From Rust to Rat

by **Rollin Double Sixes** on Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:23 pm

Hey guys I recently finished this bike for a friend. It took me over a year to complete because - a) I am lazy. b) I had to redo the front wheel an repaint the spokes 3 times. I have only ever built 3 wheels in my life and these are two of them. I swapped the geared hub to an old CCM Hercules coaster hub. Painting the rims took a couple tries cause I used Krylon latex H2O paint and I ended up with a ton of runs so I had to strip and repaint. I am not patient enough for that type of spray paint. Anyone know how to lace a wheel after painting the spokes and not scraping half the paint off of the spokes? Hahaha lessons in frustration. But it is complete and I hope she likes it.

The condition I received it in

Partially cleaned. Canti posts and brake cable guides shaved off. I left the lower cable guides on for if I ever find a cheap 3spd hub.

Finished product.

by **OUTLAW** on Fri Mar 14, 2008 1:37 pm

nice job, i like it alot.

Outlaw :mrgreen:

by **Joshua85** on Fri Mar 14, 2008 1:59 pm

nice and clean, good job on those hubs, i've been thinking about doin something like that

by **ratdaddy** on Fri Mar 14, 2008 5:29 pm

great job! looks really, really nice. You can usually find a cheap 3-speed at garage sales or estate sales. Just get the hub laced into the wider rim.

jeff

by **SuperStuff** on Fri Mar 14, 2008 7:17 pm

God job on the Rat Bike.

by **TheDuke** on Fri Mar 14, 2008 7:32 pm

NICE!

L8 EM

by **xddorox** on Thu Mar 20, 2008 3:06 pm

That bike came out real good. Classic paint scheme and very elegant seat and grips. Congrats.

by **KOTA** on Thu Mar 20, 2008 4:02 pm

RATTY_TAT_TAT...........looks nice!

by **cashman** on Thu Mar 20, 2008 4:05 pm

Rollin... your bike came out great!!! The lady should be proud of it. It's hard to install painted spokes without scratching them some. The longer you can let them dry and cure the less they will scratch. The best results from the h20 paint I've found is to go with three very light coats with about 20 min. between each. Shake well and invert the can and spray to clean out the nozzle as you go, otherwise you get a lot of spatter. Latex is not my favorite type either, but if it lessens the likelyhood of someone huffing, I'll put up with some additional pain from it. Great build!!! Thanks!!!