Rust Rat

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Joined
Sep 21, 2007
Messages
502
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Location
ICT, Kansas
OK I'm in,YEA! Had to have some computer finnessing done to get pics form my old camera to the old computer, its done so now I can play.
My title of "Rust Rat" pretty well sums up what Im going to do. I got a rusty Western Flyer skiptooth frame with springer to start with, don't know what year, don't really care what year.
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The rust, huh patina, will remain on the frame, wheels, handlebars, pedals, seat, and the added features I'm not ready to reveal ( in case I run out of time ).
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The wheels are 26 inch S-2s to be mounted with 2.125 Schwinn Typhoons , and yes the skiptooth will go away so that the crank will power the Bendix 2 Speed redband kickback hub. The seat is an old Brooks B66, to be mounted on a bent seatpost. The pedals are Pearson Supreme big blocks, I bought from Andy here on RRB.
Well the first step tear it a part. Most of the rusty bolts and parts came off with little drama with the help of some old rust eating stuff I bought a case of at a garage sell 20 years ago and use sparingly. Except for that stem, that required a good soaking several times, and a 6 foot 2x4. Mount the stem in the vise, place 2x4 in fork and gently apply presure, and it broke lose with out damage.
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The frame stripped of everything but the rust, I mean patina.
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Then I cut the spokes to remove the 2 speed hub from the rusty S-7 wheel, took it apart as far as I dared, let it soak in degreaser, cleaned it, greased it and reassembled it. Steel wooled the exterior of the hub. The degreaser removed the red bands, I wanted the bands a different color anyway. I hope the 2 speed works, I've kicked it back by hand and believe it is shifting, just hope it works on the bike.
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Well thats where the "Rust Rat" is at now. This is going to be fun. Dangerous Dan
 
dangratsdan said:
My title of "Rust Rat" pretty well sums up what Im going to do. I got a rusty Western Flyer skiptooth frame with springer to start with, don't know what year, don't really care what year.]

I'm pretty sure it's a RULE. You HAVE to know the year! Ya, it's a rule, ya it is! :lol:
 
Ok, now I have to object! no really! what you have is a 1937-38 Huffman single flex. I'm guessing the front fork alone is worth more than you would imagine. I collect Huffmans and I beg you don't cut or hammer or weld anything! we're talking $600.00 for a tank, $300 for a chain guard, the springers never show up so who knows what one would go for. here is a photo or two of my Twin-Flex, I paid $1500.00 for it as it looks in the photos and when I got it the frame was broken and the rear suspension had been welded together and I still consider it to have been a killer deal. you're missing a lot of expensive parts but this would be a really killer restore project! do you have the front fender? it is special to the springer and the braces are Solid Gold! I probably should have quietly offered to buy it or trade it from you but I wouldn't feel right. rat it out if you want but keep it in mind that it should eventually be restored. :mrgreen:
Scott 8)
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KOTA said:
I'm pretty sure it's a RULE. You HAVE to know the year! Ya, it's a rule, ya it is! :lol:

WELL, if I new how to delete this I'd just leave :x , BUT it took me almost a year to figure out how get this old man and old computer and old camera to post my own pics out here so Im NOT going away, HA :p . SO with that said, my bike is a @$#> model, this darn computer can't even write numbers right. If someone thinks they know the year of my bike, maybe they can get their computer to write the right numbers for that year. :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
37fleetwood said:
Ok, now I have to object! no really! what you have is a 1937-38 Huffman single flex. ]

Well, I was going to chop the top tube at the head set and bend the mid tube for more rake, and then cut the back end off and put a 4 inch wide stringray rear and tire on it.....NO,NO,NO.

I have NO intension of cutting or welding on this frame or fork. The frame has been welded at the bottom bracket and is not prefectly straight, but will be fine for me as a rat bike. As for other parts, what you see is what I got for my $25. Just an old rusty Western Flyer with a springer. Thanks for the Info.
BTW, I like the looks of Twin Flex so much I voted for Ratflex in the RRBO2.
Cool Bikes....wish I had one..... I guess I have half of one. :lol:
 
dangratsdan said:
Well, I was going to chop the top tube at the head set and bend the mid tube for more rake, and then cut the back end off and put a 4 inch wide stringray rear and tire on it.....NO,NO,NO.

I have NO intension of cutting or welding on this frame or fork. The frame has been welded at the bottom bracket and is not prefectly straight, but will be fine for me as a rat bike. As for other parts, what you see is what I got for my $25. Just an old rusty Western Flyer with a springer. Thanks for the Info.
BTW, I like the looks of Twin Flex so much I voted for Ratflex in the RRBO2.
Cool Bikes....wish I had one..... I guess I have half of one. :lol:

Well the frame though not common is findable the front fender is extremely difficult, or should I say the braces are. the fork is the thing, if you are interested I would buy you another cool springer or trade you anytime. I have just the bike to put it on. I could probably come up with a nice higgins "BeeHive" springer in trade.
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just a thought. if you decide to restore later I can help with that also i have most of the Huffman catalogs and some Western Flyer stuff. just for fun here is a photo of my most recent Huffman find, a 1939 Firestone Flying Ace. this is a one year only bike which is probably more rare than the Twin-Flex. enjoy and again great bike! I'll be watching to see how it turns out. (I'm not so much a purist that I cant admire a nicely done Hot Rod/Rat Rod :mrgreen: )
Scott 8)
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I got back out in the shop and played for a while.
First thing was to remove a rusty broken rear dropout adjustment screw. With the help of a shot of penetrating oil, a dremel with a grinding stone to reduce the lenght of the screw, a hammer and chisel to brake it lose and get the screw to turn, and a drill to spin the screw on out of the hole, it came out without damage to the frame.
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I then chiped off some white paint that had been splattered on the frame, lightly steelwool the frame, scrubed it with soap and water, let it air dry, and painted with a fast drying clear paint and put the new bearing cups in the frame.
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I then played with the springer. Put new grade 8 bolts in rocker mounting holes. I thought that the rocker to fork area that moves needed to have a brass shim to keep the old steel on steel from grinding on itself, so using the dremel and aviation shears I made shims.
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It was getting late and I needed to get to bed so I could get up at 4am to go to the day job, But I didn't want to quit working on the bike and the springer was going to take more time than I had, so I grabbed the seat to see what needed to be done to get it to work on a 5/8 inch solid rod seat post that I will bend when I get wheels/tires on it to figure out the seat position. The old Brooks B66 had a much larger seat clamp and luckly I had a 5/8 seat clamp in my spare parts. So I will trade the clamp center pieces, and it should work.
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Thats where I am at..... Dangerous Dan
 
