Phillips Mayflower.

[MadMick]

I've been waiting a long time for this pilgrims! The very same day the new build off is announced my camera dies!
So no pictures yet obviously but the plan is to chop the seat tube on this 1950s girls bike to slam the seat, file flames into the rear the drop-outs, skinny 16X1 3/8 front rim on a 1930s tandem drum brake, phat 16X2.125 Raleigh Red-line tyre (ex Chopper front) on a Schwinn Lil Stardust coaster up back, 60s ex Moulton Williams splined BB and cranks, leather sprung saddle. Rusty. Faded. Hard. Dangerous.

I want it to look like it was rodded 50 years ago and then abandoned because it was cursed. Its the bike Damien would have ridden if he'd had good taste.

Haven't thunk of a name yet, Hellflower maybe.

[KOTA]

Sounds COOL! Can't wait to see it.

[MadMick]

I really bit off more than I could chew with this one and made a big blunder which will take some fixing. I think you guys will enjoy the look when you see it, I managed to assemble quite a collection of vintage parts dating from an 1880s embossed saddle (which sucked up a whole tin of Brooks Proof hide it was so dry!), a spun aluminum deco front lamp, a 1950s tandem front drum brake by Bayliss Wiley and a 1960s Williams splined (!?) crankset which I shortened from 175mm to around 90mm. Rear tyre is a Raleigh Chopper front 'redline' 16 X 2.125 and one of the rear wheels is a nice'n'rusty 72 spoke radial onto which I have bolted, on the left side hub flange, a five hole 1960s 64 tooth racing spider and chainring from a Moulton Speed Six. So I can run a chain on the left side of the frame to make it look like a vintage motorcicle! My buddy has an unused minibike engine around 35cc with a centrifugal clutch..........See! More than I can chew! One of the problems was keeping everything in proportion, most of the saddles I showed up were too long or too fat to look right with 16inch wheels. Anyway with so many parts assembled I got confused as to which direction to go in, I've got two rear wheels, three front wheels plus the tandem hub (but none of the spoke counts match. Sigh). I originally wanted a 60s bobber motorcicle look right down to a peanut tank but then I found a solid silver coffin shaped hip flask with an relief of Dante's Inferno on it, so the bike needed a good riser bar to complete the look, and I found one on one of our (500!) bikes in the warehouse. Trouble is Phillips (Raleigh) used an extra small steerer/ stem/ headtube diameter and the original bars are brazed into the stem. So I figured I would use a different fork and hacked off the top race of the frame before realising that no other fork will fit. So the frame now needs a whole new head-tube and I just ran out of time. I already removed all the old paint and covered it with red oxide, hacked off the braze-ons for the old rod brakes, pump pegs etc and spent hours filing flames into the rear drop-outs. So the back end looks sweet, the bike sits real nice on its wheels but the front end needs a whole chunk of fab work to finish. I'll get some pics up as soon as poss but this is the busy season at work so no promises.