THE BIKE IS DONE!

After some tweaking to install the chain guard and a little shopping on Ebay, it's complete. I also had to change the handlebars because the originals were not very comfortable. It's surprising how well this 57 year old lady rides. The original hubs still do a great job of rolling and stopping. This bike is a lot of fun to ride and it is very tight. No wobbles or rattle anywhere, it has a very solid feel to it. Even though I did not do a full paint job on this, it was still labor intensive. But the results are just amazing and I am pleased to add this one to my small stable of bikes.

Don't forget to check out the rest of the build off bikes at ratrodbikes.com.

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

RAT ROD BIKE BUILD OFF SUBJECT: 1950 CCM

So the build off is now officially on. You can check out the other bikes on the thread here. The bike is a 1950 ladies CCM that a friend gave me a little while back, It has the classic Victorian era step through frame design from the late 19th century. I just love that swooping top tube and that very long head tube. These design features will be the focus of the build and I will try to showcase them.

I intend to keep the original finish since I love the color and it will be hard to match. I also love the fact that the finish tells a story of the bike's life and after all I want to go for a rat bike look. Next step will be to take the bike apart and see what we have to work with. I will try to save as much as I can of the original parts but so far it doesn't look good for the wheels!

I will not go in detail for the deconstruction of this bike since I already did it during the first bike overhaul. So if you want to know how to take a bike apart, go to the Great Canadian Bike Overhaul 1 site.

So keep posted for what's to come.

Gerry