one of my first bike builds. It had been sitting outside for a while on flat tires and had some foam covered cruiser bars, no pedals, and a gold anodized bmx-style fork. Sorry, no before pics.
I picked up the bent springer used without looking at it too closely; it had a bent spring bolt and broke when I tried to remove it. I replaced it with 1/2" allthread and raised the ride height a bit so I won't scrape the pedals. The steer tube was also bent, so I just bought a new tube. I didn't realize that Murray has a weird sized headset size, so when I ordered a new headset, the cups were too small to fit in the headtube. After rummaging in the recycle bin for a beer can, I wrapped some aluminum around the cups and made them fit nice and tight. Surprisingly, I've put about 10 miles on the bike with this sketchy setup and it's been just fine. The ape-hangers came with the fork, and I didn't like how they went straight up like goalposts. A few minutes with a torch got them shaped how I wanted, plus it blued the chrome which I think looks pretty cool. The glittery purple grips that came with the bars were traded out for the Hunt-Wilde grips on a bumper jack at my work. Seeing as the only new parts on the bike are the steer tube, stem, chain, and tire tubes, I left everything else in it's original finish. This was my first custom build, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. But it's a pain to ride for any longer distances since I live at the bottom of a hill and this thing is heavy with one speed. I've already found an aluminum framed cruiser with a Shimano 3-speed, so I've got another build to start
I picked up the bent springer used without looking at it too closely; it had a bent spring bolt and broke when I tried to remove it. I replaced it with 1/2" allthread and raised the ride height a bit so I won't scrape the pedals. The steer tube was also bent, so I just bought a new tube. I didn't realize that Murray has a weird sized headset size, so when I ordered a new headset, the cups were too small to fit in the headtube. After rummaging in the recycle bin for a beer can, I wrapped some aluminum around the cups and made them fit nice and tight. Surprisingly, I've put about 10 miles on the bike with this sketchy setup and it's been just fine. The ape-hangers came with the fork, and I didn't like how they went straight up like goalposts. A few minutes with a torch got them shaped how I wanted, plus it blued the chrome which I think looks pretty cool. The glittery purple grips that came with the bars were traded out for the Hunt-Wilde grips on a bumper jack at my work. Seeing as the only new parts on the bike are the steer tube, stem, chain, and tire tubes, I left everything else in it's original finish. This was my first custom build, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. But it's a pain to ride for any longer distances since I live at the bottom of a hill and this thing is heavy with one speed. I've already found an aluminum framed cruiser with a Shimano 3-speed, so I've got another build to start
