1951 CWC Roadmaster

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Here are few updates. Let me start with the good news. I got this Monark inspired Electra sprocket through my local Electra dealer. They are not on their catalog any more, so i guess this counts as NOS :D
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Installed the dog leg crank i got from Debutante, to my surprise modern bearing races and bearings did fit the old CWC cups! And to my surprise the gear from my 1980 Schwinn Heavy Duti did not fit, this modern crank has different t.p.i. then older Schwinn. Did not know that.
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Another good piece of news is that the seatpost i made did fit. I ordered a 16mm stainless bar and cut a bit of material away on a lathe in our school. Our lathe is far from the best, since student work with it without knowing how to use it or take care of the machine, so the resulting surface is very ugly. But it works! :) Installed the older clamp on this modern saddle to fit it.
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I also formed the stainless bolts i bought recently to look a bit more like original ones, with square head.
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Here how the bike looks now:
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Now to not-so-good news. The pedals that i showed you earlier ended up to be 9/16, not 1/2 as they were sold. The axle is 134mm long, longer then any i have, so i would have to find a way to modify my pedals to fit shorter axles, or to find new set, or more pedals to donate their parts to this project. Anyway, something that seemed a quick job before now becomes more complicated.
Another bummer, the chain guard i have ordered in the beginning of January is still not here, possibly lost at USPS. I hope it will appear again, and the seller is really helpful guy, visiting post office every few days asking them where is it, but still, the tracking shows no updates since 19th of January. Lets hope it shows up, would be a pity for a part to survive through 70 years to be lost in transit.
Apart from that it seems to come together pretty well, with few minor issues like paying extra import taxes, but i am prepared for that :D

Today i am going to my painter to discuss the paint job for this bike. Here is how my sketchy mock-up looks like:

Still, the colors and details might change. Thanks for watching, more updates to come soon ;)
 

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That Electra ring is better than NOS, it is (was) still in original packaging. Know what's best? Used, as in, fulfilling its purpose on a sweet bike! It looks perfect on there. Cool man!
 
Fresh delivery from USA.
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New (ha-ha, at least new for me) fork with the original headset! Chrome is chipped on the bearing cups, so i might as well use the ones from my Schwinn Heavy Duti. I believe this fork is original for Roadmaster, but it can be somewhat older then my frame. Now i have to search for another hub, since this fork takes 8mm axle, unlike 10mm for the fork i currently have on my bike. Good news is that this is a very popular standard here, it should be relatively easy to find such a hub. Truss rods bracket should be made, but this is not a big deal for me. Possibly the fork has to be shortened and re-threaded, i think it comes from a girls frame. Struts possibly come from a girls bike as well, but i believe i can overcome this issue by adding few spacers and adjusting the shape of the bracket i am going to make.
 
Hello everyone! Not much free time to work on the project lately, but here are few updates :)

I got the fenders finally! Yay! With paying almost 50 bucks only tax for it... Lots of money invested into it now. Crazy, but i really couldn't do it without the gothic peaks. It would be a bit sad to paint over original paint, it is in quite a good condition. But i am sure the final result would be great.
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Then i have rebuilt my pedals using a pair of cheap yet good quality modern reproduction rubber block pedals. Everything fitted without any mods or customizations, just like it was lego bricks. Swapped the axles and tubes, so now i have a pair of good Persons block pedals for 1/2 thread.
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Then i immediately put them on my bike to see how it looks :)
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The drive train seems to be almost done now, just without a chain. Though there is a little change still planned here :) So now i am busy with threading an extra inch in girls roadmaster fork i got recently. Once i get it done i will be basically ready to paint it. But here i am stuck without a chain guard. This was one of the first parts i have ordered, two month ago now, and now i don't have it. I am trying hard to get it somewhere :)
Apart from this i have wheels to be built. The rear hub you have seen already, the front hub i still don't have, but i think this won't be difficult. More importantly, i have the rims already. But i will only show them to you after they are painted, i am curious about what you think about them then :)
 
