Blade - stretched racer?

[Tibor]

i got the chance to buy a in germany called "blade" frame and fork for a few bucks... a frame wich is famous for its bad welding and accuracy... and its a copy of the firebike fluid frame in normal tubes...

you may know that iam 1,92m (6' 4" ) tall so a chinese frame is way to small for me!... and i wanted to let it look different...because here in germany its common to put in fat rims and paint it black :?

thats how it arrived at my home...

still looking good... now lets take a closer look...

...had to sandblast it...

...much better...

i had some ideas...
using a Zündapp Bergsteiger Fork...

or using the fork that came with the frame... but give it the look of a girder fork (ONLY THE LOOK!)

so the day of welding came near...

preparing the fork for a shortening of 3.5 cm...

the rear is stretched for the use of 4" rims (100mm) and the frame is 25cm (10") longer tha before..

the rims on the pics are 3" but i needed some for the buildup.. and my rims are not laced at the moment...
...the fork is still in process so i took the "Zündapp Bergsteiger" first... to try frame height and length...

WILL CONTINUE!!!

 

[deven_science]

Awesome shape on that frame! I wonder what shipping to the US would be...

 

[Tibor]

believe me ... the frame is so badly welded it wouldn't survive the transfer to the states... it was allready bend wen i got it...

 

[katratbike]

The bike looks great,but the welds I thought I was bad at welding.

 

[Dr. Tankenstein]

Tibor,
I've followed your builds on Tretharley.de, you are very talented.

Where can a 'Yank' find a Zündapp Bergsteiger fork!

Cheers,
Dr. T

 

[Tibor]

i think european ebay is the only chance... (some seller ship worls wide )
they are pretty cheap around 20-50 Euros for a functioning fork... but remember motorcycles do almost never have a 1" or 1 1/8" steering rod... ill use a Ahead system for this fork, because its hard to find the right female screw for the steering rod to tighten it... so i know i will destroy the threading of the steering rod but thats the only way!

 

[wimpy]

Very cool project,Tibor. Too bad,you have to put in so much work (re-welding the frame,I mean). I guess it's on TH as well,so I'll pop by there. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[Tibor]

it was a little bit quiet for he last few weeks... now i had time to build a new fork...

for a first roll-out i had to put in some old wheels in 26"... but the bike will roll on 24"x3" front and 24"x4"rear...

 

[wimpy]

I like the fork. Not too heavy? And what rims are you going to put in? 80 or 100 mm?

 

[Tibor]

80mm(3") in the front and 100mm(4") in the back

 

[wimpy]

80mm(3") in the front and 100mm(4") in the back

Ah, I thought you only meant 3" and 4" tyres. It's clear now. Like all your builds, it looks razorsharp. :mrgreen:

 

[Tibor]

after nearly a month of permanent stress without spare time i had the chance to work 3 hours on the blade yesterday evening... i build the wheels a few days ago before going to bed ... no i had the time to put everything together...first it looked like everything may work fine... but after i tried to put on the chain i saw that the chain was rubbing on the seatstay as well as the chain stay... i tried different sprockets even 1cm offsett sprockets... but nothing was helping so i butchered an old alivio derailleur... now its working... its noisier than i fought but the cain runs smooth... but i will change that soon (when i have time again )

... the seat will have to go!!! DEFINITLY!!! i get a "bobber" seat pan from a friend :mrgreen: so the seat gets lower and mor "integrated" in the frame... the front chainwhell is a 46tooth version... with the 5"cranks and a 17tooth sprocket its undriveable... and i have PRETTY STRONG LEGS!!!... the first of the seven gears hub (Sram S7) felt like the 8th of my alfine but i wasn't moving at all...

...its a long way to the top if you wanna rock'n'roll...

 

[FatBoy]

Man this looks goooood!!! I love the frame and the Fat wheels!!!! 8) :mrgreen:

 

[Endlesschain]

I really love these 4"rims and the german way of building,I have been watching a few euro crews and the styles are awesome,its cool to see what the general idea of what a ratrod/custom bike is from differant countries,here in New Zealand its mostly lowriders and scratch built traditional choppers with 50"forks and anything classic is usually restored to an original style,hopefully I will get my club started and promote all styles of ratting out bikes,theres only a few in NZ that really dig this lifestyle,cant wait to see Blade finished

 

[Choppercabra]

That frame definitely looks better stretched. Awesome job!