Western Flyer X-53 resurrection

ParkRNDL · Oct 12, 2024

I don't know that this is a build so much as me picking away at what was once a beautiful bike in an effort to make it less tragic.

I posted this in Fresh Finds not long ago:

After a couple of hours removing half of Wal-Mart's bike accessories aisle and wiping down with a dry rag, it looked a little less ridiculous:

Partly because I learned that the X-53 is a sought-after collectible, but mostly because it's just so darn cool, I wanted to try to remove the horrible pool-liner-blue paint and uncover whatever was left of the original paint, which should have been black and red for 1953. But after several fruitless sessions with Goof-Off and oven cleaner, it became clear that I would need a Plan B. It was then that I stumbled upon a picture of a 1953 Western Flyer X-53 GIRLS model:

(not mine, borrowed without permission from the CABE)

I decided that maybe the colors weren't bad after all, just the previous owner's Earl Scheib approach to painting. Maybe I could get this thing to look ok (weathered, but ok) without subjecting it to any further spray bomb paint crimes. So I set to work:

I kinda like where this is going. And the horn even works!

After enlisting the help of a friend who has grinding tools and chemical strippers and other implements of destruction, this is where I'm at:

It may be time for some of my special homebrew decal templates.

MattiThundrrr · Oct 13, 2024

X53 is such a killer frame, it's hard to go wrong. I absolutely love the rack integrated into the frame with those additional tubes. It looks awesome already with just the cleanup, blue paint job looks a lot better with the original graphics showing on the tank

ParkRNDL · Oct 13, 2024

Daylight:

Not only did the tires hold air all night, but after taking off the noisy hub shiners, this thing was dead silent on a trip around the block. (Well, except for the squeaky old seat.) And the speedometer works.

Now, I have been told that the Monark train headlight and deep fender are desirable, and maybe they look right on the correct bike, but I'm not a fan of it all on this one. If I could find a front fender that more closely matched the rear, I'd spray bomb it close-enough blue and call it a day, maybe put a rusty old headlight from my stash on it.

The guard is off the Murray-ish girls middleweight I got as part of this deal, and I think it manages to look better than that horrible chrome faux Schwinn piece. Pretty sure the correct guard, like the springer fork and headlight, are collector/restoration only items at this point. (Well, there's an original springer on eBay right now, but it's over 10 times what I paid for this bike and I don't want it that bad.)

While I don't have any hopes of finding an original springer for this, I am hoping to stumble on a newer middleweight springer like they'd have put on a Spaceliner, which I think would work great.

ParkRNDL · Oct 13, 2024

WHOA. Now that went surprisingly well...

I have been researching what parts are missing off this bike. Along with the whole front end and guard, there was this cool looking rear fender spear and reflector that are MIA:

Now, I have been tinkering with some very basic 3D design software that I use with my middle school students. I managed to come up with this:

Compared to one selling on Fleabay, it didn't look too terrible except for one small problem:

Now, I do NOT have the know-how to calculate that curve and design it in on this software, which is essentially the CAD equivalent of MS Paint. So I printed off a couple the way they were and figured that was that. Until I stumbled upon something online about using a heat gun to reshape 3D printed objects...

Out came the trusty Harbor Freight hair dryer.

I attached one of the spears to an old fender with one screw in the center.

A little judicious heat application, some gentle prodding, et voila. I did manage to twist the top a little, but I think it came out good for a first attempt.

Before and after reshaping:

ParkRNDL · Oct 18, 2024

Little stuff: Swapped out the grips for some white Western Flyer grips and cleaned the whitewalls a little.

Bigger news: I have acquired a working rat trap springer.

Head tubes measure the same (thanks for the info @rickpaulos ) so I am assuming it will be a straightforward swap.

I'm kind of stoked that the donor bike turned out to have some other parts I may be able to use, specifically the pedals and guard for starters, and maybe the chainwheel and cap. The drop center wheels would also look more correct on a 50s bike than what I have on there now, if I'm not mistaken. When did Bendix start making the model 70 coaster hub?

I also found this fender on the CABE. It looks to be much closer in design to the rear fender on the bike than the Monark front fender that's on it now.

Seller said he believes it's a ColorFlow fender, and from what I could see from researching pictures of ColorFlow bikes online, I have no reason to believe it's not. And from the ColorFlow pics I have seen, the springer rockers are very similar to the rat trap rockers, so I am hopeful that I can get this fender to work with the rat trap with some tweaking.

I do have a question for anyone who may have experience with this type of fender, since this one isn't in my hands yet: Is the lower brace attached to the back of the fender on some kind of pivot? The upper brace attaches to the rigid part of the fork, which I understand. But the lower one attaches to the end of the rocker that moves up and down with the spring/suspension travel. I assume there's some mechanism to allow it to articulate so it doesn't fatigue the metal around the attachment point on the fender, correct?

ParkRNDL · Oct 19, 2024

Aaaaand we have a springer.

Now hopefully there's enough room to get a fender up in there...

ParkRNDL · Oct 20, 2024

So since I picked up this bike and started tinkering with it, the garage has been deteriorating. This one came with a girls' Murray-built something-or-other middleweight that was painted the same shade of pool-liner blue and accessorized in a similarly horrific fashion. The guy wanted them both gone and I felt bad saying "well I'll help you with the one, but you're stuck with the other one."

So it came home, I have been cannibalizing it for parts, and it's adding to the chaos in the garage.

