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Jul 17, 2011 23:52:48 GMT
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This summer I decided that cycling to work was a good idea. I haven't regularly rode since the early 90's and missed it. I bought a dyno-glide because I remembered really enjoying my '60s schwinn cruiser and I have been a Dyno fan since I bought my dyno compe freestyler in 1985 but the long wheelbase and raked/slacked out frame didn't suit me.  Last weekend I stumbled on this thread about late 70's california cruisers and was smitten. bmxsociety.com/topic/38162-cal-cruisers/ That is what I wanted so I opened another tab and hit craigslist and there it was on the top a 23 dollar chrome 70's cantilever frame bike.  I immediately tore it down to nothing, cleaned and repacked all the bearings, welded a few cracks and installed some temporary mountain bike forks and some 80's BMX components I have had since they were new.  I ordered these BMX style forks from the garage computer while still working  The seat post that was in the bike was 18" of water pipe so I cut a piece off the old dyno handlebars to make my own lay back seat post  I ended up cutting both sides off the bars and installing them temporarily so it could act as a commuter that week.  The cut down bars looked awesome but made my hands go numb after a few miles so they had to go. On friday the new forks were delivered. After installing them I hit a used bicycle parts store and nabbed an '80s Dia-compe bulldog caliper for the front. The guy let me have it for $1.50. I then hit the bike shop my friend Aaron manages and he showed me a bunch of expensive BMX cruiser bars and then told me I didn't want any of them. He then went in to the back room and emerged with some childs bike handle bars and told me to weld some extensions on to them. He knows me too well and for $12 I was happy. Aaron was also 100% correct. Boy do these bars look the part.   This thing is now a total hoot to ride. What is left? Well I ordered some old school "gumwall" 26" BMX tires that are due to be delivered tuesday and then it needs a rear brake and some suitable pedals. But for now it will get me to and from work in style.  What do you think? |
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Jul 19, 2011 12:53:18 GMT
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I think that if you are not already in the engineering/customising trade, you have missed your calling!! As with the Fiat and the Moped, just awesome. |
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1981 VW T25
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Jul 19, 2011 23:49:19 GMT
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Ha! I am a millwright at a glue factory. I just like building and modifying things
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Aug 20, 2011 23:36:15 GMT
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I figured I would post up my new bicycle project. I was going to wait 'til it was finished but I am a bit bored right now. Mrs Ditchdigger is in hospital recovering from a nasty infection and there isn't much else to do while I sit and watch her sleep. So I purchased a pair of beach cruiser frames a few months ago intended to be projects to build with my nephew. He came over to check them out and instead left with Dyno-glide. This left me with temptation and I suck at resisting that. A few weeks later I saw this 1936 JC Higgins camelback and got an idea  I figured I could justify this to myself by saying I needed a road bike. Something with gears. OK one $5 "manhattan" brand beach cruiser  Out came the grinder and off went the cantilever bars  Well I'll be damned. it is a reasonable facsimile of the higgins. I should have left well enough alone but the moment I let the pinch in the seat stays bother me I knew they had to go   and the removed canti tubes came in handy  And this was the end of day one  The next day I had some free time at work so I machined some scrap steel, welded it all up and called it a stem.  And then powder coated it that evening   And mocked up  I tried to tie in the stem design by using the same oval tubing with filled holes on the rear  I modified an old skinny front fork to hold the caliper for the disc brake.  and painted the whole thing Audi Dolphin grey 2pak left over from an old mk1 golf project    I ordered the bottom bracket conversion spindle from porkchop bmx  And then the missus became unwell so it will be a while before I can get back out to the garage. More in a few days hopefully |
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Chris™
Part of things
This is clearly filler material.
Posts: 519
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Stunning! Hope the other half is on the mend, and looking forward to seeing more! ;D
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1989 Volvo 340
1986 Suzuki SJ413
2000 BMW 318ti
2006 Lexus IS250
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Aug 25, 2011 10:07:07 GMT
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I like where this is heading. Headstem is brilliant work!