Got the saddles back from the powder coating. Assembled them back. I used mostly new bolts and nuts, for the few reasons. First is that allen head bolts are often more comfortable to operate with then hex head, for example when needed to be tightened through the spring coils. The second reason is that many of those original imperial thread bolts were too rusty and destroyed, and it is very difficult to find a replacement nut/bolt here. Third is that the slots for square profile under bolt heads on the pans were destroyed anyway, and m8 metrical bolts are a bit more beefy then original ones. Anyways, here are the results, two seats assembled, just not covered yet.

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I am planning to use the second one (persons) on my bike, and use the first one (maker unknown, comes from 1952 24" CWC bike) for some practicing on wrapping. Also, i found a nice youtube video, where a professional upholsterer does a vintage bike double pan seat similar to mine. Can be useful to many of us here:


Honestly, i was planning to be done with the bike by that time, but seems life has other plans on it. Since i still don't have the chain guard for it, i can not proceed and paint it. But on the other hand, it gives me more time to look for parts, and now for most of them i was planning to use initially, like that fork or reproduction cranks, i was able to find a better alternative. The original fork from a girls bike you have already seen, i managed to re-thread it so now it fits my bike. But i need a proper hub with 8mm axle now to fit that fork, so you won't see the pictures of that fork fitted on my bike yet. The new sprocket and cranks i just got by mail yesterday.

Here is this 52t Monark sprocket, the seller claims it is NOS, but even if it is reproduction - i don't mind. It is great quality part and the condition is basically new. Not original CWC, but pretty close to it, the only difference is the amount of tears on it, 5 on CWC versus 6 on Monark. Great deal for 20 bucks i paid for it in my opinion. The seller still has some more on his ebay if you are interested.
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And here is the crank. Best looking OPC i have ever seen in my life. The seller claims it is pre-war Elgin. Seems to be re-chromed recently, the surface looks just great. Not show quality lowrider chrome, but for an old bike part you can't wish for more. Measures 7", and that would fit my long legs way better then 165mm i have on the bike right now.
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The other piece of good news is that a parcel with some parts for that build is on its way to me from Kaliningrad, former Konigsberg. That is the enclave city of Russia in between Poland and Lithuania, and i tell you a bit more about the parts in the package and the story of them in my next post, when it arrives :) I am also working on some detailed painting scheme for that bike. It is not going to resemble any existing CWC bike painting scheme, but would be inspired by many, since my bike is not build with all the correct parts from a certain era but uses parts from different bikes from 40's-50's.
 
The other piece of good news is that a parcel with some parts for that build is on its way to me from Kaliningrad, former Konigsberg. That is the enclave city of Russia in between Poland and Lithuania, and i tell you a bit more about the parts in the package and the story of them in my next post, when it arrives :) I am also working on some detailed painting scheme for that bike. It is not going to resemble any existing CWC bike painting scheme, but would be inspired by many, since my bike is not build with all the correct parts from a certain era but uses parts from different bikes from 40's-50's.

A package from Kaliningrad... :39: Interesting
 
Got the saddles back from the powder coating. Assembled them back. I used mostly new bolts and nuts, for the few reasons. First is that allen head bolts are often more comfortable to operate with then hex head, for example when needed to be tightened through the spring coils. The second reason is that many of those original imperial thread bolts were too rusty and destroyed, and it is very difficult to find a replacement nut/bolt here. Third is that the slots for square profile under bolt heads on the pans were destroyed anyway, and m8 metrical bolts are a bit more beefy then original ones. Anyways, here are the results, two seats assembled, just not covered yet.

