Trippin' Gypsy

[Reallybigtim]

Interesting little 70's Huffy that I picked up locally the day before the build-off started. Serial number says March of '72. $40 was probably too much to pay but, for some reason, I liked this little bike. Kind of like the ugliest dog at the pet store. I usually have a direction in mind for my builds before I enter them. And I usually only use original paint bikes. So, this is way outside my comfort zone. But it has the coolest custom paint. Sort of a red/orange-to-gold fade with an intentional splattering of yellow. Looks kind of like a desert sunset (the original name). And I think the chainguard is from a Huffy Rail??? Very rare Huffy gold glitter sculpted grips. The chrome is in excellent condition. The seat had an ugly red fabric covering, but turned out to be in great shape underneath. Don't know if I will use the seat or the bars or ??? But the frame and chainguard will stay as they appear now. Not even sure if this will stay in this category or have to be switched to category 2. Musclebike? Scraper? Chopper? Freak? Who knows? Let the experimental thoughts begin!

 

[handyandy1100]

Just turn the front fender around and call it done! LOL

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[Reallybigtim]

Just turn the front fender around and call it done! LOL

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Taking it apart now. This thing is actually in great condition. But that seat cannot stay. Everything else seems to be original except the tires and chainguard. Maybe $40 was a fair price???

 

[handyandy1100]

As nice as it looks, $40 seems like a good deal. I gave $60 for the roached out Spaceliner I had in the summer Build-off, but Spaceliners don't show up around here in good bad or ugly condition very often.

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[Reallybigtim]

Found this picture of an original Huffy Gypsy. Looks like they did put that chainguard on a girls bike. The seat is probably original also. Sissy bar and grips match. Might have to change the name. A band I know has a song called "Trippin' Gypsy". The custom paint is very "trippy".

 

[handyandy1100]

Like wow man. Just go with the flow...

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[Reallybigtim]

Name changed! New name is Trippin' Gypsy!

 

[Reallybigtim]

Now I have to paint that name on the chainguard!

 

[Reallybigtim]

The inspiration for the name. Great band. No longer together. Check out the whole album on youtube.

 

[Reallybigtim]

As nice as it looks, $40 seems like a good deal. I gave $60 for the roached out Spaceliner I had in the summer Build-off, but Spaceliners don't show up around here in good bad or ugly condition very often.

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My '64 Spaceliner. I might enter it and build a custom cruiser out of it next year (if I still have it).

 

[OddJob]

Cool build idea Tim! I like the seat, especially since we're pretty sure it's original to the bike.
RaT oN~!

 

[CRASH]

The guard is called a "Solid Stack" because it doesn't have the vents a "Flaming Stack" would have, which had an orange insert in the back that looked like flames.

Thus endith the Huffy lesson.

My Dragst-Her build will have a solid stack as well!

 

[Reallybigtim]

The guard is called a "Solid Stack" because it doesn't have the vents a "Flaming Stack" would have, which had an orange insert in the back that looked like flames.

Thus endith the Huffy lesson.

My Dragst-Her build will have a solid stack as well!

Thanks for the education. I had seen the chrome ones but this one isn't chrome.

 

[Reallybigtim]

I usually finish my builds in three days or less. This is the 3rd day. So, I wanted to have something close to a finished build. Here's the version I came up with today. I must like the Aussie style because I keep building them. The seat is more trippy than the paint. It's a Peter Maxx artwork print seat from the 70's. Those are some weird uni-directional grippy tires. They are almost 2.5" wide but have no size call-out. Now I just sit back and look at it to figure out where to go next.

 

[Jaxon]

Great looking build!

 

[SpikeFC]

Now that is... I don't know what too say... "Cool" & "Awesome" are not even close...

 

[Reallybigtim]

I am very pleased with this build so far. It it was not intentional that the rims didn't match each other. The person I bought the bike from gave these to me. Their mates were available but each was badly bent, so I left them there. These were free because he was throwing them away. Otherwise, they match each other and are extremely straight. I wanted them because they were skinny (modern BMX wheels). I figured that I would need very narrow rims to squeeze those big tires within the frame and fork. And I really like the look of fat tires on skinny rims. I straightened the original rims as much as possible, but that is almost impossible on those flimsy old Huffy rims. I will keep looking for a black front rim, because I like the look of the black rim on the black wall tire. It gives a heavier look. With the angle of the grips set at horizontal, the forward angles of the sissy bar and the handlebars are almost identical, and the top of the sissy bar is almost vertical. The seat sets horizontal like the grips. All of this gives a very cool optical effect. The tires clear by less than 1/16" from the tread rubbing the spring bolt in front and the seat frame in the rear. Mounted the front of the seat directly to the seat post clamp (after dropping the clamp down on the tube) to get it as low as possible. The pedals clear the ground (barely), so no problems when riding. That is another benefit of the fat 20" tires. They are 21" tall. I always try to do a build as cheaply as possible (like I had to do when I built them as a kid). With the value of the parts I have kept off of the bike, and the low amount of money spent so far, my approximate net investment: ZERO (or less)! Now to figure out the best way to write "Trippin' Gypsy" on the chainguard. And maybe some kind of headlight.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Love it!!!

 

[dropstep]

I can't imagine trying to ride that. Those curved Springer's freak me out handling wise on anything. It looks awesome and I'm not arguing it isn't rideable, my brains just trying to figure out how too ride it without crashing!

 

[Reallybigtim]

I can't imagine trying to ride that. Those curved Springer's freak me out handling wise on anything. It looks awesome and I'm not arguing it isn't rideable, my brains just trying to figure out how too ride it without crashing!

Curved springers aren't too bad until you turn the steering head up-side-down. Just as difficult as a long chopper but in a different way.