Never too late...

[DHrider]

wow .... this is beautiful

[Rusty62]

Dude this bike is super rad! Two thumbs way up. Keep the pics coming.

[HotRodHocke]

Many thanks FatBoy, DHrider and Rusty 62!

Clearcoated the frame last night and have now started the final assembly:









Had some issues with the paint on the rear fender and it looks like a raisin right now, but I´ll probably use the sandblaster and start all over on it tonight or tomorrow. Also have left to polish the seatpost that´s painted now, the brake handle and the parts that makes up the shifter, but as I have all the stuff needed to do that here at home it´s just a matter of time.

Again thanks for all the nice comments on my build!

Håkan

[HotRodHocke]

Thought this pic came out nice, sort of "What´s on your workbench?"



Only things left now are the shifter and the rear fender.

Håkan

[anticonformity]

WOW. You've made a lot of progress since I last saw this and it was in primer! Looks
REALLY nice, love the flames! Also, I was skeptical about how the high gloss black would look on the frame, but it turned out looking fantastic! GREAT build.

[HotRodHocke]

A big THANKS anticonformity! All the nice comments and feedback this project has received has kept me highly motivated during the build.

Tried to sandblast the raisin paint off the rear fender, but as it was very soft and thick I actually finally took a knife and carved it off! To then be on the safe side I used water based acrylic artist paint on the fender thinking that I should add flames, pinstriping and urethane clear on it. But when I tested the fender on with just the matte black on I thought it looked as good as it could look and decided to leave it as is.

Me and my son have now both test ridden the bike and are very happy with the results. Here´s the latest pics of the now finished bike, gonna take some better pics later in better light:































Here´s a short project summary:

Frame has been built from parts from two MTB frames and a piece of ovalized exhaust tubing. The rims are Alex, DX32 26" and they are 39.1mm wide. The hubs are from one of the two donor MTBs I used. Tires are Maxxis HookWorms 26x2.5. The front fork is something I made myself having the aluminum parts cut by a local company, Mälarlaser from my CAD drawings with waterjet and I then machined and polished them myself, the fork legs are polished stainless steel. Other fork parts from donor MTBs.

The handlebar stem comes from one of the donor MTBs. The handlebar is a combination of two handlebars welded together trying to create a typical cruiser handlebar. Grips are PRO Tharsis, not sure where the brake lever came from, but I had it lying around, took the black paint off and polished it. The saddle is an Electra Comfort Saddle. Rear dérailleur is Shimano controlled by a homemade suicide shifter.

The rear fender is made from two 28" fenders welded together to get a fender wide enough to cover the rear tire. The radius of the fender was also slightly altered to fit the 26" tire.

The pedals are Union 265 Rubber Diamond Block Pedals and the crank is a cleaned up and modified crank from one of the donor MTBs. The skull headlight actually started its life as something supposed to be used as a money box to collect coins in, but I thought it would be better to spend the coins on bicycle parts and put the skull on the bike after I added a battery pack, LEDs and a small switch.

Besides the stuff I already had I have bought the following for this project and from these vendors:

Cyclecomponents (http://www.cyclecomponents.com/), front tire, front tube and grips.
Ride with Style (http://www.ridewithstyle.se/hem.html), saddle.
Ebay (http://myworld.ebay.com/sz-2009/), disc brake.
St John Street Cycles (http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/), pedals.
Local purchases, LEDs, battery pack, switch for the headlight and paint.

Again, thanks to everyone for all the nice comment I have received here during this build!

Håkan

[nick_ish]

wow thats just....wow!

[DHrider]

amazing .... i had no idea that frame was a scratch built frame... beautiful work for sure....

btw... what did you use for the red bolt cap on the shifter?

[HotRodHocke]

amazing .... i had no idea that frame was a scratch built frame... beautiful work for sure....

btw... what did you use for the red bolt cap on the shifter?

Thanks, the red bolt cap started out as a cabinet or drawer knob that I cut off and attached with double sided tape.

Håkan

[DHrider]

very smart... any pictures of the frame being built up?

[HotRodHocke]

very smart... any pictures of the frame being built up?

Thanks, unfortunately I have no other pictures of the frame build up except for the ones on the first page of this thread. Guess it´s just a matter of definition, but as I used a lot of frame material from two donor bicycles I am not sure if I would call it "scratch built", at the same time no reason to split hair over that.

Funny thing happened today BTW, my old 75+ mother in law came over on a visit and checked out the "Never too late..." project. She wouldn´t believe that the handle on the frame actually was a shifter until I showed her the functionality and it really took her a while to figure out the hidden cable inside the frame .

Håkan

[Galtbacken]

Great job on the bike, it looks top notch!

[deorman]

One awesome chop!

[chubs68]

dude, i wish i could build a chopper like that,it looks absolutely awsome. how dose it ride? i got some ideas comin, 7 inch wheel?!!

[Mugen_Stumpo]

i want this bike... absolutely love it...

i need a front fork like your in my life... could you build me one?!