* GROUND ZERO * (Now I can have a cold one!)

[Wildcat]

Looking good! Were you able to read the store name on the headbadge?

[NLCTVWguy]

Looking good! Were you able to read the store name on the headbadge?

The brand name is "Norwood" in a big diagonal script. There's little of anything there except the impressions in the metal. Hard to get any kind of picture of it.

I tried looking up Norwood bicycles and found a couple of folks with questions about restoring one, but little information about who built them, where or when, or what company was selling them.

Thinking I may make a trip up to Norwood Cycles in Massachusetts and give them the badge... I may make something custom for this little beast.

--Rob

[NLCTVWguy]

Some parts pickin' and collecting... the project comes into focus a little more clearly as the parts come together.

OCC Fork tubes in prime coat... we got this new "rust preventive" paint that seems me to just be normal orange paint... which is fine since it's pretty close to the final color. Sandblasted the forks to remove the rust and give the paint a good bite.



Also included there, my choice of seat, an early 60's Troxel (Elyria Ohio- built). The seat looks nice and shiny, but that is because a long time ago, someone painted it with this glossy paint. Weird.



Seat bottom view, and post from another basket case project... chrome came out nice enough after cleanup. Someone drilled a hole and put an extra screw through it to secure an incorrect seat. And what's it sitting on? Some cool fabric I found in our rag boxes at work... seems to be from old scrubs or shorts, basketballs on a black background. MY wife thinks they're silly but I like it.



Disassembling seat to recover it. I guess it was white before it was black...




Gotta have cool lights... here's a sweet pair of matching Union lamps and a generator. Not 100% sure how they'll be mounted because I haven't yet decided if I want to use these:::::::



Wheelchair bars! A little fabrication will be needed to make these work with the OCC forks and triple trees but I think they'll be really something different.



While we're outside messing around with the parts bikes, it occurred to me that one or the other of these 24" girls bikes should be supplying the rims or at least hoops for the wheels. I'll have to find the right tubes for my monster tires.... may actually have to go INSIDE a bike shop! Still tracking down just the right hubs to use, and luckily whatever I find I should be able to get working... I've got 28 spoke, 36 spoke, and 48 spoke rims to play with.



Couple other cool items- purple cable covering, actually electronic cable that's had the center cores stripped out (made for industrial "ProfiBus" systems, in case you're wondering). And a SWEET bicycle wrench for Musselman Hubs.... some friends of mine found it at a swap meet and made it a birthday present. Such a cool piece to find.




Back to work putting the seat together!

--Rob

[SCHWINNRAY69]

Looks good

[KOTA]

Ya got some neat parts, Rob. Just have ONE question....I'm sure you know what it is....There isn't an OLD man lying on the side of the road....MISSING a wheelchair, is there? I don't have a problem if there is. Just curious.

[NLCTVWguy]

Ya got some neat parts, Rob. Just have ONE question....I'm sure you know what it is....There isn't an OLD man lying on the side of the road....MISSING a wheelchair, is there? I don't have a problem if there is. Just curious.

Hahaha well I was gonna save it for the "older" members of the site but looking at this year's entries, they're all going to go out in a blaze of glory....

I've been trying to give away this wheelchair for a project, to build a trailer, a sidecar, anything, get it out of my yard.... nothing has come of it so I'll try chopping it up!

Now important stuff- I just picked up a front drum brake tonight! Pics soon and this thing is ON!

--Rob

[SCHWINNRAY69]

Nice

[Dr. Tankenstein]

Digging it so far, I know that a 26 x 2.125 inflates nicely into a 24 x 3 tire. They're a LOT cheaper than 24 x 3 or 4 tubes, trust me on this....

Cheers,
Dr. T

[NLCTVWguy]

Update 5/18/2011:

Located my rims- Magna donor bike, 24" wannabe mountain bike. So cheap, these Chinabikes... the paint is coming off in sheets.



Pretty nice looking square shouldered rims. The tires were even rotten, in one spot, rubber just turned to cracks. 36-hole rims with a nice little drop-center ridge.



The front will get to roll on this:




Of course it's getting a little detailing... but I like the black side covers as is. I "Spoke" to my wheel-builder yesterday... he's building one of his own but should be able to put this together for me.

Test fit of the tires on rims, and the wheel in the frame. I love the look! 24x3 Kenda's with GIANT sales tags on them. Tires are a great fit and THANKS to Dr.T for the tube advice!





Ok, I admit it, I bought a new part. Orange BMX pedals!



Here's what the seat will look like, just playing with my covering material.


