!!!! THE (UN)OFFICIAL BIKES FOR LADIES BUILD OFF !!!!

[Walker]

OK, here we unofficially go. The following is the official builder list of this unofficial Bikes For Ladies Build off.

The bikes will be defined as "bikes for ladies". Although a vintage ladies bikes are traditonally a step through type frame this is not always the case (modern road and mtn bikes for ladies are not step through, and trikes or folders for that matter are typically all stepthrough frames but not just for ladies).


I can guarantee that the rules are simple, but cannot guarantee that your build will be.

1. No welding. I can understand if you need to make a repair or a bracket but try and keep the major parts stock. We are dealing with old and new mismatched parts here and i dont want to tie anyone's hands.
2. No "pro" painting, please do it yourself.
3. Deadline is April 1st. (wont she be surprised when you say "April fools, its for you!".
4. Lets have fun, be creative and flexible.

Please abandon the previous thread and start a new post within this Topic by usign the REPLY button to document your project. As you add to your build by just "editing" your original posting. This will keep things from getting too confusing and will allow the viewers and compeditors to follow your progress easier.

Voting will be upon completion of the build.

The Builder List (in no particular order):

Baalberry
The LT
thirstee
DISTURBIO GO
the VULTURE
MattJP
rico
necessaryevil
masterpoop63
FunkyStickMan
Sinner4
jOe
Pinche
Cruisinmarine
NLCTVWguy
GDcast
Walker

That's 17 bikes in the mix, I'm excited to see some varied entries.

On your Mark, Get Set, GO!

 

[Walker]

Blissful Blue Elgin

OK, Not to be redundant but here is the ladies Elgin i am starting with. Almost completely parted it out on the bay but fortunately nobody bid on the skirtguards and fender set so i've got something worthwhile to start with.

My design ideas for Blissful Blue are: Blue, Deluxe and Fluid.

The Need list:Sold the front fork so something needs to happen there, probably a springer of some kind.
Rear rack, along the lines of a colorflow style..
New wheels, trick hubs with chrome or colormatched rims
Fender light and reflectors.
Accessorize!
I've got quite a bit of sheet metal work to smooth out (anyone want to loan me a fender roller?).


01/14/09.
Last night cut some threads on a Columbia springer and it fits pretty well. two issues are the fender braces and the top bracket for the spring to steerertube connection.

Rummaged around and located these teardrop pedals i had forgotten about:

And these dropcenter rims. Not sure i'm going to use these, they need to be refinished (just like everything else i have)..

I also got to thinking that a faux tank would be nice as i'll likely never find an original.

1/29/10.
Sanding- Sanding - Sanding...... I've got the frame, skirtguards and fork sanded down to good solid paint and ready for priming. Used my buffing wheel to shine up the fork linkage, spring and spring hardware. Surprisingly they all came out awesome, nearly a mirror shine. I picked up a sweet Delta Light for the front fender that had a case of interior corrosion, decided to convert it to LED. I'm only about 1/3 of the way through the conversion. Next up is smoothing out some of the dents on the fenders, modifying the braces on the front fender to work with the fork and sanding them up. I think a set of braces from a 24" bike may work or it might be necessary to make a custom set. Still no headway with the wheels though.

02/25/10
Seems I only get 5 minutes at a time to work on this ride!
Parts are sanded, most are primed, some have paint. My first boue paint choice was awful, but i found a nicer shade that is looking good. Painting is a real challenge without a shop to work in. I've been opening a basement window, and using a fan i hang parts in the basement door and blow the fumes outside. Not optimal but seems to work pretty well. Should have my rear hub any day from the great white North (special thanks to Torpedo), Front high flange hub is polished, repacked and ready. The hoops are pending paint. I'm thinking of blue spoke nipples to match the blue paint instead of chrome ones...I picked up a decent seat chassis from Rusty and i've got some nice brown leather to recover it. Just need some padding of some kind. An old foam camping mattress would be perfect if i coudl find one to sacrifice. Trying to decide if I seencil and paint on some stripes & graphics or do vinyl decals.....

3/3/10
Wheels are being analyzed for spoke lengths today so maybe i'll have the wheels refinished and built by next week sometime. The hubset isn't really a match (Elgin finned rear and a Sturmey Archer high flange front) but they are both shiny and freshly overhauled. I've been toying with doing colored spoke nipples but may just keep it simple chrome. I've got a bit of time to cross that bridge though.