37fleetwood said:
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well there you have it!
http://cgi.ebay.com/Prewar-26-Boys-2-Ba ... dZViewItem
1940 Bellknap just ended for $273.88
Scott 8)

Hey 37Fleetwood, Thanks for the ebay info nice to have an idea of value for my frame/fork :shock: , but mine is badged as a Western Flyer, I guess I did ok for my $25. 8)

aka_locojoe said:
Today I helped set up for Friday's show and got to see it in person. Looks great Dan. I really like it.

And Locojoe, What you have seen is what I get to start with, the fun is about to begin, I just put it in the show like that for now. After the show I will be adding some things to make it standout, hopefully to make it outstanding. :D
 
dangratsdan said:
And Locojoe, What you have seen is what I get to start with, the fun is about to begin, I just put it in the show like that for now. After the show I will be adding some things to make it standout, hopefully to make it outstanding. :D

Ha! I was thinking this is a pretty mild bike for Dan. Should have known. Anyway it looks great as it sits now.
 
On with the build.
After cleaning the springers parts I cleaned and clear coated the rusty parts, then assembled it using the brass shims I made, and grade 8 bolts.
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Then on to working the wheels. I cut the hubs out of the S2 wheels, cleaned and greased the front hub and the 2 speed kickback. The wheel I used with the 2 speed was in good shape, I just cleaned it and cleared coated it. The spokes used on the 2 speed hub were some I had and used, they were a little bit long and were ground off after I trued the wheel best I could, I just got to remember that, when ever I adjust the spokes.
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Heres the frame hanging in the work area I call my shop, a small part of my garage, a garage thats filled with a car thats been sitting for about 25 years, car parts, license plates, bicycles and bicyle parts. Most people would say my garage is filled with junk, but we know better, right?
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The wheel I used on the front was a different story, it must have gotten water inside the rim and had frozen, and expanded the inside of the wheel for about 6 inches.
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So I used a small ballpeen hammer and pounded the inside of the wheel back out with out bending the outside of the rim. But stretching the inside metal caused a split in the inside, oh well that small of split I dont think will hurt anything.
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Then using a chisel I tried to put back the crease that was the bead.
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I cleaned and clear coated the wheel, sewed in the hub, and mounted the 2.125 Tyhpoons, and put them on the bike, they look great, I like'm.
Mounting the old ratty Brooks B66 seat was next.
I wanted a bent seat post to keep me low on the bike and give me ( I'm 6'1") more leg room. So first using an angle gauge I find the angle I need to bend the 5/8" solid rod I use for my seatpost.
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Then I bend the rod using a 5' pipe and a hole in a slab of concrete in my backyard.
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It easily bent to the angle I wanted. Then I had to shim it to the size of the seat post tube on the bike. I used pieces of tubing, I needed two thinknesses of tube to fill the space, cutting them to about 5" long.
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Then spliting them to allow them to be squeezed when the grade 8 seatpost bolt was tighted. I use a grinder to split the thicker shim tube and a dremel with a cutting disc to split the thin tube.
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The new seatpost and old seat were then put on the bike.
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The original stem was steelwooled and still has pitting in the chrome, I will call the pitting patina, and that works for this build. The handlebars were from a pile of parts I had and were 98% rust covered, must have been really bad chrome plate on them, just what I wanted. Here they are on the bike.
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Well thats it for now. Yes, Locojoe did see the "Rust Rat" at the 'Art of the Bike" show but it didn't have the right sprocket on it, and did'nt have the finishing touches,and there will be plenty. I have lots of work yet to do. Later
Dangerous Dan
 
Well I got back to the Rust Rat.
I built a head light from an old 1920s or 30s cowl light. I used an LED flashlight as the bases of the light. I cut a hole in the light reflector to hold the LED end of the flashlight and made a bracket and cut a hole in the reflecter to hold the battery pack from the flashlight. I used a rotating switch for the off/on. The mount was broken so I drilled holes and counter sunk the screws that were then screwed into the handlebars.
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Next I built a tailight using a tailight from a mid 1930s chevy. I gutted the old light mounts and made a bracket to hold a 9 volt battery. Then cut an oval piece of plastic mirror and drilled holes to hold 8 super red LEDs. Mount a rotating switch for the off/on in the old wire hole. Epoxied a wood block to screw the mirror too. Made a simple L braket to mount the light to the rear axel.
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I got a 52 tooth prewar Schwinn sprocket from a friend who was building a 1938 Autocycle and this sprocket was not good enough condition to be put on his bike and offered it to me, it is just perfect for my bike. And works great with my 2 speed kickback
And with that the Rust Rat is done, and rides nice, I like it.
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This has been fun. I think I will do it again sometime. Dangerous Dan
 

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