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I am planning to use the second one (persons) on my bike, and use the first one (maker unknown, comes from 1952 24" CWC bike) for some practicing on wrapping. Also, i found a nice youtube video, where a professional upholsterer does a vintage bike double pan seat similar to mine. Can be useful to many of us here:


Honestly, i was planning to be done with the bike by that time, but seems life has other plans on it. Since i still don't have the chain guard for it, i can not proceed and paint it. But on the other hand, it gives me more time to look for parts, and now for most of them i was planning to use initially, like that fork or reproduction cranks, i was able to find a better alternative. The original fork from a girls bike you have already seen, i managed to re-thread it so now it fits my bike. But i need a proper hub with 8mm axle now to fit that fork, so you won't see the pictures of that fork fitted on my bike yet. The new sprocket and cranks i just got by mail yesterday.

Here is this 52t Monark sprocket, the seller claims it is NOS, but even if it is reproduction - i don't mind. It is great quality part and the condition is basically new. Not original CWC, but pretty close to it, the only difference is the amount of tears on it, 5 on CWC versus 6 on Monark. Great deal for 20 bucks i paid for it in my opinion. The seller still has some more on his ebay if you are interested.
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And here is the crank. Best looking OPC i have ever seen in my life. The seller claims it is pre-war Elgin. Seems to be re-chromed recently, the surface looks just great. Not show quality lowrider chrome, but for an old bike part you can't wish for more. Measures 7", and that would fit my long legs way better then 165mm i have on the bike right now.
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The other piece of good news is that a parcel with some parts for that build is on its way to me from Kaliningrad, former Konigsberg. That is the enclave city of Russia in between Poland and Lithuania, and i tell you a bit more about the parts in the package and the story of them in my next post, when it arrives :) I am also working on some detailed painting scheme for that bike. It is not going to resemble any existing CWC bike painting scheme, but would be inspired by many, since my bike is not build with all the correct parts from a certain era but uses parts from different bikes from 40's-50's.

The humble Upholsterman makes it look too easy and with no relief cuts around the edges .
I have done a few and still have wrinkles . Nice video and nice build , I'll just keep practicing ?
 
Hello everyone. So, packages and parcels are moving really slow lately, and my progress is not very fast too. Here is what changed over last week.

Installed new cranks and sprocket. Looks awesome in my opinion, and completely changes the looks of the bike. You may see just how far the reproduction looks are actually away from OG.
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Used an old basket bracket to install the truss rods. Honestly, i am not satisfied with the result. Seems like i would have to bend the original ladies rods to fit my frame, or make new ones myself.
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Also put the original fork on. The headset mostly comes from my Schwinn Heavy Duti, but i also used the least rusted parts from the original one i got with the fork.
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Here comes the rear fender.
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Looks great, even though the color does not really match :)
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The gooseneck sticks a bit too far out the fork. Even higher then minimum insertion mark. What could be the reason? Were older stems that shorter, or is there possibly something wrong with the fork tube? It does not get deeper even with significant amount of force applied.
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You did notice the bent fender brackets on the previous photo, didn't you? :D Mounting them on! Original fender rivets are too loose now anyways.
Surprisingly, the front fender also did fit, even over 28 inch wheel. I use this 28 inch temporarily, since it is the only wheel i got with 8mm axle. Bent brackets are really hard to find here, i only got one long one for mounting to the axle. On the back i could use short ones and mount on the frame, but the fork does not have a hole for them, so i need to use a long one. If a miracle won't happen and i won't find the second one like that, i'd have to only use one bent bracket on the front.
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Finally, putting the head badge on! Fits perfectly with the original screws.
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Now lets hope for the parts i am still waiting for to arrive soon :)
 
