1936-38 Elgin modification.

[sandmangts]

The purists will hate me. I have been working on this one a while. Here are the plans:

1. Sandblast off all that rust.
2. drop some hot brass in around the joints to smooth them out.
3. Flatten and trim the drop stand tab, drill and tap a derailler hanger.
4. Cold set the rear to 135mm spacing, re-align the dropouts.
5. Braze on cable guides/stops for brakes and deraillers.
6. Braze on a disk brake adaptor on the rear.
7. Ream and face the headtube.
8. Powder coat.
9. Custom Brass headtube badge.

The build will consist of mostly parts I already have. Mavic wheels with King ISO hubs, Fox F-80 Talas fork or a Fox f-100 RLC (Depends on how slack it ends up). XT cranks, Sram X.0 rear derailler. Thomson stem. Easton Monkey bar. Hope Mono Mini brakes.

 

[user 135]

I like it. Don't worry about the purist, I don't think any are left here. :mrgreen:

 

[Vintagebikelover24]

How do you put the disk brakes on a bike with no mounts? Is there a bracket you bolt on or do you have to weld mounts on?

 

[El Duderino]

purists need very functional old bikes too

 

[KC so-cal]

This is gonna be good ,cant wait more picks 8)

 

[sleepy]

Beautiful 8) ....always enjoy seeing the blending of modern with the old.

 

[Firewalker]

I like! I look forward to seeing this come together!

FW

 

[driver bob]

Watching... that's going to look really good.

 

[iven]

Awesome!
i am thinking about 'Retroing' my stingray like this.. Disc brakes, internal speed hubs and yeah 8)

 

[sandmangts]

I was brazing like crazy today. Clearly I still have alot to learn but i managed to get a nice heavy strong braze. The key is keeping the surrounding metal red hot so the brass flows. Getting the mount tacked into position was a ...... I used my disk wheel and clamped the brake in place on the rotor to serve as a jig. It worked and I got lucky. The brake lines up just fine. Still lots of file work and sanding to do but it feels super solid. I should have a rock Shox Sid on the way. Hope to paint it to match. I am thinking of doing it in silver because my hubs are silver and so are the brakes.

 

[low~N~slo]

I'm diggin where this is going.

 

[sandmangts]

Got all the cable guides and stops on today. I also poured in some more brass around the dropouts to smooth them out. Cable routing on the downtube seemed the best option because it is the only straight bar on the bike. Using the top tube for the brake line was the only option for the rear brake. I had to mount it on the sid a bit to keep the cable from rubbing the head tube too much. I am going over the top of the bb shell for the rear derailler and under for the front was the only option for a bottom pull. Just need to smooth out some rough spots and it will be time for paint.

 

[Vintagebikelover24]

That is sick!!!!!

 

[lildietz]

really cool build here. i like it.

 

[yeshoney]

Love this build! Love that you are using brass! Love that i found this thread! not sure how I missed it originally. The only thing i would have done differently and route the cables thru the frame. if you are going to weld to the frame, might as well hide them and not dirty it up! Justy my two cents. Can't wait to see more!

Joe

 

[sandmangts]

I considered internal cable routing and it almost would have worked but drilling this frame would have been a bad idea for several reasons. If I ever find an old schwinn in decent shape I may try it but these Elgins are just not good candidates. The way the wishbone is welded creates a block that you can't get a cable through so you have to go back further and then the diameter of the flattened tubing is too narrow for a cable. It seemed stupid to do internal up front only to have to do external in the back. If I ever get hold of a old DX that is not to nice to mod I may try it.

 

[sandmangts]

I removed the seatpost clamp. I have a nice alloy one I am going to use. The frame had some heavy pitting but I think after I get the primer sanded it will look ok. I still need to get the headset turned and get the bottom bracket adaptor and get a suitable bottom bracket and crank. Hopefully I will find a parts donor bike on craigslist that I can strip some parts from and sell the rest because I am totally broke from Christmas.

 

[sandmangts]

Painted today and started working on the headbadge.

 

[sandmangts]

All that remains is the headset. It should be here early next week. I plan to swap the skewers for some black XT ones, trim the cables etc. The rear brake cable is a little shorter than I would like so I had to route it differently than I planned. I could just get a new cable but I just bled these things and they are working perfect so I will wait until the next time they need a bleed to make a new cable. All the decals are gone. I would have painted the fork but to do it right would mean dissasembling it so I will wait until it needs service to do that. I made a shim for the handlebars out of an old scott handlebar. I trimmed off 2 pieces of it and made a shim for the front derailler as well. The rear wheel mounts up perfect with no brake rub. Shifting seems great in the stand but we will have to see how it is on the trail.

 

[tartosuc]

So you got a 1 1/8"fork in a 1" steetube?