# 1941-ish Rollfast Lightweight



## bikiba (Sep 17, 2014)

I've been actively working on the rollfast light weight I bought a few months back for the last week.
Original thread here: http://thecabe.com/vbulletin/showth...k-style-racer-200-shipped&p=367284#post367284


I just noticed, the fork is bent  ... my luck and rollfast forks is no bueno!


you can see in the original pic that the fork is fine.






the day i got it





Closeup where you see the bearings! 





Ugh... like looking at a broken leg 





So now i am at work, I am wondering, if it was really bent? or maybe it is just loose and needs to be tightened? My gut feel from what i remember is that it needs to be straightened. if so, we have an old time bike shop 100+ years that i will take it to along with big red rollfast.


You can see the nice shiny stem below compared to the other pics. I worked on it for a good 30mins last night and is even better looking.





one issue is that the stem has a cracky looking chip on the top.It is completely flat and shallow. I tried to "break" the stem using the handle bars and twisting it and it didnt move so i think it will be fine if i use it for now for light stearing. [ no mountain biking for this rollfast : ] But if anyone has a stem that they dont need anymore i wuold be interested or i will just check out the wares in trexlertown.










On a positive note I was able to find 
1. tires/tubes that fit
2. the fenders, chainguard, stem and handlebars have been cleaning up nicely. 
3. no other major defects


Almost done with the initial rust removal, but will need to get serious on the tougher parts. Given its current state i think I need about 15-20 more man hours on it.


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## rustjunkie (Sep 17, 2014)

Guessing the bike was shipped to you with the fork turned around and left in the frame. 
I've had decent luck asking shippers to write PLEASE DO NOT STAND ON END in big letters on the boxes.


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## bikiba (Sep 17, 2014)

rustjunkie said:


> Guessing the bike was shipped to you with the fork turned around and left in the frame.
> I've had decent luck asking shippers to write PLEASE DO NOT STAND ON END in big letters on the boxes.




i honestly don't remember how i pulled it out of the box. =/


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## bikiba (Sep 18, 2014)

bikiba said:


> you can see in the original pic that the fork is fine.
> View attachment 169326




i finally figured out what happened and it is VERY bad news.

Check out the fork in this pic. If you look SUPER close you can see that if you were facing the front wheel the right hand side of the fork is lower from the headset than the left hand side. it is barely noticeable at this angle. So it wasnt a front/back thing, it is a left to right bend.

So i was attempting to get the fork off and guess what happened? The whole fork cracked off! it is rusted through at that point it exits the headset and the right side had already had a crack and tht is why the thing was off kilter.

My heart sank to my feet... 

i took some pix, but my phone died so i will put them up tomorrow.

I doubt anyone has this type of fork laying around forsale?

Do you guys think i could have it welded?


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## bikiba (Sep 19, 2014)

Ugh....

Giving it a 3rd 4th and 5th looks, it looks as if it must have been bent or cracked in the spot and became weak and done.

I have never seen a fork "rip". The point of the break is pretty straight. Anyone good at welding?? 


Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2


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## VR6GTiGuy (Sep 19, 2014)

Hard to tell what is going on from your picture, but fork steerer tubes can be welded to be as good as new.  You want to work with a competent welder and it should be sleeved for alignment and strength.  I do some of my own welding, but work with a local shop when safety is crucial.  I simply asked some of my hot rod buddies for a recommendation the first time I needed to find a shop (to weld a motorcycle frame) and have been using them ever since.


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## bikiba (Sep 19, 2014)

thanks @VR6GTiGuy

my sister in laws dad is a metalsmith, mostly precious, but has a number of friends in that business. Im going to ask him what he thinks, but yeah i think going to a motorcycle guy would be best.


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## Andrew Gorman (Sep 19, 2014)

Any bicycle frame builder will be able to splice in a new threaded steerer- there are a bunch in NYC.  Keep that slack angled machine on the road!


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## bikiba (Sep 19, 2014)

Andrew Gorman said:


> Keep that slack angled machine on the road!




Lol... I am trying. 

Thanks for the tip I didn't think of looking for a frame builder!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2


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## SirMike1983 (Sep 20, 2014)

It is actually a plus this happened now and not later. You don't want to find out the fork is compromised while riding. A broken fork usually means a serious crash. The other plus is that as a steel fork it can be fixed. Start with a local framebuilder as Andrew mentioned.