Hello everyone! Haven't posted my updates in a while, there are some news on the project :)
First of all, i am not sure if i told before, i am now doing an internship in a new cool design workshop, it is kind of a fab-lab. One of the things i am responsible there for is a laser cutter...
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So i decided to make myself some truss-rods crowns that replicate the original ones closer.
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After putting this one on and bending the rods further, i am not really satisfied with how steep they go now, so i have ordered some stainless rods to try to make my own.
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But the way rods sit in the crown is fine. I have also produced a new crown, with wider distance from the steerer, and i will post it in my next update.
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The next thing i have started to work on is saddles upholstery. I got two of them, small one from 1950 24" CWC and the big one made by Persons. My initial plan was to test everyhting out on the small one and then repeat the process on the big one, but it got a little mixed up. Small one is easier to do since it have a simpler shape.
Here is a pan after powder-coating and with new hardware in.
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I went ahead and cut the shape i have marked, but actually my advise is if you do it yourself, leave more extra material then i did, because later when applying glued foam to saddle it is easy to miss-align it. I am using 15mm (about 1/2 inch) exercising mat for my saddle, i found this advice somewhere online.
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Actually to glue the foam well to the bigger pan i had to do it three times and use good quality tapestry glue instead of the spray glue i bought at my local hardware store. For the small one it worked fine with my first try.
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Lots of extra foam left on the small one. Needs to be cut off with the blade direction going upwards, perpendicular to saddle surface.
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The foam cuts really well with the normal utility knife, but the blades get dull quickly. My advise is to prepare few extra blades when getting your saddles done.
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First layer done (will fall off on the big one later, but stays fine on the small one).
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For the second layer it is recommended to use some soft foam. I had this one already on my saddle before, so i am reusing it.
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After glue is dry i am applying the top surface of the leather only at first. Again, i have decided to re-use the leather i had on the big saddle for the small one.
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After stretching the material well i am cutting a bit on the edges and preparing to glue the inner surface and finish the stretching.
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And here it is. Not flawless, but quite okay. Few folds left, but overall it stretched nicely.
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Not too bad for a first attempt in my opinion.
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Another piece of good news, i have finally fount the kickstand that replicates the looks of the old ones quite well. Bought it locally for about 2$.
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Now my bike finally stands well on a nice looking kickstand.
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So, since i have this laser in my hands i have decided to go on and make another few tests.
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Cut of 3mm stainless steel it seems to work well. The pattern is imperfect on the test example you see, but i have now made a CAD drawing of a more close replica of the original CWC sprocket. Here is how it polishes up:
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And after a bit more time and a different way to attach it. Still not as shiny as show-quality chrome, but i'd say it is even more shiny as Electra sprocket i bought.
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If you guys want, i may make a sprocket of a unique design or replicate some older one for you.

Of the other news, i am still waiting for my packages. The chain guard have not arrived, ebay closed the case for inactivity, so i have lost 70 bucks. Out of despracy i have ordered the third guard like that when it popped up on ebay few days ago, hoping at least one of three i bought by now would arrive to me.
Another thing is that i guess i found the reason my stem did not fit in the fork. Older fork seems to have 21.1mm standard, when mine is 22.2mm. Weird i could fit it at all if i am right. And also strange that the headset nut i got with the fork seems to be big enough for 22.2mm stem. I'd appreciate if CWC owners here could tell me what size stem they have. I guess i would be on the hunt for a stem now too, together with the reflector i am looking for.

Hope you all are doing fine and i keep you updated on this build.
 
This guy have a bunch of parts for sale, together with the reflector i need. I wrote to him asking to sell me the reflector separately, but he said he only sells it as whole. The rest of the parts he sells i don't need, since most of them are easy to get here in Europe, but shipping all of this steel would cost 110$. He'd rather sell this whole bunch for 10$ and make me pay another 110$ to delivery company for stuff i don't need, then earn 50$ himself for just one piece and ship it to me for 10$. Strange math, but whatever, it is his stuff and i am not going to tell him what to do with it :)
 
