Revo's first project - Orbita 511

[revo87]

Hey guys!!

Thought I should show you my first build, to see what you think of it.

I had an early 1990s 24” MTB just lying around, and since I’m about 6 foot tall, I couldn’t really ride it anymore, so… I thought about rat rodding it a bit

First things first - the bike:
Brand: Orbita – Model 511 (it’s a Portuguese bike btw)
24”x1.75 light mountain tyres,
Steel frame, with a slightly bent front fork (got fixed before I took these pics though)
18 speed TY18 and cantilever brakes

The mods:
Respraying the front fork, part of the rear seat stays, dropouts
Polishing the wheels (getting it shinny again hehehe)
Bonus lock (like the ones dutch bikes have)
New handlebar (took it from an old KTM cyclostatic… I still need to put that back together before someone realises its missing lol)
New brake cable and cable housing for the front brake
A few other things that I’ll show you as I get along with the project


The before pics:

this was where I had my back light before. Now it migrated south

After I repainted the front fork (1st time round, still with the original handlebars… I had to do it over again because it didn’t come out right…):

Repainting the rear seat stays

After I repainted the front fork, changed the handlebars and repositioned the headlamp. A lot cooler now, right?

 

[revo87]

I think I'm about done. My LBS coulnd't find me a decent springer, so I'll keep this one for a little while longer. who knows, maybe I'll find a decent one at a flea market right?

Anyways, here's the project, at 90% completion

(don't worry, it's not a nature doc hehe "suddenly the preator closes in on it's pray..." :lol: )

5 bucks for who knows what this metal strap was :mrgreen:

I needed somthing to protect the frame from the chain, and I had a bit of leather that I wasn't going to use elsewhere, so I made this

Do ya remember where the rear light used to be? I told ya it had gone south 8)

This was the only way I could get the front light here: cutting a piece of pipe, hammering it in, and strapping the front light in with a pipe brace (whatever that is lol). Who wants to guess what the trouble was? The front light wouldn't come on: I had isolated it with the rubber pipe LOL take it out, cut a whole on the bottom, and that's it: voila, Portuguese ingenuity doing it's thing hehe

One last pic:

Hope you guys enjoy this. I certainly had a blast!! Maybe next time it'll turn out better, at least I'll have a bit more experience than this time

 

[Markm]

Cool! Looks comfortable....and fast!! :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[KOTA]

Nice job, CLEAN looking bike.

 

[Hugo]

I like the handlebars.

Hugo

 

[revo87]

thanks guys! I think I didn't do too bad for my first ever build

Next in line is getting a propper cruiser frame to build the bike i've been dreaming of for a while. problem is, I can't find any 26" cruiser frames round here... I can allways try and build one :mrgreen:

I'll post the general idea soon