The Svelte Spyder- NEW 6/6 new headlight idea

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Re: The Svelte Spyder- Update 6/2 bye-bye triple tree

That is awesome Scott!
I love the diversity in materials... Reminds me of my academic years. If feel it's time to eperiment again. Although I haven't got much time to do that. Heck, I even haven't got the time to set up a facebook account. If I do, I'll be knocking on your door in no-time. (still on myspace, but haven't used it for ages either... I guess you already clicked on the link in my signature.)


bighit said:
Sometimes when you don't have a big pile of parts or a welder you are forced to be more creative.
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Very true!
Same goes for the rules. I think we have it perfect ballanced here on RRB. Just a few restrictive rules to level out the builds that generate more creativity and make people do things a little bit different than usual.
 
Re: The Svelte Spyder- Update 6/2 bye-bye triple tree

Yeah I think as I get burnt out on big deadlines I start thinking about new materials to shake things up and keep me interested. It is funny, but when I started I lived and breathed art. In my spare time it was art mags and art books. And I still love the heck out of what I do for a living. But I search for inspiration in different places now-a-days. Mostly bikes and hotrod mags!

I see you are from Eindhoven! I traveled there once to sign trading cards at a big game convention you guys have. Small world!
 
Re: The Svelte Spyder- Update 6/2 bye-bye triple tree

New pics of playing!

First to order of business, I am starting to mock up my fender skirt idea in mattboard. I like the idea of the bike having to mass in the back and getting lighter as we get to the front. So far the rear cut echos the back line of the chainguard a bit. But I need to decide where my cutouts will go for the dual rear brake, which is the neatest thing about the Sears Spyder 500. Also my chain line hole will be pretty important with that 5-speed cog back there.
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Next up thinking about the shifter. This is the handle form the Westinghouse vacuum I got the motor (headlight) housing out of. Naturally I would bend it so it will curve with the top tube. But I am still debating if I want something even more wispy up there.
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Here is some coolness that will require me modding my front end set-up a bit to make it flow. This new headlight idea is part of a Electrolux XXX vacuum (I am using the main canister for another project). I think I will need to tuck the whole light housing in deeper to make it work. Because currently it sticks out pretty far. Bit should be worth the effort.
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But who knows. I found this killer light at the flea market yesterday!
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Who could've known this build would turn out as inspirational as this one... All those cool ideas really work! Hope you can materialize them into perfection. Did that double rearbrake come with this bike? I wanted to do that on my RRBBO#4 bike but people advised me not to and I couldn't find the right hardware so I made it a one brake only bike.

Cheers!
 
This build is what the Build Off is all about!..... Start with a bike and don't let "In The Box" thinking get in your way!

Love whats happening here....the rear fender skirts are awesome the Electrolux headlight is off the hook

so many cool things with this bike keep up the GREAT WORK! :mrgreen:
 
YEAH BABY!! NOW THAT'S RATTY. GREAT JOB. YOU GOT MY VOTE. IS THAT GONNA BE THE COLOR? WHEW PEACE
 
Better and better. Completely digging all the vacuum parts being re purposed. The handle as shifter would look great, and that light up front...oh man, I think that's the way to go. The other light Is cool, but that's been done before.
In your discussion with herr_rudolph you were saying, you look for your inspiration in other ways.... doing what you're doing on this bike is exactly what I consider art.That's my artistic outlet, taking old, (usually discarded) things and making new purposes and things out of them. Junk is a medium...

Watching this build with more and more interest.... oh yeah skirts looking cool, hope you find a way to pull it off....
 
Wow thanks guys! Gotta say I am having a blast here. This is my first build-off and my first fully custom bike build. But I have been doing this sort of thing here and there since I was a kid. Scrounging junk piles to find something that may work as a part on something else.

herr_rudolf indeed the double rear brake is the way the Sears Spyder 500 24" bike came from the factory. No front brake at all. Cool right! That and the chainguars are what will separate it from normal Liner frames. Especially since I am not running ape hangers any more.

Color, color, color. I am undecided there and don't know what to do about it. Right now is has a coat of Master Series Silver (like por 15) on it. Much of which was applied with a sponge so there is a texture to it. I thought about hitting it with a black or an oxide red primer and sanding it back to silver in most areas, but honestly I am not sure. Which is funny because I am an illustrator/painter by trade.
 
This thing has become one of the TOP bikes on my list!..NICE!
 
KOTA said:
This thing has become one of the TOP bikes on my list!..NICE!
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That means a lot coming from you Kota. Heck all you guys are inspiring the bajezus out of me.

I am used to deadlines in my line of work, but I am sweating this one already! Tick tock!
 
I don't usually like this kind of bike, but this one is the exception, I really think its special. Great job man!
 
whoinphx said:
In your discussion with herr_rudolph you were saying, you look for your inspiration in other ways.... doing what you're doing on this bike is exactly what I consider art.That's my artistic outlet, taking old, (usually discarded) things and making new purposes and things out of them. Junk is a medium...
Click to expand...

Just wanted to say that I TOTALLY agree with this. (And thanks for the compliment too!) Bicycles are fine art utiltiarian sculpture. The shape the flow, the composition, repeting motifs. This is just a different sort of canvas, but I am applying the same rules I use in art. You guys are all artists.
 
Haven't heard or seen anything in over a month...are you finishing ? I have your bike right up there, if you enter it.
Good luck to you, hope all is well.....
 
Wow, I totally missed this bike. I sure hope it finishes!
 
Man I tell you it was one of those gut check times. I am working on a first draft for a novel and it needed to be finished by this weekend so my agent could start shopping it at a big literary conference. In the end I had to finish one or the other and the novel won out. There was only so much free time to split.

I did make a bit of a stab at finishing the bike Sun night, but couldn't quite beat the clock. I got too ambitious and started trying to make spiderwebs out of brass running down the top tubes, but had the wrong torch supplies for the job and they kept falling out. One more week and I would have had it finished for sure. Ah well!

I was/am pretty upset about it though. So much so I haven't even been able to bring myself to look at the other finishes yet. I was bummed out all week because it.

The only consolation is the main character in the book I am writing rides a banana-bike. So at least I was writing about a bike.

Thanks for asking though. Does the heart good to think I might have been a contender.
 

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