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RARE TITAN built Western Flyer BUILD!

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partsguy

Riding a '38 Autocycle Deluxe
Well folks, I got home, had some free time, the weather was nice, and so I decided to get down to business. I want to have this bike done, running, and back on the trails by this coming Spring (if Spring is defined by our crazy weather, then I'm far behind). First, a bit of a history lesson:

According to the BMX Museum, Titan was in business from 1984-1997. Not a very long life span. Titan was more famous in the BMX world, but they began to expand. Production of their first mountain bikes began in 1987. Judging from the many catalogs I own, Western Auto struck a deal with Titan in 1989 to produce some of their new mountain bikes for the Western Flyer line. This deal would be renewed until the 1994 model year. This bike, the Kodiak, was produced from circa 1991-1993. It may have been out in 1990 as well, but I do not have any resources for this year yet. I believe this Kodiak is one of the last bikes built when Titan was still an independent company, which means it is most likely a 1992. It could be a '93, but I'll have to really dig on this one. The differences between the two years is very subtle.

Anyway, here is what I am starting with; a true junkyard dog. He was found by accident while salvaging a 1974 Raleigh LTD at a scrapyard. The bike was under a pile of barb wire and chain link fence. I pulled it out with ease. Amazing what you can accomplish with a little adrenaline! The Raleigh and the Western Flyer were bought at scrap price: $13. The Raleigh was parted out for a nice pay out of about $70.

Parked just at the end of my Mtn/BMX area sits the treasure:
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Note the iconic trait of the original Titan frames:
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One of the shifters was replaced, but one of the originals remain. You can still make out "Western" on the label.
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All in all, the frame is completely RUST FREE! I only wish I could say the same for the wheels. The wheels, cables, and possibly the entire transmission (cassette, gear shifter and all) will be replaced. They look as if they sat under water for 20 yrs, not on the road. The local bike shop does custom headbadges so I'll have them reconstruct a new badge for this. I have a 1988 Wildcat with a better badge to go off of. That will be posted later. All in good time.

Tomorrow, I get to TEAR DOWN! DEMOLITION IS TOMORROW, STAY TUNED!
 
O man, you have me hooked cause and now that I think back on it its insane I love 80s mountain bike cause I grew up tearing a barn full of them apart to make a decent one. My brothers went through tons of mountain bikes. That splatterish paint is awesome. I've been scanning the free trash days for years ever since my dad threw out all the bikes:eek:. I wouldn't mind having a good rider like this hope the build goes well gonna keep an eye on this. Man I miss those paint jobs.
 
O man, you have me hooked cause and now that I think back on it its insane I love 80s mountain bike cause I grew up tearing a barn full of them apart to make a decent one. My brothers went through tons of mountain bikes. That splatterish paint is awesome. I've been scanning the free trash days for years ever since my dad threw out all the bikes:eek:. I wouldn't mind having a good rider like this hope the build goes well gonna keep an eye on this. Man I miss those paint jobs.

I didn't get a chance to tear down today. The garage is more of a car port and when it is cold, rainy, and windy, I'm not one for working outside. After I clean out all the JUNK in the basement I can continue doing my down there in the winter months.

If you look closely at one of the pics, there is another 80s mountain bike. Blue and black splatter, and its a 20in. That is my first bike. A circa 1988 Spectra Mtn. Madness, built by Murray. It been parked since Nov. 2004 pretty much.
 
The frame shape of your bike reminds me of the GT's. That looks like quite a project with all that rust. Might be fun times too. Can't wait to see the progress.
 
Well, I have been setting my priorities straight. Classes first. I worked hard, got some stuff done ahead of time, and so I rewarded myself by tearing down my 1966 Huffy Silver Jet (see other thread soon) and FINALLY getting around to this guy! Like they said on Trick My Truck "LETS TEAR DOWN!"

The first thing to go was the rusty and faded old water bottle cage thing. This was not a stock piece so I just snapped it off. The screw and wing nut were too rusted to budge anyway.
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It is as if the bike sat at the bottom of the Ohio River for 20 years, and not on the trails. The chain was now PART OF the rear rim. This one is being replaced and is going in my scrap pile. RIP.
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Ah, now we are getting down to the nitty gritty.
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I wanna say these bars are bent, but it may just be a factory thing, it looks too perfectly bent. Know what I mean? I'll check my books.
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I removed the anchor bolt for the stem and this watery, gooey, black crap just came POURING out of the frame! It reminded me of the pink slime in Ghostbusters 2! Well, this bike is from that era, so who knows?
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My stopping point for the evening:
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So, in conclusion of this post, I've found a few things. I was confused as to which cables were correct/original for the bike. As I started to remove the transmission parts and pulling the cables, I checked the one hooked into the original Western Auto shifter and I found that the white cables are indeed the originals, but they are not supposed to be white...they're that faded. They used to be a bright red color to match the "Kodiak" decals. The only spots that weren't faded were pretty much the small 1/4in portions that were in the frame lugs and inside the shifter itself. I also found that while the shifter cables were extremely rusty and almost locked up, the brakes worked just fine once I removed the bent and rusty wheels. Both wheels are junk and there is no way to save them. I'll just have to find myself a donor bike or see if the bike shop has any suitable replacements. The derailer and casette may or may not be salvageable, I think I may have to dip them in "evapo-rust" or something similar to really tell.
 
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I wonder if I can even buy those red cables anymore. Any ideas on how to go about this or am I going to have to try to restore them? One is cracked and shot so at least one will have to go.
 
Well, I'm stuck. Ok, not me, the pedals. Unlike in the past when I was working with metal pedals and I was able to use a small amount of heat, these are plastic. Normally, plastic pedals are bound for the trash, but not when they are very nice and hard to find "Old School" Wellgo pedals that cost $30-$40 to replace if I destroy them. So WD-40 ain't working, I'm out and so I have to go get some Liquid Wrench. Dad bought the WD-40 for his purposes but its funny how I used it up. I just can't stand that horrid new cap design.

Also, is there a specialized wrench for these things? Nothing I have seems to really grip them good enough and as said, I don't want to destroy these things.
 
The frame shape of your bike reminds me of the GT's. That looks like quite a project with all that rust. Might be fun times too. Can't wait to see the progress.

Well, you and another member on RRB thought it resembled a GT. So I decided to research that and sure enough, A DEAD RINGER! I thought it was a Titan because of the ads describing it as a "Titan frame" and the similar welds at the seat tube. But Titans (from what I've seen) did have a completely different rear dropout. So being a GT does make better sense. So A GT IT IS!

This should also make parts hunting somewhat easier too (I hope).
 
Well, I tried to get the rear sifter and deraileur working, the shifter works, but as for the deraileur, "He's dead, Jim." I did find a perfect match on the great fleabay in a lot of old parts. Prepare for extras in the classifieds soon!
 
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