This guy have a bunch of parts for sale, together with the reflector i need. I wrote to him asking to sell me the reflector separately, but he said he only sells it as whole. The rest of the parts he sells i don't need, since most of them are easy to get here in Europe, but shipping all of this steel would cost 110$. He'd rather sell this whole bunch for 10$ and make me pay another 110$ to delivery company for stuff i don't need, then earn 50$ himself for just one piece and ship it to me for 10$. Strange math, but whatever, it is his stuff and i am not going to tell him what to do with it :)

You know, we could always find an agreement - I could take the mirror, shifters, quick realese levers & the dynamo light. Rest is mostly scrap anyways :giggle:
 
The stem on my 46 Roadmaster did the same thing.
I completely disassembled the original bike and upon rebuild noticed the stem would not insert much beyond the minimum line. The fork is straight, there is nothing inside blocking it from inserting.
I was content with leaving it this way as it makes for a more upright and comfortable riding position.
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
What tires are those?
 
What tires are those?
Project 346 Balloon Tires, like on Basman or other 346 cruisers.
After The Chopperdome closed down and the brand was sold to Ruff Cycles they are not made any more (original sizes were 26x2.35 and 24x3), so they are not so easy to find lately. But Ruff now makes they own version in 26x3 size.
 
Trying myself in making the truss rods. Bought 8mm stainless rod. To cut m8 thread it has to be about 7,6mm diameter. Since i have no access to lathe while on quarantine, i asked a friend to put it into drill, while i run the grinder with the thick stone in it. Since the rod is 1m long, i had to hold the tip of it, while he held the drill in one hand, and the grinder in the other. To do that i used a piece of old aluminium seat post, so i can hold the other tip and control its movements without destroying the surface of material. For obvious reasons i could not take pictures of us doing that. But here is the picture of us threading the rod after.
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The grip of the vice was not enough, so he is holding it with the pliers. Then same way as in the beginning we have removed the dents on the rod and polished it with sandpaper from 240 down to 2000. I have tried one with polishing paste, but honestly, the difference could almost not been seen by the eye since the surface is quite small, so i have stopped on just 2000 grit.
Here is how the rods look like after more bending being done.
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Not too bad of a result for such simple tools and techniques :) But still the other end that is attaching to the wheel has to be done. I have tried to cut a bit of material with the grinder and then hit it flat with the hammer, but broke the hammer :D Stainless steel is a bit too hard for that. So i am going to use some magic to finish them a bit later :)
 
Hello everybody! Hope you are having productive time, folks.
This week finally i had so many of my deliveries done! First of all, the package from Kaliningrad i was waiting for.
The guy sent me the wheel set without the tires, saddle springs and the chain guard from a 1998 Roadmaster reproduction. I got curious, where did he get it from, and he told me the story i believe you would like to hear. Back in the end of 1990's - beginning of 2000's, Kaliningrad had received some humanitarian aid. Can't find any info about it, but i believe things got pretty bad there after financial crisis in Russia in 1998. Anyway, this ait have included... Roadmaster reproductions that were given to local zoo workers. How crazy and surreal is that. Since most of the people did not realize the value of it, some wanted to sell it, and the guy who sent me the parts got three. Now he is out from bike scene, so he got rid of his last remaining parts!
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Looks so much better with the guard on and the correct size front wheel. Now i am already starting to see what is it going to be like when done. Though i have expected a better quality from the wheelset. The hubs are just some "made in Taiwan" front and Histop rear. Not even some "Roadmaster" stamp on them. But at least i was not sad to file down the 9mm axle of the front hub to fit in my 8mm axle fork :)

Then the other item i have received is NOS Delta light. I have an alternative to my other one now, so i can use the one that would look better. Just backing myself up for the case that the older one won't recover well.
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And here, after four month of waiting for one chainguard, i got two!
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This one was mint, also reproduction one, but got bent while in delivery. But i think with some loving care it would get well again :)

So now even though i am still on my treasure hunt for some nice 21.1mm stem and the rear reflector, i got all the main parts necessary to give it to the paint shop. Maybe just need to try hunt down one more bent fender mount.
 

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