Looking at options for mounting the tank, came up with the following: Headlight bracket will screw to seat bottom. Bent the ears open, cross bar made from fender stay will mount to the bracket. Keg will clamp to the cross bar.



Started painting some of the details. The keg needed a little advertising covered up on its end...


Technical problems: #1, wife is already kicking me out of the living room, with good cause.
#2: This ain't gonna fit.



Looks like the bracket is brazed on crooked anyway... I'm going to remove it, spread the frame and have it re-welded. I need a good 1/4 inch on each side. Bottom stays are very tight but with wheel towards rear of dropouts, there is clearance for those monster tires.

Stay tuned!!!

--Rob

[herr_rudolf]

As a Dutchman I gotta love orange!
Pedals look interresting...

[SCHWINNRAY69]

Lookin' good Rob

[NLCTVWguy]

Small update with some progress and mockups:

The tires are just SOOOO much bigger than the 24x1.75 all terrain tires that come on these rims. It's amazing to see them side by side.



The rims cleaned up much better than I expected. A little work on the wire wheel and now I almost want to use them as is...



Rim disassembled. By the way, it's a Park FR-1 freewheel tool for most of these Shimano/China freewheel hubs.



Playing around with a test fit of the drum brake into the rim. It didn't quite work out because I wasn't paying attention to which spokes went where- the dish of the rim gave me short ones and long ones so some were too short... I will let my friend finish the buildup of this wheel.



I finally found what I was looking for, a wheel I pulled long ago with a Sturmey coaster-3 hub. Of course, it came off an English bike... with a 40hole rim. Back to square 1. I've been hanging onto this beauty for a while... may be time to use it. Not 100% sure yet, still want multi speeds.



The seat is just mocked up here, but very close to the finished product. Springs painted, seat frame painted, brackets made up and drilled. My bracket came out too long, may have to trim that.
Bracket bolted to bottom of seat, keg clamped to bracket. Sits nicely tucked behind the old Troxel.






Working on breaking the frame tomorrow, and I did get the bars out of the wheelchair frame. Still have to figure out how I might make them work.
Hopefully the forks go together real soon!

--Rob

[NLCTVWguy]

All right it was a long day off playing around with parts and pieces.

First of all, I located a hub like I wanted to use. 1967 Schwinn Speedster rear wheel, Sturmey TCW III coaster brake. In all its rusty goodness!




Now on to solving problems! First problem, the frame upper stays won't clear the tire.
I knocked out the bridge between the rails, and used all my high tech bending tools at my disposal.



Jammed a 2x4 into the stays, bent them closed around it, pulled frame open a bit, did it again on the other side. Net result about 3/4 inch more space between the stays.




So with that, and a donated piece cut from a horrible junk bike that's been in my yard for 3 years, my friend made the frame solid again.





Just waiting for it to cool down so I can put it back in the car...


And off to work, into the sandblast cabinet for cleanup:



And hang it in the shop for paint:




What's this? The solution to my OTHER problem! My other welder friend has left me a present!



Big fork, small steer tube! This is starting to look like a project!


So now that's painted:


The best is yet to come!

--Rob

[blacksheep]

That sprocket looks like a Wald to me. I used one on my Electra Deluxe and have four more that are still in their packages. They are identical to yours. Either way, that's a nice looking sprocket.

[NLCTVWguy]

5/21/11 Update:

I got to make some progress with several of the little projects within this project...

The rims got lightly sandblasted so they'll take paint well. I had to get creative by the time I was able to paint them, because it started getting cold and foggy outside, and I didn't want to stink up the house with spray paint when everyone was home. I painted them hung from a board across my basement doors and it worked out fine. Now they're in the furnace room drying.




I was able to spend a little quality time with my drum brake. Inside, it was a mess. Everything was crusty and pitted, and the braking surfaces almost had a liquid layer of rust. The bearings will be replaced when I find some- the rolling elements are quite pitted. It all got cleaned out with an ultrasonic cleaner and looks as good as it ever will. Cleaned up the moving parts, the brake shoes, the lever and bushing. Masked off the drum and painted the middle ribs. Painted the lever and hardware orange.





When I got home, I located and cleaned up some bearing cups. The interesting thing is, without the rust and old paint holding them in, the cups all want to fall out!

The fork is mocked up to check length. I need about another 1/4" to make things work. Since making the steer tube longer is not really an option, I'm going to need to make the head tube on the bike a little shorter. (I think more bandsaw pics are in my future!)



Starting to kind of look like a bike!


Drum brake test fit. Not yet sure how the mount bracket will be secured or what I will need for that. Will need some spacers on this axle to match the forks.



On Monday, I'm going to get the wheels put together... then this thing will really take off!

--Rob