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Remade In Australia
thereimaginarium.com.au
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Very cool stuff, love these sort of builds, reminiscent of the real early "clunker" mountain bike and early bmx cruiser guys.
If you're having trouble getting the odl bull dog brakes to grab well I have been told swapping to modern v-brake pads does wonders. I am goign to try it out on my cruiser tomorrow, I will let you know if it helps keep me out of the trees!
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Excellent work and some fairly cool-looking bikes, but one thing jumped out at me... After installing them I hit a used bicycle parts store and nabbed an '80s Dia-compe bulldog caliper for the front. The guy let me have it for $1.50. You have used bike parts stores?! That's just amazing. I've never even imagined such a thing. Surely used bicycle parts have almost no value and hence there would be no profit in running a store? I don't know about the US market, but where I live a used bicycle parts store couldn't even afford to pay it's rent if all of the stock was obtained for free. |
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Aug 26, 2011 17:19:37 GMT
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What we have is actually pretty amazing. The Center for appropriate transport AKA Eugene bicycle works. It is a co-op where anyone can rent shop space, volunteer, donate old gear and bikes, rent bikes and buy used parts, pieces, projects, overhauled complete bikes or full custom delivery type bikes. www.catoregon.org/Yes as you expect used parts are very cheap and service is slow. A mid grade mtn bike shimano crankset with chainrings and some high quality pedals set me back $3 the other day. That is less than a cup of coffee at most places. The missus is on the mend so I hope to get outside soon and finish this up. I just found an old Arai tandem drum brake that I just feel I have to mount to the rear now. |
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Sept 26, 2011 4:17:42 GMT
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It's been a while! Where were we? Despite my better judgement I let myself spend a bit of money on the bike. First was some Velo Orange porteur bars. I just had to have them and then I stumbled across a "can't pass it up deal" on a new Brooks B17. I needed to match the grips to the saddle so I went down to the leather merchant and dug through their scrap bins with the B17 in hand and found an almost perfect match. Cut to size and drilled. I could have used an awl and punched the lace holes that way but drilling the holes just made the whole arts and crafts project that much more manly.  After having heavy cotton thread break on me 3 times I went looking for something tougher and found this  It worked amazingtly well. The rubber texture kept everything tight and and made the whole task easier than it was with the cotton. Stitching it up is a 2 needle job. I found zipties helpful to keep everything in place as I worked  One down. The second was finished in only 20 minutes  On the bars  And comparing the color to the saddle.  Just a few more bits to source and I can ride this thing! |
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Sept 26, 2011 11:55:23 GMT
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Nice work!
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Rolled it out into the rain for a whole bike picture   And then while I had it out I decided to run the deraileur cable and then I hit a snag. I didn't have any cable straps and zip ties would break my heart. Back to the leather!  Cut some 3/4" strips and hammered some snaps into them I kinda dig the look.  Looks like I am a rear disc caliper away from heading out on my own little tweed ride. Just in time for the rain to start  |
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Barker
Part of things
JDM Fanboy
Posts: 129
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These are brilliant mate love them!
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Hey look! I got sidetracked......suprise. While clearing a spot on the bench to make room for a transmission I ended up staring at the other frame that was sitting around. Whilst modding the previous frame I had an idea and I had to try it out. I wanted a 40's straightbar frame for the BMX so I decided to replicate it. The bike  The new frame. A Torker cruiser from the 90's  Looks familiar  Dig up that old frame from behind the garage ![]() i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq313/ditch_digger/bike/RRB%20Build%20off/curse word.jpg[/IMG] Donor tubes!  Cleaned up  Removed the dropouts for some more BMX appropriate ones I made  A little JB weld for filler and a left over rattlecan from the moped and its done  I was able to salvage the rounded ends from the removed tubes and weld them to the seat stays    Might get one more good ride in before the 6 months of Oregon rain starts. Crossing my fingers. |
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Those leather grips you made are awesome. I love the way you just get stuck in and lop bits off the frames at will. Brilliant.
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TS
Part of things
Posts: 558
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Oct 21, 2011 18:46:12 GMT
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Great work. All of these bikes look rad.
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