Gee Bee Tribute Bike *Update 3/15*

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RocketeerRat

RocketeerRat

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I picked up this early 60's AMF a couple weeks ago and just planned on riding it as is for a while. but then the most annoying thing happened, I had one of those Eureka moments of inspiration and suddenly it was crystal clear what I wanted to do with this bike! How annoying, right? :roll:
100_3976.jpg


Anyone who has seen my favorite movie, The Rocketeer, should remember the drop dead gorgeous Black and Yellow race plane from the opening scenes. The aircraft used for the movie is a replica of the Grandville Brother's Gee Bee model Z which was built for, and Won, the 1931 air races. This aircraft is right up at the top of my all time favorite aircraft list so It seems natural to build a bike in honor of it. I mean, just look at that killer 30's paint job!! :shock:
geebeeZR2.jpg


So with that in mind, now comes the task of transforming this 1960's era bike into something a little more elegant... I am looking into tanks and fenders that will fit, hopefully Phantom parts fit? All of which will recieve a Gee Bee inspired Yellow and Black scalloped paint job with bright red pinstripes. The frame will be repainted black, and all the silver polished up. The Bendix coaster hub is a happy coincidence, anyone thats been in aviation knows the Bendix name, so its cool to have some 'real' aviation parts on it! lol

On the mechanical side of things, this bike is messed up. lol. The front hub disassembly was difficult because the axle is bent I can put it back together but it would ride easier if it was straight. Order up a new axle maybe? The BB came apart fairly easy, until the bearings fell apart all over the floor! The cages literally rusted to pieces, there is NO grease left in there. At this point I'm almost afraid to teardown the Bendix hub, but it Must be done!
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Click here to see the Beginnings of this project, before the moment of inspiration:
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=24544
 
Re: Gee Bee Tribute Bike

u can probubly go to your local bike shop and pick up a brand new american bb kit with bearings for under 10 bucks.
good luck with this and have fun with it! the rocketeer is one of my favorite movies, I got a chance to sit in the GeeBee R2 (red and white #7) when i was younger
cant wait to see it finished
 
Re: Gee Bee Tribute Bike

http://www.waldllc.com/CATALOG.pdf

heres the Wald catalog link, any bike shop should be able to get you what you need, my local bike shop sells headset cup/bearing sets for $5 and crank cup/bearing sets for closer to $10, hes also got pretty much any bearing i would need for any hub too usually $1/$2 a bearing assembly.

i would recommend replacing the cups too on that bike, looks like theres a groove worn in the crank cup pic, if you just threw a new bearing in there without replacing the cup youd still have a rattle and loose feel due to the wear on those cups.

same thing with the coaster hub, if the hub is worn like that cup is id find a different one, but hubs usually hold the grease a little better in my experience so the hub may be fine after you check it out.
 
Re: Gee Bee Tribute Bike

badmuller said:
I love that plane too, wasn't there something similair in the aviator?
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The plane featured in the Aviator was the Hughes H-1 racer. The replica that was to be used in the movie unfortunately crashed shortly before filming, killing the pilot. Which is a real tragedy, I saw the plane in Oshkosh and breifly met the pilot who was a super nice guy with an amazing aircraft.

vanilla_gorilla said:
...I got a chance to sit in the GeeBee R2 (red and white #7) when i was younger...
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Lucky Duck! I used to watch Delmar's performances in awe when I was younger and met the guy a couple times. I wish he was still flying it but I'm very glad Weeks has been flying his Z replica.

Thanks for the help guys, I'll go talk to the lbs today and see what they can do for me. I got the bike torn down the rest of the way this morning. The neck is actually in very good shape, the problem is the tube is buldged out so the lower race cant come off. The fork is majorly bent up anyways so I might cut it up but if I get a new race it doesnt much matter, lol. The bb cleaned up nicely but as suggested I'll just order a new cup and bearings set to be on the safe side. The Bendix hub came apart nicely, packed full of dark sticky grease, it should be an easy rebuild. The only thing left on the frame is the seat post which is soaking in PB for a while.
 
