What's Old is Klunk Again

[davemn]

Better late than BO17 or never I guess. I started a build thread on this Monark Rocket and didn't get too far with it yet, so am now moving it over to the BO, since I work better with a deadline. Since I really don't have any kind of spare parts floating around, I'm stripping this down to the base and starting from scratch. Research on this came via Allen Bonds' site and watching Klunkerz on Amazon. So, starting from there with a few tweaks.

The Rocket had a base of a deep green paint hidden under another coat of brighter green, then what looks like black and latex blue over the top of it all. What I'm most sad about is the head badge is nearly destroyed. I have an idea in the back of my mind to make a new one, but TBD (Time, Budget, Desire) on that. Pedals and stem were seized beyond my capability or patience, so I had to make some tough decisions. As it sits as of last night, the frame is sanded down to bare metal. My neighbor has a buddy that does hot rod resto's, and is willing to paint this up for a not unreasonable price. And, painting is too far outside my wheelhouse, at least to make it look anywhere decent. Overall concept is to capture the essence of a klunker, but with some nicer touches that only a trained eye would pick up.

Rough plan:
Have paint buddy paint it up nice, hopefully blue metal flake, hopefully two-tone
Buy a head tube reamer/facer and turn this into 1 1/8" threadless headset (Also: use this project to buy unnecessary tools)
Get an euro BB adapter or sealed US sized BB
Buy as many Ritchie parts as possible (in a nod to Tom Ritchie)
Pick up a wheelset with front and rear drum brakes with Sturmey-Archer 5-speed hub (already ordered, with blue rims)
Buy some 26x2.125 Duro tires
Keep the scavenged parts from this bike for BO17.

 

[OddJob]

Welcome aboard the RRB BO train! Looks like you are on your way to a kool klunker build.

Turning an old frame into a klunker is a great project, and I like your ideas. I couldn't see a mention of a specific fork, are you going straight BMX style fork? If so, you could probably find a 1" threadless or threaded, as well as 1" BMX style stem with a 25.4 handlebar clamp for lots of bar options.

RRB hosted an ORBO ( Off Road Build Off) in the winter of 2016. We had a Klunker category, and I made a Klunker Kalendar for 2016 out of the Top 10 finishers. You might want to go here for some inspiration:

https://ratrodbikes.com/forum/threads/klunker-kalendar-top-ten-orbo-2016.97760/
RaT oN~!

 

[davemn]

Welcome aboard the RRB BO train! Looks like you are on your way to a kool klunker build.

Turning an old frame into a klunker is a great project, and I like your ideas. I couldn't see a mention of a specific fork, are you going straight BMX style fork? If so, you could probably find a 1" threadless or threaded, as well as 1" BMX style stem with a 25.4 handlebar clamp for lots of bar options.

RRB hosted an ORBO ( Off Road Build Off) in the winter of 2016. We had a Klunker category, and I made a Klunker Kalendar for 2016 out of the Top 10 finishers. You might want to go here for some inspiration:

https://ratrodbikes.com/forum/threads/klunker-kalendar-top-ten-orbo-2016.97760/
RaT oN~!

Nice calendar! It's getting the gears turning.

When I pulled apart the fork, the threadset cups fell right out. So instead of shimming it, I'm only 0.1mm from a 1-1/8" headset cup. I have my eye on a headset reamer and feel pretty confident I can get that .1mm. So going with a threadless headset and Ritchie MTB stem that I picked up off ebay. I was originally thinking a BMX fork, but haven't pulled the trigger on anything yet.

 

[davemn]

Finally, some progress. Got the wheelset and fork in. I was going to build the wheels up myself, but the wheelset was too good of a deal. Sturmey-Archer drum brakes front and rear, with an internal 7-speed hub. Had to spread the rear triangle a bit, which was a new one for me. Sheldon Brown pulled through for me. All I had was a 2x8, so I had to get creative with a shim to put the pressure point over the dropouts. Rear wheel now fits like a glove.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Nice wheelset! That's some good gears

 

[OddJob]

MN guy using a hockey stick in his build; perfect.

Can't remember, you got shoes for those new hoops?

 

[davemn]

Nice wheelset! That's some good gears

This is my first time working with drum brakes. I'm excited to try them out.

 

[davemn]

MN guy using a hockey stick in his build; perfect.

Can't remember, you got shoes for those new hoops?

I'm waiting on the tires until I settle on a color for the frame. Thinking of a pair of duros with the tan sidewall. May end up going with whitewalls. Either way, looking for an old school knobby tread.

 

[davemn]

The Ritchie stem showed up today, so I could update the mockup. May go with shorter rise bars than I was thinking originally. Or may need to use a different stem. Stole the original 2.125 tires, thinking they make the blue rims pop.

 

[OddJob]

I've got a couple old school mtb bars in my handlebar stash, if you are interested.

Those tires look good on there, and really do make those blue rims pop. You going to run a BB conversion kit so you can use a a 3 piece crank or stick with the one-piece? I've always been a fan of old frame - vintage mtb klunker conversions. Yours is turning out well!

KluNk oN~!

 

[davemn]

I've got a couple old school mtb bars in my handlebar stash, if you are interested.

Those tires look good on there, and really do make those blue rims pop. You going to run a BB conversion kit so you can use a a 3 piece crank or stick with the one-piece? I've always been a fan of old frame - vintage mtb klunker conversions. Yours is turning out well!

KluNk oN~!

You know, I may take you up on the handlebar. I actually live just over in Woodbury.
Now that I have the black sidewalls on, it may stay that way. I'm looking at either the BB conversion kit or a sealed bearing BMX BB. Part of me wants to find a NOS UN55 to put with the conversion kit though. I've never had a problem with tapered cranks as long as they're torqued down tight, and I installed so many of those BBs back in the day I couldn't even count them all. I think it would be a nice touch that only I would know about. And now, all of RRB. Hmm. Awkward.

Edit: apparently these are still around. Last time I looked nobody had any. Looks like they're back again.

 

[Karate Chicken Industries]

Square Taper 4Lyfe

 

[davemn]

Square Taper 4Lyfe

Kids these days and their splined cranks...

 

[kingfish254]

The Sheldon Brown goal assist was awesome!!!!
That wheelset looks beautiful on that frame!!!

 

[davemn]

The Sheldon Brown goal assist was awesome!!!!
That wheelset looks beautiful on that frame!!!

That was my first time expanding a rear triangle. Wedging a board in the frame and then stepping on it seemed counterintuitive. The string running from the rear dropouts to the head tube worked well to measure the alignment. I liked it better than using a frame alignment tool.

 

[toro1978]

Pretty cool, I would flip the stem though.

 

[SwissGuy]

That was my first time expanding a rear triangle. Wedging a board in the frame and then stepping on it seemed counterintuitive. The string running from the rear dropouts to the head tube worked well to measure the alignment. I liked it better than using a frame alignment tool.

Nothing better than a bit of brute force, carefully applied.

 

[kingfish254]

That was my first time expanding a rear triangle. Wedging a board in the frame and then stepping on it seemed counterintuitive. The string running from the rear dropouts to the head tube worked well to measure the alignment. I liked it better than using a frame alignment tool.

I've used that method before. Actually as recent as my Speed Demon build a couple of months ag.

 

[davemn]

Pretty cool, I would flip the stem though.

The stem has a lot higher rise than I was expecting. I could try flipping it, or might need to get something else. Maybe a BMX stem. Or find some bars with a shorter rise, but that's less fun.