The Schwinn Dixie Dreamcycle: My Entry for the 16th Annual Rat Rod Bikes Build Off

[Bike from the Dead]

You might want to have a chat with the person who welded that fork. Clean break. No penetration of new weld

Well, I could mention that to him next time we meet, but given how upset he was when the fork failed and I got hurt (he also helped me assemble the bike and fine-tune it,) I'm honestly not mad at him. He builds bikes like these motorized ones on a fairly regular basis, and he rides them fairly hard at 30-55mph. So, while it may have been a bad weld, I also feel that it was a freak accident, given that I rode these bikes and nothing broke. Though, to be fair, I don't think he usually repairs forks, and like someone else told me, the fork is one of the most stressed parts of the bike. Either way, I think I'll just stick with intact forks from now on, or at least take the forks to my other welder.

 

[Porkchop & Applesauce]

Good morning!
After all the months of hard work and finally getting it together it can be a ruff thing to go through! On the upside it happened right away and ya have a springer for it! That old saying “poop happens!” Is legit! Lmao! I had an injury a few years back with a chevelle I was working on. The driver’s side window wasn’t working properly and it was the last repair I needed to do. When I removed the spring from the regulator it cut my hand and required 18 stitches! The reason I am telling you this is because the next day I got back out there a fixed this car! Emotionally for me it was the best medicine! So I say….limp back out there and put that springer on and take her for a spin! You’ll be glad you did!

 

[Bike from the Dead]

Good morning!
After all the months of hard work and finally getting it together it can be a ruff thing to go through! On the upside it happened right away and ya have a springer for it! That old saying “poop happens!” Is legit! Lmao! I had an injury a few years back with a chevelle I was working on. The driver’s side window wasn’t working properly and it was the last repair I needed to do. When I removed the spring from the regulator it cut my hand and required 18 stitches! The reason I am telling you this is because the next day I got back out there a fixed this car! Emotionally for me it was the best medicine! So I say….limp back out there and put that springer on and take her for a spin! You’ll be glad you did!

Thanks Porkchop! Yeah, I guess it's better that it happened during the 2nd shakedown run than anytime later. OUCH! Sorry to hear you got hurt like that, but I'm glad it didn't hurt your motivation to get that Chevelle done. I might try tinkering with my bikes tomorrow, depending on how my wrists feel. I still need to get all my bike parts out of the car, so I can get some better photos of the carnage, and so I can figure out where to go from here. I haven't given up on this bike yet, but I wouldn't mind taking a short break to let the soreness wear off.

 

[DRCA]

Oh no , you didn't.........

 

[razinhellcustomz]

I'll keep this post short and...
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...because I'm now off to a...
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Okay, puns aside, I was able to exchange those blackwall tires for a pair of whitewall tires. Now that that's out of the way, I'm going with my original "Dreamcycle" color scheme: orange and white. This will make finishing this bike much simpler and easier than if I went with the candy blue scheme I tinkered with yesterday.
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I'm not sure which exact fork and front fender I'm using just yet, but I grabbed the white fork shown above, and the 2 forks below out of storage just in case I need to splice a steerer tube onto that red fork I mocked up earlier. Odds are the bent red fork pictured below will be the donor, as the rest of it's pretty mangled.
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That's all for now. Stay tuned for more!

Hey Austin, Where you find those white wall tires? Their really COOOL!!!

 

[Bike from the Dead]

Hey Austin, Where you find those white wall tires? Their really COOOL!!!

Thanks! I got them at my local bike shop.

 

[razinhellcustomz]

The first coat doesn't look all that great after curing in the oven, in fact some parts look more silver than orange, but that's where the second layer of powder comes in...
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Once the first layer of powder fully cools, he applies the second layer of powder: clear coat.
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This is the result after the clear coat cures. That's when that orange really pops!
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So now the parts are all powder coated. There's not much left to do at this stage, but I plan to make some more progress these next 2 days. I want to finish priming and painting the tank and tank mounts tomorrow and Tuesday while the weather is in the 60s and 70s. If I can get that done before it gets cold again, then all that's left is reassembly. I want to see if my fabricator friend can help me this time, since the last time I tried to put this bike together, the bearings weren't acting right. If he's able to help me, we might finish this bike before we start on my MBBO entry for this year.

All that orange powder coat reminds me of all the Ariens snow throwers that i built back in he early 2000's.. Love the color, but can't get the Ariens out of my head.. RideOn... Razin..

 

[Bike from the Dead]

All that orange powder coat reminds me of all the Ariens snow throwers that i built back in he early 2000's.. Love the color, but can't get the Ariens out of my head.. RideOn... Razin..

Thanks! I would have never have thought of snow throwers with that orange, but that's probably because I live further south, where it doesn't snow as much.

 

[Tuna]

That fork break had to hurt in many ways! Unfortunately, the splice should have been done with a sleeve. Since the break was clean, it may be able to be repaired if you didn't already find a replacement fork. Here is a link to Paul Brodie who has a video on a similar repair/modification.

Paul Brodie - Steerer tube lengthening

 

[Bike from the Dead]

That fork break had to hurt in many ways! Unfortunately, the splice should have been done with a sleeve. Since the break was clean, it may be able to be repaired if you didn't already find a replacement fork. Here is a link to Paul Brodie who has a video on a similar repair/modification.

Paul Brodie - Steerer tube lengthening

I'm still pretty sore from it. The physical wounds have healed up for the most part, but emotionally, I'm still pretty bummed about what happened.

Sad thing was, I could've sworn we did put a sleeve in it. Guess not. I don't know about saving that fork, but thanks for sharing that video! That could be really useful down the road.