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This will be my first custom built bike, that is if you don't count me ruining my 3 speed english racer as a kid.

I'm letting the bike tell me what it wants to be, and this build is a fickle girl, she keeps changing her mind. I started out wanting to build a Varsity looking chopper using 20" wheels.
Mock Up Small.jpg


The first thing I did was to cut the top tube at the seatpost, notch it at the head, and move the back up. Then I realized it might be easier to get donor pieces to relocate the bottom bracket. A friend donated a 20" girls frame and while figuring out how to piece it together, the direction changed, now it was looking like an old dirt track bike to me.

Some Gorilla Tape to hold it in shape.

P7240471.jpg

Then some ugly welding.

P7260477.jpg


Making sure everything will fit.

P7310478.jpg
 
The seatpost mounts were a little weak looking, so I redid them and started filling in with sheet metal.
P8070484.jpg


All stripped and finished the front of the chainstays. It still has that dirt track look to me.
P8110492.jpg


A new back tire and added gussets to the bottom of the seatpost to help with the flow of the frame. It's starting to go in another direction as to me it's losing the dirt track look.
P8140493.jpg



Added a gusset to the top of the bottom bracket.
P8160492.jpg


After 2 coats of epoxy primer and the first coat of filler.
P8210495.jpg
 
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I like the way you mounted the bottom bracket kind of high so that you can use longer cranks to get that thing moving.
 
I like the way you mounted the bottom bracket kind of high so that you can use longer cranks to get that thing moving.
Not enough though, I had to order a set of 4" cranks to be able to turn. The stock varsity crank just cleared the ground by 1".

Some primer shots.

P8260498.jpg
P8260499.jpg
P8260500.jpg
 
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I found a set of 9" bars cheap and decided to give them a try. They really make the bike comfortable, but I don't like the look at all. Tilting them forward of what you see in this pic helped, but not enough.

P9060506.jpg

Then for the heck of it I dug out an old banana seat. If it was lower and more forward, I think it would look good. It's not the direction I wanted to go, but as the name says,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

P9070519.jpg
 

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