~The Pepperbox Special~ Done.

[Missing Link]

"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed"
Stephen King, The Gunslinger
This year I start with a quote and a piece of obscure armory;


From this I will build a bike...hopefully.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Following...

Luke.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Got my attention.

 

[Missing Link]

I'm not using the pepperbox for anything other than inspiration. No small arms will be injured in the building of this bike.

 

[Missing Link]

I'll be using this 1955 Columbia Newsboy Special frame

I'll be using this 194? Goodyear badged Columbia step through for some parts.
I'm planning on this project to have a lot of rust, a lot of repurposed parts, this build will be traditional in the sense that the frame will not be irreversibly altered as I have no plans to do any welding. Hopefully in the end I will have a cool bike that rides comfortably, and is true to the theme I'm shooting for, being post-apocalyptic western rat. Form and function melded perfectly, kitschy to the point of being a little over the top much like the pepperbox pistol in my previous post.

 

[Missing Link]

I started pulling parts off the Goodyear, I'm mainly using the fenders and chainguard, which will require some massaging, along with paint removal.

I had this great newspaper bag holder (I think?) that I had big plans for but it turned out to be cracked and rusted out in places so I guess I'll either forgo it, or make a new one,or find one. If anyone happens to have one lying around let me know, please.

Finally, I did some mock up work, mind you all the blue house paint will go;

The rack is a temporary placeholder, I need something wider, deeper, I want a Colorflow rack, but I'm not finding one within my budget so I may have to improvise.

The front fender fit will likely involve some work as well, and I feel either the truss rod/rack on the fork needs to go, or the foremost fender brace. On this I'm open to suggestions, I may even cut the front of the fender off right before the brace eliminating the mounting holes left by the original light which was an inch too long to fit with the rattrap springer.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Looking good! Cutting the front fender shorter would look pretty good in my opinion...

Luke.

 

[junknutz1975]

Interesting inspiration !

Watching this one for sure!

 

[jats]

nice!

 

[jats]

Nice!!

 

[yoothgeye]

I need to pay attention to how you deal with your rat trap fork and fender, so I can figure mine out.

 

[Funkme]

Your inspiration is a great start....Will keep a eye on this project....

 

[Chips_Mahoy]

I'm still stuck on the revolver-dagger-brass knuckles.....

 

[Bike Bum]

I'm going to like this build.

 

[Missing Link]

I started stripping the chainguard and front fender this evening, it seems like most of the paint should come off, if it doesn't and I have to resort to a wire wheel, I have a back up plan for returning the 50-60 years of patina, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.


So far so good. It's only May and the mosquitoes are already rediculous, my legs are one continuous mosquito bite. West Nile anyone? Knock on wood.

 

[Missing Link]

Today after work I did a little more with the paint removal and found that under the blue house paint was original blue paint, and far more stubborn paint at that, so out came the wire wheel. The end result, satisfying. I'll have to re-patina it later, but I'll be doing a chemical patina on the fork anyways since it still had decent original paint, somewhere, someone with a teal Flightliner that needs a fork is hating me. I'll also be doing the same on the frame, a suspicious spot originally thought to be JB Weld turned out to be a very well, but sloppily done braze job to repair a crack, so some grinding will be required, subsequently ruining the patina that currently graces the frame.
I started working out some of the dents in the fenders and chainguard while I was at it, they won't all go, I need this built to have some character, besides the little imperfections are what keep us humble, right. So here's where I stopped tonight;


I just love that tarnished metallic black that oxidation brings.

 

[Gold Street Customs]

This is cool!!!love the inspiration.

 

[Missing Link]

I believe your newspaper bag holder thing is actually the chainguard side support to the rear rack of a women's Western Flyer X53.

Thanks. Looking at it, now, that totally makes sense, oh well it's broken and not going to make it's way onto this build. Funny though, I got it off a post war men's Murray, that had an X-53 fork, the provenance of this piece of a part intrigues me.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Nice work on the dent removal and stopping where you did, perfect!

Luke.

 

[mikeeebikey]

If you, "remember your fathers face," (King) this build will go great!
So is this to be Roland's new horse? Or that Tick Tock's?
Great story and a great theme!