Three For All

[GodHatesCleveland]

I'll be visiting my niece and her husband at the end of May and nice guy that I am I decided to surprise them each with a bike. And to save time I'm going to put them in with my latest project, Mack the Knife.

For the niece, that one is going to be easy. Just clean this one up, give it a two tone paint job and try to find some cool accessories on ebay....and those pedals gotta go. This was a $10 score:

Her husband's bike is going to be a little trickier. He absolutely loved this bike I did for a nephew:
http://www.ratrodbikes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6655 I couldn't believe my luck when finding another camel back frame with no cantilevers, but this one's a Raleigh. Got it for $40 on CL:

I just love the front fork:

The fenders are kind of beat, more than I can fix if anyone wants 'em:

Quaint old Sturmey-Archer 3 speed, still works great:

For his bike I'm either going to keep it green and give it a new set of gum walls or paint it royal blue and build it according to a police bike theme. Probably going to switch out Raleigh's version of the mustache bar with a straight bar to give it a more aggressive look....but these bars I'll keep, I like Raleigh's take on the style:

My personal project is a Next BMX wanna-be for another $10. It originally was going to be a parts bike until I found there weren't any good parts on it. Now I see why nobody likes the bikes manufactured in China. The good thing is, all the parts were so loose I hardly used any tools to take it apart, except for the chain, almost everything else went by hand:

Whatever the previous owner used for lube had congealed to a sticky brown and fairly solid mess:

Here is what it looks like after a clean-up and in the mock-up stage. I'm going for more of a low-rider style, putting in a single speed coaster hub and cutting off the flanges for the old brake lines to give it a smoother appearance. The bent fork should accent the curve of the top bar. I'm planning on a metallic gun metal gray paint job for the body, which should show off the chrome pieces nicely:

 

[Uncle Stretch]

That is nice of you to rebike a whole family. Most people would just bring a ham or something. :lol:

 

[TheFlyingDingo]

Wow...that raleigh is AWESOME
I like the fenders

Btw-YOu are a great guy to do something like this for a family

 

[ej599]

Coaster brake three speeds are awesome. I put one on my '59 schwinn racer. That should be a Sturmey Archer TCW hub. They are rather valuble and get a good price on ebay. I've seen people ask for more than you paid for the bike! They make for a cleaner looking 3 speed.

 

[user 135]

I applaude you for getting more people on bikes. Cool Raliegh especially with the coaster hub.

Does that Next have the cheap little bottom bracket? If so, good luck. Mine have poorly machined cones and races.

 

[TheFlyingDingo]

Coaster brake three speeds are awesome. I put one on my '59 schwinn racer. That should be a Sturmey Archer TCW hub. They are rather valuble and get a good price on ebay. I've seen people ask for more than you paid for the bike! They make for a cleaner looking 3 speed.

Come on....I just sold one on CL...the whole bike for $40

 

[aka_locojoe]

I applaude you for getting more people on bikes. Cool Raliegh especially with the coaster hub.

Agree. That Raleigh is cool.

 

[beernpickin]

I will take those fenders off your hands.

 

[GodHatesCleveland]

That is nice of you to rebike a whole family. Most people would just bring a ham or something

Hey, I like ham....

Btw-YOu are a great guy to do something like this for a family

Thanks. My dad taught me, those "with" help provide for the those "without", especially family, and in this case a pair of newlyweds and just before them a soon-to-be college student. Besides, they'll all be happy to actually get a bike from me rather that just hear me tell them why they should ride one.

I will take those fenders off your hands

Rat rodding is an excellent example of the value of recycling. It's not at all uncommon to see someone on this site pull a bike out of the trash and create something truly spectacular with it. And the best part of all is that this type of recycling gives you a kick-butt product you can ride down the street, so if you want the fenders they're yours. I've got a couple of things I'm looking for in order to complete this trifecta of a project if you want to work out a loose trade, or if you just want to cover the shipping cost I'm sure we can figure something out. Give me a PM when you have a chance.

 

[GodHatesCleveland]

I haven't been able to do much work lately, not much at all, but here's what's happened so far:

I spent some time smoothing out the ridiculously poor welds and got both the seams and the frame butter-smooth on what was going to be my bike, Mack the Knife:

It didn't have the holes for the naner seat clamps so I had to drill them:

At first I thought a standard stem would be more in the spirit of where I was taking the bike, and technically the bars were almost too wide for the BMX head set, but I really liked the industrial look of this and the spring all crammed together. It had a kind of insect or praying mantis look to it which struck me as funny looking, in a good way:

BUT.....I put it together for another mock up and something just doesn't look right to me. Although I like the curve of the handlebars with the front fork, and the way the color plays off the chrome, the frame just looks disjointed to me. For some reason I couldn't see it in the first mock up before the bike was painted, maybe thats why the model has such a wild paint scheme coming out of the factory. And the extra length in leg room the back of the banana seat gave me still wasn't enough for a comfortable riding position. It's a shame because this smaller bike was real easy to get in & out of the apartment:

So everything minus the frame is going back into the parts pile. The local bike co-op might find an anonymous little frame waiting for them on their doorstep in the morning.

The good news is I found a replacement to keep this thread a true "Three for All". I have a sister who just moved close to Charleston, SC and has asked me for a cruiser to ride through town and on the beach. I found this little charmer on CL, a '57 Roadmaster from the first owner (that's his paint job too). Everything is original and in good shape. The bike is already drawing a crowd, when I was driving home with it in the bed of my truck I stopped in a small town to eat. When I came out of the restaurant three people from a nearby store had walked out there and were standing by the bed of my truck, pointing out all of the features and reminiscing about their first bike. Ironically, my sister was also born in '57 and my parents favorite car was a '57 Buick Roadmaster which they still talk about today, so that was pretty cool. This one is going to be restored fairly close to specs. If anybody can point me to the correct rear fender reflector I would be very appreciative!

She's cleaning up pretty well:

SKIP TOOTH!!!!!!!!!!! I've never seen one in real life before, I can see why everyone likes them. Any idea if these have an advantage over the standard chain, and why did they quit making them?

Thanks for your patience everybody. I should be able to pick up the pace on this build (and get those fenders off the Raleigh) soon.