Re: Gee Bee Tribute Bike

Current Questions:
-Do Schwinn Phantom tanks fit this frame?
-Is there such a thing as a blank headbadge?
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Nope, Phantom tanks only fit Schwinn frames. They DID have an AMF tank that was similar to the phantom, but you don't see 'em too often. Probably easier to fit a flat plate in there & paint to match. 2nd question, no, but, some badges are only printed on the metal, so you could polish it clean. I know someone here took an old Firestone Pilot badge that was about worn off, and used that for a new project. Might be Hooch's NOG Death Buggy, I can't remember. -Adam
 
Re: Gee Bee Tribute Bike

That's an impressive collection you have there, I especially love the little rocketeer paper(?) model! I too have my share of Gee Bee paraphernalia, unfortunately most of it is spread out across the house rather than shrine format, lol. Nice to see someone else likes these little Gee Bee's!

Rustinkerer said:
Nope, Phantom tanks only fit Schwinn frames. They DID have an AMF tank that was similar to the phantom, but you don't see 'em too often. Probably easier to fit a flat plate in there & paint to match. 2nd question, no, but, some badges are only printed on the metal, so you could polish it clean. I know someone here took an old Firestone Pilot badge that was about worn off, and used that for a new project. Might be Hooch's NOG Death Buggy, I can't remember. -Adam
Click to expand...
Thanks for the Phantom info, looks like I'll be shopping around for a suitable replacement tank ...I'm open to wild and crazy ideas! I'll keep an eye out for the flat plate head badges, or maybe I'll just paint something on the tube? So many decisions, so little time! The guys at the local bike shop said "Yeah, We can order those", which oddly enough I am getting used to, lol.
 
Re: Gee Bee Tribute Bike

Quick update on this, I've made some decisions and ordered some parts. Hopefully some of them will start arriving so I can get this thing together! I've decided that I want the clean and new look for this one so every part will be cleaned, polished, refinished, or replaced. This means a bit more expense on my part but will Hopefully yeild a bike I can easily be proud of. This is my first custom rebuild so I've been quite surprised by the sheer number of decisions and questions that are coming up, especially this early in the process. Its really quite daunting for a newbie. :?

The big decision at the moment is about fenders, I've been wanting some peaked fenders because quite frankly they will make my painting job easier. However I am torn between those and ducktail fenders which might give a bit more of that 30's look I'm shooting for. Any thoughts?
 
Re: Gee Bee Tribute Bike

One of the houses we own is a 1/4 mile away from where the Gee Bee's where built and flown, Springfield MA. I'm not old enough (ahem) to remember them, but my father and father in law were. They both used to tell stories of the old airport and planes that started there.................It's been a shopping plaza for the last 50 years or so........Thanks for the memories.
 
Re: Gee Bee Tribute Bike

Gold Street Customs said:
Ok here's a couple of poster pics, and the size is 20"x39.5"
...
this is framed in glass and it has one little chip in the glass..it is a metal frame, $65 shipped ?
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That looks Great! Consider it Sold! I've never seen that version of the poster before, I love it!
I'll PM you for the details asap.
 
Re: Gee Bee Tribute Bike

RocketeerRat: Cool idea for your bike! Can't wait to see it done. Love old airplanes too. See my post "training wheels" for my T-6 Texan inspired build.
 
Re: Gee Bee Tribute Bike

For some reason it seems natural to build a bike inspired by airplanes, I'm not entirely sure why... After working on this for a while I seem to have an excess of ideas, I just might have to build another one!

Second round of parts started arriving today and to kill time I've been reworking the frame. I started by taking the rust spots down to bare metal but ended up stripping the entire down tube and neck because it was quicker! Slapped on some primer to keep the rust at bay. I'll finish stripping and priming the frame over the next few days. Quick mockup to use for the graphics drawings:


This quick drawing was just to give a rough idea where I'm going with this, unfortunately I ran out of paper and had to draw the wheels undersize ...oops!


Spent a bit more time on this one to show a bit of what I want on the fenders, its still a little unclear but its close. The "tails" actually extend from the scallop to the end of the fender. The little red GeeBee logo is still up for debate, I want something on the front of the fender but not sure if that logo is what I'm looking for.


Thats all for now folks, with any luck more parts will be arriving shortly and I can get this thing painted!
 

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