# ‘53 Black Panther



## ballooney (Oct 7, 2018)

My son asked if he could learn how to build up a bike so we got started last night. Interesting, I won the bike on auction just before he was born 13 years ago. It has been in a box since then until last night. Seems like the bike was meant for him so a great first project. Here it is out of the box:










Looks good. Only thing missing is a seat...bars are pretty roached as are the grips. Let me know if you have any of those items for sale and can help us out. 

Commence operation tear down...
















At 13 and the only child in the pipeline, I’m cherishing every second of this build up. It will take a bit of time with school and baseball competing with bike time but we will get there. 


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## bobcycles (Oct 7, 2018)

Great story and perfect timing for the unboxing of BP


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## GTs58 (Oct 7, 2018)

A big 

 to both of you! ...............


That old thing is as old as I am.


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## WES PINCHOT (Oct 7, 2018)

DO YOU HAVE A KEY FOR THE LOCKING FORK?
IF NOT I CAN CUT SMOOTH BRASS KEYS  TO FIT THE 'AN' NUMBER.   
ALSO I CAN REMOVE BROKEN KEYS, LOCK REPAIR
I CAN HELP!
WES PINCHOT
WESPINCHOT@YAHOO.COM


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## ballooney (Oct 7, 2018)

WES PINCHOT said:


> DO YOU HAVE A KEY FOR THE LOCKING FORK?
> IF NOT I CAN CUT SMOOTH BRASS KEYS TO FIT THE 'AN' NUMBER.
> ALSO I CAN REMOVE BROKEN KEYS, LOCK REPAIR
> I CAN HELP!
> ...




Thanks Wes. It’s a non-locker. 


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## ballooney (Oct 7, 2018)

Washed off decades of grit today...
















Cool! Now we can build it up...


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## Kickstand3 (Oct 7, 2018)

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181007/68d0480573fa5de0e71bcc857b0c0741.jpg[


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## Rivnut (Oct 7, 2018)

Are you planning a complete restoration with new paint and rechroming or clean it, grease it, and leave the patina.  If you're leaving the patina, I think I have the handle bars you need.


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## ballooney (Oct 7, 2018)

Rivnut said:


> Are you planning a complete restoration with new paint and rechroming or clean it, grease it, and leave the patina.  If you're leaving the patina, I think I have the handle bars you need.



Just cleaning it up and getting it back on the road.  I sent you a PM.


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## morton (Oct 8, 2018)

Great to see a kid without a joystick in his hand or face buried in a cel phone.....kudos to the "old man" and the kid are in order!   Hip Hip.......


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## barneyguey (Oct 11, 2018)

That's really cool, what a bike to start with. He's gonna catch the bug for sure!


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## Allrounderco (Oct 12, 2018)

Awesome bike and F&S project. I can't wait until my kids have the patience to work with me on something. My 4yo daughter already shows interest, but after 5 minutes she's banging wrenches against painted things .


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## Sven (Oct 12, 2018)

morton said:


> Great to see a kid without a joystick in his hand or face buried in a cel phone.....kudos to the "old man" and the kid are in order!   Hip Hip.......




Amen to that! 
Very glad to see fathers and sons doing projects together, now a days.I know both of you will learn a lot from it. He will learn fundamentals of how to use tools properly; proper nomenclature and assembly of parts and components, fine adjustments of these. He will appreciate it more that he built it.
 And you will learn patience  and guidance .
Best of all .....the time you two spent together.


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## Scribble (Oct 13, 2018)

This is awesome I started rebuilding bikes at 16, I had a great teacher as well.


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## ballooney (Oct 14, 2018)

A little progress today...dent repair 101 and then hit the painted parts with two rounds of polishing compound and then a round of wax...really brought out the black...gleaming. Spent a little time on the chrome using flitz and 0000 steel wool. I’m just providing my son with guidance and enthusiasm...”Wow! Looks awesome!” To keep him going. Having a blast!



















