Never too late...

[HotRodHocke]

Thanks again!

Here´s a link to a very low quality video of last night's test ride: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHm-0HhV_P4 it's my 17 year old son riding the bike and he also thought it was very comfortable once he figured out how to handle the rake.

Now paint is in progress and here's the frame and handlebar covered in the first layer of rust protection:







Håkan

[custombikebuilder]

that bike looks awesome!!

[HotRodHocke]

Thanks!

Here´s the latest progress.

Thought I should do something about the ugly looking front sprocket I had and as I´ve seen the ones looking like diamond plate I thought I could make something similar. I had a number of cranks and sprockets lying around and after some planning, grinding, welding and some more grinding I came up with this:







"Real" old school type of rivets to be used as I don´t like pop rivets and bolt and nuts would also have looked wrong used here I think:







My pedals showed up today and I obviously had to put the whole crank together to check it out:





Finally, here´s the frame paint job status so far:





Håkan

[aka_locojoe]

Nice work on the sprocket. Much better looking than the factory made.

[HotRodHocke]

Thanks!

Found some really cheap disc brakes on Ebay at $32 for two discs and two calipers including shipping from China to Sweden! Wasn´t expecting much really, but was quite surprised when they showed up just a week after I ordered them and they looked really nice!

Now the next problem was of course that I already painted the rim, laced the rear wheel and put the tire on using a non disc brake hub... but after some measuring and a deep dive in my aluminum scrap pieces box I made this adapter to attach the disc to the rear hub:











Also made some progress on the frame and it´s now filled, sanded and covered with a second layer of rust protection:





Håkan

[HotRodHocke]

Not a lot of progress as I´ve been busy with other things than bikebuilding, but I at least had time to cover the frame with some high build primer today:





Now the big question is the top coat... matte, satin, or high gloss black? Classic painted hot rod flames or pinstriped flames or maybe just pinstriping or skulls, cards, dices and spiderwebs or... we'll see.

Håkan

[HotRodHocke]

And it became high gloss black, actually this is the second try with a top coat as the first try with semi gloss black didn´t turn out very well and had to be sanded down:



Still, the questions are scallops, flames, pinstriping, or... we´ll see.

Håkan

[XC204]

Boy this is very nice with the hidden cables and the countersunk shifter..Awesome!.... I just went to page 2 Wow!

[DHrider]

holy dang... nice paint job.... love the bike thus far... keep it up.... cant wait to see more.

[ratina]

that black paint looks like glass! nice

[HotRodHocke]

Many thanks! Your comments are really appreciated and motivating!

Funny thing is that this high gloss black paint I used is a much cheaper product than the semi gloss I also tried. Not very often that you get better results with cheaper products. Made a test panel last night with acrylic water based artist paint in my airbrush and had acceptable results:



The blue pinstriping is enamel and don´t mind the bad surface black background paint on the test panel, that´s just indoor wall paint brushed on. The acrylic paint obviously turns matte when dried, but can be covered with high gloss clear. I think these kind of flames would look good on the frame.

Håkan

[FatBoy]

Very nice job its looking great....I think flames looks good on just about anything!!

[HotRodHocke]

Very nice job its looking great....I think flames looks good on just about anything!!

Thanks! And you are right, here´s my flame job progress so far:







Next step is to paint the other side and then it´s time to put some clearcoat on.

Håkan

[HotRodHocke]

The other side of the frame flame job finished:



Just have to let the pinstriping enamel harden completely now and then it´s time for the clearcoat.

Håkan

[FatBoy]

Thats a perfect fit...Looks good!