You should check the top-head and down-head tube joints for bending or damage now as well.


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## bikiba (Sep 22, 2014)

I called NYC Bicycle works who has a welder and they said it will start at $100 to weld the tube back on!

i'm going to have to keep looking


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## SirMike1983 (Sep 22, 2014)

It doesn't hurt to shop it around but bike frame builders are generally not cheap.The last time I needed a fork repair done by a frame builder, the rates ran about $100 to replace the fork column, $20-30 to fix a crack, and $40 to replace a drop out. There are lots and lots of old lightweights around with busted forks because a professional repair is more than the bike or part is worth. 

You could try a motorcycle/car or welder's shop that isn't specialized in bike frames and see what they say. A competent, careful repairman could do the job even if he's not specialized in just bikes, but it's always safer to get a bike frame builder. The material should be plain old steel and the tolerances are probably pretty big for today's standards. 

The cheapest solution may be to get a generic replacement fork, either in chrome or black.


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## bikiba (Sep 22, 2014)

SirMike1983 said:


> You could try a motorcycle/car or welder's shop that isn't specialized in bike frames and see what they say. A competent, careful repairman could do the job even if he's not specialized in just bikes, but it's always safer to get a bike frame builder. The material should be plain old steel and the tolerances are probably pretty big for today's standards.
> 
> The cheapest solution may be to get a generic replacement fork, either in chrome or black.




I wonder why it is so expensive? I'm sure it takes them less than 20mins to do it.

my sister in laws dad said he wld take a look, but he typically does silver so not a lot of steel experience. =/

I will have to check a body shop too.


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## rustjunkie (Sep 22, 2014)

with setup, prep, and repair seems like it would take the better part of an hour to me...?
if it's done right by a specialist $100 seems about right. 
...or you could put the c-note toward a torch and do it yourself


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## SirMike1983 (Sep 22, 2014)

Yeah, the prep work is longer than most people think.

You also have to take into account that professional frame building is a high-end industry generally. The competition is generally limited and the clients are often high-end. Most people pitch an old bike with a crack or bend. The people who pay to have the bike fixed often had high-end or custom bicycles that economically are justified in getting a repair done.

Also have to factor in compensation for liability risk in the event a frame or fork fails. There is the biggest benefit to the professional frame builder option. The work is usually very clean in the end, with a much smaller chance of failure than an amateur job.

The most common fix I see is to replace the fork with a chrome or generic color-matched fork. It's not a bad option if you're doing a custom bike.

I was not clear on the earlier posts. Was the fork bent at the time of sale or did it get bent in shipping? A bent or damaged fork or frame is a material fault the seller should be required to disclose.


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## bikiba (Sep 29, 2014)

rustjunkie said:


> with setup, prep, and repair seems like it would take the better part of an hour to me...?
> if it's done right by a specialist $100 seems about right.
> ...or you could put the c-note toward a torch and do it yourself




i would need $3k for a course too  i checked and it is expensive for someone to teach you to weld.


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## bikiba (Sep 29, 2014)

SirMike1983 said:


> I was not clear on the earlier posts. Was the fork bent at the time of sale or did it get bent in shipping? A bent or damaged fork or frame is a material fault the seller should be required to disclose.




Hey Mike

from looking at the before pic up at the top of the thread or the sale thread, meaning before the bike was shipped, you can just see it is tweaked. Only because i know where to look now. I am giving the benefit of the doubt and assuming the seller didnt see it.

What's done is done and it is a bit too late. 

Some good news is that i went to my sister in laws dad's shop in Brooklyn and he showed me how there was an internal piece of steel connecting the fork to the tube. Long story short, he melted the soder, knocked out the piece, cleaned everything... and then i had to leave to take my eldest to soccer. He is planning to use the same piece and then "pin it". Drill a few holes and place bronze pins to cross brace the tubes AND add one more tube inside the other tubes, then braze everything together.

