'64 Huffy Silver Jet

[streetpirate]

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=43658


I took some wonderful advice and put my efforts into getting this bike fixed up to ride before I did any real mods to it.

here is the as found condition pics

I cleaned up all the chrome (which is everything) with wd40 and some fine steel wool. I tried tinfoil first as I've had success with it before, but the steel wool is where it's at. Repacked everything, (gas is my new favorite solvent) and ordered some tires off the net. I wanted something different. It took me a long time to decide if I wanted to do the fat franks, cheapo brick tread whitewalls, colored bricks, or cheng shin's. I was even looking at some orange 1.95 duro street slicks that were on sale somewhere.


So I bought some mountain bike tires. 2.2 WTB Graffiti's. I've never seen a bike here with 'em so thats what I had to have

the tires showed up in the mail at noon the day before I was leaving for speedweek. my rear rim was taco but the hub was nice so I dropped it off at my lbs because they said they could true it before closing time. I never got the call that it was done so I showed up 20min before they closed and they decided to bump it off until the next day. nice. I ended up buying a china special they had hanging up for $40 and the bearings already make awesome noises. anyways, got the bike all together with new tires and tubes, and rear wheel.

here's the bike at bonneville. notice it's ability to balance without a kickstand! (too short with the big tires)

needless to say, the 46 year old chain decided to separate into 6 chunks while I was standing on the pedals, leaving me with a big knot on my knee from the handlebars. almost every link that looked great when I cleaned it had a crack or had pulled apart after a few minutes of riding it. I drove 2 hours to salt lake city, got mixed up looking at the map and lost for about an hour trying to find the bike shop. found the bike shop and they guy was super cool and installed the new chain for me and I was back in business. pressure washed the salt and muck off the bike when I got home and wiped it down with WD40 for protection.

 

[streetpirate]

So for mods, I want to build it to ride in comfort as well as style, so I need to get a layback seat post (lucky 7 style?) and taller handlebars. a three speed hub will be in the future as well, might buy the modern shimano alloy wheelset http://www.americasbikecompany.com/Shim ... silver.htm

a springer will be a future mod also, but I dont want a cheapo schwinn knockoff. I might make a leaf sprung setup myself or will keep an eye out for cool springers on the for sale forum here.

no plans to put the fenders on as of yet, but since I'm riding this to school in oregon and we have rain 9 months out of the year I'll be hanging on to them in case I get sick of the wet racing stripe up my back all the time. I still haven't checked to see if they will clear the fat tires, but I'm doubting it.

 

[streetpirate]

was cleaning up in the garage and tucked under the workbench I found the perfect thing to make the kickstand longer, an old lug wrench. I cut off most of it and welded it to the kickstand, flap wheeled it shiny and clearcoated it. now I can use my kickstand to remove 19mm lug nuts.

 

[streetpirate]

I bought the alloy nexus wheelset, some narrow apes, and a brooks clone seat. the bars want to slip in the stem no matter how tight it is, the seat tilts fore and aft no matter how tight it is. I'll mess with it later this week and get some pics going.

 

[PabloAntonio]

That bike's pretty gorgeous just the way it is. I'm loving the clunker design, and the chrome frame really sells it. Those WTB's really add beef to the bike, and I love the way the whole thing looks.

Since you've got more of a clunker than a cruiser, maybe look at an MTB fender? Something like this, perhaps.

Anyway, great job with the cleanup and restoration! She's looking good, and looks like a real rider.

 

[streetpirate]

not sure if it will stay like this but here is how it sits now.

 

[Georgeediii]

I like this bike a ton. Might want to check your local hardware store for .5 inch chrome end caps. They set me back about 40 cents a piece.

 

[Dr. Tankenstein]

Hey Georgeediii,

What section of the hardware store were they in and what did they call them? Got some cantilevers of my own that could use a set of those!

Cheers,
Dr. T

 

[Georgeediii]

I found them at the local Ace Hardware where the plastic drawers of nuts and things are. If you ask the employees for an internal end cap they will probably have them in black or chrome. 1/2 inch is was the smallest they had and exactly what I needed.
Scrumblero tipped me off about these. Thanks man!

 

[streetpirate]

I like this bike a ton. Might want to check your local hardware store for .5 inch chrome end caps. They set me back about 40 cents a piece.

that is awesome! I haven't looked yet but my plan was to find something bullet shaped out of the same drawer at the hardware store. I'm stopping by home depot or true value today to check it out.