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## WES PINCHOT (Oct 14, 2018)

GOOD FATHER AND SON BONDING EXPERIENCE!


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## OZ1972 (Oct 28, 2018)

Awesome father & son project , cant  wait to see it done ☺


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## ballooney (Nov 4, 2018)

Inspired by the cleanup of my crusty ‘40 Hudson, my son took to the chrome parts of his bike tonight. “Are we getting close to building the Panther up?” He asked...keep working kid! Still having fun!














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## ballooney (Nov 5, 2018)

More work on the panther tonight...started the build up (after homework of course [emoji57])

Added the crank, tank, and steer tube. First time jamming his fingers into grease...pretty funny reaction actually. 














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## GTs58 (Nov 5, 2018)

So when does he have time to play games on his devices?   lol


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## ballooney (Nov 5, 2018)

GTs58 said:


> View attachment 896303
> 
> So when does he have time to play games on his devices? lol




In between his math problems. Ha ha. 


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## ballooney (Nov 6, 2018)

A little progress tonight...learned to use a vice to straighten truss rods...





Then built up the springer...








Current state...







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## Boris (Nov 6, 2018)

I love this thread!!!!!!!!!! Looks like he's hooked now. And what a great bike and what a great shared memory for the two of you.


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## Curtis68 (Nov 12, 2018)

Can't wait to see the finished product. What a cool father son project!! Congrats!!


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## A.S.BOLTNUT (Nov 12, 2018)

Subscribed !


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## jimbo53 (Nov 13, 2018)

Love this thread! Spreading the gospel of rust redemption and restoration to the next generation.


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## barneyguey (Nov 13, 2018)

Boris said:


> I love this thread!!!!!!!!!! Looks like he's hooked now. And what a great bike and what a great shared memory for the two of you.



Me too! He'll always remember building that bike with his dad.


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## A.S.BOLTNUT (Nov 13, 2018)

barnyguey said:


> Me too! He'll always remember building that bike with his dad.




Wait till he looks back years from now and sees what hes wearing on his feet ! Lol


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## barneyguey (Nov 13, 2018)

A.S.BOLTNUT said:


> Wait till he looks back years from now and sees what hes wearing on his feet ! Lol



Ha Ha Ha
No kidding!


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## Mr. Monkeyarms (Nov 13, 2018)

This is awesome.  Reminds me of the time Dad and I gutted and remodeled the inside of the house he and my Step Mom got when the got married.  You're building much more than a nice bike, I'm sure.


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## ballooney (Nov 13, 2018)

A.S.BOLTNUT said:


> Wait till he looks back years from now and sees what hes wearing on his feet ! Lol




Now that is funny!!! Nice slides kid!


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## ballooney (Nov 13, 2018)

I was starting to wonder how long this project was going to stall. After work I wanted to get an hour in on my bike and my son checked in on what I was up to. “Hey, do you want to work on your panther?” I asked him. “No. I’ll just hang out with you for now.” And as fast as he replied he left. Well okay then, that was fast! Fast forward a few hours and USPS delivers the left pedal for my 1904 Sterling...as I was unboxing the pedal I go into the story of having a bike that’s over 100 years old and was missing the left pedal and that I found it on the cabe. He was fascinated so we jammed to the basement to make sure the pedal fit. He was anxious to build up and rode the turn of the century bike with his name on the head badge. I said “why don’t we finish the panther first” and he was all in. “Let’s do it!” He said. So we put in an hour before he needed to get to bed. 

Some fender dent removal work...





Then buffing the fender put with some brasso 




Then mounting it up with the rear carrier after spending half an hour to find some hardware! Doh!










As she sits after tonight. 










We need a rear reflector...anyone have a proper reflector for a panther? Let me know. 


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## ballooney (Nov 27, 2018)

My son made some more progress tonight...didn’t have much time but built up the top end...









He was adamant about a black seat...on a Panther! I know right! I took a deep breath and smiled...”your bike”. 












