What will this Ross become?

[JNOACK]

Perhaps you saw my first build that I completed way tooi early. (CCM KING COBRA) Well, my powder coater messaged me the other day and I was able to pick up my second frame on Christmas Eve day. Even though I had to pay for the job, it was a great Christmas present. So..... here's the beginning of build numero 2.

This bike starts with the frame from an original Ross Tor-o-nado. (pictured on the left).

I'm talkin' 60's pre muscle bike frame. I bought this on an online auction site years and years ago. I just had to have it and bid way more than I wanted to spend. A year later at a bike swap I happened to meet in person, the guy who was bidding me up. He had to have it too, but I won out. This is a picture I found on the internet. Mine was not nearly as nice.

Anyway, I used that bike and another donor frame to build my original red custom Ross Tor-o-nado. I took me 3 years to collect all of the parts. The parts I never thought I'd find where the seven shaped seat post and the funky bars. The parts frame I bought was actually quite a bit shorter than the original frame and had a different mount for the shifter. So I have had this frame and fork kicking around and at some point I purchased a Ross Barracuda guard to go with it.

This was the seat I envisioned using when I chose the paint colour. However, when I got the frame back, the seat just did not seem to match for me. After several iterations, I seem to be leaning toward the other sparkly purple seat in my collection.

My other original intention was to use the fork with the additional truss style bars. Again, I seem to be veering away from my original vision as the bars just don't seem to work for me.

At this point it's kind of like throwing paint at a canvas to see if it sticks. Here's a small sampling of some of the parts and ideas I was farting around with today. You're comments and ideas are welcome. They might even match the direction I've already decided on..... but lots of time left to change my mind a hundred more time.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

I think for the sprocket, you need to avoid the mag style, that looks too sixties. I like the middle one with three crossed arms, but it might be busy on that wild frame. If it doesn't work out, then I'd go for the simpler 4 oval one.

 

[sdframe]

Wow! This is gonna be good.

 

[wheelbender6]

I'm really liking this one.

 

[Cheesy]

Ohhh....This is going to be Awesome!!!
The 5th shifter gets my pic

 

[JNOACK]

I'm all over the place on this build. I've probably tried a record number of combinations of parts. The hard part is that sometimes a part doesn't quite look right on the bike until the rest of the parts are there to pull it all together. The trick is to not damage any of the parts whilst taking them on and off of the bike. You also have to keep a tidy shop. Nothing worse than stepping backwards onto an NOS fender that you left on the floor. That didn't happen this time....

I must admit that I have plowed quite far ahead on this build since I had a couple days to myself while my daughter was away with her mom. I will share a few little tidbits each day until I can complete the final touches and find and appropriate location for a photoshoot. (a little harder in the dead of winter)

Still going back and forth on the seat, and handle bars. A new shifter has entered the running. I did however decide on a 3 speed Sturmey hub which effectively eliminates many of the previous shifters shown. I thought I would use a black plastic Sturmey Sportshift since I have quite a few, but the chrome Sturmey shifter caught my eye. Some call this one the coffin shifter. I also dug out an NOS set of Goodyear G3 All-weather Glowall tires that are hands down the choice for this build.

Tried some more combos on the bars. Big wheel, nope. Sears screamer bars, nope. It'll click in my head eventually.... I decided to move on to the front tire. I needed to find a hub, a clean rim, and some spokes. SPOKES!!!! Frig. I always get hung up on spokes and find myself going to the calculator to find some combo of rim size, hub size, and cross pattern that will work with the random lengths of spokes I have on hand. As luck would have it, I found this 36 hole rime from some sort of cart that had the 190mm length that I needed for a 2 cross pattern on a 28 hole 20" rim. Off to the races. I'm building wheels so often now, that I'm getting pretty quick at it.

Also decided to go with dual rear brakes on this build for a few reasons.

1. Friggin' cool!
2. No hole in the front fork for a front brake
3. Found a matching set of calipers that would reach the rear rim perfectly.

With the front built, I put on the new tires and the bikes sits on the stand for a bit while I sleep on it and re-assess.

 

[Cheesy]

Some nice progress
How long is this bike from end to end? That frame makes it look super long...love it!

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

this is fun to watch. I like that tractor tire. Makes the business end look beefy and hot-rody.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

I spent a few minutes studying that CCM poster on the wall. That's quite a cool little resource. Thanks for the peek.
Also, is there a specific bolt used to mount the double brakes? That was something I was pondering for my build, but I had to abandon it

 

[ParkRNDL]

Hey, dual rear brake! My build is running one of them too...

 

[OddJob]

I like this iteration the best.

Except for the light lavendar hand grip on the bars. Maybe a white wrap to finish off the purple on the 'horns'? I really like the 'racy look' that the striped seat provides. The purple paint in the frame is the BOMB! Once again, you are setting the bar high J !

 

[JNOACK]

I spent a few minutes studying that CCM poster on the wall. That's quite a cool little resource. Thanks for the peek.
Also, is there a specific bolt used to mount the double brakes? That was something I was pondering for my build, but I had to abandon it

I’ll take a better picture of the poster for you.

 

[JNOACK]

I like this iteration the best.

View attachment 181825

Except for the light lavendar hand grip on the bars. Maybe a white wrap to finish off the purple on the 'horns'? I really like the 'racy look' that the striped seat provides. The purple paint in the frame is the BOMB! Once again, you are setting the bar high J !

You’re definitely on the right track as you will see in my next few posts. The bars were already wrapped with that colour and that lone lavender grip. Going to re-wrap all the way.

 

[JNOACK]

Some nice progress
How long is this bike from end to end? That frame makes it look super long...love it!

From front axle to rear axle it's 42". Compare that to some of you other bikes. This is a long frame!!

 

[JNOACK]

I went on a bit of a tangent here. The style of sissy bar I chose for this bike specifically fits the Free Land Polo back rest accessory I have. I decided to pull it out of the package and give it a go. I thought I might be able to pair a purple back rest with it as well. I got it on the bike and and even tried it out with a couple different seats. The more I looked at, the more I realized why it's not a well known or popular accessory. It just doesn't look or feel right in any way. It was fun to try, but it's going back in the bag where it will stay as one of those muscle bike oddities.

With the tires sorted out, I started digging through my stash of fenders to find something that would work on the front and rear. Front was pretty simple, but the rear needed to clear the tire, but also not interfere with the dual calipers. I managed to find one in great shape that even had a hanger with it to mount where the rear brakes mount.

I managed to dig out some rolls of bar tape that will do nicely for the bars, and I threw the original crank and sprocket on. Things are moving along nicely.

 

[JNOACK]

I’ll take a better picture of the poster for you.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Yup. Downloaded. Thanks. Just want to highlight this little corner. CCM was not afraid to try something new

That Bandit...

 

[JNOACK]

Yup. Downloaded. Thanks. Just want to highlight this little corner. CCM was not afraid to try something newView attachment 181889

That Bandit...

Stole it from Huffy.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Lol not afraid to steal something new then. This is Canada, copying our big brother is one of our things.

 

[RustyGold]

Three days remaining! Finished threads are up!