Bike from the Dead
I live for the CABE
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24 inch Free Spirit BMX Cruiser (Still figuring out a name for it)
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Bike from the Dead
I live for the CABE
Got a small update for today. I did a few more mockups on Mutt today before I started loading up everything I'd need to work on my bikes at my friend Allan's place tomorrow. I liked everything I had mocked up on the bike so far, but one thing that started bugging me was the chainring. It looked great when I was going for an '80s BMX vibe, but now that I was going for a '70s MX vibe, it just felt too new. I decided to see what a leftover Schwinn mag chainring would look like on it, and I like this much better. Plus it kind of reminds me of the original chainring that came with this bike; it had a 5-spoke guard similar to this chainring. I also mocked up the only black banana seat I currently have in my inventory, just to see how it'd look.
I might be able to get away with using this seat if I slap a few stickers over the tears in the seat, but I'd rather just use either a more intact seat or reupholster this one. I already have some black leather I was going to use on another banana seat, so this might be a good time to learn a new skill.
I also mocked up the other 24 inch tires I had on hand. First, I mocked up the "muscle bike" look with a 1.75"-wide front, and a 2.125"-wide rear, which I think looks pretty good.
Next I mocked up the knobby off road tires I just got from another freebie bike, and WOW! I was not expecting to like this look as much as I do! Now it really looks like those early MX bikes!
The wheels aren't perfectly true, but there's just enough clearance in the frame for the knobbies!
A closer look at the tread on the 1.75" tire and the 2.125" slicks. Not what I'd prefer for this style of bike, but I bought them for a different project years ago, and since they aren't going on that bike, I may as well use them on this one!
I also mocked up my good black-on-white banana seat as well. I like it, but I won't know for sure until I get this bike powder coated.
One last thing I toyed around with was a set of handlebars that had more of a BMX look. They fit the bill, but they feel just a little too short for my liking, compared to those tall ape hangers I had on earlier. Kind of funny, since these are the tallest BMX bars I've got. Still, if push comes to shove, I can go back to those ape hangers or learn how to make my own out of the materials I have on hand.
Tomorrow will hopefully have a very big update, with some custom gussets welded to the frame and a few other modifications! Stay tuned!
I might be able to get away with using this seat if I slap a few stickers over the tears in the seat, but I'd rather just use either a more intact seat or reupholster this one. I already have some black leather I was going to use on another banana seat, so this might be a good time to learn a new skill.
I also mocked up the other 24 inch tires I had on hand. First, I mocked up the "muscle bike" look with a 1.75"-wide front, and a 2.125"-wide rear, which I think looks pretty good.
Next I mocked up the knobby off road tires I just got from another freebie bike, and WOW! I was not expecting to like this look as much as I do! Now it really looks like those early MX bikes!
The wheels aren't perfectly true, but there's just enough clearance in the frame for the knobbies!
A closer look at the tread on the 1.75" tire and the 2.125" slicks. Not what I'd prefer for this style of bike, but I bought them for a different project years ago, and since they aren't going on that bike, I may as well use them on this one!
I also mocked up my good black-on-white banana seat as well. I like it, but I won't know for sure until I get this bike powder coated.
One last thing I toyed around with was a set of handlebars that had more of a BMX look. They fit the bill, but they feel just a little too short for my liking, compared to those tall ape hangers I had on earlier. Kind of funny, since these are the tallest BMX bars I've got. Still, if push comes to shove, I can go back to those ape hangers or learn how to make my own out of the materials I have on hand.
Tomorrow will hopefully have a very big update, with some custom gussets welded to the frame and a few other modifications! Stay tuned!
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Bike from the Dead
I live for the CABE
BIG UPDATE!
On Sunday, I met up with my friend Allan and got to work on the heavy fabrication needed to transform Mutt into a BMX bike. I figured it'd all go by quickly, and we'd have enough time to make a little extra progress on another bike of mine, but things didn't pan out at all like I expected.
First, I needed to redesign my gusset template, as the previous one was too large. Once that was done, Allan and I needed to test out my dad's 1 1/2" hole saw for this idea I had for the hole in the gussets. That took a little longer than anticipated, but once that was out of the way, we needed to test out my dad's 1 1/2" hole saw for an idea I had for the gussets. Turns out that not only was the hole saw not perfectly round and slightly larger than 1 1/2 inches, but the center drill bit was crooked as well. Fortunately, we were able to adjust the hole saw with a hammer to the diameter we needed, and Allan had plenty of drill bits to replace the crooked one. UNfortunately, most of the drill bits he swapped into the hole say either became crooked themselves, or they BROKE entirely! I think we went through at least 8 different bits in at least an hour before we could finally drill a good 1 1/2 inch-diameter hole consistently.
