some use. With the extended seat post the weak front spring is not an issue anymore.

 

[us56456712]

The seat post is from Home Depot - 5/8 solid rod steel, and it held up fine on our ride this afternoon. I bent it in the safety chain holes on my pickup's bumper. I will attempt to redo it with a sharper bend someday, but for now it works!

I'm working on the fenders....but I need wheels with smaller axles to slide the braces over, as I don't really want to hog out the holes. Plans are for them and the truss rods all to go back on.

A lot of the noises went away today... partly a tight chain link, partly the seat just needed some use. With the extended seat post the weak front spring is not an issue anymore.

I have built several lucky seven 5/8 seat posts from hot rolled hardware store rod and all 4 of them eventually bent. I then tried a straight 5/8 rod (no bends) and that worked for about a month until a 240 pound guy sat on it. I special ordered the strongest 5/8 cold rolled steel made and that hasn't bent in about 6 months of riding. I weigh 155 pounds. The fab shop where I ordered it said if this bends your out of luck because that is the strongest stuff made. Cost $40 for 2 feet of it.