A 'New World' Order- Updated 11/17/09

[deorman]

That thing is just begging for full racks w/pump and seatbag!

[ElChupacabra]

Holy snap dragons that light is amazing! Ive been looking for something just like that. Your build gives me a great idea of what I could do with a road bike I was going to turn Fixie and flip in the city. Maybe I'll keep it though... Great build so far. Watching for sure...

[Gdcast]

"Holy snap dragons that light is amazing! Ive been looking for something just like that. Your build gives me a great idea of what I could do with a road bike..."

I second that!!!

[Gold Street Customs]

Score on the spotlight...Ive seen them for sale here and there but usually $30 and up looks good ....real good

[kram]

Finally the I was able to get the seat today. It's one of the cheap ones from http://www.hiwheel.com. I went and picked it up today and they have some really cool bikes there, and Greg is a really nice guy. The seat is basically what should be expected from a $20 seat. I'm going to take a page out of stepper's book and sand off the paint and lace it up viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11209 . The finish on the seat looks to be paint and not dye and it really needs the laces to stiffen it up some. With a bit of work it should be a pretty nice seat, and once I coat it in shellac it will match the grips nicely. Also a few people have asked what the make is on the spotlight, it says Appleton Series s-451. I googled it and it looks like it is from the approximate time of the bike, which is cool. I still need to clear coat the chainguard but it is getting close to being done.

It was rainy today so the pictures are crappy indoor lighting.

[Uncle Stretch]

Seat looks good on there. You need a set of those teardrop pedals in white to finish it off. Killer look.

[Bigcam59]

Finally the I was able to get the seat today. It's one of the cheap ones from http://www.hiwheel.com. I went and picked it up today and they have some really cool bikes there, and Greg is a really nice guy. The seat is basically what should be expected from a $20 seat. I'm going to take a page out of stepper's book and sand off the paint and lace it up viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11209 . The finish on the seat looks to be paint and not dye and it really needs the laces to stiffen it up some. With a bit of work it should be a pretty nice seat, and once I coat it in shellac it will match the grips nicely. Also a few people have asked what the make is on the spotlight, it says Appleton Series s-451. I googled it and it looks like it is from the approximate time of the bike, which is cool. I still need to clear coat the chainguard but it is getting close to being done.

It was rainy today so the pictures are crappy indoor lighting.

I have that seat's big brother on my low and fat cruiser. Lacing it up really gave it more support and helped make it more usable.

Let me know how lacing works with the smaller one. I like how it looks.

[Gdcast]

I have a similar saddle...
Way the laces? way? way?

[Unchained]

I have a similar saddle...
Way the laces? way? way?

I didn't read above, but...

My guess is to shrink down the width of the middle a little bit, if it's too wide. If it's too wide, it probably hurts your legs after some riding.

[kram]

Ok, the reason for the laces are to stiffen this seat, it's kind of like adding a lid to a box. When I first got it I could almost push the under side of the seat to the rails without much of an effort. It was kind of like sitting on a hammock, and with the cheap seat there isn't much of an adjustment to be made. By pulling the sides in together it doesn't let the leather bow downwards. It was actually much more effective that I thought it would be.

So first off I trimmed the seat to change the look of it. I took off a lot of leather on the sides and trimmed the back and front because they were pretty lopsided. I trimmed it with a dremel tool and a cut off wheel. The leather was super dry and it was not a pleasant experience but I like the end results. I was basically burning it and it smelt horrible! After I trimmed it I used lacquer thinner to take off some of the paint, and then took the rest off with 100 grit sandpaper. I would definitely not suggest this on a nice saddle but at $20 I didn't have much to loose.

This is what it looked like sanded. There is a dark place in the middle because I oiled the under side of the seat the night before and it permeated all the way through and stained it a bit. If I did it again I would probably oil after it was either dyed or coated in shellac. You live and learn, and I like the effect it gave in the end.


I had drilled the holes for the laces also, but I decided to use bolts instead. I used brass bolts with some coupler nuts to add tension to the seat. The trick is to get the right sized bolts to be able to tighten to the right amount. These pics were before I sanded it and a couple of the bolts were a little too long. I was just testing to see if it would even work.




I coated the seat with three coats of amber colored shellac and let it dry overnight. I've learned to get a smooth finish with shellac you have to move fast or sand it after it has dried. Also when I first put on the shellac I thought I had ruined the seat because it went almost black, but as it dries it lightens up a lot.

The seat looks a little dark in these pictures because there wasn't much daylight left. It has a nice deep orange/red color to it. You can also see the darker spots in the middle where the oil changed the color a bit.


I'm also deciding if I like the truss rods or the headlight. I'm still leaning towards the headlight.




In the end I really like how it turned out. The quality is pretty low on these and the seat is actually a bit crooked (the front rivets are a little towards one side). Adding the bolts made the seat really stiff and maybe a little too stiff. If you used leather laces that have a bit of stretch it might work better, and the seat might break in some.

[kram]

A couple more close ups of the seat.

[Markm]

Nice!!!!

[Uncle Stretch]

Cool beans. I really like the darker part. I wonder if you oiled it again from the bottom if it would make it all dark even though you put shelliac on it already.

[herr_rudolf]

Love this bike. Thanks for showing how you've made the seat.

[Gdcast]

Great result on that seat! And many thanx for the tips man, I´ll be lacing my saddle soon
Oh, and by the way, I would keep that beautiful head light.