Bike from the Dead's Mockup Mash

[Bike from the Dead]

As nice as my last mockup on the X-53 looked, I really wanted another klunker to ride out on the gravel trails. I also wanted to make use of as many black-painted parts I had on hand as possible, and I had a few more ideas to achieve both of those goals. I took advantage of the cooler weather this morning and mocked up a few more parts.

And I got to say, I'm glad I did. First, I switched to blackwall tires (1.75" up front, 2.125" out back,) on black wheels, and installed a black chainring and crank off a Huffy Cranbrook I had laying around.

I also toyed around with some red handlebar grips to go with the red scallop on the frame.

If I can remove them without damaging them, I'd really like to use these red Western Flyer grips, since this X-53 would've been sold through Western Auto.

My last mockup involved swapping out the big and little blackwall tires for a matching pair of 26" x 2.125" "redline" tires. I think this is the look right here. The lines add just that much more color on an otherwise black bike.

I'm really happy with how this turned out. It's got a sort of "dual-sport" vibe going on, where I could ride this both on the sidewalk as well as on gravel.

 

[Bike from the Dead]

You can improve the wheel centering by adjusting the rear triangles. Search for "cold setting" here and online. It looks like you need to push both sides to the left a little. Use a 2x4 and the ground. The steel frame is pretty resilient. Try adding more and more force to the 2x4 until you get the frame to move where you want. The fork ends need paralleled (lined up) and will need adjusting once you get the triangles where you want.

I always enjoy seeing your sketches. Thanks for posting them.

I actually did a little cold setting, using some all-thread, washers and nuts, to open the rear triangle up a bit for the mockups. I haven't had a ton of practice doing it, so this $10 Murray would be a good way to practice that technique. I'm a bit too nervous about using the 2x4 trick though.

Thank you! Glad you like them!

 

[Miq]

Using all thread is appealing since it seems more controllable, but it’s not. You need to be able to move each rear triangle with relationship to the seat tube independently. The all thread just moves whichever side yields first, and you end up with the tire stuck against the frame. I know it sounds extreme levering the triangles with a 2x4 but it’s not too bad when you give it a try. Just start slowly and see how much pressure it takes to move the metal small amounts. If you start to feel uncomfortable, then stop.

 

[byke!punk]

I love what you did with the sissy bar. The chrome doesn’t fit imo but it’s a rad concept.

 

[Bike from the Dead]

Using all thread is appealing since it seems more controllable, but it’s not. You need to be able to move each rear triangle with relationship to the seat tube independently. The all thread just moves whichever side yields first, and you end up with the tire stuck against the frame. I know it sounds extreme levering the triangles with a 2x4 but it’s not too bad when you give it a try. Just start slowly and see how much pressure it takes to move the metal small amounts. If you start to feel uncomfortable, then stop.

Thanks for the advice. I'll check out some YouTube tutorials on the 2x4 technique so I can see how it's done.

 

[Bike from the Dead]

I love what you did with the sissy bar. The chrome doesn’t fit imo but it’s a rad concept.

Thank you! Yeah, if I don't have a black sissy bar in my stash, I know I have some black spray paint to fix that. I might also paint the steerer tube and other fork parts black to make it blend in better.

 

[Bike from the Dead]

Got more mockups to share!

I decided to play around with this Murray 3-speed road bike and see if I could build it into something I like. Admittedly, I'm not a big fan of these skinny-wheel road bikes as they just feel kind of generic to me, but I've a few customs built out of these bikes that I like, so I figured it was worth experimenting with.

Most of last Thursday was spent just taking the bike apart. Had a funny moment where the chain broke my chain breaker.

And I don't know what happened to this front brake bolt, but it's definitely seen better days.

I couldn't get the fork off, but I decided to play around with a few ideas. I wanted to fit some balloon tires on this bike, but the biggest tires that could fit were some middleweight tires I had. There might be enough room for some 1.95"-wide Thick Slicks, but I don't have those.

Still, I had a few ideas to make it into either a BMX-style bomber, a "lightweight" stripped-down cruiser, or maybe even a klunker, but nothing's really stuck so far. Most of my mockup process just involved swapping handlebars.

 

[Bike from the Dead]

While I like beefier tires on my bikes, I did acquire a matching pair of perfectly good 26" x 1 1/2" Kendas that I'd like to use on something. I tried throwing one on a skinny wheel, but I could not for the life of me get it to mount to the wheel. This wheel had a 26" x 1 3/8" tire on it that came off just fine, but this one wouldn't go on even without a tube inside! Anyone know what the problem may be?

That's as far as my mockups got with this bike. I haven't figured out what I want to do with it yet, but I'll play around with it some more later.

 

[Bike from the Dead]

It's an incredibly minor mockup, but while I was picking up a few more bikes and parts from storage, I decided to see what this JC Higgins I got a couple months ago would look like with a chrome rear rack to go along with the one up front. Personally, I think it helps give the line from that front rack a place to go, and it balances the look of the overall bike.

The only problem is that it's still not enough to help me decide what to do with this bike. It's a very nice bike, but I really don't want more "factory-original fluff-up" projects right now, especially not in red (I already have 2 factory red bikes I'm freshening up already.) I also don't want to strip this bike and repaint it my way, as the original paint and patina looks too good on this bike fore that. I could part it out and hold onto what I want and sell or trade the rest, but I'm not sure I want to do that either. I can worry about that later.

 

[Bike from the Dead]

The next bike I mocked up earlier this week was a bike I originally bought for parts I needed to fix up my grandpa's AMF-built Western Flyer. I actually like the shape of these earlier AMF/CWC step-thru bikes, so even though it was just meant to be a parts donor, I still figured I might do something with the leftover parts.

When I was reassembling the bike, I noticed the bottom of the headset wasn't quite as circular as I thought. I don't know if the frame was damaged or not, but only one bearing cup was going to fit there: the original.

Although, I can't say it was a perfect fit. Who thought it was a good idea to leave no room for the bearing cup on this frame? I might be able to make it work, but I don't know.

I was originally thinking of building up this bike as more of a stripped-down street bomber, but when I learned that I could squeeze a 2.125"-wide tire inside the fenders, I decided to see how it'd look with fenders and a different chain guard first.

I've got to say, I love the look! It's not as wild as my usual ideas, but I think this bike looks good with only a few subtle changes. I love the other chain guard, especially when it sits low enough to continue the line the top tube provides. I'll need to weld a mounting tab to the frame to keep it in place, though, as the original chain guard wrapped around the seat tube. The best part of this mockup though is the look of those 2 balloon tires filling up the fenders.

As cool as the balloon tires look on this AMF, they just barely fit. It doesn't help that the front fender brace looks to be a little too long, as the fender doesn't sit quite right. I might be able to fix that though by just making the axle hole a little longer.

The back end is more of a puzzle. I don't know if the fender braces or the frame's rear triangle is the issue, but no matter how I tried to adjust the wheel, the right side always had less clearance than the left side.

The front brace could probably be opened up enough to clear the tire, but it squeezes against both sides as it is right now.

There isn't a ton of clearance on the left side of the rear tire, but there's certainly more than on the right side.

I really didn't want to sacrifice the look those balloon tires gave this bike, but I could not turn either wheel without the tires rubbing against the fenders. I couldn't even get the rear wheel on without deflating the tire first. I wasn't quite sure how to make this work, but I had an idea...