Once the hole saw problem was sorted out, Allan suggested cutting the holes out of the scrap steel plate I had before cutting the gussets out themselves. So we lined up the carboard template with a hole as best as we could, taped it to the metal, and then Allan cut along the template with a cutoff wheel.
Then he used the first cut gusset as his template for the next one.
Allan then showed me how to use the "soft wheel" as he calls it, and I ground the 2 gussets to a nice, smooth finish. Got to say, I was pretty nervous using this tool at first. I'm always a bit hesitant to use tools that I have next to no experience with, especially when I know I can get seriously hurt by them, but after a few passes with the soft wheel, I managed to get a lot more comfortable using it. Got to say, I'm pretty proud of how I did my first time around!
This is the part where I have to confess something: My original plan was to learn how to weld on this bike by welding the gussets to the frame myself. Unfortunately, I did not do well on my practice pieces at all this time, and I sheepishly chickened out of welding on the bike itself. I pretty much learned that day that I can hold just about anything steady except for my own two hands. Kind of critical when you're trying to avoid melting a hole though steel. Welding is an artform, but unlike working with pencil and paper or the pen tool in Photoshop, there's no eraser to clean up your mistakes.
That said, I can still say I welded on some parts of the bike! Admittedly, all I did were a few tack welds to the gussets, and Allan still had to add a little more to some of them, but I'm still pretty happy with the results!
This is where I reveal my favorite part of my whole plan for these gussets. I didn't want the gussets to be just two flat plates with a simple hole drilled through them; I wanted to make these gussets look dimple-died like a factory piece. Problem is, neither Allan nor I have a dimple die tool, but I had two Schwinn fork races that were too rough to use for their original purpose, and they both were almost the same width as my scrap plate of steel!
Turns out the underside of those old Schwinn races have a really nice shape that feels like a dimple-died hole!
Allan had an idea to hid most of the welds that held the gussets to the frame on the inside, with only the front-most welds being visible on the outside.
Allan also came up with the idea of using one of the drilled-out holes as a tab to mount the chain guard to the frame. Originally, I had planned to weld a couple gussets to the dropouts, but after the hassle of making and installing the 2 main gussets at the front of the frame, and because it was getting late, I figured a simple tab would do. Besides, some of those early 70s BMX bikes didn't have rear gussets either, so it'll still look "period-correct."
After all the welding was done, Allan helped me adjust and trim the fender and chain guard to fit the frame, and I reassembled Mutt to get a better look. It could still use a bit of refinement, but overall, I'm happy with the progress we made on Sunday! I may not have learned as much about welding as I had hoped, (other than I'm really bad at it,) but I still got to learn how to use a tool I never messed with before, and it's not like I can't do more work on the bike myself!
Once I brought Mutt home, I got some better pictures of the work that had been done.
I'll need to do some sanding and filing to clean up everything, and the chain guard needs adjustments, but overall, I'm happy with the end result. That said, I feel like some of the work could use body filler before I get the frame power coated. Does anyone know of some good powder coat-safe metallized filler I could get in small, inexpensive quantities? I may not be cut out for welding, but maybe I could fare better in body work.
On Sunday, I met up with my friend Allan and got to work on the heavy fabrication needed to transform Mutt into a BMX bike. I figured it'd all go by quickly, and we'd have enough time to make a little extra progress on another bike of mine, but things didn't pan out at all like I expected.
First, I needed to redesign my gusset template, as the previous one was too large. Once that was done, Allan and I needed to test out my dad's 1 1/2" hole saw for this idea I had for the hole in the gussets. That took a little longer than anticipated, but once that was out of the way, we needed to test out my dad's 1 1/2" hole saw for an idea I had for the gussets. Turns out that not only was the hole saw not perfectly round and slightly larger than 1 1/2 inches, but the center drill bit was crooked as well. Fortunately, we were able to adjust the hole saw with a hammer to the diameter we needed, and Allan had plenty of drill bits to replace the crooked one. UNfortunately, most of the drill bits he swapped into the hole say either became crooked themselves, or they BROKE entirely! I think we went through at least 8 different bits in at least an hour before we could finally drill a good 1 1/2 inch-diameter hole consistently.
