First build: "Church Rat"

[kchurch86]

Re: My FIRST rat!

I got the LEDs for my headlight in the mail the other day, and stayed late at work to machine the piece that holds them in the headlight. It needs a little bit more work to actually fit into the housing, but not much. I installed the LEDs and tried it out, and it's pretty much exactly as I wanted it. Here's the piece I machined:

LEDs installed:

Lights on!

The center LED is green, the 8 surrounding it are white. I wanted the light to have a very slight green hue to it, which it does! :mrgreen:

I tried real hard to get a shot of the light it throws, but it just doesn't come out in pictures. It's being powered by a 6V lantern battery here, the LEDs are wired with resistors to run on a 12V battery. I hooked it up to the battery in my truck and hooobaby, it's bright! :shock: :mrgreen:

 

[irik]

Re: My FIRST rat!

Nice going, i like the idee with the bulletshels. cant wait to see them on your weels.

 

[kchurch86]

Re: My FIRST rat!

Well, I had to re-make the headlight insert, it needed 2 clearance cuts on the sides, the outer diameter needed to be shrunk down about .015" to fit into the headlight, and the LED holes needed to be opened up by about .0015". Got that done, and installed the LEDs into it tonight.

All assembled, the lens stays put nicely and the ground wire works like a charm:

Made a badge too, I think this bike finally has a name:

 

[bpellham]

very cool, nice attention to the details.

 

[rattfink]

Re: First build: "Church Rat"

Love this build Church!

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

 

[kchurch86]

Re: First build:

very cool, nice attention to the details.

Thanks! I'm trying to put lots of little details in, but still keep it somewhat simplistic...not sure how that's supposed to work, haha.

Love this build Church!

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

Thanks!

I'm running out of things to do before I drop my hubs off at a shop to have the wheels built. I also may have changed my mind about the fork, I just have to shop around and find what I'm looking for, it's really holding up the build. I'm either going to leave the fork just at it is now, or if I can find a 27" fork with the right steer tube diameter and length, I'm going to do a ridiculous bent fork and run a 24" front tire. Right now I'm leaning towards the bent fork, we'll see if I can find what I need.

 

[iven]

just think ill drop this here..
some hot glue valvecaps and 40s just have a nack for eachother..

le; 5spd rat 8)

 

[Endlesschain]

looking good there,cant wait for the end result

 

[iven]

great idea with the reflector taillights

 

[kchurch86]

just think ill drop this here..
some hot glue valvecaps and 40s just have a nack for eachother..

le; 5spd rat 8)

Looks good! I have yet to see mine mounted, but based on your pics I think I'll like the finished product.

looking good there,cant wait for the end result

Thank you, me either!

great idea with the reflector taillights

Thanks! Pretty simple really, and it throws way more light than I expected it to.

I've hit a bit of a speed bump on the build, and haven't done anything since my last update. I can't decide what I want to do with the fork, and until I figure it out; I can't build my wheels. It's really holding the whole build up. I can't decide if I should just run the fork I've got now, which has a bent and misshapen leg, or find a 27" fork and bend the heck out of it and run a 24" front wheel.

If I go with the 27" bent fork, I'd need to fab some supports (no big deal) and re-do my suicide brake (also not a big deal) but I'm having a hard time finding a 27" fork. My lack of knowledge of older bikes is really the biggest problem in knowing what will fit. That and I've just been too busy with other projects to play with the rat. The 27" fork/24" front wheel is really looking like the route I want to go.

 

[jackdaw]

Good lookin' build so far. I've seen pics of the front coaster brake set-ups and they are trick! Looks like you're having fun too.

 

[iven]

i really like the reflector cause i just picked up a Jesse james bike and it has two rears like that..
im prob gonna make some custom billets for it though 8)

 

[Hannesito]

Church Rat? You'd better pray to not burn in heck for cutting on the fenders and frame! :wink:

 

[kchurch86]

i really like the reflector cause i just picked up a Jesse james bike and it has two rears like that..
im prob gonna make some custom billets for it though 8)

Do it up man! It was surprisingly easy. Lemme know if you want some info on how I did mine, where I got the LEDs, etc.

Church Rat? You'd better pray to not burn in h*** for cutting on the fenders and frame! :wink:

Haha, I'm fully prepared. It was decided long ago that I'd be heading there eventually anyway FWIW, I did feel a little bad about cutting the frame and fenders.

I must say though, it's amazing how much different it is cutting old steel compared to the over-recycled garbage steel we have nowadays.

 

[kchurch86]

Little update on this build...it hasn't moved at all, life outside of the garage keeps getting the way :roll:

I picked up a fork from militarymonark to use on it (thanks again), looks like it'll work pretty well. I'm undecided if I want to try bending it or just leave it as is. I've got another fork option as well, which requires using pieces from two different forks to build a frankenfork that could look really slick. Time will tell...

 

[Sin City Tec.]

can't wait to see the front end completed and and the hammer brake hand is a great idea too!!!

 

[iven]

i really like the reflector cause i just picked up a Jesse james bike and it has two rears like that..
im prob gonna make some custom billets for it though 8)

Do it up man! It was surprisingly easy. Lemme know if you want some info on how I did mine, where I got the LEDs, etc.

Church Rat? You'd better pray to not burn in h*** for cutting on the fenders and frame! :wink:

Haha, I'm fully prepared. It was decided long ago that I'd be heading there eventually anyway FWIW, I did feel a little bad about cutting the frame and fenders.

I must say though, it's amazing how much different it is cutting old steel compared to the over-recycled garbage steel we have nowadays.

i think it really depends on the quality of the steel man..
they got better metals and materials that stuff is built with now adays more then ever, just the standards in most bikes is worst ever, but the tech got better, materials manufacture time went down.. just most common bikes now are junk.. or real expensive.. :roll:

 

[kchurch86]

Well, I finally had a couple hours to myself to do some more work on my build. I was able to strip the frame, sand it down, clean it up and get the first coat of primer laid down. I only had time to work on the frame, I still need to sand, clean and prime the fork, fenders and seat pan, as well as a couple other loose ends that need tying up.

BUT - at least I got to work on the bike. It's been too long!

 

[MAXXTRAX77]

Liking where this is going!

 

[xtremek]

This looks really promising