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Jul 11, 2008 18:12:51 GMT
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Bike 1 Posted this on here aaaaaaages ago but back in early 2006 I got the urge to do my first bike. I was hacked off with fixing rusty stuff on my car so I thought about something for the summer and something I might mount one of my pulsejets on. I wanted whitewalls, I wanted mudguards, I wanted a rack on the back for mounting stuff on and I wanted practicality so a 1970s folding shopper it should be. Cue eBay and this little beaut turned up: Perfect I thought and set about some simple plans in the garage to stretch it out a bit to accomodate me, a bottle of propane and something scary behind me. This is what I came up with on Photoshop: Lugged it back across London on the back of my moped. Couple of hours later in the garage and this is what I came up with, lengthened, lowered, raked and the handlebars pulled right out: And that's how it stayed for about a year. It went to Lemans with me where it was stolen by bloody travellers and I thought that was the last I would see of it. Turned out it was a bit harder to ride than it looked and they ditched it and I found it a day or so later which was a bit of luck. Roll forwards 6 months and I'd scored a really pretty tank off a Kawasaki sommat or other for a 125cc bobber project I had in my head which never surfaced so I decided to put the tank on the bike instead, since it fitted: And that's pretty much how it is today. I've still got it, it's racked up some serious miles and it's been all over the place with me. Chelsea cruise, Lemans, the Nats and all round here. I even punched a guy over his bonnet who tried to knock me off it with his car. Top bike.
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Last Edit: Jul 20, 2012 18:39:28 GMT by Deleted
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Jul 11, 2008 18:16:41 GMT
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Here's a couple of minute videos of me riding it without the tank. They are 3gp files so I think you need Quicktime to play them: movie 1movie 2
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Bike 2 This one came to me under slightly bizarre circumstances. I had a mate round and we walked round to the supermarket and there was a rusty old bike laying in the middle of the high street. Everyone was stepping over it and were generally like wtf. Looked like it had been dumped because it was in a bit of a state, flat tyres, no oil etc. On the way back it was still there so I asked in all the shops and nobody knew anything about it, so hoiked it up and wheeled it home. Anyway, it was just what I was looking for. Giant spindly rusty wheels with crusty old tyres, tatty leatherette spring seat, Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub, mudguards and ramhorn handlebars. In the garage I chopped the frame up and lengthened it about 8", dropped it about 4" and sunk the seat in the frame to try and get that 1920's look. Annoyingly I didn't take any pictures as it was because it was a really heavy short upright iron frame and you rode it like a Victorian. This is how you ride it now ;D Movie 1Movie 2Sold it on eBay some time back because I was out of space. It was a hard decision to make but the shopper was marginally easier to ride. New owner seemed to like it
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Love it! Still think it looks like a photoshop mind ;-)
Did you match the paint or just repaint the whole thing in similar colour?
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Nah, just slapped it over with Dulux ;D
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Jul 12, 2008 10:17:20 GMT
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lookes like a 20s track racing motorbike
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Jul 12, 2008 11:38:07 GMT
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great builds, the blue ones needs the tank painting to match then a white scallop on the tank to finish it off.
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dubscum
Part of things
thats what i do
Posts: 531
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bike 2 kicks ass
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whip it, into shape ........ go forward
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Jul 13, 2008 17:04:55 GMT
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Hello, what's this on my car? It's a bike!
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Jul 13, 2008 17:35:10 GMT
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Bike 3 I scored this on the local Freecycle group late last week. A cycle off Freecycle, how apt! I've been wanting a racer to chop up for a while now, in fact I've got a thing for racers because I like things that are stripped down and fast. The guy was quite nervous on the phone like if the bike wasn't in perfect condition I'd be round there to kill him. Hearing it wasn't in perfect condition but basically rideable made me think this was exactly what I was looking for and I tried to contain my excitement and kept my mouth shut about my plans. He had some special pedals he wanted to keep so I figured for the price of a set of pedals I couldn't go wrong. Back at work I got busy sketching up some plans for the new frame: It had to be low and sleek with skinny tube but ultimately still rideable. The mistake I've made with the other bikes I've built is I haven't moved the pedals forwards so they can be quite hard work on hills. This one will have the pedals shoved right up front so it's a bit easier going. The question is just how long do I go ;D Oh, and it has to fit on the roofrack on the car...
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Jul 13, 2008 18:00:37 GMT
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I wasn't prepared to pick up what would turn out to be a really nice bike... It's a fairly old Raleigh frame with some ultra skinny wheels, 12 gears and some of the coolest tyres I've seen: It weighs next to nothing and has Reynolds 531 stickers all over it like this one: Figuring this might be a "feature" I looked it up on Wikipedia. So cool, I've scored what is basically a pro framed bike for free! I put some pedals on it and re-wrapped the handlebars with black gel tape. The rubbers on the brake levers are a bit skanky but they cleaned up with some thinners and the way I've done the handlebar tape covers a lot of it. Over at the bike shop the guy recommended I put 100psi in the tyres or they get pinched and burst. It rides really, really nicely and the lightest touch of the pedals shoots you up to pretty decent speeds. I'm reluctant to chop this one up so I think I'm going to keep it as my daily rider instead. Plus he funny steel in the frame would be a curse word to weld... Ok curse word excuses but plans are now rub the frame down, clean it up and give it a bit of satin black and leave it basically as it is. Would be cool to stick a smaller wheel on the front for that nose down attitude and fettle the headstock angle to compensate, but it's good as it is. I'll keep an eye out for another one to chop up. Watch this space
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street
Posted a lot
6.2 ft/lbs of talk
Posts: 4,662
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Jul 13, 2008 19:35:05 GMT
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Nice score! That Flite saddle is worth a fair few quid on its own! Looks a really good spec all round actually, those tyres are damn good aswell, I used to use those when I went through a roadie phase.
I agree with you, not the right candidate for a chop. Why not go down the route of making it ultra, ultra light and fast since your off to a head start already? I'm talking drilling EVERYTHING out, ally bolts, shave metal off components where it isn't needed, remove anything you don't need......... WARNING- IT GETS ADDICTIVE! ;D
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Jul 13, 2008 21:31:02 GMT
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Sounds like a plan to me I'll be losing the pump and the bottle, don't need them. Won't be carrying a puncture repair kit anyway so no point ;D
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would love to see it prepainted the same colour, much nicer than than matt black anyway
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Jul 14, 2008 10:16:29 GMT
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Satin black and polished ally parts I'm afraid. Stealth bike.
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Jul 14, 2008 17:34:47 GMT
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ah satin yeah thatl look cool, not a matt black fan at all
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Jul 16, 2008 17:42:48 GMT
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Et voila
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TS
Part of things
Posts: 558
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Jul 16, 2008 19:18:43 GMT
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nice. Not gonna go with toe clips though? You're wasting energy with platform pedals.
Reynolds 531 is good stuff. Most of my bikes are 531 but the Pros have moved on a bit since then (even those that still ride steel).
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Toe clips? Nah, I'm no serious cyclist ;D
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Tim
Posted a lot
Posts: 3,340
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Jul 21, 2008 12:42:13 GMT
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Doubt any pro's ride steel bikes now, which is a shame :-)
A chopped down racing bike is on my list of projects, but i'm two projects behind at the moment anyway and thats just the bicycles!
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