Made a little progress on these 2 bikes last night. I took apart the Debutante so I could use the parts on my other bikes, chief among them being my 1962 AMF Western Flyer Sonic Flyer, which is just barely visible on the far left of the picture below.
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Can't recall the last time I saw the coaster brake arm mounted this way...
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I was hoping to use the seat post off the Debutante on the Huffy, but to my surprise, the seat bolts directly
through the seat post! It doesn't even use a clamp; it just bolts into the seat post! So unless I use the Debutante's seat with it, I can't really use this seat post.
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The end result: a pile of parts, perfect for repurposing.
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As for the Huffy, I lucked out and found I had the bearings, bearing cups, and races necessary to get this bike rolling.
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And it even has a near-nonexistent gap!
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I had to take apart this $5 Huffy parts bike to get the other headset bearing, as I only had one good Hartford 52 bearing loose up to that point. I've had the chance to ride this bike a bit, now it's time to use it the way I intended.
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Fortunately, it had exactly what I needed! The bearings need cleaning of course, but they should be totally useable.
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I also took apart another parts bike for the bottom bracket bearings and cups, though I've got enough of those parts loose that I'm covered regardless.
So here's the good news on the Huffy: aside from the seat post, I have everything I need to make this bike rideable. I've got wheels, tires, tubes, sissy bars, banana seats, bearings, bearing cups, cranks, chain rings, handlebars, and I've got a fork and chain guard that all can go on this bike. I could build this bike
super cheap... but there's a catch.
I've got everything I need to make the bike rideable, but I don't have everything I need to make the bike
look good. Just about every part I have for this bike is a different color, and most of them are rather unsightly. The fork is pink, the chain guard is grey, the seat is either a worn-out white or a mint condition black depending on which one I choose, the good wheels I have are some shade of pink or purple, the rear fender is chrome, I have one 20" slick but no other good 20" black tires, and the rest of the good 20" tires I have are either whitewalls or just plain white. Basically, if I throw this bike together using just what I have, it'll look like a mess. Worse yet, I only have a few different colors of spray paint to work with, and the weather's not ideal for painting either.
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I could ask Dad to powder coat this bike for me so the fork, frame, fender and maybe the chain guard match, but the rest of the chrome parts I have aren't all that nice and shiny, and it'd be hard to get them to shine up as well as the rest of the bike after powder coating. I think the best option I've got is to try and use the original, color and patina-matched fork that came with the bike, and weld a new steerer tube on it. As long as the fork matches the frame, it'd be easier to either leave or paint the other parts the way I want.
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I have an idea of how I'd do that, but I need to do some serious research on how to cut and weld steerer tubes before I try that. I do not want a repeat of what happened last year with
The Schwinn Dixie Dreamcycle. That hurt in more ways than one. If anyone knows the best way to cut and weld a new steerer tube to a fork without it resulting in utter disaster like what's pictured below, please let me know.
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At this point, I'm not going to enter the MBBO this year. I've got other bikes to work on right now that don't require as much effort or cash. I know I can still build this Huffy into something cool, but between the weather, the parts that need repairing, the parts that need painting, and the parts that I just plain
need, I think it's best if I wait to build this bike until the time is right. Now just isn't that time.