The Rustacean

[BartRidesEternal]

Check out that hangin' belly... I mean the frame, not the rider!


The Rustacean is done! Built to be used and quite tough.
The aluminum bar end plugs came in after this photoshoot, but is not a big deal. And the coming months I am planning a 140+ kilometre trip again, so I will change the spokes before that. Next year, hopefully the mythical "Elfstedentocht" of 240km in a day with this bike... and 15000 other cyclists.

Ride video:


This is what I started with:

Project 346 Stella frame. Large frames and weak bottom brackets.

First frame and fork marriage.

For the complete "deep sea dive" checkout:

Build thread link *click here*

Specifications- and worklist:

-Project 346 Stella ladies (steel) frame. Converted to a gents frame. Cleaned open holes. Completely stiffened the bottom bracket with my own designed steel plates.

-Wheelset from 1944 to 1955 somewhere. Bendix Elmira 'no band' hub, coasterbrake. With 26x3.0 Ruff Cycles tires. Custom fork arms and rigid adjustable suspension (no suspension).

-NSU Quickly front fork from 1953. Steering rod was broken, so I glued and rivetted a 1 1/8" threaded one.

-Reused a complete car mirror and built a 'jet age style' rear light.

-Brooks seat. Custom seat tube.

-1920's Christophe aluminum chain guard.

-175mm cranks with 'speedholed' Ruff Pedals.

-Mahogany wooden grips with blinker bar ends.

-Partially faux patina paint. Orange due to the Dutch roots of the 346 frame. With a slight hint to the "Flying Merkel" board track racers.

-Old style screws, only hexagons, crossheads allowed. There are two allen key screws hidden.

-Lots of details.

More pictures:

Thank you builders, readers from all corners of our world! This year had a learning curve, and a huge amount of fun!

 

[OddJob]

Your RaT-ina on this is incredible! Looks like a fun ride as well. Kudos!

 

[twojs.bike]

Fantastic! I love the look of this bike!

 

[Frankie plekhand]

Awesome bike Bart!

 

[Funkme]

Came out perfect. Looks like a great ride. Well

 

[JA331]

Great looking bike with so many cool elements. Fantastic use of that NSU fork. I have a heap of similar forks off old Honda cubs and may have just found a use for at least one of them. Very well done.

 

[BartRidesEternal]

Your RaT-ina on this is incredible! Looks like a fun ride as well. Kudos!

Fantastic! I love the look of this bike!

Awesome bike Bart!

Came out perfect. Looks like a great ride. Well

Great looking bike with so many cool elements. Fantastic use of that NSU fork. I have a heap of similar forks off old Honda cubs and may have just found a use for at least one of them. Very well done.

Thank you all!

Its currently raining for weeks here in the Netherlands, so did not ride that much.

I worked on some tweaks though.

I made the text plate very dirty (with acrylic paint) on the back to contrast it a bit more. And slightly made the front of that text plate a bit dirtier too, looks more in line with the intention of this bike.
And I made the aluminum bar end blinker lights a bit dirty.
For now the spokes (rear wheel) hold up quite well, did not expect that. After the voting and buildoff I will change them and start the big tour / bicycle intersection paths (Haaksbergen - Neede - Borculo - Vorden - Zutphen - Lochem and back home) again. Don't know if this topic will be up for the pictures but we'll see.

I really enjoyed the buildoff this year, even though family did not give me that much time to spare to GTB!
After this I have a few projects to work on

 

[Pondo]

Love it! The double bar converion, forks, patina, it's all great! And it all looks like it was meant to be that way from the beginning. Nice work!

240km in a day

On a single speed coaster, wow! That's cool.

big tour / bicycle intersection paths (Haaksbergen - Neede - Borculo - Vorden - Zutphen - Lochem and back home) again. Don't know if this topic will be up for the pictures but we'll see.

Would love to see some pics if you have the time!

 

[BartRidesEternal]

Love it! The double bar converion, forks, patina, it's all great! And it all looks like it was meant to be that way from the beginning. Nice work!

On a single speed coaster, wow! That's cool.

Would love to see some pics if you have the time!

I'll have to be honest. I'm pretty scared for that 240km trip. That is a lot and previous years I was pretty broken after 140km...
*insert Yoda voice*
you must train my apprentice...

 

[The Renaissance Man]

The transformation from the step through frame is just right! With out the starting photo I would have never suspected that anything was altered on the frame!

The double top tubes have the classic look of so many great balloon bikes from the past but then the loop under the crank forces a double take wondering 'what the heck is this bike?'!!!

Great job, congratulations!

 

[BartRidesEternal]

The transformation from the step through frame is just right! With out the starting photo I would have never suspected that anything was altered on the frame!

The double top tubes have the classic look of so many great balloon bikes from the past but then the loop under the crank forces a double take wondering 'what the heck is this bike?'!!!

Great job, congratulations!

Thanks TRM, appreciate your words here!