Best of all, after a week of cold basement/workshop, the boiler is fixed and i will have a warm slab when i get home. Now i can really get the pait work finished! The basement shop was down to 55 degrees!

Really need to get to work on the pinstripe graphics now.

03/09/10
Hooray! Parts are starting to get assembled now. Installed the crank last night. I considered a ladies size crank but the wife is 5'-10" so she will have no trouble pushing a longer crank arm. The original bottom bracket cups polished up really well.

The fork is together. I'm really psyched that all the original chrome polished up nicely; headset cups, all the shock linkage and hardware. Couple of nicks during assembly but nothing major.

Might need to pick up a paint pen and do some detailing on the headbadge.

I had to mud up some dents in the fenders but they sanded out pretty well. Ran out of primer last night so its off to Lowes after work.

3/23/10
Painting is done! hooray!. Front fender struts took a little massaging to make them work. If i dont admit to a little welding then i wont get caught right? Rims, stem and some other doo dads are re-finished and the LBS called to tell me my spokes are in along with a couple of pairs of grips i wanted to try. A nice seat is still at large. Fender light is up and running with LED conversion. I wanted to light up the small lenses but that was complicated. I put the Teardrop pedals together and cannot find the replacment reflectors i bought 3 months ago?? Must be around here somewhere.

To add to the challenge, my shop is in the basement an so is the kids play area. i've had to have a fake project going on to keep the wife off the trail this whole time..

I might need to lace wheels as i drive to Monson this weekend to make the deadline. Oh well, she's worth it.

3/24/10. Stayed up late again last night (this is becoming routine), watched a movie and laced the wheels up. As i built the front wheel up i thought...there is something very satisfying about the sound a spoke makes as it drops into the flange of a hub...Then when i built the rear wheel i though...there is nothing so dis-satisfying as finding out the spokes are too long...Hmmmm. Running out of time and need to re-calculate the spoke length (I'll do it myself this time) and source some spokes.

Here are some progress photos..




Front end with accessories installed. Speedo cable is a bit long...Went with some clear giltter grips.


Rear fender with accessories installed. Rear reflector from the Sam-Sco parts qween. Stainless steel fender stay bolts and chrome plated allen head fasteners...


03/31/10

OK, its done except for maybe some vinly graphics. Just need a sunny day to take some photos

 

[udallcustombikes]

This will be fun to watch. Quite a cast of characters. Good Luck

 

[necessaryevil]

DOPPELGANGER 1/15

Here is the start of my build thread. My lady only has one old bike, it's nice, it's cute, and it's begging for a sister:

Well, I'm going to bring to life it's evil twin sister, it's doppelganger. More to come...

DOPPELGANGER 1/18

Here's what I'm starting with. The frame is somewhat similar, should look better with the little brace bar put in. Forks are gonna get curved out to lower the front end. Might go with ape hangers and nanner seat, fenderless. I'll have to see what she thinks about that...

DOPPELGANGER 1/19

Drew up a really rough idea of my plans (don't laugh! :lol: ) Metalflake blue with white/frost blue/light blue flames. Find some apes, paint them black, white grips and seat. White front rim/blackwall tire, metalflake blue rear rim/whitewall tire. She hasn't seen this yet, so things might change...

DOPPELGANGER 1/25

Scored a few parts I've been searching for, a quick mock-up before I curve the front forks. After that I guess all I need is some apes, white grips, and pedals. Might do a chainguard but not sure.

DOPPELGANGER 1/27

Raked out the forks as much as the front tire would allow, but I'm just not happy with it yet. I think I'm gonna have to section/stretch the rear of the legs to get a good bend to them.

DOPPELGANGER 2/2

Finally got the stance I was after, had to notch out the fork crown to allow tire clearance. I still have some fab work left on them but I'm happy with the look now. Still looking for parts....

 

[Cruisinmarine]

Change of Plans:
1. Not so simple and cheap anymore. The 'ol lady does not dig coaster brakes, and I'm not welding some brake bosses/tabs. So I scored a late '60s 5spd hub w/drum brake off a tandem. Now she will have gears, and a brake...I hope it 'fits'.
2. Rethinking the colors...again
3. Half moon bars
4. Cushy saddle or I'll never hear the end of it...no pun intended, okay maybe a little
5. Generator light kit
6. Whitewalls, gotta have whitewalls
7. May delete the racks and fenders, or just paint them. To costly to rechrome at this point.

