Traditional Late 1940's Hiawatha build

[ZephyrSpeed]

Well I had to go downstairs to change the laundry, so I took my camera went in the garage to snap a couple of shots..enjoy

 

[8ball]

This thread has it all: nice build, good tips & techniques (w/ supporting photos).
Now if I could just find a stand like yours and shifter like A.S.BOLTNUT's...

 

[stretch]

awesome. can i has? :mrgreen:

 

[8ball]

Sorry, gotta ask: I've always been confused with the layback seatpost on these old cruisers. I'm a newbie here, so please excuse my ignorance... but shouldn't the 7-shape be more open so the section out of the frame is parallel to the road?

Have you set the seat the way it was "designed" to sit or is it tilted back per the look you want?

Thanks, 8ball

 

[ZephyrSpeed]

Sorry, gotta ask: I've always been confused with the layback seatpost on these old cruisers. I'm a newbie here, so please excuse my ignorance... but shouldn't the 7-shape be more open so the section out of the frame is parallel to the road?

Have you set the seat the way it was "designed" to sit or is it tilted back per the look you want?

Thanks, 8ball

Yeah this one I believe is supposed to face forward, but that places me too far forward on the bike making me more cramped. This seat post is a solid piece of steel that they just heated and bent, so I just gotta re-heat it and bend it a little less to get the seat to sit more flat. It also gives it a much more comfortable stretched feel, plus I think that it asthetically looks better with the seat sitting in that "pocket" where the frame and the fender go. It sorta eliminates that big gap there, making the lines flow a little better whithout a seat sticking up way high in the middle of the bike...

 

[8ball]

Ahhh... so those 7 posts were designed to face forward.
I agree that it looks good the way you have it, better once "leveled".
Appreciate the info.

 

[ZephyrSpeed]

Ahhh... so those 7 posts were designed to face forward.
I agree that it looks good the way you have it, better once "leveled".
Appreciate the info.

Well, they can face either direction actually, it just depends on your application..its pretty cool, if the bike is too big, you have 2" worth of forward adjustment, and if the bike is smaller, then you have 2" worth of backwards adjustment. It is such a simple basic design, yet is so ingenious!!! Whoever designed it back in the day was one smart person :lol: