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

[NLCTVWguy]

Update 6/4/11:

I finally got a little time to spend working on Ground Zero, and not having to do anything else for a little while. Got another 24" mountain bike wheel built up with my fat Kenda tires just to check fit with all the other pieces while waiting for the real rims... and blew up a tube in my face! Oh that was exciting- tube ripped along its length and almost threw the tire off the rim. This rim I grabbed is narrower than the first set, and didn't grip the tire as well. So second time around I left the tire real soft... it gets that dragster wrinkle-wall look and I like it!



Everything's a good fit in back. Ran off to the bike shop to get some little parts, will hopefully come up with a different cap nut for the top of the stem and some other odds n ends. Turns out the shop around the corner stocks the pedals I mail-ordered... figures, right?

Up front, I drilled a bracket to mount the headlights. Figured this will be simplest - mounted to the 2 holes for the original reflector bracket on the fork. Oddly, these identical Union lights had the pressed in lockwasher on opposite sides of their mounting tabs, and one mounting hole was smaller than the other.






While I had the bike out at the bike shop, I attracted the attention of at least 15 kids walking by on the street. They all stopped and came up to the shop and checked it out, asked a million questions. They wanted to know mainly what it all cost. Kind of hard to put a price on it! The feedback from the kids was all positive- they think it's cool!






It's getting there! There may still be a surprise or two before I call it finished though...

--Rob

[MplsCoaster]

Wow, it's looking good!

Really innovative bars. I think you may have gorilla hangers!

I like the way you've blended the parts.

Looking forward to more.

[NLCTVWguy]

Thanks again for the encouraging comments. It's getting closer every day.

Today, I got the generator mounted, wired up to both lights, located a bulb for one missing, and made some other minor adjustments to the whole setup. They work!



Wiring run down inside fork tube.




Ever since I built the rack, I've been thinking it needed something more. Today I stained it with Minwax cherry all-in-one stain and polyurethane. After it dried, a little decal detailing...




And of course a little detail on the seat tube-



Looking good from the back!




Looking good from the front!




You might have noticed that I mounted up the other 24x3 tire... again not a good fit on these "wrong" rims, but I'm convinced now about the look. The dragster big-n-little tires were pretty cool... but the fat front tire gives it a heavy cruiser look, like a Harley Wide Glide or Heritage. I like those big meats!




More soon!

--Rob

[herr_rudolf]

Awesome!
High frontends are not really my thing, but this bike has so many cool detail that I keep getting back for more!
I like how the look of the decal on the rack turned out....

[karfer67]

to me this bike oozes late 60's early 70's chopper mc look with the double lights, long front end and the bars. i like it

[pick]

I'm diggin the dual headlights! Bet it will look really cool at night with the lights on. Great progress!

[SCHWINNRAY69]

Just the kinda light I wanted Looks COOL

[NLCTVWguy]

6/5/11: Some cool behind the scenes work today and some observations...

The folks at the bike shop my wheel builder works at reportedly started asking him all kinds of bike-snob questions about the wheels he's building me. That's not gonna go very fast, that's gonna be so heavy, are those STEEL rims? They weigh a ton! Yeah, there are $1200 wheel sets on the wall that weigh 8 oz... crazy if you ask me. New hardware is beautiful... fragile and very expensive.

After some recalc of the spoke lengths needed I should have wheels very soon. Remember it's a coaster-3-speed rear and a drumbrake front. I stopped in the shop today to show off the work so far... and what is right at the front entrance, first bike you see when you come in their shop? An Electra ladies, bright red with full chaincase and skirt guard... what's the wheel set? WW tires on a Nexus coaster-3 rear and a drumbrake front hub. Great minds thinking alike? Or giving the people what they really want?

So in the meantime I really really wanted to ride it, and did some extra work to make it happen. I dug up a nasty old large caliper from a Murray mountain bike, that just barely fit around the tire, and a long cable... made a mounting tab for it and hung it off the rack bolt. Found really thick pads to reach down to the rims... This is all temporary and coming off once the wheels are done...It works but poorly. If it was a fast bike, I would die.


It's the king of the coffee-shop bike rack!

Found this cool little "BIKER" plate and mounted it on the back of the rack.

Ran my front brake cable though it's not attached yet... From lever, drilled into the bars, down the bar and out the back side of the fork, into the fork tube and all the way out the bottom. Covered the exposed sections with purple cable cover... it's bright!

More soon- sorry about pics quality-
--Rob

[Tommy Atoms]

Nice to see someones actually building a rat. Nice job!

[2dawgs]

Totally Ratical! Love the overall chopper look; and kudos on the rear rack.

[NLCTVWguy]

Thanks for the compliments guys! Progress slowed down a little bit as I wait on another new set of spokes... but I did get my tank back from my graphic artist friend.

She did a really nice job and even touched up all the little jagged edges of the orange/black line on the tank.

It looks even better in person. And wouldn't accept payment, I helped her husband out with some tools to take apart a Vespa engine so we called it even.



Got the tank reinstalled, lined back up and looking great. Still need some better details for the front retainers but it'll come with time.




Got the front brake cable made up and threaded through purple covering. It runs down the right handlebar, out and back into the fork tube to get around the triple-tree plate, and then out the bottom of the fork tube.



--Rob


--Rob

[NLCTVWguy]

A few more not-yet complete pics from today....

Had to straighten out a few technical issues so I could ride it, and a few of them will be solved when the Sturmey hub is installed, specifically chain-line problems, but overall it is comfortable to ride. It's actually a good fit for me!













Look, I'm a ghost!



All for now... more coming soon!

--Rob

[herr_rudolf]

Awesome!
'Build-off bikes in action'-pics are the best.
That bike fits you perfectly, eventhough it is smaller than I imagined.
Cool to see you having fun.

[Ken Nighplay]

Nice build love the bars and especially the double lights, not sure about the seat, it just looks out of place. Everything else is right on, Good job

[2dawgs]

That tank is great.