A few pix below and a few more pix in the photobucket of the leather mallets  he uses for silver and somepix of the inside of the blackout hub i started to clean [ what a mess ]

hopefully next weekend we can finish it offand i can finally take this bike for a ride. [ and not kill myself ]


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## bikiba (Oct 5, 2014)

Received the finished product yesterday. the weld and bracing looks to be great. im not a welder, so i was impressed.. All pieces are original, the only thing that was added was the bracing pins and the second inner steel tube which runs down in to the shoulders of the fork and through and past the larger tube which was original.

my one qualm is that he cleaned up a bit of the shoulder paint. =/ ... it is my fault, i didnt tell him to be mindful of it. but hey it could be worse!

In the meantime i had been cleaning the rims/hubs, fenders etc. So maybe 1-2 more weeks of squeezing out some hours at night and i think it will be ready.

photos are blackberry quality


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## bikiba (May 18, 2015)

I finally got this one back together and took it for a ride!!




so there is a lot that was done and a lot that still needs to be done:
- cleaned out both hubs. bearings greased and plates oiled
- fork was rewelded
- rust on the handle bars and pretty much all over has been removed. I want to give the handlebars a further light sand and polish... but for now it is good enough
- spokes, fender braces and rims need further work. The rim pain is just toasty and i tried VERY hard to see what i can do. I just gave up for now
- chain and the crank completely gone through... im happy with it for now
- dont know what i am goign to do with the seat. It is crispy
- the pedals are interesting.. i found two right threaded blackout pedals since the one i had were so rusty i just got all the rust off and now they look like reg T8s. So i took the left bolt off the orig pedal and put it on the black out right to make my set.  
- i need to work on the seat post... completely forgot about it.
- some cool paint on the fenders came out.

It rides nicely, brakes nicely... i think i have to grease up the fork a bit as it is a bit stiff. What i could use is a new screw for the top of the front fender as i just found anything that sort of fit and jammed it in there

my photobucket has a TON of pics through out the process if anyone is interested.


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## bikiba (May 18, 2015)

bikiba said:


> I finally got this one back together and took it for a ride!
> 
> so there is a lot that was done and a lot that still needs to be done:
> - cleaned out both hubs. bearings greased and plates oiled
> ...




thought this was a cool one. Before assembly


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## SirMike1983 (May 18, 2015)

Good bike. These old American lightweight utility roadsters are underrated. They perform reasonably well and have generally good handling. There are many ways you can increase their performance, but you can leave them as-is and still ride them for a couple of hours without much difficulty or strain on your knees and joints. The "early modern" lightweights from the late 1930s-early 50s often have the most character and you can see in them the roots of the "campus" type American-made 3 and 5 speeds of the 1960s-70s.


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## bikiba (May 29, 2015)

SirMike1983 said:


> Good bike. These old American lightweight utility roadsters are underrated. They perform reasonably well and have generally good handling. There are many ways you can increase their performance, but you can leave them as-is and still ride them for a couple of hours without much difficulty or strain on your knees and joints. The "early modern" lightweights from the late 1930s-early 50s often have the most character and you can see in them the roots of the "campus" type American-made 3 and 5 speeds of the 1960s-70s.




thanks Mike - I took the bike out with my eldest and it was a very comfy riding. Seat not so much. Still a lot to do on the bike, polishing, I need to retighten the fork/headset and grease it up. Was a bit tight on the turns. I managed to find an exact match new wheelset for s nice price off a girls RF. It will be a nice uptick for the bike.


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## bikiba (Jul 4, 2015)

Was back at it again yesterday. Replaced the chain ring [crank arms were bent, i partially unbent them, but not enough ] with a blackout RollFast ring, the seat post and the wheelset from my girl's doner bike. The bars from the girls are black out as well, but not the same shape as the boys so i am not going to use them. I need to swap out the badge with a nice one i have stashed away.

Getting close!!


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## bikiba (Jul 4, 2015)




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## SirMike1983 (Jul 4, 2015)

Looking really good. I like the look of the painted rims better than chrome.


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## bikiba (Jul 4, 2015)

SirMike1983 said:


> Looking really good. I like the look of the painted rims better than chrome.




thanks Mike... believe it or not, the better rims are the same ones as on the new bike just off the female version. The orig are painted, just rusted and chipped beyond saving. I tried for hours to bring them back with #0000 and naval jelly. if you check post #20 above you can make out the pin stripe and how the tops are just destroyed.


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