"Dragst-Her Too"

You may recall one of my MBBO entries from 2 years ago, the "Dragst-Her", pictured below. Well, bills, and the fact that my daughter was too small for it, greased the wheels to passing it to a new owner.




I promised I'd build her another when she got bigger. She's bigger. Enter the "Dragst-Her Too". It will be slightly different. Still based off the 24" Huffy Super Stock girl's frame. I'm aiming to make it look good, and ride really smooth as well. A true riding bike for her. I'm hoping to have it ready to put under the Christmas Tree this year.

Here we go!

 

Looking forward to this Christmastime story just as much as "It's a Wonderful Life"

 

Crash is up to his old tricks! It's a real MBBO now!
RaT oN~!

 

I remember those forks.

 

They'll be making another appearance.

 

I haven't even laid a wrench on this bike yet, and I'm already super excited about one of the best parts of it!

 

This is just too exciting not to post. You guys don't understand how happy she is going to be to own this seat... and the bike underneath it. This is exactly what she wanted, and will blow her away!

 

Holy cow that seat is fantastic!
Your recover skills crushed it on that one! Where did you find the vinyl?

 

Holy cow that seat is fantastic!
Your recover skills crushed it on that one! Where did you find the vinyl?

 

What ^he^ said... twice!

That seat would've been perfect on the bike I did last year for my great-great-niece... perfect colours and looks comfy.

Glen.

 

My recover skills? Lol. Did you see my one and only attempt? Yeah... no. I had a custom one made. It’s too important for me to screw up.

 

I bought a pair of 24x1.5 alloy rims, which had a brushed finish. So I’ve been sanding and polishing them to look more like chrome. I may have to polish it one more time, but it’s coming along. A LOT of work, but will be worth it in the end. The picture doesn’t do it justice. Then I have the other one to do too!

 

In my brain, I toyed with the idea of making this a 16 speed. I’m getting a dual stick shifter, and I could have worked the brake side to control a front derailleur. I also have a Huffy double front sprocket they used on the boys Super Stock 10-speeds. But playing around today, I realized that where the sloping top tubes meet the frame prevent a front derailleur from being installed. So... looks like a single mag sprocket, and 8 speeds total. Which... is still 3 more than stock. So... just fine.

 

The shifter arrived. So I’ve been poking around with it. I couldn’t find a Huffy Twin Stick, so I settled for a Murray Eliminator twin stick. Same concept, and still a cool look.

So, in poking around, I immediately saw that the mounting bolts were too short to allow it to mount at the curve of the top bars. So I grabbed a couple longer ones from my local hardware store. Now, here’s my dilemma: When I mount it right now, the console body sits pretty high over both ends. When I modified the twin stick for the last build, I physically bent and and shaved it to conform more to the frame, which allowed the console to sit lower and actually sit on the frame as it should. The trade off was that the parking indicator didn’t have clearance inside the console, so had to be removed. I could try to modify this one, but still retain the parking brake indicator function (once I fix it). But I’m worried I’ll screw something up. I’m just eaten away by how far up that console is sitting. Maybe I should just try not to let it bother me?

 

How does it look if you pull the front down tight and let the back be a little higher?

 

I need a wider mounting bracket for the front. I guess the Screamer had less space between the tubes at that point. There isn't a lot to grip with the current one.

 

Here’s a thought. I have some chrome tape. I wonder if I could make a “skirt” for the front and back? Then cover it with chrome tape.

But what could I make a skirt out of that would look good and last the life of the bike?

 

Im trying to hammer down the spacing for the rear hub to ensure I have room for the chain, etc. so the first step is to stretch the frame. For anyone who hasn’t seen the process... here you go:

First, you see that your hub won’t fit. (Then you see when you took the pic you had the wrong spacer on the non-drive side.)



So you install your tried and true frame spreader...



Crank that puppy open far beyond the width of the hub so the metal return to rest at its new, correct, width.



Ease the tension, let it return to its new resting width, and bingo. The hub slipped right in easy.

 

I like the 'shroud' idea. That was my first thought when I read your post.

Goop glue works great at attaching plastics together, and is super strong. I used it to reattach the passenger side rear view mirror on my son's car and it lasted the winter in Minne-snowta through minus temps, wind, and his 20 mile daily commute a few years ago. We had to fight to get the mirror off and glue residue when he ordered a repop to replace it in the Spring.

That said, I would look for a plastic or light weight aluminum , like a beer or pop can, that can be formed and then glued into your shape. I will have to do this to repair the broken off piece on my shifter housing as well. I already have a couple ideas on how to attempt it.

One thing is, you will likely have to paint the whole original housing along with the custom shroud, as I'm anticipating having to do, so that it all flows together. Or use your chrome tape idea. Although it may be 'brighter' than the aged 'chrome' on the housing. Chrome spray paint over the whole thing would unify it.

 

Does the brake lever have a tensioner, so it doesn't come back after you pull it? That's a need if you want to use it as a shifter