Top's First Rat

[ang1sgt]

I guess I need to follow this build because it is my first.

Bike: Early to Mid 60’s Rollfast Cantilever frame. All original with fenders, chain guard, tires and wheels. Stored in horrid conditions for many years. ie...the Barn! This was my Father In Laws bike and after his 30’s he never road it. The bike is native to Rochester NY and a Yautzi’s Bike shop decal was found on this bike.

Although rusted, it is a complete bike. I like the frame and things seem solid with it.

In about an hour I got it down to the bare frame.

After some sanding and a little primer, I got it a bit cleaner and smoother. I might just take it to get sandblasted so I know all the rust is gone. I bought some rolling stock and mounted it up. I like the looks, but due to the size I may have to forego the fenders. Seems like the chain guard will work and I like the shape of it. The fork is going to have to be changed due to clearance issues.

My new rear wheel is a cheapy from the shop I work at. I have a restored Bendix RB-2 that would work nice, but I think I like the way that the Coaster brake arm is all but hidden behind the frame rail. I really like the look of this.

I think I'll be going with a Flat or Semi gloss Black paint with this bike with some red, maybe white, pinstripes. The chain guard will stay and it might have some bobbed fenders on it. The front fork is going to be an issue. I might go with a triple clamp on this to add some shine and some different style.

What do ya think?

 

[thatismytruck]

I love it!! Try hard to keep the forks. I've seen some builds that were able to keep the middle weight forks with wider tires.

 

[FunkyStickman]

Looks great so far, with a setup like that, you pretty much can't go wrong!

 

[stretch]

i dont mean to preach, but a lot of people are doing the black, white, and red. altough a good combo, used wayy too much. you should break the mold! with this bike, id paint it a deep maroon/blood red metallic, and maybe even keep the chaingaurd as is! and then a chrome bobbed fender. triple trees would look very nice.

 

[ang1sgt]

On the colors, the bike is still a blank canvas as of now. Still have much to do on it.

I have thought about a military theme to salute my service. I need a head badge and was thinking
of using something from my 24 years of service life. Not sure. I have more parts to gather and more decisions
to make on this bike.

Chris

 

[JonTheGun]

Cool build! That coaster hub is pretty stealthy!

 

[karfer67]

do it what ever group you were in the service use things like the patch on the seat. go wild the best thing about these bikes is there are no rules

 

[ang1sgt]

Got some more bits and pieces for the Bike today. Picked up a Wald 40T Chainring, BB set and a new crank arm for the Rollfast. Could not believe the BELL saddle I found at K-Mart. Just what I was looking for. I need to place an order for some fork bits and pieces on Monday. Still thinking a Chopper fork, just not sure if I should go black or all chrome.

 

[ang1sgt]

Got some ideas for paint and stance. A military theme will prevail here. That means a few things I already have need to be swapped out. I have some stuff on order now through choppersusa, Put that order in on Monday and it's still in PROCESSING! What is that all about? I HATE waiting on parts!

As I am waiting, I found another Bike on my local craiglist site. Found another Rollfast but this one is a woman's frame. The neat thing is that it is complete and has the head badge and what looks to be little use on the bike itself. Light rust on the painted rims and a little faded too. Might just clean up fine, but that is a whole nother thread.

 

[Foybles]

LOVE those tires you have. I used those on my Simplosion build. Very fat!

 

[ang1sgt]

Well, SOME progress!

I had to start over and restrip the frame. There was a LOT of rust underneath the original paint. I just do not want blisters popping back up anytime too soon. I used Rustoleum Automotive Primer as my base. Went on nice. Due to my new theme with this bike, I have decided to paint the frame and the chain guard in a Flat Olive Drab. I have a few pics of the color on the frame, but I forgot my account login to upload my pics. That I'll get fixed up soon.

On the parts front, I should have my parts today from one of my vendors. They had an internet commerce problem last week and it slowed up orders. To their credit, when I called yesterday they were very quick to answer my questions and I am pleased with that.

My direction with this bike as suggested by one poster is to honor my Military service in this bike. Such a great idea! My name for this project is "Flightline Dispatch". Of course my only reason for doing this bike is to see how well I can do something like this. Kind of my therapy after being depressed after losing both of my parents this year. Kind of brought into focus what is important to me in my life, and that I am not getting any younger myself.

I need to let my paint set up for a bit. Humidity is supposed to be way up this weekend, so I hope painting this morning and giving things a few days to cure will do the trick.

 

[Uncle Stretch]

I feel for your loss. Both In a year Is alot to endure. Keeping your mind busy is a good idea. Once again sorry.

 

[ang1sgt]

Here are some pics from Paint

Frame after the second coat of Rattlecan Flat Olive Drab.

Chain Guard after paint. I left some of the dents and crusty stuff because Military vehgicles and equipment just never is very pristine for long. So far I like how this is turning out.

Today is frame mechanical preping day. I have a new headset, bottom bracket, crank, chain, and a few other parts to install. I want to get my Grandson involved later today and have him help out too.

UPDATE:
After a couple hours worth of work this morning this is where the bike stands so far:

I'm not thrilled with the whitewalls on the Olive Green Paint. Too much! I want to find something like the Maxxis Hookworm tires in a blackwall for this bike. My headset is the wrong one for the Kruiser King Fork. I might have ordered the wrong one or they may have sent the wrong one. Not sure!

Comments so far?

 

[stretch]

looks good! i think the reason the whitewalls dont fit with the paint is because of the silver wheels. if you painted them flat or gloss black, or even olive drab, they'd fit better.

 

[ang1sgt]

looks good! i think the reason the whitewalls dont fit with the paint is because of the silver wheels. if you painted them flat or gloss black, or even olive drab, they'd fit better.

Yep, I am looking at some Black Alloys and I am thinking about 26x2.5 Maxxis Hookworm tires for the bike. With the Military theme I want less chrome and more black to be sure. I got those wheels for a DEAL and I'll just put them on the Ladies Rat Rod that I'll start after this one. I think the shed is going to fill up with bike parts!

 

[stretch]

only if the shed stays the same size.. :wink:

 

[ang1sgt]

Seems like I'll have to put this bike on hold for a bit. I QUIT my Job at the Bike shop due to some personal reasons. That was a very hard decision to make and one I really feel bad about. It was tough losing my Job back in December after 28 years, but I think I am taking this one a little harder because I knew I had to leave. Too many REDFLAGS and things just not right.

 

[ang1sgt]

Poked around at one of TWO new shops in the area that open in the last two months.
My daughter gave me a gift card from the one place so I decided to see what they had.

Decided to ask what they had for cruiser tires. Saw that one of the bikes on the floor had the 26x2.125
Black Bontrager Cruiser tires. I really wanted to see those. They pulled a bunch down and saw a few
possibles. As they were pulling them down, I saw the tell tale Orange stickers of Maxxis on one set.
They had my all time favorite Maxxis Hookworm tires in a 26x2.50! I've been wanting a set of these for sometime.
I was dissallowed to order them at the last shop where I worked.

I was uncertain if these would fit. They will be fine on the fork, but clearance on the rear is going to be TIGHT.
I'll deal with it just for the look of these things!

On the Headset front, I went with a Chris King headset custom made for this application. Sounds like overkill and it probably is. But I know it will be right and I'll never have to worry about it again. The game plan is that when the headset comes in, to tack everything together and go for a ride. Hopefully sometime this weekend!

 

[Foybles]

The color of the bike with blackwall Maxxis Hookworms Is gonna look insane! I can't wait to see those pics.

 

[WhiteShadow]

drab the rims and throw some all white tires on it