RRBBO - Montgomery Ward's "Iron Ghost"

[raised by robots]

Here is my entry for the build. Its an older Montgomery Ward's balloon tire bike. I really dont know how old this thing is. From everything I've seen so far, i guess it was made around maybe the 30's or 40's. This is definitely the oldest bike I own right now. The name has nothing to do with the actual bike, i just wanted to name it something retro... so this is (insert the hero death metal music, and the monstertruck show announcer voice over) THE IRON GHOST!



The bike wasn't in the worst condition it could have been when i got my hands on it. It had been sitting for a long time, and there was a ton of grime and rust on it. I picked it up at a salvage yard for 30 bucks.



Someone had painted the entire bike with house paint. Everything but the handlebars and the tires had this weird tan paint job.

But I've been working on it here and there this month, so I will post some progress pictures soon. The first thing I thought when I saw this bike was rat rod! . This is my first rat rod style bike too, so this will be interesting.

[Markm]

right on!!Cool bike!!WELCOME!

[Clothespin n]

right on!!Cool bike!!WELCOME!

ditto

peace,
Kev.

[dumpster_diver]

I'd say 1930s! Good Luck!!

[yeshoney]

Can you take a closer picture of the wheels? If my guess is right those are double drop step single piece wheels. I have a set of them in 24" and have been looking for a set of 26" wheels for a long time. Not sure if you were gonna use them or were gonna opt for something different. I also love the chainring. Very unique pattern and in skiptooth too, which helps date the bike. Great starting point for this project and worth every penny of the $30 you spent!

[october]

are the pedals teardrop shaped?

cool bike, and i dig the name... along with your user name as well!

[raised by robots]

I have had a while to work on it, so here is some of the basic stuff I've done...


stem and handlebars after a good cleaning and using a pad of "fine 0000" steel wool to scrub away the rust. The grips are new, $2 from fleebay. I would like a longer handlebar, but if I can't find something cheap, this definitely will do.


I did the same for the pedals, and most of the other parts. And yes these pedals are teardrop shaped! Im definatley gonna keep these. One of the old grips is in this picture too, they had these little jewels in the ends, but one was missing and the actual grips were rotted to h***.


this is a before picture of one pedal. I was able to totally take these apart, so they cleaned up nice.

BUT I couldn't just steel wool-ed the old metal parts that had been painted over. So I did some research, and figured out that I could get this stuff called "Citri-Striper" from walmart to remove the paint. It worked really good for what I was doing. I just doused the crank and headset in the stuff and let it sit for 30 mins. I would've used it to get the frame back to the factory coat of paint... but whats' the fun in that?


before

after
To much rust had taken over the crank-arm so I switched it out with a newer one from a western flyer. I put the old arm in the picture for but comparison... but the new one is installed and fits. The chain ring needs to be re-chromed, but I'm a poor college student... it looks good enough.

[dumpster_diver]

Looking good. Those truss rods are 23 inches from the wheel mount to headset top. Sorry no pic yet.

[Clothespin n]

Lookin good Raised by Robots!
I love those Pedals!

peace,
Kev.

[cman]

THose pedals take the cake. They are the most customized stock part I have ever seen. I love em.

[raised by robots]

I ordered some white walls from ebay. I think they're called the goodyear tread pattern... And I have been sanding away at all the paint drips and scratches on the frame to smooth it out.

I pieced the bike together to do a quick mock up for an overall visual of what I've got.


this is what I am planning on doing for the paint...

[Markm]

SSSSSSWEET!!!!!!!!

[OSchopper]

I like that color scheme!

[aka_locojoe]

this is what I am planning on doing for the paint...

Uh oh.

[Clothespin n]

looks good..and I think Randy( aka Loco Joe ) might have a Paint Idea close to that already..

hence the "Oh oh!"