The Elgin Experiment (could have been a contender)

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Woah! its here! Lets begin!

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more to come
 
Re: The Elgin Experiment

Ok - its 2:33 in the morning and this is the first second since 8 this morning that ive been at rest - so lets begin:

The bike: From the info that Ive gathered here, this bike is a 1941 Elgin, I bought it at the swap meet for 10 bucks, maybe it was a little high*, but like Road Master said - I couldent resist that curved seat post.

*"10 bucks is a high price? lobsterboy you are trippin" But the real story of how i came to own this bike is a bit sticky, but ill sum it up quickly: I was standing in my garage one morning having a cigarette when the scrap metal guy rolled around, i saw some rusty spokes and flagged him down - turns out it was a 48 Schwinn New World

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price paid? 10 bucks. I made it ridable, and kinda forgot about it - I took it to the swap meet along with a "for sale" sign. i walked around the whole day with it and no one even bothered to look twice about it. after a few hours we had seen the whole swap and decided it was time to go. as we were walking out, a guy walked up and asked about it. Turns out he was a schwinn guy and he was collecting the entire line of schwinns from 1948, his birth year. with a crisp ben frank in the hand, i turned around happy with the deal i had made only to see this elgin staring directly at me with a 100 dollar price tag.
"
It was un-ridable, missing spokes and a bottom bracket that felt like the bearings were replaced with roundish pebbles. i put my "mock up" wheel on the front and snapped these shots.

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the first order of business was the wheels. Tore in to the rear coaster and it was pretty worn. Off to the LBS i went, came back with a set of china alloys, the plan was to lace a ND skipper in to it and call it a day, but i had heard about grinding every other tooth off a modern sprocket to make your own skiptooth. so i did it, and it worked pretty well. Ill snap some shots of my handy work later.

Ok Tires - Lately ive been getting in to a lot of trouble with tires. i have 4 pairs of cool balloon tires that ive just been collecting because ive really lost control of myself when it comes to cycles. (my name is lobsterboyx and i hoard bicycles and parts) The choices:

Felt quick bricks: beautiful tires, get very dirty and turn yellow, also they wear down pretty quickly - see below
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:roll:

Electra diamond tread in white- These are beautiful tires and im saving them for a truly beautiful bike (Hiawatha/roadmaster Luxury liner)

Typhoon cord whitewalls - cool but these belong on a over the top 50s bike (x-53, higgins, roadmaster)

Fat franks - we have a deal - another quick story - I had been looking for the best price on franks, and it just so happened that my lbs got tired of folks test riding their bikes with creme franks and having to explain that the tires were "New... but... um slightly used" so at 20 bucks for a SET, My business partner and i bought 4 sets. 8)

Lets hang for a minute here:

Frame - Check (cost - 10 bucks)
Wheels - Check (cost - 60 bucks)
Tires- Check (cost - 20 bucks)


heres what a 90 dollar bike looks like:
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2:33 to 3:09 - the sun is going to be painful. more later

In the next exciting episode of the elgin experiment:
Springer
Tank
Fenders
Drop Stand
 
Re: The Elgin Experiment

So along the way i decided that every classic bike i own must have a tank and springer to be in my collection. the tank part was a bit shaky but that was resolved later on. So the springer thing was on my mind. in looking at my collection of bikes i also realized that i have 2 of every type of springer, 2 x-53s, 2 shockmasters, 2 girvins, and 1 higgins beehive. I started looking on the internet for another beehive and realized that they are pretty darn expensive. so i stopped looking and i thought that i might have to go with a re-pop monark that i had laying around. one day while working on something completely un-related i came across a box of bike parts that i had completely forgotten about, inside was - you guessed it - a beehive. along with a NOS looking ND skipper, some some peaked 26 inch fenders that i want to use on my silver king project and other cool doodads that might or might not be seen later.

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at this point the bike was riding great and i wanted to see if i could find a tank and fenders. I saw a really nice one on the cabe, full bike that is. the guy had it for sale for a bit much and i wasnt very interested, but i would kick myself if i didnt ask him if he wanted to part it out. he wanted to part it and for 180 bucks, i got the tank, fenders with new struts and the 150 pound drop stand.

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the tank looked good, but the graphics were not laid out too carefully and the paint had some pretty nasty orange peel. i quickly stripped and painted them silver

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and this brings us up to speed on the elgin.

Frame - Check (cost - 10 bucks)
Wheels - Check (cost - 60 bucks)
Tires- Check (cost - 20 bucks)
Springer - Check (cost - free because i forgot where i got it)
Tank - Check (cost - 60)
Fenders - Check (cost - 60)
Drop Stand - CHeck (cost - 60)
 
Re: The Elgin Experiment

I wish my tank looked that nice, mine has some serious rust issues and it looks like swiss cheese.

That drop stand does look hevi-duti 8)
 
Re: The Elgin Experiment

stripping and painting!

i decided that i really want a red bike...

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disregard that chain guard - i was just doing some testing... 8)

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my hands hurt from sanding - i decided this year that i was not going to mess with paint stripper.

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my gal even puts in some work...
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so we got tired of doing that, and went to the neighbors to use his blast cabinet.. the paint is American Accents "colonial red"
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Re: The Elgin Experiment

pintura!!!! at least thats what the translator on my computer tells me.

Got a lot done today! painted the tanks and chain guard red (sorry no pics of chain guard process)

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AND - I started adding some accents in montana gold silver... huh?

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you can see the color on the top...

i waited for most of the stuff to dry and started spraying the silver over the red...

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also, i took the seat apart in preperation to re-cover it with leather - anyone got tips on this? it seems pretty difficult to get it without bunching up..
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ill mock it up tomorrow...
 
Re: The Elgin Experiment (más pintura *pintura means paint)

ate some pretty nasty chicken last night so... i was up... almost all night. got up around 6 ish and started fooling with some silver paint.

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Re: The Elgin Experiment

lobsterboyx said:
also, i took the seat apart in preperation to re-cover it with leather - anyone got tips on this? it seems pretty difficult to get it without bunching up..
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ill mock it up tomorrow...
use real leather and not pleather with a faberic backing (it doesn't stretch)
i like deer hide myself.
use contact cement around all the edges of the pan, this will make things lots easier.
the hide should stretch nicely around the pan edges. if you have trouble, you can always use hot water to soften the leather. (it will shrink and harden as it dries)
 
Re: The Elgin Experiment (más pintura *pintura means paint)

man Montana paint is great stuff i just don't want to have to order it.
 
Re: The Elgin Experiment (más pintura *pintura means paint)

Thanks for the leather tips - i have to look in to that. i went out and bought some veg tan leather for tooling and it seems just a little bit too tough to be able to strech and still take the contour of the seat. i just wanted to learn to tool. then i have some other softer leather without the fabric backing, its dark brown and very textured. its also very thick and i feel i might have a hard time streching it. but ill take a look in to the fabric backed stuff.

montana paint is awesome, i might warn against this particular color, the metalic content is just a bit too loose, and ive found that even touching it lightly will make a smear in it. if you look at the pictures, i tried to clear coat it as well and the metalic part ran like crazy... even with light dustings of clear.... still in my haste, i decided to take it a step further..

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Re: The Elgin Experiment (Chrome In A Can...Homeboyeee)

gona be a cool bike enjoy it :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
 
Re: The Elgin Experiment (Chrome In A Can...3:30 am teaser)

looking good! i like the paint job on the fender. you think maybe a white border around that silver paint might make it pop from the red? just my $.02
 

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