RRBBO - Katrina

[basscadetz]

Well, I just found this site, just did my intro a few days ago, and since I was rebuilding a bike anyway, and have pics of the progress, i'll go ahead and enter it.

I know it's a bit late in the game, but i'm gonna enter it anyway, and if i don't make the deadline, i'll still have a bad butt bike. (butt haha thanks messageboard!)

A little history on the bike:
I bought this bike close to 5 years ago I think brand new from Walmart in the burbs of New Orleans. It's a Schwinn Fleet, and one of the cheaper schwinns, i'm assuming after the company change i've read about? This bike was my daily rider in the French Quarter, and also my work bike, as i was a courier for a lot of it's life. It's been wrecked, slammed, forgotten on drunken nights, and even lived locked up outside through the storm, and was only missing a seat when I was allowed to come back into the city. After the storm it delivered a couple thousands pizza pies. knowing this history, and all the havok myself and thousands of others faced, the name of this bike will be Katrina.

I'm gonna tear it down, try and use as few of the original parts it came with, and so on.

The first picture is how it was when I started this rebuild, and the following pictures will show the progress of the parts changes and my indecisiveness. it IS a working bike at start, but the complete tear down SHOULD be along the guidelines.

pictures to follow, as i'm posting them now.

[basscadetz]

the bike in its beginning. old square bar bmx bars, bike lock, and old butt chain guard. the compressed air sticker was bacause i used to have an airzound airhorn on it for traffic. those horns rock by the way.

this is this cool old mesinger seat I found in the trash. all leather, all rust, all awesome.

seat post was a little long and I wanted to drop that seat as low as possible so a few hacksaw strokes later, dropped.

handlebar idea number 1. these are flipped cruiser bars I also found in the trash. dunno if I like it. I also changed the neck back to its original, but you'll see that go soon. you'll see a lot more handlebar changes in the future as well because aren't we all just a bit indecisive with this stuff?

more pics to come as i sort them out.

[basscadetz]

side view of bars # 1 and everything else removed. no more chainguard, bike lock

i'm planning on converting the rear to freewheel cause i like the feel of it, and it cleans up the rear end, so I added some old bmx brakes - I again, found in the trash. I like how the reversed back brake looks but who knows if i'll keep them.

man that storm (and having my bike always outside) really rusted the sproket. time to change it. i'm gonna clean it up and re-use it for another bike somewhere down the line. don't throw away anything!

oops! how long have I been riding it like this?

this is the sprocket/crank I chose out of my workshop of junk. an old XS BMX sprocket and GT 1 piece cranks. they're clean and have the non polished look i'm going for. (the crank chrome will be scotchbrighted all to h*** if I have anything to do with it!

more to come!

[basscadetz]

man that BB is nasty! cleaned it out a bit, will clean and repack everything properly before i paint.

bye bye old crank!

ahhhhh new crank goodness. the older bearings feel better too. silly fender idea which may or may not be used. the mounts on the fenders are offset so i'll have to fab a bracket if i do end up using them. the curves also don't match up so this is up in the air. you'll also notice the seat sits back a little more. I flipped the mount on the seat. little thing, but makes a difference to me.

my ugly mug and the bike.

[basscadetz]

this was my bar idea 2. i thought since im going for the whole cafe racer look, these might work. as much as I love these bars on a road bike, they were completely not right. never know till you try.

these are for sure the new bars. got them from a small girls mountain bike (found in trash), hence the awesome colour *puke* I flipped and reversed them, and will be cutting 2-3 inches off the ends.

another angle of the bars. notice I also changed the neck. i'm a tall guy so this gave me a little more length, and also are flat aluminum, which will work great.

thats all I have for now, should have more soon!

[cman]

You picked the right set of bars, but it did look interesting with the drop bars.

[basscadetz]

yeah it did. i like drop bars for the comfort factor, and i though maybe the race/road gear on a cruiser frame MIGHT lend to the cafe racer look.

i guess it would also depend on grips versus a wrap as well. we'll see. i may use them later.

[kemmer]

Dang, I though my entry would be the last, now I need to rename my thread...

Nice work so far though, I'm stoked to see how it turns out. I really like those bars, I'm thinking of something like that on mine.

[Hooch]

looking great!

[basscadetz]

well, i got that sticker off and the foamy crap from under the cheap headbadge. that badge was paper thin and was pierced just by very little pressure. there's this great bike shop here that is owned by a definate packrat, so im thinking of going and checking him out and seeing if he has anything i like. i REALLY like the cman bottle opener headbadge, but ill save that for another bike, another time. (thanks for the idea cman!)

so i went to walmart tonight and picked up some supplies. in the clearance isle they had glue on patch kits for a buck, bought them all, and skull valve caps also for a dollar. 4 in a pack! i also bought all of those. the dang things get stolen like nothing else.

following it a pic of the other crap i bought, which ill start using 2mrw.



any thoughts on the stripper i bought?

also the next thing will be all the scotch brite pad work on all the chrome, the wheel redo which im not sure about yet because i def want a freewheel hub, plus a whole lot of other ideas ill get into later. the free part has 2 meanings. free wheel and free free. i wish i could just use this old bmx hub i have

[basscadetz]

thanks for the comments! makes me want it done even quicker! kemmer i feel like we're almost best friends ive been reading your posts for ages on bikeforums...

[Clothespin n]

sweet!

[aka_locojoe]

I think that frame is similar or same to this one I did http://locojoe.com/bikeblog/pages/flamed_chopper.html
I like the larger diameter tubing and the beefyness of it.

[basscadetz]

looks about the same, only difference was the fork colour that i can see...

I like the beefy forks too!

[Clothespin n]

I like your style!

This one is going to be good!

peace,
Kev.