TRADITIONAL Iron & Oxygen

[Uncle Shish]

To those that read my post in the discussion - some of this will be redundant.
In March, I drove an hour and a half north to a farm in Manistee, Michigan where there was a "buy all or nothing" sale of bikes and parts of varying decay.
I came home with a van-full, but the one I was after was a 1940 DX.
Here is the view of what was left of her.

I carefully disassembled the carcass to ascertain what was salvageable and structurally sound. I walked away with the frame, tank and fork and one of the two truss rods.
It is to be determined if the front fender is salvageable.

The good news is I picked up this ladies pre-war DX, and with a little coaxing, I have convinced her to give up her drivetrain and whatever other tidbits.
(I also have a taker for what's left of her and will be hand-delivered to Monroe this Sunday)

I've always been a big fan of the Prewar DX and their winged tanks. I intend nothing crazy with this build. My goal is to keep with the true spirit of a Rat Rod and make one-helluva rider. It is named "Iron & Oxygen" as the entire haul of bikes were about two more winters away from returning to the earth as minerals.

The Build-Off arrived with perfect timing in that Memory Lane and Monroe swaps are this week. Hoping to land some more parts for the build and who knows what other treasures.

Any other Rat Rodders attending? You'll recognize me, I'm the old guy with a big grey beard

 

[BobbyStillz]

To those that read my post in the discussion - some of this will be redundant.
In March, I drove an hour and a half north to a farm in Manistee, Michigan where there was a "buy all or nothing" sale of bikes and parts of varying decay.
I came home with a van-full, but the one I was after was a 1940 DX.
Here is the view of what was left of her.
View attachment 263777
I carefully disassembled the carcass to ascertain what was salvageable and structurally sound. I walked away with the frame, tank and fork and one of the two truss rods.
It is to be determined if the front fender is salvageable.

The good news is I picked up this ladies pre-war DX, and with a little coaxing, I have convinced her to give up her drivetrain and whatever other tidbits.
(I also have a taker for what's left of her and will be hand-delivered to Monroe this Sunday)
View attachment 263780

I've always been a big fan of the Prewar DX and their winged tanks. I intend nothing crazy with this build. My goal is to keep with the true spirit of a Rat Rod and make one-helluva rider. It is named "Iron & Oxygen" as the entire haul of bikes were about two more winters away from returning to the earth as minerals.

View attachment 263781

The Build-Off arrived with perfect timing in that Memory Lane and Monroe swaps are this week. Hoping to land some more parts for the build and who knows what other treasures.

Any other Rat Rodders attending? You'll recognize me, I'm the old guy with a big grey beard

There he is!

 

[Uncle Shish]

There he is!

View attachment 263782

Exactly!

 

[Pondo]

Awesome find and a great start!! I love those old DXs. This will be a fun one.

 

[kingfish254]

To those that read my post in the discussion - some of this will be redundant.
In March, I drove an hour and a half north to a farm in Manistee, Michigan where there was a "buy all or nothing" sale of bikes and parts of varying decay.
I came home with a van-full, but the one I was after was a 1940 DX.
Here is the view of what was left of her.
View attachment 263777
I carefully disassembled the carcass to ascertain what was salvageable and structurally sound. I walked away with the frame, tank and fork and one of the two truss rods.
It is to be determined if the front fender is salvageable.

The good news is I picked up this ladies pre-war DX, and with a little coaxing, I have convinced her to give up her drivetrain and whatever other tidbits.
(I also have a taker for what's left of her and will be hand-delivered to Monroe this Sunday)
View attachment 263780

I've always been a big fan of the Prewar DX and their winged tanks. I intend nothing crazy with this build. My goal is to keep with the true spirit of a Rat Rod and make one-helluva rider. It is named "Iron & Oxygen" as the entire haul of bikes were about two more winters away from returning to the earth as minerals.

View attachment 263781

The Build-Off arrived with perfect timing in that Memory Lane and Monroe swaps are this week. Hoping to land some more parts for the build and who knows what other treasures.

Any other Rat Rodders attending? You'll recognize me, I'm the old guy with a big grey beard

I think @jd56 is going to MemoryLane

 

[kingfish254]

Love that DX. The paint has a perfect ratina on it with all of the right details still showing up well. Killer base for a cool build!

 

[Uncle Shish]

 

[SkyknightJohn]

There he is!

View attachment 263782

Uncle… are you Santa?
Great start, a heck of a find. Good stuff to follow.

 

[OddJob]

Frame and fork already have achieved Rat-isfaction! Will be watching fer sure.

 

[Bike from the Dead]

As someone whose gateway into the Rat Rod Bikes scene was a 1950 Schwinn DX, I look forward to seeing you breathe new life into that old Schwinn. The patina on that bike is right!

 

[The Renaissance Man]

I like the bike and the name! Looking forward to it. The graphic is cool too!

The Build-Off arrived with perfect timing in that Memory Lane and Monroe swaps are this week. Hoping to land some more parts for the build and who knows what other treasures.

Any other Rat Rodders attending? You'll recognize me, I'm the old guy with a big grey beard

I really wanted to be there this week but it didn't work out for me. I did however send my latest build and it will be in the show at Monroe. Go check it out!

 

[Uncle Shish]

I think @jd56 is going to MemoryLane

Got to meet him and Nick. Picked up a few goodies from him, like this cool big eye tank. Might try it on for size on the Fleetline

 

[kingfish254]

Got to meet him and Nick. Picked up a few goodies from him, like this cool big eye tank. Might try it on for size on the Fleetline
View attachment 264134

I had one of those before. Wicked cool from a Golden Anniversary Western Flyer.

 

[kingfish254]

View attachment 263821

WOW!!! Killer logo!!

 

[Uncle Shish]

WOW!!! Killer logo!!

Thanks. I'm going to redo the word AND in the logo. Now that I see it small it disappears.

 

[marshall hudson]

Can't beat a ratina looking dx. First bike i ever ratted. Sold it right after i finished it. Still regret it.

 

[JA331]

I'm watchin'

 

[Uncle Shish]

I'm watchin'

Thanks. Not much going on yet. Still on the hunt for some prewar DX fenders. If I don’t score some soon I may change direction away from ratty. It may be easier to accomplish.

 

[Uncle Shish]

Well, Memory Lane and Monroe swaps came and went and no prewar DX fenders were found
I did pick up two cool Elgins and a third Elgin lady donor bike.

Tonight the lady prewar Schwinn gave all she had to give. Hoping to get the wheels stripped down for a refinish and rebuild. Fender braces and stem (with coaxing) were removed after this photo.

 

[Uncle Shish]

While it may not look like much progress, I had a busy weekend. I picked up a pretty clean 41 ladies bike at Monroe last Sunday. Finally went to get it Thursday night and spent Saturday harvesting the parts from it and putting new whitewalls on the wife’s 52 BF Goodrich badged Co-Ed.

So it would seem my pursuit of period correct fenders and chainguard are now complete. Now …I really need to think about a vision. Do I do more of a resto-mod or do I try to faux patina - something I’ve never done - to the fenders and chainguard to match? Hanging out on the CABE has made me want to preserve what’s left of the finish, but the other part of me would like to give this bike fresh life. Maybe those two things aren’t mutually exclusive?