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Dumpster Diamond, My Entry for the 15th Annual RRBBO

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Wonderful stuff! For me, being a Dutchman, this is uncharted territory, but I love the look of your bike. (OK, and some of the others, too) Thanks for posting this. :)
 
Thanks! Pardon me for asking, but how is this uncharted territory for you as a Dutchman?

I guess it has to do with the big difference in bike culture between our countries. Here in Holland (and most of Europe) cars weren't available cheaply enough until the 1960's to take over the role of the bicycle as an important means of personal transport. Where in the US bikes were relegated to the toy and sports departments shortly after WWI, here in Europe they were, and still are, serious adult business, which led to different, less playful types of bicycles being popular.

In the world I grew up in a bicycle either needed to be appropriate for daily transportation and last a lifetime, or be fast enough to win the Tour de France. :)

These cruiser / klunker type frames were never really considered here, and neither was the idea of rat-rodding. Both concepts were alien to me, until I joined forums like this one, with a predominantly American audience.
 
I guess it has to do with the big difference in bike culture between our countries. Here in Holland (and most of Europe) cars weren't available cheaply enough until the 1960's to take over the role of the bicycle as an important means of personal transport. Where in the US bikes were relegated to the toy and sports departments shortly after WWI, here in Europe they were, and still are, serious adult business, which led to different, less playful types of bicycles being popular.

In the world I grew up in a bicycle either needed to be appropriate for daily transportation and last a lifetime, or be fast enough to win the Tour de France. :)

These cruiser / klunker type frames were never really considered here, and neither was the idea of rat-rodding. Both concepts were alien to me, until I joined forums like this one, with a predominantly American audience.
Okay, that makes sense. Where you're at, bikes are/were more of a practical appliance, whereas here in the States, bikes are/were more of a fun luxury item. I can see why cruiser bikes and custom bikes may not be as common in areas where bikes are still a primary mode of transportation. You need something reliable, predictable, and easy to pedal to get you from point A to B. Thanks for sharing! I learned something new today.
 
Here is the bike I built for my first ever Rat Rod Bikes.com Build Off. It's a 1950 Snyder-built Montgomery Ward/Hawthorne frame with Western Flyer pedals I bought at the 2019 Springfield, MO swap meet for $20. The fork seen in the pictures wasn't included with it, I just had it and thought it'd look good with the original paint.
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As it turned out, this frame was BENT. The seat pole in particular was really bent.
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I took this frame to a couple bike shops around town to see if anyone could straighten it out for me. One recommended this guy at a radiator repair shop, so I took it there. In hindsight, I should never have done business with that guy, because all he did was bend it in a different direction, and he messed up nearly every other part I brought to him. I was not happy.
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Since the original paint and patina was ruined when this guy burnt off a fair portion of the paint, I decided to try and wire-brush everything down to bare metal to see how it looked. In the process, I found this cool diamond design hiding underneath some of the surface. While it didn't return after the initial build, I plan to bring this design element back when I rebuild this bike again later.
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I mocked up some parts and made some rough plywood tank inserts to try and get a feel for the direction of this bike. It was about this point that I decided to go for a sort of board track racer vibe.
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My dad had a bunch of these halo lights from a Sonic drive thru he wasn't using, which I felt would make perfect number plates for my bike.
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I took everything to my dad's welder buds, who did a much better job of fixing this bike than the first guy. They cut out the mangled seat pole and welded in a replacement from a junk frame I had, bobbed the rear fender, made one good set of forks from two bad forks, cut the number plates, and tweaked the chain guard to fit better.
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I then had all the parts sandblasted down to bare metal, then I wire-brushed everything to shine it up. I then hit everything with a few layers of some satin clear coat spray paint, and began putting the bike back together.
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On literally the last two days of the build off, I put together this custom wood tank out of some scrap pine boards I got for free off Craigslist. I don't have a bandsaw, so I just used a jigsaw and my dad's belt sander to shape it. I had never done this before, so this first tank... could look better, but it came out okay for my first try.
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I was one of the last, if not the last, guy to finish my bike before the deadline, but I got it done. It's not perfect, it's not done like I had originally planned, but it's done.
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One of the other details that I added to the bike before I finished it were these custom decals for the chain guard and number plates I designed in Adobe Illustrator. I got the name "Dumpster Diamond" from a combination of the diamond I found hiding under some of the paint, and the fact that multiple people who saw this bike before I started on it asked if I had found it in a dumpster, or have said it belonged in a dumpster. Those people made me determined to take this "dumpster bike" and turn it into something beautiful, and I like to think I've succeeded.
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The picture that helped me finish in 17th place out of 68 finished entries in my class. I wanted to do something a little funny and poke my head out of a dumpster like I was Oscar the Grouch, with my bike sitting in front of the dumpster like I found it in there.
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I've still got plans for this bike and how to make it even better, but for now, I just want to fix a couple things to make it ride a little better.

For the full build, here's my build thread: https://ratrodbikes.com/forum/index...er-build-off-with-a-postwar-hawthorne.111100/

For the finished build thread, look here: https://ratrodbikes.com/forum/index.php?threads/dumpster-diamond-is-done.112194/
Your dumpster pic would make a nice canvas picture for your shop. JimRoy
 
Nice work. If you’re not done with the bike, might I suggest a banana seat with a long sissy bar and ape handle bars. And maybe a unique springer fork. JimRoy
 
Your dumpster pic would make a nice canvas picture for your shop. JimRoy
Yeah, I'll probably edit it better in Photoshop (I didn't have much time left in the competition when I originally edited it, hence why it looks so rough,) and hang it up somewhere. I don't have a shop, but I might stick it in the garage or my bedroom.
 
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