Freak's "Gray Ghost" -gotta light?

[Freak!]

Hi y'all... here's a few pics of my latest work-in-progress.
Started out with a Murray Westport that my friend had in his shed...

Got her home and washed off all the dust and crud...

The fenders were really rusty, plus they were bent and rubbing the tires. So I stripped the bike to the bare essentials, and mocked-up a different set of bars.

I hopped on it (first time on a bicycle in 25 years!) and went for a ride around the block.
Then I tore it down.

I didn't take pictures while sanding and painting... I'm not that coordinated!
Frame and forks drying... I was going to originally paint the bike matte black, but I had this can of gray paint. Hmmmm....

I did use the matte black for the wheels, crank, stem, and sprocket. I swapped the original sprocket for a 36 tooth off an old Huffy (this thing ain't built for speed!) Drying on the rack...

Frame painted and ready to assemble...

Starting to look like a bike again... Greased everything good while putting the crank and headset together!

The original spring seat cleaned up nicely. I might paint the bottom one day.

Added new wide whites, and some new grips. The horn is for making my wife and daughter laugh.
And here she is... for now...

As for the name, "Gray Ghost", the other evening just before dark, I took her for a quick ride around the block. It amazed me how quiet the bike was. Riding silently through the evening shadows is a ghostlike experience indeed.

I'm thinking of adding a 3-speed hub, and maybe building a tank and lights for it, but at the same time, I like the clean look. If I do anything else to her, y'all will be the first to know! :mrgreen:

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Re: Freak's "Gray Ghost" Murray project

I like it!
I had thought about plain grey as a bike colour, but never went any further with it, might have to now... :wink:

Luke.

 

[Freak!]

Re: Freak's "Gray Ghost" -new pix with rack and bags!

Hi y'all, got some new pictures for you...
Got tired of juggling my soda when I rode down to the corner store, so I put together a rack to use some old saddlebags I had on hand. Built the rack out of some old fender struts and a wire handle from a long-gone pizza stone.
Here's one of the old, rather nasty, saddlebags...

Gave them a good cleaning, and set 'em aside. I cut the old fender strut in half, and started mocking up.
Here's what I came up with... I played around with the angle of the struts for a while, and matching the angle of the seat post looked best to my eyes.

I kinda liked how the rack sat down low over the back tire, so I hung one of the bags to see how they looked.

The bags were a perfect fit! I measured where the struts needed to be trimmed, flattened, and drilled, and after cleaning up with some steel wool turned out pretty good.

I used some small U-bolt cable clamps to attach the struts to the top of the rack. Bolted everything back on the bike, attached the bags, and here's the result...

I was pleasantly surprised with the overall look- the bags seem to "float" when viewed from the side of the bike due to the wheels and the bags both being black.

Not bad results for a few hours on the weekend, and a cost of... ZERO!

I just might have to come up with some lights now!

 

[Ichoptop]

Re: Freak's "Gray Ghost" -new pix with bags!

simple and clean. just the way I like them. Great job.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Re: Freak's "Gray Ghost" -new pix with bags!

Nice work! Looks good on the bike, suits it well.

Luke.

 

[Freak!]

Re: Freak's "Gray Ghost" -new pix with bags!

Thanks for the compliments, guys!

 

[mitchelangelo]

Re: Freak's "Gray Ghost" -new pix with bags!

Man that is a super sweet, clean looking ride!!

 

[Freak!]

Re: Freak's "Gray Ghost" -new pix with bags!

Thanks for the kind words, y'all!

Been playing around with some ideas for headlights... found some interesting stuff in the garage that just might work when put together! I don't want to overdo it on this bike, I'm trying to keep it clean.

At least for now :roll:

 

[Hammond Eggz]

Re: Freak's "Gray Ghost" -new pix with bags!

VERY cool! Way to breathe some new life into an old cruiser.
And yeah, I think a headlight would be a great addition -

 

[Freak!]

Got around to building a headlight for the Gray Ghost. It's great when you run across some odd parts that work good together!

Started with this:

I used the bottom of a metal candlestick for the headlight housing, an Eclipse mints tin for the battery box, a lens from a 6-volt lantern, a 9-LED unit from a cheap flashlight, a small on-off switch, and the old metal front reflector bracket.
First I cut a hole for the switch in the Eclipse tin with my trusty Dremel tool, and drilled holes for the wires and for mounting.
Then I sanded and painted the bracket and battery box and painted them satin black... let 'em dry a couple days and bolted them together.

Switch installed

While the paint was drying, I worked on the rest of the light. I polished the candlestick base inside and out, drilled a small hole for the wires, and glued the LED's and reflectors in place.

The lens mounting was a little tricky. There are 3 lugs on the housing that required me to cut notches in the lens to match. Then I took the Dremel tool and cut a notch in each lug, just in front of where the lens fit the housing. I cut a piece of stiff wire and used it as a snap ring to retain the lens. You can see how it fits together here:

Here's the completed headlight, ready to install on the bike, and a detail of the battery box.

And here it is on the bike, ready for an evening ride!

Now I've got to work on a taillight!

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Very cool headlight! Suits the bike well...

Luke.

 

[Lowlife Lucas]

Man that things bright! Nice work, I like it! 8)

 

[ZygoteLittle]

Very cool and clever repurposing of materials – imagination, it’s a beautiful thing. Well done!