THE BIKE IS ALMOST FULLY RESTORED!

I've been busy rebuilding this baby and I haven't had much time to write about the build. I basically built the rear wheel, re-covered the seat with a leather jacket that I bought at the goodwill store for $8, replaced the handlebars with something a bit more comfortable and painted the name of the bike on the chainguard. All I'm missing now is a headlight that I bought on Ebay that should come in anytime this week.

The seat was pretty easy to do. I just took my time removing the old cover, making sure I wasn't pulling out any foam. I then sprayed some 3M 777 adhesive on the foam and the leather. Always take a bigger piece of leather than you need, remove the excess afterwards. The tricky part is that sometimes the leather will not stretch over well in some parts of the seat. I made that fit possible by blowing some steam on the leather to soften it. Came out pretty well.

I know I promised to show you how to build a wheel, but after building these 2 I realized that it is much more of an art form for me than a technical thing. The fact that I come out with a straight wheel after I build it, despite the screw ups leading up to the end product, still amazes me. So I will direct you to the master himself Sheldon Brown who has in my opinion the best article out there on how to build wheels. I use that article myself once in a while to refresh my memory. Trust me you won't be disappointed.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html

The lettering on the chainguard was pretty easy to do. I measured the surface I had to work with and made a new file in Photoshop. I did the lettering in outline and printed the document on transparent masking paper. I cut the letters out and then simply spray painted the design on the chainguard. I didn't want for the design to look too good. So I wasn't very careful with removing the mask and wet sanded everything after it was dry. I applied a clear coat over everything once I was done.

That's about it for now. Your comments are always welcomed.

Ride safe and Godspeed.

Gerry