UNOFFICIAL FOLDING BIKE BUILD OFF CONTEST

[johnp.smith]

It might appear to be an engine of sort but will not be.

The Dietz lantern is great, I dont care who you are. It might be a nautical reproduction with the red and green lenses. Speaking of nautical, I scored a weather station at the arc thrift store. Dont know where the gauges will go yet but they can inform me if its a good day to ride. If I only had time to.

 

[Wildcat]

If we spent as much time building as posting, we would have finished last week.

I just checked the long term forecast, still going to be too cold to paint for another 10 days. As long as everything else is ready, I could paint with 2 days left and still make it.

If johnp doesn't mind, I don't have a problem with welding. I'm on the fence.

How did you keep the paint smell out of the house when painting in the basement? Is your heating isolated from the basement?

 

[udallcustombikes]

I'm painting mine in the basement as well. When I paint, I shut off the heater, turn the thermostat to fan only, and open some windows up stairs. I paint for about an hour and then give the upstairs about an hour to air out. We have been in the 30's this week so the house cools down about 6 or 7 degrees in the two hours the windows are open. I also have a fan in the basement blowing out a vent in the crawl space. Still have a slight odor, but it is tolerable. I highly recommend using a respirator when painting downstairs, it gets pretty thick quickly.

 

[johnp.smith]

I really dont care about welding, I wish I could and knew how to. Im sorta up in the air about doing steampunk right now for a few reasons and might stay with the cycle truck after all. I really do need some pratice painting. I will be doing mine inside a closet I redid on my deck. Its my new workshop. Warm enough to paint in and has good ventilation and lighting. Im playing with a different frame fork combo for a official steampunk build in April and think I might save my ideas for that. I have an intense 2 week training class starting monday that I will really need to focus on. The cycle truck as is, is already the most cutting, drilling, and grinding I have ever done to a bike already. I am still in the experimental stage and really dont think I have time to finish what I would like to try to do steampunk wise. I would rather be able to finish what I started now and kinda save my ideas and plan ahead for April. Too much on my plate do do anything this weekend.

 

[karfer67]

make it one style to the center of the bike then steampunk on the other end

 

[johnp.smith]

But I did borrow an idea, I will try to get a pic up later. Gaurenteed to make you laugh or your money back. I will have time for it later

 

[karfer67]

LETS SEE IT

 

[karfer67]

i strive to push what is popular with my builds and do stuff that is out of the box. it has to be just out side the box enough to still be cool and get noticed

 

[johnp.smith]

Here is the idea I stole, yep, my bike is in there

Im spending the weekend redoing the basement after tearing down my train layout. We need a rec room that we both get to enjoy.

 

[sensor]

man i really need to get one of those thomas bike covers!

 

[johnp.smith]

I started an intense 2 week class today and have a few hours of homework nightly. No playing with bikes right now for me. I should be able to prime it saturday and paint it sunday. Cool chaingaurd addition. The one Im using came off an old townie and was too long. I cut the rear along the seatstay. I still have to work on the front mount. Its held in by the bearing cup and has two arms to attach the old plastic chaingaurd. One will get chopped off and blended out.

 

[Wildcat]

Changed my mind again, the rims look good like they are so they won't get painted after all. I still have to figure how to paint that bright orange flange on the front wheel. I also found a thing made of tin to use as a carrier at Lowe's while I was getting wood for a TV, but it was 10 bucks, so it's still on the wish list. Later, at the exchange I found something else that would work, but it was made of wood, and also costs 10 bucks. I'm trying to keep the cost of this folder to a minimum. The tires and paint alone burned up my budget.

 

[Wildcat]

3 days and no posts? Everyone must be working for a change.

I made a little progress. Didn't get the mini-washtub or cutting board. I picked up a wood blank for the carrier, added a piece of the fake leather and brass tacks. Now I have to find the minwax I had last year. My daughter asked if I was making it steampunk. How did she know what steampunk was? She then showed me computer stuff that was steampunk. I told her it was going to be more of a hammered style. Also I covered the wooden tank I made for another project and it worked well.

Got the wheels/tires ready, using acrylic black and a paintbrush. Need one more inner tube.

 

[johnp.smith]

No time for bikes this weekend, the class Im in is kicking my butt, I need to study. I did give a bit of thought this week to this project and Im going to have to stick with a cycle truck. I can not feasibly make my steampunk idea work for the back of this bike. It would look ........ anyway and Id rather have something nice to ride around that I wouldnt be embarrased of. I might experiment with some scrap metal on it, not sure yet.

 

[Wildcat]

The temperature was just right for painting for 2 hours today, but I was grilling at my granddaughter's 11th birthday party. So still waiting for an opportunity to paint.
I'm leaving the copper cup and big headlamp off. Those are in reserve for the big build off coming up.It will get the bell and the parts off an old kmart bike I picked up at my daughter's house.

 

[BLASTER]

Not really entering this, but here's a '70 Motobecane I fixed up last Christmas for a dude.
Belonged to his Mom and he wanted to give it to her as a present.
Neat bike!

 

[Wildcat]

Got the carrier mostly done, and it looks like the weekend is going to be good for painting finally. I also had another folder, a 72 Raleigh 20 my brother gave me, but wanted it back after I tuned it up and cleaned it.

 

[kingplinker]

all builds looking cool! bighit is on a roll! I have been swamped with other things, but going to try & get back to the folder next week! - Cheers & great work folks. T.

 

[johnp.smith]

Nice job on the Motobecane.

I too had a green Raleigh 20 that I gave to a friend about 15 years ago. It still looks pretty nice except it has knobby tires on it now. He keeps it in his camper.

 

[kingplinker]

NICE! go dig! I am having issues with my bike! I am not liking the flat/boardtrack look for this frame - changing it up - think i'll go more motocross meets rat, or ??? also back sprocket & main sprocket are not lining up - - any tips to help w/alignment much appreciated -- it was geared bike, and now I want coaster brake - - hey, what if I just used ONE gear on the multi-speed hub, and avoided the derailer 0- think that might work. I can. in no way get the sprocket any closer to the frame ... if I can not fix, I;l have to switch to my other folder.. ugh.. T>