Getting there...





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## "Winged wheel" (Nov 28, 2018)

looks great ! love that you are leaving it alone ...love original paint bikes .....get a good lock for it !


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## anders1 (Nov 28, 2018)

Very cool!!


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## Awhipple (Nov 29, 2018)

Very cool! The way he's going it will be done in no time.


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## ballooney (Nov 29, 2018)

More progress tonight...tearing hubs down...




scrubbin’ rims...




Used our new toy to clean hub parts...before:




After 15 minutes...really incredible!





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## Rockman9 (Nov 30, 2018)

I just looked the Magnasonic up on Amazon. It looks pretty interesting


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## Allrounderco (Nov 30, 2018)

What's the significance of the alarm clock?


Just kidding - great work!


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## ballooney (Jan 4, 2019)

This build sure is a test of patience...my son FINALLY wanted to work on his bike again. Built up the hubs tonight which is progress. 

















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## ricobike (Jan 4, 2019)

I always feel like when I get the wheels done, the rest is a cakewalk.  That's going to be a nice bike, great job so far!


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## Ed Minas (Jan 5, 2019)

Such a great story.  Thanks for sharing all the details


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## ballooney (Jan 12, 2019)

Operation Black Panther is complete! Hallelujah!! The bike fought us at every point today but we powered through and got ‘er done! This bike took a long time...tested my patience for sure. My son’s need to finish the bike was far less than mine and since it was his project...I waited and waited and waited...until today. We were painting over graffiti on our fence this morning (gotta love taggers...jerks!) and I said “hey, it’s a nice day for a ride. Wanna finish up your panther?” “YEAH!” And so we went for it. The bike looks so rad...straight bar tanks are mean especially in black. Digging my son’s choice to roll with a black seat too...killer!

Hub rebuilt a few nights ago now mounting up the rear wheel...









Front fender brace was in the shape of a Z. Weird. Off to the vice. 








Rocket ray...check!




Final assembly of front wheel...




Done!




Let’s roll!












Awesome job kiddo! Thanks for the journey. 


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## ballooney (Jan 12, 2019)

As I mentioned in the previous post...the bike was fighting us today. Well, it won in the end as the front tire found an earring post...”pop!” Shrugged our shoulders, held our heads low and walked home pushing our bikes. So my son learned how to fix a flat today too. 














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## GTs58 (Jan 12, 2019)

Well done! A big 



 to the young man.


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## SJ_BIKER (Jan 12, 2019)

A tip for your kiddo if he doesnt know already:
Take an old inner tube cut the valve stem out and cut along the inside all the way around and wrap it around the good inner tube....and stuff it in tire for extra protection for potential flats.... And  great job all around.  Hats off to you both!!


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## Boris (Jan 12, 2019)

YAY!!!! Great job!!!! Great Smile!!!!


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## Saving Tempest (Jan 12, 2019)

SJ_BIKER said:


> A tip for your kiddo if he doesnt know already:
> Take an old inner tube cut the valve stem out and cut along the inside all the way around and wrap it around the good inner tube....and stuff it in tire for extra protection for potential flats.... And  great job all around.  Hats off to you both!!




I get liners and 'slime' for mine...the only drawback is that if they go flat for too long you'll likely need a new tube, but I don't have many flats anymore. You can't a slimed tube though, the compound will attack the patch.


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## Sven (Jan 13, 2019)

Hey, nothing lost, your son has learned how to repair a flat. It probably will not be the only one he'll ever fix.


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## Awhipple (Jan 13, 2019)

Great journey and a awesome bike!


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## OZ1972 (Feb 2, 2019)

Awesome job guys ! , priceless


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## Hammerhead (Feb 2, 2019)

Awesome work thank you for sharing with us. Great to see young people interested in the mechanical side of things.
 Hammerhead


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## BFGforme (Feb 19, 2019)

Love it, you guys did a great job! Wish I could have built up a bike with my father who has long ago passed away! Great memories..


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