Chrome cantilever BMX going straightbar

[ditchdigger]

This morning I happened upon this thread
http://bmxsociety.com/topic/38162-cal-cruisers/
and became smitten by the early BMX inspired cruisers. I opened another browser tab, hit craigslist and found a $23 bike that fit the bill. Luckily I was the first responder as any bike under $100 goes quick here in eugene, OR.

I gave the man his 23 clams and brought this home

I had to weld up a few cracks in the frame and scrub surface rust off of every square inch of the bike. The seat post was 18" of bent 1/2" water pipe and The fork was cracked, bent and while cool looking not what I am going for. I hit the recycling center on the way home and dropped a big $2 for a temporary mountain bike fork.

I ordered the cheap 26" BMX fork from amazon

but it will take a little over a week to get here so the ugly fork will do for now.

I had a seat and stem for a future mid 80's Freestyle/BMX build that will do the trick for this but I needed a seat post. Hey those dyno-glide bars are the right OD

Bingo one mid 80's style layback post

here it is a few hours after purchase

The next items needed will be appropriate cruiser BMX handle bars, pedals and some brakes.

 

[ditchdigger]

Re: Unidentified cantilever frame somethingorother build

All bearings repacked and ready for the morning commute come monday.

Not loving the feel of these cut down bars. But at least it looks pretty cool.

 

[FatBoy]

Re: Unidentified cantilever frame somethingorother build

Looking good!That looks like a lot of work.

 

[snydur]

Re: Unidentified cantilever frame somethingorother build

i love when all types of bikes go into one build. like the bmx and cruiser going on. keep it up!

 

[blackdiamond]

Re: Unidentified cantilever frame somethingorother build

What is that cool little greenish car in the background ???

 

[ditchdigger]

Re: Unidentified cantilever frame somethingorother build

It is a '68 Renault R10

Another thing I really need to start working on.

 

[blackdiamond]

Re: Unidentified cantilever frame somethingorother build

Another car to add to my wish list...

What kind or engine does it have...v4,v2,inline4....?

 

[ditchdigger]

Re: Unidentified cantilever frame somethingorother build

Rear engined watercooled 1.2 or 1.4 liter wet sleeve inline 4cyl motor. The same "sierra" family motor that was used into the 80's in the R5 (Le Car)

The rear suspension is pretty crude being a straight swingaxle instead of semi-trailing arms that most of its rear engined contemporaries had but the front is a nicer double wishbone setup.

It is a pretty large car for what it is. It is as long as a BMW 2002 but a fair bit narrower.

 

[ditchdigger]

Re: Unidentified cantilever frame somethingorother build

Update! The forks arrived last night so in between wrenching on the fiat I managed to get a bit done to the cruiser.

This morning I found an 80's Dia-Compe bulldog caliper at the center for appropriate transport. Paid a buck fifty for it and it cleaned up nicely.

I then hit the bike shop my friend Aaron manages. He showed me a bunch of expensive BMX cruiser bars and then told me that I didn't want any of them. He then went into the back and came back with some childs bike handlebars and told me to weld a couple of inches to each end. I gave him the $12 and did what he told me. That man is some sort of genius and obviously knows me too well. Perfect result, exactly what I wanted.

It is so close to what I had in mind. The skinwall tires I ordered should be here tuesday and then I just need some pedals. Then it should be done.

 

[ditchdigger]

moving to straightbar BMX

Looks like I am going to change this one up.

As it sits now. The minor changes since the build are some gumwalls, a 2pc GT chainring and I cut an inch off the bars and installed some BMX grips from porkchop.

The day the build off was posted I got busy and converted a 90's Torker cantilever frame to a straightbar.

Looks familiar

Dug up that girls mtn bike that was behind the garage when I bought the house.

Donor tubes!

Welded it up

An hour down and ready for more mods.

Then the buildoff didn't happen or got postponed and I got to looking at all the awesome straightbar BMX and klunkers on here and glanced over my shoulder at my big boy BMX and said why not. So this frame gets to be a replacement and I can use the chrome canti for the buildoff when it happens and if it allows the kind of cutting and welding I want to do.

Today I jumped in to get started. One of those norton stripper wheels on the grinder dealt with most of the paint.

I need to fill the holes in the cut tubes right away.

I just can't think of a bmx without the correct dropouts so I hit the mill and made some new ones.

I tried to give them a chunky, rounded appearance that would fit with the vintage styled frame.

Tomorrow I will break out the torch and get rid of those modern dropouts. 8)

Here is my question. I notice that dropouts are usually brazed in place even on bikes that are welded everywhere else. Is this just for ease of repair? a heat treatment issue? I can't imagine that level of forethought going into a dept store bike. Anyway can I TIG them back in place or should I braze them? Brazing isn't an issue for me, I just prefer the TIG.

 

[XC204]

I've been cutting the dropouts off with the tails still braised in the frame and tigging to the remaining part I don't have to mess with the remaining brass to bugger up the weld.

By xc204 at 2010-05-09

 

[mybike1]

Lookin' great !!!

 

[ditchdigger]

I took the afternoon and got it all together. I didn't bother filling all the little dings and just rattlecanned it with whatever was around.

I was able to salvage the rounded ends from the cantilever tubes I removed and weld them on to the seat stays. Not perfect but not bad.

And the new drop outs.

Looks like I need to add another link or two to the chain but I think I will hold off until I can get a wheel with a freewheel on it.

Now to ride it

What do ya think?

 

[XC204]

The bike is Awesome! dropouts turned out very nice did you weld em or braise them in ?

 

[ditchdigger]

Brazed them in. You were right about not being able to get all the brazing filler out of there and I had the torch out anyway to remove the old dropouts so that is how they went back in.