Then, in my search for a rat trap springer, I discovered this girls' Spaceliner on Marketplace and added it to the mess.

My wife has been giving me the side-eye about eventually getting her car back inside before it snows, so today I decided to thrash away on the bike stuff to create some kind of order. The plan was to dismantle the two girls bikes and end up with one girls bike to sell on Marketplace, one box of parts harvested for future tinkering, and one pile of scrap to give my son-in-law to practice with his new welder.

In taking the crank and pedals off the Spaceliner, I noticed this little spot on the edge of the pedal. What is this? Could it be... a reflector?

Well would ya look at that. I've never seen pedals like these. You can bet these are going on the X-53.

I had also hoped the Spaceliner guard would work on the X-53. The correct guard has a silver "spear" that extends from the rack support forward to a jet/rocket graphic, and I was thinking the Spaceliner guard could have a similar extension effect.

Alas, it doesn't seem destined to be. Though the rear mount works out fairly well, it makes the front of the guard too short. Also, the rear of the guard is lower than the chain, which will only get worse when I swap out the 18t rear cog for a 20t, which I ordered from Amazon a couple days ago.

Now, I am planning to change out the 46t sprocket for a 44t, so the guard won't have to be quite as far forward, but I don't think that'll make up the length I'd need. I haven't given up yet, but I'm thinking I'll probably end up using the blue Murray "tailfin" guard that was on there earlier.

So with both girls bikes blown apart, I pieced one back together on the Spaceliner frame. I added a set of bars and a Schwinn crank/sprocket from the basement stash, and the pedals and guard that were on the X-53 when I got it, et voila. We have a complete working girls bike. It even looks kinda cool.

While I was out there, I compared the cheap spray bomb I bought at Ollie's yesterday with the rear fender. I know the cap isn't going to be a perfect representation of the color, but hey, if it's even in this ballpark, it's good enough for me. The cap is a dead match. (I just KNEW that the cheapest Dark Blue paint I could find at a discount store was going to be the color the previous owner used.) The ColorFlow fender which will be getting this paint is on its way to me, according to UPS.

Finally, here are pics of that springer on the X-53 in daylight:

I am hoping that the ColorFlow fender will somehow fit in there without major surgery. I rode it up and down the block and it seems to work well, though it bottoms out pretty easily. Considering this bike was designed for kids who were maybe 125-150 lbs and I'm over 200, this should not be a surprise to me. :21:

Still looks cool and I like the novelty.

ParkRNDL · Oct 22, 2024

Got my Amazon package yesterday with a 20t rear sprocket for this thing, so I spent an hour juggling cranksets, sprockets, and bottom bracket pieces. This is what I ended up with.

I got it with a 46 tooth sprocket and 18 tooth rear cog, which was geared higher than I like. I stripped this 44t off the bonus girls middleweight that came with this bike, so on it went to complement the new 20t rear cog. Pretty sure this chainwheel is originally off a Rollfast (anyone confirm that?) and it looks kinda like the Murray one that should be on there, so I'm calling that a win. A quick test cruise up and down the block has this geared right where I like it now. Love these pedals too.

Really hoping I can get a fender to fit in here. UPS says the one I bought on the CABE is due here Thursday.

ParkRNDL · Oct 23, 2024

UPS got the fender here a day early. After adding a couple of dimples, it fits up in the Spaceliner fork perfectly, and it clears the tire with the suspension bottomed out. Now I just have to shorten the front support struts. Then we'll see how well that spray bomb really matches the rear fender.

However, this is likely gonna sit for at least a few days, because my daughter is getting married Saturday and starting tomorrow it's all hands on deck.

ParkRNDL · Monday at 9:37 PM

ok so... didja ever do a test shot of something that came out SO GOOD that you just knew you'd never be able to replicate it for the real thing? well, that's kinda what happened here, except not really.

I have been thinking I'd use my diecut stencil technique to fake together some graphics for this thing. I don't have the correct Western Flyer font, but I found something that's definitely the same idea.

It's not going to fool anyone who knows these bikes, but that's not the goal anyway. I just wanted something that looked right for this era and style. I'm even faking some ideas for stuff to use on the guard, even though the original X-53 didn't have anything on the guard but a jet fighter looking graphic (which I think was actually stamped into the metal of the guard).

Anyway, I wanted to put the Western Flyer script on the tank where the original would have been, like this (pic robbed from The CABE):

I had an idea that if I painted the script once in red, then overlapped it just a little in white, it'd be a reasonably similar effect to the original. So I tried it on a junker girls' tank:

DANG. That looked pretty good, I think. Just have to get it to look that good AGAIN on the halves of the tank. Twice.

Well, I actually got it lined up correctly and the paint came out great, except for one thing: the junk paint on the tank pulled up with the stencil when I was done. Which I should have figured for, seeing as how it was already flaking off in spots. I ended up using a wad of duct tape to try to randomize the paint loss elsewhere on the tank so it wouldn't look like it was just a square around the script.

Well, it looks old and weathered, anyway. It wouldn't even bother me if the whole tank was evenly chipped, but you can tell that there's a rectangle around each script where the tape pulled paint off.

I guess it's not really any more terrible than it was before. :21:

Oh and as a side note, I got the front fender attached in what looks like a somewhat correct manner. Does this look ok? I swapped out the upper fender strut for one off a junker 24" fender.

Pondo · Tuesday at 7:05 AM

The logo you did came out great, patina matched and all. I don't think anyone will notice that it's not original unless you point it out. The forks and fender are looking great too. Nice work!