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

[Graylock]

Nice bike Rob Looks like you stole every idea I never used.

GL

[Rat Rod]

Very cool Rob...looks like a fun bike to cruise on.

[Bettleguise]

It's wonderful man, I don't even remember the frame you started with after reading this build. Was it a Norwood, Fleetwood a Deadwood?
I was thinking a couple things. You might try a BMX headset if you keep having problems there. They are a little bigger than the standard 1 inch cups.
For spokes I usually just bring the rim and hub to the bike shop and say give me some spoke to fit this. They measure it for free if you're buying the spokes.
Glad to see the bike's rolling now too.

[slow rider]

looks good. but I think it needs orange colored brake cabel not purple.

[NLCTVWguy]

Nice bike Rob Looks like you stole every idea I never used.

GL

Haha could be, you know I've learned something from every build on here. So many cool ideas... it sets the creative processes in motion, like nuclear fission. One thing leads to another. But if you have any other great ideas, let me know, I'll build them too!

That tank is great.

Thanks 2dawgs, I'm real happy with how it came out. She made the graphics exactly like my sketch, and the touchup work on the tank is razor sharp. I wish it didn't have the pinholes in it, but that adds character!

Very cool Rob...looks like a fun bike to cruise on.

Thanks Steve! Couldn't have done it without you and all the cool members on this site cheering me on.

looks good. but I think it needs orange colored brake cabel not purple.

Thanks, it's something I'm trying out, and also we had it at work.... so recycled materials. To get orange sheathing I'd have to strip
fiber-optic cable!

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

Thanks Karfer, yeah the look kind of evolved with the parts I chose... the long forks with not much rake does make it kind of ride high but it's unique, the kids in the neighborhood love it and all come around to check it out when I'm playing with it. It will be a good rider when it's all done. I can't have it sitting around looking pretty, it's got to work for me too.

It is kind of striking to me how similar the final design will be to a stock Dyno Ultra Glide... my friend has one and I love riding it. This came out pretty similar except it's vintage components instead of mostly aluminum Shimano stuff.

Thanks for the comments everyone, it's awesome to see everyone enjoying the buildoff as much as me. I've been watching a dozen or so build threads closely and another 20-30 on and off... amazing work everywhere! Glad to be a part of it.

--Rob

[aka_locojoe]

Bike looks great and comfortable. All kinds of cool stuff going on. That photo of the reflection in window is neat.

[SCHWINNRAY69]

Cool tank Rob Nice bike

[NLCTVWguy]

Thanks again everyone for the nice comments. Wish I had more to report but it's been raining steady for about 48 hrs... so I went looking for a little inspiration and found it in the form of this:

Gasser pickup:



(Thanks for Studie62 at Flickr for the pic.)

Got the high front end, the orange rims, and even the keg fuel tank. Old school hot rod all the way.

Reminds me of one of my favorite books from when I was young- I still have it, it's called simply "Drag Racing" and it's from 1970.... the top fuelers and funny cars were turning 6.6 sec quarter miles, and most of them still had the engine in front of the driver. There are tons of good pics of Hemi's, Halibrand wheels, long-haired fans, the shoe-polish numbers on the windows, slicks wrinkling and smoking in burnouts... good stuff. It's what I grew up reading and I've had that book at least 30 years. Gearhead from birth, what can I say!

More soon,

--Rob

[ej599]

Those bars are great!

[imagearchy]

how much flex are in your bars? not saying it's a bad thing. i think it just ads to the characteristics of the ride!

[NLCTVWguy]

About time I did an update instead of just lookin' in on everyone else's rides!

My work got put on hold for a bit with a dozen other projects, some of which had nothing at all to do with bikes (weird, huh?) and I was waiting on a set of rims.

We rejoin this story now:

Saturday July 30: Picked up long delayed rims and parts. Front wheel was not able to be built as I wanted but rear finished up nicely. Sturmey TCW coaster-3 with 24x2.125 ATB steel rim:



Twisted spokes! Oh very nice! And an NOS coaster strap (they cost 28c in the package, btw.)




Shifter cable and stop from a 1971 CCM Galaxie ladies 3-speed. Rusty as anything, bent, and works nice!




Went with the front wheel I've been using, another 24" Roadmaster (yuck!) ATB wheel.



Masked off and painted the rim still assembled. Wish it was a little more true. Well it was free...




A little break in the assembly work...



More coming...

[NLCTVWguy]

Sunday July 31st:

Debated a lot on how to mount the RRB license plate. It wouldn't fit on the rack. It would get bent on the frame, most likely. The keg tank turned out to be the perfect place. I reshaped it over my porch railing and slipped it under the clamps.



Shifter cable works pretty nicely turned around and following a cantilever tube. The routing was painless.




One final detail needed:



Built Not Bought! And with that, Ground Zero is done!





Time to take her out on the town for some scenery, ocean breezes, and action shots.

Presenting Ground Zero!








What's this? Something following me around!






Enjoying sunset on the pier:









Looking good!





Time for a ride!





Hope you've enjoyed reading about this one as much as I've enjoyed putting it together!

See you in the Finished Bikes! Congratulations and thanks to all the other builders for your dedication, creativity, and inspiration.

--Rob

[SCHWINNRAY69]

That's a RAT

[ratcycle]

how did u make that shifter? I want to try to make something like that.

[NLCTVWguy]

Hey Ratcycle--

The details of that were here at the end of page 3...

http://ratrodbikes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=39924&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=30

The shifter is a normal Sturmey trigger shifter, from a 70's girl's model. I used my grinding wheel to notch the sides of the trigger lever (the old ones are solid steel). Then I ran a 1/4-20 die over it (needed the notches to get the threads to start). A 1/4-20 coupling nut (basically a long threaded piece of hex stock) went over that.

The shift lever is 1/4-20 threaded rod. I made a couple bends in it with a tubing bender, but you could bend that material with a vise and hammer or other means. For the shift knob, I drilled into the side of a billiard ball. They're phenolic plastic, and easy to drill- almost too easy. Drill goes in like butter. Easy to tap as well though it likes to get very hot and grab the tap a little bit. Tapped about 3/4 in. into the ball.

Put heat shrink tubing over the rod, put on one regular nut and threaded the ball over it. Once the ball is installed you might want to unscrew it and use Loctite to keep it tight. Shrink down the heat shrink for a finished look.

Note that Sturmey clamps are designed for a 7/8" handlebar. The bigger frame tube required creativity and a long, bent screw to make it mount where I did.

how did u make that shifter? I want to try to make something like that.