Par for the course, it's one step forward and two steps back. I quickly wiped down the wheels and mounted the tubes and tires, and it didn't take long for issues to present themselves. First, I decided to take a closer look at that Monark springer fork. For whatever reason, it always looked crooked when I looked down at it as I rode it around the block. Turns out, this fork is junk. I feel like I got ripped off at $100. As if the rocker bolts weren't bad enough, the whole spring arm is twisted. My friend Allan might be able to fix this, but I don't know. It's pretty bad.
Next, I couldn't get the lock nut off behind the mag sprocket I want to use. I'm letting it soak in some PB Blaster in the meantime. I also made a rough cardboard mockup of this back plate I'm thinking of putting behind the sprocket. I don't know if I'm going to stick with it, but this is still the "stacking parts/envisioning" stage.
Just when I thought I had enough issues with this build, another one shows its ugly face. I mocked up those wheels and tires on the bike, and while the front wheel and tire looked good, the back tire looked pathetic. It's not even 2 inches wide! It's in fact
narrower than the white tire I had on there previously, and that was a 20x1.95" tire! There is too much space between the seat/chain stays, and the side walls of the tire. I'm genuinely disappointed with the size of this tire. It should not be almost the same size as the 20x1.75" tire up front!
As much as I hate to do it, I'm going to see about returning this tire, if I can't trade it for something better. I've seen some 20x3.0 slicks that look good, but the problem is those tires might be too wide for this frame. I really want the back tire to look "period-correct," even if it technically isn't. If I can't find a wider slick that has the look I'm after, I might have to use a different style of tire for the front and rear. If anyone knows of some cool 20x2.5ish" tires that wouldn't look bad on a chopper-inspired muscle bike, I'm open to ideas.
So, now what? Well, I honestly don't know. I'm supposed to meet with my fabricator friend sometime later this week, but we're mainly working on the final assembly of my 2021 RRBBO entry,
The Schwinn Dixie Dreamcycle. I can bring this bike with me for us to discuss, see if he can fix the fork at least. If he's not able to fix the fork, or it's too much of a risk, then I might just have to buckle down and spend $200+ on a new chrome fork. I'm also going to see what it'd take to return and refund this tire that more of a "drag" than it was "slick" tomorrow. As for the rest, I honestly don't know where to go from here. I guess that's a problem for another day.