Once the hole saw problem was sorted out, Allan suggested cutting the holes out of the scrap steel plate I had before cutting the gussets out themselves. So we lined up the carboard template with a hole as best as we could, taped it to the metal, and then Allan cut along the template with a cutoff wheel.
Then he used the first cut gusset as his template for the next one.
Allan then showed me how to use the "soft wheel" as he calls it, and I ground the 2 gussets to a nice, smooth finish. Got to say, I was pretty nervous using this tool at first. I'm always a bit hesitant to use tools that I have next to no experience with, especially when I know I can get seriously hurt by them, but after a few passes with the soft wheel, I managed to get a lot more comfortable using it. Got to say, I'm pretty proud of how I did my first time around!
This is the part where I have to confess something: My original plan was to learn how to weld on this bike by welding the gussets to the frame myself. Unfortunately, I did not do well on my practice pieces at all this time, and I sheepishly chickened out of welding on the bike itself. I pretty much learned that day that I can hold just about anything steady except for my own two hands. Kind of critical when you're trying to avoid melting a hole though steel. Welding is an artform, but unlike working with pencil and paper or the pen tool in Photoshop, there's no eraser to clean up your mistakes.
That said, I can still say I welded on some parts of the bike! Admittedly, all I did were a few tack welds to the gussets, and Allan still had to add a little more to some of them, but I'm still pretty happy with the results!
This is where I reveal my favorite part of my whole plan for these gussets. I didn't want the gussets to be just two flat plates with a simple hole drilled through them; I wanted to make these gussets look dimple-died like a factory piece. Problem is, neither Allan nor I have a dimple die tool, but I had two Schwinn fork races that were too rough to use for their original purpose, and they both were almost the same width as my scrap plate of steel!
Turns out the underside of those old Schwinn races have a really nice shape that feels like a dimple-died hole!
Allan had an idea to hid most of the welds that held the gussets to the frame on the inside, with only the front-most welds being visible on the outside.
Allan also came up with the idea of using one of the drilled-out holes as a tab to mount the chain guard to the frame. Originally, I had planned to weld a couple gussets to the dropouts, but after the hassle of making and installing the 2 main gussets at the front of the frame, and because it was getting late, I figured a simple tab would do. Besides, some of those early 70s BMX bikes didn't have rear gussets either, so it'll still look "period-correct."
After all the welding was done, Allan helped me adjust and trim the fender and chain guard to fit the frame, and I reassembled Mutt to get a better look. It could still use a bit of refinement, but overall, I'm happy with the progress we made on Sunday! I may not have learned as much about welding as I had hoped, (other than I'm really bad at it,) but I still got to learn how to use a tool I never messed with before, and it's not like I can't do more work on the bike myself!
Once I brought Mutt home, I got some better pictures of the work that had been done.
I'll need to do some sanding and filing to clean up everything, and the chain guard needs adjustments, but overall, I'm happy with the end result. That said, I feel like some of the work could use body filler before I get the frame power coated. Does anyone know of some good powder coat-safe metallized filler I could get in small, inexpensive quantities? I may not be cut out for welding, but maybe I could fare better in body work.
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Bike from the Dead
I live for the CABE
Option 1 is a possibility, but not preferable, option 2 isn't available as Allan's TIG welder isn't working right at this time (and I don't know anyone else with the welder to do that,) and option 3 won't work because I don't think they make a green like I want, and I have to get this bike done by the end of March for the Off Road Build Off I'm building this for over at Rat Rod Bikes.com, and I doubt the weather will be warm and dry enough for paint by then. Plus I don't have the tools to do automotive paint, nor the funds and space needed for that.
Freqman1
Riding a '37 Dayton Super Streamline
Looks like you just figured out the way forward even though it isn't the preferred option.
Bike from the Dead
I live for the CABE
I've seen that there are multiple powder coat-safe fillers out there, so why do you make it sound like that isn't an option?
Freqman1
Riding a '37 Dayton Super Streamline
I don’t mess with powder coat so was not aware of those. If you are then just go get some and problem solved. Sounds like you are way overthinking this.
Bike from the Dead
I live for the CABE
I wasn't overthinking it before you listed those 3 options. I just didn't know which powder coat-safe filler was the best option for me.
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