Update 1/21/10

Kinda bummed on the condition of the AMC. Not one bit of chrome is void of rust/pitting ( think brown glitter), seat underside is rusted all to heck, and batterries in headlamp assembly are probably as old as the bike. You can imagine the acid damage, broke apart at hinge and pretty much "layered apart" from the acid, it's garbage and can't even be use for LED conversion as planned. I should have asked for detailed pics...lesson learned.

Alot more money than I'm willing to put into this ride is needed to go the route I originally intended. Gotta take a step back and refocus...

Update 1/29/10


Scored a late 1960's 5spd freewheel hub w/drum brake in pristine condition that was taken off a tandem. I'm hopin to use this. But calculating proper spoke length will be a pain in the ...

02/02/2010

got the frame tweaked for the new rear hub, removed headlamp/tank bracket, ready to be stripped and painted. Also broke down wheels for rebuild with new spokes, gotta figure out if they will be painted or powdercoated first.

02/15/2010

Daddy been a little busy these past few weeks... :mrgreen: As you can tell, I decided to go with yellow, scuff and flat black the rims/hubs. Have also decided to go ahead use matching brown saddle/grips/toolbag, ordered some white spokes, and will be scuffing the fenders for some flat black as well. I was able to polish out the 48yr old chrome on the bars and stem, but alas the fenders are just to pitted. I will be using the rear rack, but not the front one. There is also the installation of the rear derailleur and shifter, got those but can't really do anything 'til I get those wheels built up. So those few items are all that remain.

 

[Big Fat Whitewalls]

Ok Boys and Girls, I'll throw this in here for inspiration since it's already built. I hope you don't mind. It's a 58 Schwinn I bought from the original owner. I built it for my wife. Thanks, Dean (ps) I did straighten that chain guard.

What I started with

The end result

 

[NLCTVWguy]

UPDATES 1-28-2010!
-------------------------------
NEW UPDATES! Put a lot of parts together to make sure things will work.

The mockup was good, and educational. Getting the drum brake setup to work well with the old frame is a big challenge. My wife finally saw the bike in its proper form, and loves it. The issues are getting worked out and it's moving forward.

Pics at the end.
Many more detail pics to show you, will get them online soon.
--------------------


This is gonna be fun! The 47 is now under way. My wife is into it, and has loved Rat Rods for a long time. She also likes the idea of the head-to-head competition that some of the other builders are doing.


So my build will be part of this thread, but also a friendly 1 on 1 against the infamous CJ- Cody and I will be getting together soon to exchange parts, 1 good and 1 bad, and turn this into a real fun competition to watch.

Here's the original picture of the bike, as found at a roadside antique store last year:

Not bad, fairly complete, ladies DX model or something similar. The research on the serial number shows that it is before the big Schwinn factory fire in 1948. So records are incomplete. Other guys on here have shown with some better documented bikes that it's a very early 1947 model. It set me back $30.

The bike was already disassembled and stripped when this contest came along. It's the perfect place to do something creative with this cool old balloon tire ride.

A little Rat Rod Inspiration: My wife loves the style, the cars, the tunes, the noise, the smoke, and the pinstripes.

Here's a little hint of what I'm after with this bike:

Loving the black n flames look:

Been busy the last few days and not just on my bikes! Honestly the hardest part is slowing down, getting the camera, finding more batteries (again?), uploading, cropping , uploading, and writing it all down... but here we go. Monday 1-18-2010....

------
Frame is in paint. Duplicolor Satin Black. Good results. Fork and guard have a couple coats on them too:

Without releasing any details prematurely, here are some of the paint colors that will be involved in this build:

------
Assembling a few parts. A couple sets of pedals are kicking around... got great deals at Dudley MA bike day, and just have to decide no reflector or reflector.

Oops wife just decided no reflector, and painted to match part of the bike. I love her sense of style.

------
The chainguard. Love these early feather guards. This one's a keeper. Had an outline of the original Schwinn quality cross under bad blue spray paint. Also found some nagging hidden rust on it but it mostly cleaned up nice. This is before the final coats of black.

------
The original rear fender cleaned up so nice, it would be a shame not to use it. The chrome one is a repro Schwinn rear fender. It's from a re-issue Phantom or later cruiser bike (newer i think). Chinese quality and it shows. Rust just from exposure to air. Anyway it's gettin cut up n painted....

