- Joined
- Jul 19, 2009
- Messages
- 37
- Reaction score
- 0
Here's a review of what I was up to last weekend. I did 3 sex changes, and 1 stretch. Worked for 3 days straight cutting, grinding, welding, and grinding. This first example is the one I'll show first. It's probably the one I'll finish first and use as well.
It's a 19xx Cleveland Welding Company Roadmaster that I purchased for $30 as you see here.
It's a skiptooth setup, and the OLD tires that are on it still hold air, but the rear tire has started to separate, and a strip hits the fender when you ride.
So I cut the upper downtube off, clipped the stub, reversed it, and flipped it upside down. Then I welded it in place.
The next issue was moving the seat back over the rear wheel, so I could keep the fantastic original beach bars and not whack my knees every time I made a turn. I got a 5/8" steel rod, and added a gusset for strength. I may drill a small hole through the corner of the gusset and hang a pair of red dice from it!
And this is how it turned-out!
So now, I want to finish the bike. That's going to involve new paint. When I cut the tubes on that bike, I saw what the original color was -- a beautiful indigo iridescent blue. So I'm going to strip it down and paint it a deep indigo pearl blue with antique white trim and accents. I also need to upholster a seat, clean the existing skiptooth chain, polish the hubs, paint the rims antique white (with the blue pinstripe), get the cranks chromed, repaint the head badge, and mount some of those awesome 26 x 2.125 brick red tires.
The bike is a lot of fun to ride, but it is really heavy and geared with some big inch combination. That makes for slow starts, but a decent cruising speed. If any of you can help me pin-down the year of manufacture, I'd appreciate it.
It's a 19xx Cleveland Welding Company Roadmaster that I purchased for $30 as you see here.
It's a skiptooth setup, and the OLD tires that are on it still hold air, but the rear tire has started to separate, and a strip hits the fender when you ride.
So I cut the upper downtube off, clipped the stub, reversed it, and flipped it upside down. Then I welded it in place.
The next issue was moving the seat back over the rear wheel, so I could keep the fantastic original beach bars and not whack my knees every time I made a turn. I got a 5/8" steel rod, and added a gusset for strength. I may drill a small hole through the corner of the gusset and hang a pair of red dice from it!
And this is how it turned-out!
So now, I want to finish the bike. That's going to involve new paint. When I cut the tubes on that bike, I saw what the original color was -- a beautiful indigo iridescent blue. So I'm going to strip it down and paint it a deep indigo pearl blue with antique white trim and accents. I also need to upholster a seat, clean the existing skiptooth chain, polish the hubs, paint the rims antique white (with the blue pinstripe), get the cranks chromed, repaint the head badge, and mount some of those awesome 26 x 2.125 brick red tires.
The bike is a lot of fun to ride, but it is really heavy and geared with some big inch combination. That makes for slow starts, but a decent cruising speed. If any of you can help me pin-down the year of manufacture, I'd appreciate it.
That should give me some time to work on other projects and get ready to paint. Perhaps tomorrow I'll start buzzing the frame with the braided wire wheel on my angle grinder and lay some etching primer on it.
