Zasada Rides Again

[kingfish254]

I really like the way the fork extension is turning out. Brilliant use of the brake posts.

 

[handyandy1100]

The front fork is way past cool, GeePig! The rest of the bike is pretty chilly too!

 

[Ulu]

I don’t know how such things work in Poland, but here I would put a notice up on the telephone pole next to our community mailbox that says, “wanted: used moped or moped parts”.

Everybody would eventually see it when they stop at the mailbox.

 

[Ulu]

This all looks like it will work just fine, and I am waiting anxiously to see how you will mount the brakes.

 

[GeePig]

I really like the way the fork extension is turning out. Brilliant use of the brake posts.

Thanks, I just hope that they have been welded on firmly enough...

The front fork is way past cool, GeePig! The rest of the bike is pretty chilly too!

I am quite looking forward to riding it

I don’t know how such things work in Poland, but here I would put a notice up on the telephone pole next to our community mailbox that says, “wanted: used moped or moped parts”.

Everybody would eventually see it when they stop at the mailbox.

That is the tricky part, as we do not have a community mailbox. We do have trees and the occasional barn that people attach notes to, although our local tree has only a couple of notes on it. The tricky part is that parts like this have no value until you ask for them, then the prices rocket.

This all looks like it will work just fine, and I am waiting anxiously to see how you will mount the brakes.

The brakes are going to be a set of traditional ones, as the wheel is smaller than what was originally fitted. That is what I love about messing around with parts from other bikes...

 

[GeePig]

Well some progress has been made towards mounting the hoop that will mount the rear of the seat.

Like many things on this bike I have two different plans, and the parts for the plan that does not work out will be kept for some future project. I can mount these to the lugs on the rear of the frame, then use the large slot to mount the frame. These come from the smallest kids bicycle that have passed through my hands, and I am sure that I can use them somewhere.

The alternative is to indent the seat tubes so that they fit between the rack/mudguard mounts on the frame, then have a strip of metal to strap each one to the frame, with a bolt threaded through the tubes to stop the tubes slipping.

Or something like that.

Now I am painting the front wheel supports so that they look like a system instead of random parts bolted together. I was going to give the struts a bit of a final set of hammering to smooth them out, but since I am not filing or grinding away the corrosion marks from the lower links I have decided that subtle brutality is going to be the look I am going for.

A synergy of engineering and brutality.

 

[Son of Kradus]

great improvising on the front forks, and the linkage system.... given me an idea with that! the way you married those rear extensions inside the old dropouts is a fantastic idea too! well done!

 

[Ulu]

It’s coming along quite lovingly. It’s going to look like it’s had a little “tough love”.

One of the things I noticed when I came here is the variety of ways people have invented to mount a seat.

I like to plug the tubes over or into something attached to the bike, so that the open ends are not exposed. That of course means making more parts.

But where there’s a hammer there’s a way.

 

[GeePig]

great improvising on the front forks, and the linkage system.... given me an idea with that! the way you married those rear extensions inside the old dropouts is a fantastic idea too! well done!

Thanks, it is always a pleasure to give other people ideas

 

[GeePig]

It’s coming along quite lovingly. It’s going to look like it’s had a little “tough love”.

One of the things I noticed when I came here is the variety of ways people have invented to mount a seat.

I like to plug the tubes over or into something attached to the bike, so that the open ends are not exposed. That of course means making more parts.

But where there’s a hammer there’s a way.

I am still giving myself some time to think about how I am going to do mine, and once people talk about hammering then the ideas start flowing. I suppose I could hammer a flat section in the tube right at the point I want to mount it.

I have also thought about inserting little thread-sized tubes into the main tube to help prevent the tube from being crushed.

To crush or not to crush: that is the question.

 

[hbn]

Well some progress has been made towards mounting the hoop that will mount the rear of the seat.

Like many things on this bike I have two different plans, and the parts for the plan that does not work out will be kept for some future project. I can mount these to the lugs on the rear of the frame, then use the large slot to mount the frame. These come from the smallest kids bicycle that have passed through my hands, and I am sure that I can use them somewhere.

The alternative is to indent the seat tubes so that they fit between the rack/mudguard mounts on the frame, then have a strip of metal to strap each one to the frame, with a bolt threaded through the tubes to stop the tubes slipping.

Or something like that.

Now I am painting the front wheel supports so that they look like a system instead of random parts bolted together. I was going to give the struts a bit of a final set of hammering to smooth them out, but since I am not filing or grinding away the corrosion marks from the lower links I have decided that subtle brutality is going to be the look I am going for.



A synergy of engineering and brutality.

I like how you think. Artist and constructor.
PS the two dropouts looks like two fish

 

[GeePig]

I like how you think. Artist and constructor.
PS the two dropouts looks like two fish
View attachment 239450

Well, I have never thought much about it, but maybe I am an artist and constructor

I am glad I chopped those dropouts off, because now they are no longer part of a kids bicycle frame, they are so much more now. I might cut off the BB and the fork mount as well.

 

[GeePig]

I set about shortening the fasteners on the end of the original forks, which have a chunky 13mm thread. I am unsure at the moment whether to have the head of the bolts on the inside or the outside of the forks. Having the head of the bolt inside would mean they resemble the original axle, while having the head out would look much cleaner.

It was a risk, but I have managed to file the old piece of footpump away to almost a state of nothingness!

When they began to get really thin the brittleness of the material began to show up, and now I have three little pieces rather than one...

The solution is the temporary one that so often occurs at a race meet: use duct tape.

If I had some sheet aluminium or steel, then I could make a shim out of that instead, but at the moment I have nothing like that on our farm except an old fridge in our wooden barn. I might take a look at that, to get some sheet steel.

At least now I can measure how thick the shim needs to be.

I can also soon move onto the next stage, which is testing the seat position.

 

[Ulu]

Poland doesn’t have beer in aluminum cans? Aluminum beer cans make perfect shim stock for many things.

 

[SwissGuy]

Poland doesn’t have beer in aluminum cans? Aluminum beer cans make perfect shim stock for many things.

Thought the same:
So get yourself a can of some decent polish beer (or lemonade if you prefer), take a break to empty it and there you got your perfectly prerounded shimming material...

 

[Son of Kradus]

Hi Gee pig... mate even a can of baked beans or spaghetti, the thin wall of the heavier can may be thick enough!

 

[SwissGuy]

And then you can dance the Can Can....


or even Can the Can:

 

[Ulu]

DIY Tip:
Many 16oz cans here are thinner than 12oz. (I guess that would be about 375ml & 500ml in metric.)

Also, if you have an old lead battery clamp that can no longer be tightened to the post, you can scrape the paint off of an aluminum can (inside and outside,) and use that as a shim to tighten up your battery post, tapping it together.

 

[GeePig]

I know this sounds strange, but we rarely buy food and drinks in any kind of can, and even the cans that we do buy have a light ripple or ridging that is a nuisance when you are trying to make a shim. I guess that ripple helps to let them use thinner steel.

Anyway, our beer comes in glass bottles , which we can take back to the shop and get back about a Zloty per bottle. In fact we have a nice plastic container for transporting them.

One down, five more to go...

I could go and buy some beer in cans, but that kind of defeats the purpose of my builds, which is mainly to use the materials that I can find around me. I could cut up one of our large plastic cans we get cooking oil in, because the main bottle is nearly finished.

The only question I have is which would produce a better bike, rather than just a more socially acceptable one?

 

[Ulu]

I usually buy bottles myself.

However I figured you could find a discarded can by the roadside somewhere.