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chop-n-build

chop-n-build

Joined
Dec 11, 2011
Messages
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Location
Texas
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This latest build is 100% different from my normal stuff. It's almost all the left overs from other builds, found bikes & bikes other people have donated to me because they know I build bikes. It's parts from 4 bikes, 2 donated 10 speed Huffy road bikes with hard to find 26x1-3/8 590 ISO tires (which I used for the front wheel / tire) a Mongoose aluminum mountain bike I bought for 20 bucks at a garage sale last summer (just for a parts bike) and a children's bmx bike that someone was throwing out. I robbed the handle bars off of that and cut the crossbar out then reinstalled them in the original 10 speed neck. So far, I've only had to buy tires, (the front one Amazon had, no local stores carry it) the rear is a standard 26" mountain bike wheel/tire. New pedals, chain ( because I stretched the frame ) new seat, grips & the paint (which I haven't got to yet). The only bike I have not spent over a hundred bucks on so far! Or 300, 400 or 500 just on parts and new steel! It really reminds me of original hot rodding, just re-piecing from a bunch of stuff & building something awesome out of all of it while keeping the new parts & steel to a minimum. I used the road bike wheel up front which is an inch / inch & a half taller than the standard 26 inch rear. I kept the rear to only 1.75 tire size this time for less weight than my typical fatty tire & it accepts a lot higher air pressure. I had to make my own dropout bracket to mount a 6 gear mtn bike derailleur to the road bike rear triangle, then kept the road bike gears up front on the cranks, I want lots of speed out of this one. I also had to cut the rear U-brake mounting bracket out and lower it about an inch in the frame due to the smaller wheel size. Just Started sheet metal fab on Friday. Everything is tacked up, I usually do all final welding last. :D



































 
Cool bike!!
I love these" back to the hotrodding roots" kinnda builds. Repurposing otherwise overlooked trash day & curbside finds. GOOD WORK 8)
 
Thanks guys. I'll have to check out some more of your home made wide tire stuff Luke, thanks for the links. I have other builds on here too. I think you can check my "users posts".

Thanks Junknutz. Yes, while most of my usual stuff is 90 to 95% new steel, it has made me feel
good re-using these old bikes that otherwise would go into the trash. I mean it's outdated stuff
by itself, but it's still workable material. Everything is so "throw out" & buy a new one or order
new parts and bolt them on anymore. It's been refreshing getting back to roots building and
it's been more challenging already, having to engineer what I have to make it work, instead
of just buying the part that's designed to do the job already. :D
 
Since last post, got most of the paint stripped off, remounted jockey shift at an angle I like better got the rear gears adjusted, front and rear brakes working and took it out for it's first test ride! I could tell before I got to the end of the first block, I'm definitely doing more of these road bike, mountain bike hybrid builds! This thing is fast! And light! I always 4 point tack weld my bottom bracket tubes on, test ride and then if I think the cranks are where I want them in the frame forward and back, I full weld the btm bracket down tube and then put in the forward tube bracket and full weld it. The only difference was, this bike was old enough to come with a brazed joint where the main down tube joins the bottom bracket shell, so I couldn't just electric weld it together or I would have melted the original brass right out of the shell. I wound up electric welding into the main down tube then brazing into the bottom bracket shell.

I did a first on this one too and brazed a piece of 7/8 copper tubing into the steel frame. The bike is going to be brown gold and white so the polished copper goes good. Finally, finished more sheet metal fabrication on the rear fender. I'm happy with it, still have to figure out rear light mount for fender though. She's a macheen!















 
Thanks wimpy. It's been cool making something out of bikes that were either getting thrown out or had been sitting around for yrs because no one else wanted them. Then transforming them into something people really like. The first day I got it back together and went down the street, I got 2 "that's an awesome bike!" comments before I got 2 blocks away. That's when a bike is done and done right to me.

My wife went out with me on a ride last night. She took this bike and I took one of my choppers. It fits her real good, she likes it and a lot of people gave us thumbs up's so it'll probably become her bike. :D
 

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