Low-budget faux Manta-Ray

[parkrndl]

I've been riding with a group that has some original Fastbacks and Manta-Rays, and I decided to build my own Manta on a budget. I found this 24" Speedster on Craigslist:

Since it's a fairly nice complete bike, I am only making changes that can be easily reversed by parts swapping. I am carefully putting away any parts I take off so the bike can be restored to original. After a little tinkering with stuff I had in my parts stash, this is where I'm at:

I bought a junk guard on Fleabay and tried a little creative decoration on it: I used my wife's Cricut to make a stencil, then sponged paint on to make the graphic look aged to match the bike. I think it came out pretty good.

Still planning to put a Mag sprocket on it, but I like the way it's shaping up. Looking forward to the rides starting back up in spring to put some miles on this one. From my couple of test rides around the block, it seems like a nice rider.

 

[Jaxon]

Looking good! Nice trick with the sponge on the guard.

 

[A.S.BOLTNUT]

Seen many of these over the years , I've even built one myself.

 

[bikecrazy]

Stencil turned out great. Lots of homemade Manta like bikes were built back in the day by us poor kids.

 

[Ridge Rider]

These are fun bikes to build and ride . I did this 3 speed and a 5 speedster .I kept this one , another Caber has the Five speed.

 

[Goldenrod]

It is all a part of the history of these bikes? Homemade and experimentation is so USA.

 

[parkrndl]

So I created a little alternate reality/historical fiction to go with this bike...