------
The fender does not fit the fork. Some coercion and general bendin and stretchin of metal is involved, as well as a relocated hole.

------
Mockup of the front. Hoping to be able to save the ducktail on the fender and not quite scrape the ground.

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Oops, gave away one plan for the wheels. I have 2 wheel sets. Ones a heavy duty set from a Tandem. 105ga spokes, 5-speed rear, drums front and rear. Killer option. Don't really want to paint em tho. The other set seen in foreground was an Ebay find, turned out much too rusty to use on our Phantom. 55 ish ND rear, script front hub, not skiptooth but early S-2 rims. Rusted so bad they have holes in em. Darn shame. Knurling cleaned up nice, of course. Good to paint for a rat anyway.

-----

Lots more details to go over for this build. Parts are coming together ... almost everything is here, just have to put it together and get it working. Nothing is going easily but the issues should be resolved in a couple days of work.

=========
1-28-2010:

First side view of the mockup:

Front view with the big Miller light i found.

My custom front fender.

My funky cool headbadge and orange bearing cups

=======================


More coming soon!
--Rob

 

[FunkyStickman]

Here's the frame I'm starting with (the purple women's 24" MTB frame).

Mocked up with a 26" fork:

Plans are for whitewalls, a banana seat, and a custom laced rear wheel, probably a 3-leading 3-trailing pattern.

 

[jOe]

Beginning at the beginning-

it's all there!
Lotsa tape-

Lotsa gunk, some rust, a real alleycat-

I picked up this Gitane for a build that never panned out. The combination of worn parts, French stuff, and a bent fork conspired against it. But, it's a cool color, and it's got a lot of good stuff on it, so it should live again!

The concept for this build is French with an American accent. Which usually ends up horrible, but that's the fun.

Adding some pictures as of 1/31/2010 (cause you never know, this could stretch out a bit.)

Stripped down the old girl and assessed conditions of parts. Threw in a square taper bottom bracket spindle, which I may or may not keep. (I kinda like the cottered cranks that are original to the bike, I might try to find the original spindle and keep them.)

Also took delivery of the Sturmey coaster brake hub, and set about cleaning and rebuilding it.

Sometimes, the only way is to get stuck in, before you think too hard about what you're doing. I always am a little nervous disassembling a hub with internal mechanisms. This is my second coaster hub rebuild, and I've never exploded a three speed hub before. Maybe that'll be my next build? Still, it seemed to go well, everything went back together, and feels smooth and proper.

Now I just have to get the rest of the wheelbuild together. Once I've got wheels, it should go pretty quick. Still working on how to make this a "special" build.

2-12-2010-

Making progress. Got the rear wheel built, now I have to get some sizable tires on it and start futzing with fenders!

3-20-2010-

Progress is still being made, I've got more done than these pictures, and the shakedown ride went well!

Front wheel re-laced

The front is getting a Mafac racer brake, which is a nice bit of jewelry, but also works *very* well to stop the bike. Which is good, because the Sturmey coaster hub is really more of a "speed modulator".

More pics to come, I've got a potential chainguard, and "invisible pedals"..

 

[Walker]

Great starts so far!

NLCTVWguy, you're painting already :!:

jOe, thats a funny? French + American = Horrible!

Funkystickman, i think those are the same bars as my bike!

Keep it rolling!

 

[NLCTVWguy]

To be fair, the bike has been sandblasted for months. Then I primed it and it's been
back burner material, waiting for the right project to come along. After the hot rod
shows this fall, my wife started making suggestions that something like this would be
a very cool gift so that's what I'm putting together for her.

Luckily it happens to work right into the schedule of this buildoff, and it'll keep me
motivated to move along with it.

But even if it was an official buildoff, I really wasn't that far ahead. Though CJ has
already seen my Sit on A Happy Face seat...

--Rob

Great starts so far!

NLCTVWguy, you're painting already :!:

jOe, thats a funny? French + American = Horrible!

Keep it rolling!

 

[thirstee]

My wife's birthday is in April so this will be a great motivator for me. She wants a rat with baskets and apes. I have a frame to start with and a lot of parts to dig out. This is going to be fun! Good luck ladies!

Here is the frame of unknown origin.

Update 1/26


I dug out some of her parts and started stripping the paint, just gotta hit those tight spots yet.

