The StretchLiner

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Did some more work on it tonight. I had a dilemna(?) when it came to the seatpost tube... The bars were all 3 to 4 inches apart where I wanted the seatpost to be. And welding in tubes or plates to make it all come together seemed kinda hokey to me... Plus I always kinda liked the look of the bikes where the seatpost curved. So I had this old ballooner fork laying around, and wouldn't ya know it, I liked the way it fit. So I welded it in. And KOTA, you were right. Putting the seat tube in made my lines line up a little better. Of course I had to use a little Persuasion and Finesse(aka hammer and general bending and pulling :mrgreen: ) to get the desired results, but I'm pretty dang happy. Next thing on the list is a new truss rod part for the springer. I think I'm gonna run it reversed... We'll see. I'm also thinking of making the bars longer than stock so it'll lengthen it out a little... So here it is now. And thanks for all the encouragement.
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Here's the fork going in. I think it looks ok.
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Here's the whole project so far...
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another view of it...
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And a closer-up shot of the fork-tube. Don't wanna get too close though. Can't have you all seeing my crappy welds. :wink:
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And a pic of my crappy dropout reinforcement welds.

I'm still not sure if I'm gonna use the steertube on the fork as a permanantly adjusted seatpost, or use it to hold an adjustable seatpost. We'll see. So that's all for tonight.
 
just keeps getting better and better!
 
A friend of mine who says he's too busy building and riding bikes to join RatRodBikes.com(I just say he's not quite cool enough. :mrgreen: ) hs brought to my attention that the steer tube may not have the strength needed to support a seat or perhaps even a seat post on it's own. Any ideas hear on the subject? I plan on taking at least 3 inches off before even attempting to install a seat on it. maybe I need to find a piece of pipe that will fit over the steer tube and weld it into place and use that as a seatpost tube. Or drill out the fork so the seatpost can extend all the way through, and make some gussets to go from the seatpost to parts of the fork and drill some cool spacy holes in it or something. That owuld leave the seatpost as unadjustable, but would also support my 275 pound payload better I think... Any ideas?

For the record, both of the forks on this this bike, the springer and the seatfork tube were given to me by MonsterMetal, aka Blacksmith Larry. Thank you so much. I never got around to trying the blue/green one on my Columbia, and it seemed to be calling out to be used on this project. For those of you who don't know, Larry is good people. If you ever have the opportunity to meet him, go for it. His shop is an hour and a half away from me, and I take every opportunity I get to go there... I will mis being able to deal with him and seeing his shop and all his sweet projects when I move next month...
 
That fork seat tube is ingenious!...At first, I said .... But I really, really like it!......I've never seen it done before, and someday I'M GONNA USE IT!.............That's what I like best about this site, NEW ideas and innovations!
 
Thanks man! I had it mocked in there and stared at it for a long time before I decided it was cool enough to weld in. I really dig it though. Not sure if I'm gonna cut the parts where the front axle goes in off or not. I may use it for a kickstand...
 
GREAT IDEAS! This is just so cool! I would suggest that you make a very spaceage style folding dropstand/kickstand to fit the fork/seat tube driopouts- and if not, i think that they'd look cleaner cut off. Ingenious ideas! I really like this.
 
BrigmasterA said:
maddogrider said:
Right on man Stand tough.
You must be very cool to live in a place called Eugene.lol
Why is that?


Did you know they filmed Animal House in Eugene? You'd be surprised how not nerdy that place is.

Awesome bike Brigmaster!
 
No new pics, but I got all my welding done(for now...) I'm taking her home tonight and I'm gonna try and make it rideable. I'll post pics of that for sure.
 
So I took it home last night, put a crank on it, and realized 2 things: First, the chain rubs one of the fork tubes that is my seatpost tube, and Second, the stub I left will not work to mount a seat on. Even if I had a seat with a clamp that would go around it, it's too low. So I'll have to bring it back to work to heat up the fork tube and squish it so the chain won't rub on the frame, and to weld the tube I cut off back on to use as a seatpost tube. Which will put me sitting up a little higher, which will make the bike more practical to ride, but might take away from the lines a little bit. But that's ok. I think I've got a few ideas on how to make it work and be cool, so yeah. I did put some bars on it... so here's a pic. It's starting to look like a bike! Yay! :mrgreen:
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Also, the only thing I've spent on this thing so far is $6 for tubing. Well, I guess I paid $40 for the frame... But everything else I pulled outta my pile or given to me by Larry the Blacksmith(MonsterMetal). See the rust on the handle bars? Thanks to everyone for the encouragement, and to Larry for the 2 forks and wheels on this bike. :mrgreen: Would work on it tonight, but I committed to donating blood this evening, and my wife won't let me back out... There's always tomorrow...
 
JoeyMac said:
I'm loving the way it looks so far! I also love your gate-with-no-fence mailbox stand :)
Yeah I though this was pretty hilarious when we moved in to this house too. :lol: Don't know what the landlord's thinking... But it works. You can also see my new bike hauler(minivan) in the background. Works great for this thing. Been watching a lot of Cowboy Bebop lately... Trying to figure how to incorporate some of that into this thing...
 
So my wife and I didn't make it to the vampires today... She was sick and didn't feel like donating blood. So I came to my work to work on the StretchLiner. Got it mostly done. It's about as done as it's gonna get for now. The only other thing I'm gonna do is take the crank apart to put in another spacer so my chain is a little farther out from the tire. So here's my pics...
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Here's the headbadge, made by xddorox. Thanks Gerry! It looks awesome, and is awesome. It's just on temporarily til I move and have the time to grind down and paint this thing.

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A side view. The seat, unfortunately is permanently set at that height. I may take the seat off and chop the seatpost down a bit, as it feels a little far back and tall some times, but I wanna ride it a bit like this cuz as my niece found out with her hair, you can't cut it longer...

For those wondering what I did for a seatpost, I had originally welded a donor seapost tube on, and then welded a strip of 1/4 thick metal from top to bottom, across where the seat tube and steer tube joined, for a little strength. But it was too tall. Looked goofy, and was unrideable. So I cut it off about an inch and a half lower, put the seatpost in, and welded it. Yeah, there is probably better ways to it, but that's how I did it. I'll be the only one riding this thing on a regular basis, so it really only needs to fit me. Right? :wink:

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Another sideview...

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And here's me on it. I'm a big guy and it fits me pretty well. Especially for just going at it and not really having a plan. Just doing stuff and hoping it works. I cruised it around the parking lot at my work, and it was pretty rad, riding something I built. I can't wait to get moved and be able to have the time to smooth it all out and make it sweet. It cruises pretty nice though.

If I was gonna do it all over again, I would:
1)Make a jig.
2)Make smaller welds. Anything that I don't want has to come off...
3)Make a jig.
4)find a chopper style bike and maybe make measurements of how far back the seatpost was from the cranks, how tall, etc. That way the seat might look like more a part of the bike than something sticking out on a stick.
5)Have a plan.
6)Make a jig.

So there is the Stretchliner. It's kinda done. I can ride it. I will ride it some more. I dig it. While it's not perfect, I built it, and for the most part it works. :mrgreen:
 

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