I had previously used these forks to practice bending on as they are dented on one side and figured no big deal if I screwed em up. I threw a tire on and it seems like it might be ok but I'm kinda skeptical. The steering tube is also bent so I need to see if I can straighten that out first. Oh and the tire clearance might not allow a fender, so I have that to think about as well...

Update 1/31

Found some more parts. I plan to paint the rims and fenders. More prep work. :|

 

[Gdcast]

All right!!! I see I´m on the list, Great!!

I´ll start as soon as I get back from my summer vacations (yes, summer boys, I´m a rebel)
Remember I´ll be using a man´s frame... girly style... If anyone has a problem with that,
talk to my sister, she´s the one that want´s it that way.

Kind of odd If you think about it...
Ladies frame, Manly look Vs. Mans frame, ladyish look... :wink: 8)

 

[cody-james]

ok rob I'm in i just need to go to palmer to pick up my ladies spaceliner, as always with rob and i this will be a schwinn vs murray battle! ill update with pics soon

 

[bairdco]

Re: Blissful Blue Elgin

Almost completely parted it out on the bay but fortunately nobody bid on the skirtguards and fender set so i've got something worthwhile to start with.

i almost bought those. i think i was out drinking and forgot about them...

 

[NLCTVWguy]

Good deal man, can't wait to see what you come up with. I gotta get a whole bunch of new pics up.

--Rob

ok rob I'm in i just need to go to palmer to pick up my ladies spaceliner, as always with rob and i this will be a schwinn vs murray battle! ill update with pics soon

 

[Sinner4]

Will a girls frame work??? I dont think the 60's chrome space liner deal is going to work. I found a hoarder south of town that had 20 or so old bikes that he rather sit outside and rot. Most he clames he got for free cleaning up yards, or even charged to haul them off to his house. A couple of his bikes have tanks and one is a screen door from the rust. He even clames that he has a 1937 bike. All i could make out is the old time bars sticking up out of the pile. Even know hes hurting for money we couldnt come up with a deal on one bike. I wish I could get them all.....

 

[NLCTVWguy]

Yeah man of course. It's all about how you make it. Start building and the ideas will come. Look through the galleries and build off pics here and the good or bad ideas come by the 100's....

Now about your local collector, I've run across this time and again. I don't understand why people are happy to hang onto stuff only to let it deteriorate to the point of worthlessness, instead of selling it to people willing to put their time and effort into it.

It could be they assign a very high value to it, or are trying to make a lot of money on something "antique". But to me, a yard full of old bikes, while fun and interesting, is really more a problem than an asset. I have a lot, and each one is pretty much "parts" or a "project." Either way I'm going to spend time working on them, to fix or to steal parts from them. If you come along and want to buy one of these, it's yours, man! I'm going to be happy to see it move along to a better home.

The "collect til you die" mentality seems to flourish in many of our related hobbies, whether it's old cars, tractors, train models, bikes, or for some people art, or lamps, or typewriters. When the collector passes away, usually the family is left to deal with a large mess... and a lot of it is sold for practically nothing or worse is discarded.

I say keep what you need and pass along the rest, give them away if you have to, but put the bikes back in the hands of people who are willing to restore and enjoy them. Good luck with that.

--Rob

Will a girls frame work??? I dont think the 60's chrome space liner deal is going to work. I found a hoarder south of town that had 20 or so old bikes that he rather sit outside and rot. Most he clames he got for free cleaning up yards, or even charged to haul them off to his house. A couple of his bikes have tanks and one is a screen door from the rust. He even clames that he has a 1937 bike. All i could make out is the old time bars sticking up out of the pile. Even know hes hurting for money we couldnt come up with a deal on one bike. I wish I could get them all.....

 

[rgallen]

NLCTVWguy

Spoken like a true genius. When will everyone else come to that same conclusion. Especially when they talk about how RARE something is. Rare can mean different things, It could be worth a lot of money, or you may not see alot of them because they are so darn ugly that nobody wants one. Oh, and ORIGINAL, The only original thing I hang onto is my wife of 32 years. I just started disassembling a 1953 all original Raleigh yesterday evening and the next time it sees daylight, I can promise it won't be original. Make it the way you want it to be or get rid of it. Rick

 

[Sinner4]

I kinda got mad at the guy, I told him the old bikes are art, Hang them up and let the wold see them. But right now they are in a dog run with weeds up to the bars. Its too bad. If he did display them so rich guy would snatch them up, repaint and chrome and try to sell them for several grand. Id take them and do something real with them, no doubt...